[A story of betrayal and outright lies. There is sex in this story, but not a lot. There are lesbians and heterosexuals in this story.]
*****
A woman I didn't know stepped up to our table and asked, "Which of you gentlemen is Roger Peterson?"
I sized her up in less that three seconds and found her to be about five foot eight, good looking, dressed well in a Navy blue dress and heels, with shoulder length brown hair and a great smile.
I answered, "That would be me." I smiled as I said it. As an envelope came from behind her back my smile disappeared and I thought, 'Shit! I'm being served!'
She said, "You are not being served. Best you open this in private." She handed me the envelope and walked away. My three lunch companions looked at me like I had an explanation to give them for what just happened.
I had no clue.
After a few seconds I stood and said, "I'm going to go find out what this is all about." I left the hotel restaurant through the same door as the woman who gave me the envelope. When I didn't see her I found a chair in the lobby and started to sit down, so I could look inside the envelope.
A hand touched my elbow gently and her voice said, "Not here. Come with me please." She guided me to the elevators and we took one to the eighth floor. I started to speak in the elevator and she said, "Shhh!"
I waited until we were inside room 818 before I said, "Ok, what's this all about?"
She pointed at the chair and said, "Open it." She meant the envelope. I sat down and opened it. Four photographs fell out. All four were of my wife, Denise. All four showed her having sex with my brother! I said, "They are both so dead!"
I felt tears welling up and breathing became more difficult. I thought Denise loved me! We'd been married just over a year and ... now this! And, with Brian!
Her hands reached out and held my face, turning my face to look at her instead of the pictures. She said, "There's a lot you don't know. A lot you need to know before you decide what to do next. Let's talk, Ok?"
"Who are you?" I asked. Her hands were strong, warm, tender and held my face is if I might break.
"Up until now I've been a secret to you. I'll explain that, too. Let's begin with a question. Can you see any way you can forgive her for willingly fucking your brother and stay married to her?"
My mind grabbed at her words. "Was it willingly? Was she drunk? If it was willingly, how do you know it was willingly?"
"Look in the envelope. There's a memory stick in there. Listen to it."
She opened a laptop while I got the memory stick. Seconds later I heard Denise's voice, "I thought I would go nuts waiting for you!"
My brother's voice, "I couldn't drive fast enough to get here sooner. Then Pete's plane was twenty minutes late leaving! How soon will he be back?"
"He'll be back Sunday next. I'm yours."
I heard the sounds of clothes and the sounds of kissing. Denise moaned.
"Denise, There's no chance he'll forgive either of us. Ever."
"It doesn't matter. By the time he gats back, he'll be broke. You look enough like him that you'll be able to get all the money from his accounts, quit his job, transfer his 401k and we'll be living in Calgary before he gets back from that damned convention!"
"Did you ever love him?"
"No! I thought I would, but he's cold and his life is all about making money! He has money and even after we leave him broke, it won't take him long to make more. I knew he had millions before I married him. I need a lover, a man who takes care of me and who lets me take care of him. I need you, not Roger!"
"I plan to take very good care of you, from now on!" My brother said.
A pink fingernail tapped a key on the laptop and the playback stopped.
"The whole recording is hours long. I think, for now at least, you've heard enough. Want to try to save your marriage?"
"No. I've got to stop them from robbing me blind!"
"I'll help, if you'll let me." She let go of me and tapped the keys again. The screen showed a list of the things Denise had planned in order to rob me blind. The list showed what they would do each day, while I was gone, to take my money and where they would put it.
She said, "I got this list from her computer at work. She's been planning this for months! She started planning to rob you as soon as she found out you had money."
"Who are you?"
"I'm your wife's niece, Brenda. My Mom owns the real estate company where Denise works."
"I bought our home from your Mom."
"I remember. She ripped you off. They had ways of adding fees and charges to the contract so you paid them thirty-five thousand more than you should have for that house."
"Why are you telling me all this, helping me?"
"Not all women are like my aunt and my mom. When I saw what they planned to do to you, and to your brother, I decided I needed to help you."
"And to my brother?"
"Brian will find himself in Calgary Canada by himself, broke and alone when Denise is done with him. He's going to have memories of her fucking him but he will have lost his family, his job, and all the money he plans to steal from you. His job is to close the accounts and transfer the money into accounts he believes are joint accounts, but they aren't. His name is on the accounts, but only as someone who can deposit, not withdraw."
