To the reader:
This story involves a deep hole that a wife gets herself into and can't or doesn't want to get out of. Her husband is devastated when he finds out and exacts a unique revenge that for some readers may be hard to stomach. Revenge is revenge, the method doesn't matter because in the end everybody gets screwed, including a lot of innocent people. Think WMD.
Remember -- This is FICTION.
Thanks to jo for editing.
Discovery
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.
Albert Einstein
March 14, 2008 (Friday)
My first conscious thought of the day was looking forward to the weekend. It was Friday and I had one more day of work before I was free and tomorrow I was going to spend the whole day with two of my favorite girls; Jana my 4-year old daughter and my mom. My plan was to do some odd jobs around mom's house and afterwards spend the rest of the day chasing Jana around the back yard. My wife Jenni was out of town for work and wouldn't be back until late Sunday so I had Jana all to myself.
After I got Jana off to kindergarten I headed to work for a fun half-day of putting the new course catalog on our internet site. When I was done I could pick up Jana and head out.
I finished a lot sooner than expected and was heading home at 10:30. I came home to a big empty house. I couldn't pick up Jana up until 1:00 so that gave me some time to throw a few things in the car and grab a sandwich. While chomping on my peanut butter and banana sandwich with my left hand I started throwing what clothes and stuff we would need for the weekend in a pile on the bed with my right (computer geeks know how to eat and work at the same.) A bottle of shampoo I tossed on the pile rolled off and onto the floor on Jenni's side. I used my best telekinetic abilities to try to make it come back up but as usual I failed so I had to walk over and physically pick it up. I didn't immediately see it so it must have rolled somewhere. I knelt down and fumbled around under the bed. It wasn't there so I went fishing under the nightstand. I came back with the bottle of shampoo and a book. "I wonder if Jenni knows this is under there," I said as I looked at the little book. It wasn't one of her novels or some reference book for her work. It appeared to be a journal of some sort.
I sat on the bed for a long time and debated whether to open it and read what was inside. On one hand I didn't want to invade Jenni's privacy if this was some sort of a personal diary, but on the other hand if there was something in it that I should know then maybe I had to read it. It may be completely innocent and then it may not. The need to know won out and I opened to the first page and immediately recognized Jenni's handwriting, so there could be no doubt about who wrote it. The date of the entry was 11 months ago. I started reading.
Journal Entry Dated April 20, 2007 (Friday)
I've decided that keeping this journal is in my best interest. I don't know what the future will bring but at the moment I can only see doom and gloom. I know that everything I've done and will do will end up hurting Randy and Jana, but I'm so stuck I can't find any way out and I feel I'm screwed in a very big way. Maybe keeping track of everything will in some small way help should the shit hit the fan. I don't know if it will but one thing I do know, it won't change a damned thing, and I just hope some good can come of it.
This whole mess started just over a month ago when one of my bosses called me into his office. Lloyd Butcher is one of the executive managers for Thompson and is a powerful and imposing man. Everybody knows not to mess with him. He was with one of the internal auditors Carl Cashman. They told me that some of the accounts I was responsible for were short some money; $24,000 to be exact. They showed me the paperwork that showed my deposits to be $1,000 short each time I made one. It looked like I took out $1,000 in cash at the time of the deposit. They said that they wanted to give me an opportunity to explain what happened to the money before they went to the corporate office and the police. I didn't have any idea about the money, I never took anything, but they had a solid paper trail showing that $1,000 cash was missing each time I made a deposit. I told them I didn't do anything wrong and I didn't know about the missing money. I tried to explain but they wouldn't listen. I ended up breaking down and crying right in front of them. They said that since I had no explanation they had no alternative but to turn the matter over to the authorities. I had to go back to my desk and clean it out. I was terminated and to be escorted off the property at the end of the day. I went back to my desk and cried.
Around 4:00 Mr. Butcher called and said he wanted to talk about my situation and to come to his office. After a lot of discussion, and a lot of pleading and crying on my part, he said he believed my story and felt sorry for me. He said that he might have a way to fix it but I had to trust him. He offered me a deal. He wouldn't turn the matter over to the authorities and he would personally cover the missing money if I would become his personal assistant. The job had been vacant ever since his previous assistant didn't show up for work one day and nobody ever heard from her again. I would have a new job working just for him and I wouldn't be handling any money. He said that I could trust him to help me out of the mess I was in and over time I could pay back what I owed him.
It sounded too good to be true and I was happy to take him up on his offer. Besides, going from a contracts specialist to an executive manager's personal assistant was an increase in salary and responsibility. I asked him how I was going to pay back the money that I owed, actually didn't owe, and he said to trust him. He would make it all clear after I settled into the job.
He said that he would call the auditor and tell him that he found the missing money in another account, one that he forgot to mention before, and that I was only doing what I was told to do. I would be off the hook with them.
That night I told Randy about my promotion but I didn't mention anything about any missing money. He was so happy for me that I just couldn't say anything about it. This was my problem and Randy has always wanted me to work out my own problems before coming to him for help and I didn't want to disappoint him this time. I'll never forget how he looked at me as we sat at Sabatini's and sipped our Chianti. He said that I was moving up in the corporate world and my future looked good. He was so proud of me.
The next day I moved into my new office. It was a small outer office with a door leading to a small lounge in the back which had a full bathroom, a closet for clothes and a small couch. There was also another door that connected to another lounge at the back of Mr. Butcher's office. His lounge was arranged the same way but his had a larger couch and a small fully equipped bar.
As the news got around the office that I was Mr. Butcher's new administrative assistant I got a lot of stares from my female coworkers and smiles from the men. I didn't know what any of it meant and it felt kind of strange.
Later that day Mr. Butcher called me into his office and I sat next to his desk as he told me about my duties. He explained that I had the usual assistant duties; keep his appointments, greet company clients, type, and file, make his coffee, etc. He also said that I was required to accompany him to company functions and meetings at times other than regular work hours. I may even be required to accompany him on meetings out of town.
Then he told me about how he expected me to dress. He said that I was his personal representative and a representative of the company and I needed to dress the part. I always thought that I dressed nicely but he said he thought that I dressed too conservatively and he wanted something better suited to his assistant. He said that I was to wear shorter skirts. He also said that I was not to wear pantyhose; I could wear stockings or go bare legged. I wasn't to wear a bra. I had to keep my hair loose and flowing over my shoulders. I could wear panties if I wanted but they were optional.
I sat there in total amazement. When I started to say something he put his hand up and stopped me before I could get a word out. He said I was to change the way I dressed because I was a beautiful woman and he wanted me to display my beauty and not hide it. It would be beneficial to have a beautiful woman present when clients and other managers met with him. He also reminded me about the missing money and said that I had to start dressing the way he wanted starting the next day or he would terminate our agreement. He said that I could trust him and he wouldn't do anything to hurt or embarrass me. He said that he knew what he was doing.
I was in a daze and couldn't think straight. I didn't know what to say. All I could do was sit quietly and stare down at my hands.