"So Denise doesn't love him either?"
"Denise doesn't like men, she uses men. She has dated men, lived with men, cheated on men with my mom and other women since she was in high school. They all believe men are stupid and run by your,,, things."
"This is too much! She can't be a lesbian! We have a great sex life!"
She slid a DVD out of her purse and into the slot on her laptop. Three clicks later I saw Denise and two other women in bed together, nude and talking. Denise said, "Men are the easiest game in town. Roger is so easy. He's convinced I have an orgasm every time he sticks that puny cock of his inside me!" The women all laughed. She continued, "He also believes a man can eat pussy! He couldn't find my clit with a flashlight and a roadmap!"
The older woman in the bed said, "Jack used to brag about what a great lover he was. He never had a clue about pleasing me. Put a little cream on my clit and my cat will bring me more pleasure than he ever did. He did however give me two kids and almost all his money!" They all laughed again.
The pink fingernail stopped the video.
"Brenda, I'm in shock. I need a little time to process all this."
"Take all the time you need, like maybe the rest of today. Tell me to start saving your life and I'll be on the case. I'll be right here in 818 or on my cell phone all week, unless you decide different. Mom and Denise think I'm in Colorado on vacation."
"Start saving my life." I said, then I added, "Let's talk again tomorrow. Come to my room at about nine and we'll have breakfast together."
"Nope. Too soon. Let's meet in the restaurant at nine and we'll start the paperwork right after breakfast."
I nodded agreement. A few minutes later the pictures, DVD's and memory stick were out of her room headed for my own room. I was in shock.
I stayed up until almost midnight, listening and watching to my marriage and perhaps my life come apart. I slept, not long enough and not well, but I did sleep.
At nine I was showered, shaved, dressed in clean clothes and sitting in the restaurant. Brenda walked in dressed in slacks and a sweater and sat down with me. We ordered breakfast and she asked, "Get any sleep?"
I nodded and said, "Not enough and no good, but I did sleep."
We talked about what could be done to save my life. Brenda had already started. She had the offshore account information for the account Denise had opened where she intended to put everything she took from me. Brenda opened a numbered account in the same bank, using the same password that Denise had used for her account. Then she went into Denise's computer and changed the account number that Denise would be using. Denise would be taking money from me and transferring it to me! It would always be my money!
After breakfast I called the FBI and had a long conversation with a special agent. He was excited to learn of their plan and wanted to assist in any way he could. At the end of the call he had volunteered to visit my boss and get him in on the plan, allowing Brian and Denise to believe they had closed my 401k, quit my job and left me high and dry.
By noon we had done what we could do that day to save my life. I attended two sessions of the conference and my colleagues asked me about the woman and the envelope. I smiled and said she was a messenger sent to deliver some papers for a business deal I was making. They bought the story. The two sessions I attended gave me three new business contacts and appointments with those contacts for the week after the first of the year.
At eight Brenda and I met in front of the hotel and went to dinner, not in the hotel. We had a good time together getting acquainted and after dinner we went to a club and danced for a while. She felt really good in my arms. I learned that she was four years younger than Brenda, had her real estate license for almost two years and a degree in accounting. I learned that she liked the music I liked, had read some of the same novels I'd read and like me used riding a bicycle as her preferred method of exercise.
We walked back to the hotel around midnight. As we walked I asked, "How can I thank you?"
"You say, "Thanks Brenda. Then you have a great life without Denise or my Mom in your life."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Can I keep you in my life?"
"We can stay friends." She stopped walking and faced me, "But don't pay me for this good deed. I feel bad enough that it's my family trying to screw you over. Just let me help you survive, Ok?"
"Ok." I'd been thinking about holding her hand, kissing her and maybe even hitting on her. I also realized I was still emotionally crazy and she probably wasn't interested in me other than as her good deed of the year. We walked the rest of the way back to the hotel and parted at the elevators. I wanted more. Inside my room I rationalized and told myself that she had made it clear she wasn't interested in anything more than a friendship. I added that if things went as I thought they would both Denise and possibly her mom would end up going to prison.
The next day we again had breakfast and she made sure I was doing the things I needed to do. I hired a lawyer and faxed him copies of everything he needed to start a divorce.
At two that afternoon Brenda found me and said, "New development!"
"Good or bad?" I asked.
