Almost three months had passed since the incident at the hotel, and Erika’s life had changed overnight. Phil kept his word, and she got the bonus and promotion.
Erika and William used part of her bonus to take a Caribbean vacation. It had been wonderful, like a second honeymoon. Treating William to a week in paradise helped her deal with the guilt of the way she’d earned it. And she got a great tan to boot.
When they returned, Erika learned that she had also earned a company award and would be honored with others at a company dinner. It was the highest honor in the company and the event was black tie. She and William were looking forward to the dinner with great anticipation.
When she saw Howard in the hallways and conference rooms, he would give her only angry stares. She dealt with it by just trying to ignore him. So he was pissed; it served him right for the sexual harassment he had subjected her to for more than a year.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t avoid him altogether as they both were assigned to lead a proposal team for the Long Haul Trucking account. That meant they had to go to customer and strategy meetings together. It was difficult to say the least.
Howard was pissed, but even more, he was resolved to get the little bitch back. He knew she fucked Phil that night and screwed him out of the promotion he deserved. He didn’t see Phil again for months afterward, and was hurt that the trucking executive would turn his back on him like that.
However, a few days before the award dinner, Phil called to clarify a point in the new contract.
“Why are you calling me? Don’t you want to talk to your girl?”
“Don’t be that way man. You’ve been around ... you know the score. It’s just business.”
“I know when I’ve gotten the business.”
“I’ll tell you what; I promise to make it up to you.”
“Did you fuck that bitch or not?”
“Listen, I can’t talk about anything that went on between us, but I want to send you something that might make you feel better.” Begrudgingly, Howard answered the question about the contract and the conversation ended.
The next day Howard received an E-mail from an unfamiliar account. He nearly deleted it, because those are the kinds of E-mails that sometimes contain viruses. But something told him he should at least open the E-mail. When he did the message said, “As promised – hope you feel better.”
The message had two attachments – photos. Taking a chance, Howard opened the files and was not disappointed.
Erika was working in her new office trying to get through all the work that had piled up while she was on vacation. She was about halfway through her E-mail list when someone walked in her office.
Looking up, the young blonde saw Howard walking into her office, but surprisingly, he had the biggest smile on his ugly round face. He just stood there for a minute smiling at her, and she noticed he was holding a folded piece of paper in his hand.
Howard closed the door to the office and dropped his body into the chair opposite from her. He was still smiling. What in the world could this little troll want now.
“Can I help you, Howard?” she asked.
“Fuckin A you can. You can tell management the truth about how you got that contract or I will.” He squirmed in the chair, not from discomfort, but because he could hardly contain his excitement.
“You must be crazy. I earned that contract fair and square,” she said, confidently flipping her long hair to one side.
“So you’ve said, but I’m not buying it.”
“I’m not going to listen to this Howard. I think you should leave.”
“Sure baby, but first I want to show you something.” He stood, tossed the folded paper onto her desk, and walked out of her office.
Erika lifted the paper, unfolded it and looked at two photos printed side-by-side. The air left her body like a punch in the chest. The pictures were of her. In both photos she was naked and lying on a hotel bed. In the first one, a man was holding one of her breasts and she looked as if she was asleep. In the other, a man’s penis was imbedded in her vagina.
Both photos were obviously low resolution, probably taken by one of those new phone cameras. Even though the photos were of poor quality, anyone could tell that the naked woman was Erika; certainly William would recognize her. Despite his promise to protect her, Phil had gone back on the deal and given these photos to Howard.
The blonde sat at her desk for a long time looking at the photos and wondering what she was going to do. The one person in the world who hated her guts now had evidence that would destroy her job, and more importantly, her marriage.
Howard didn’t speak to her again for days. She tried to talk to him in his office on two occasions, but he told her he was late for meetings and didn’t have time. She was on pins and needles, she couldn’t concentrate on anything, and felt like she was going to have a nervous breakdown any minute.
The awards dinner was held at a local grand hotel with an elaborate ballroom, great chandeliers and everything. Hundreds of employees and their spouses were on hand. Everyone was superbly dressed including Erika and William.
She had purchased a full-length silver dress. It was skin tight and its low cut halter-like top showed off some of her best assets. She thought William looked like a movie star in his tuxedo. He looked good in anything she thought, but he was really beautiful on this evening.
They had only been at the reception for a few minutes when Howard approached, introducing himself to Erika’s husband. The young wife felt her heart race as the marketing manager began to talk. He wouldn’t dare destroy this night and her marriage with it.
“I haven’t had a chance yet to congratulate you Erika,” Howard said. “You must be very proud of your wife William. Not only is she beautiful, but talented, too.”
“Absolutely,” said a beaming William. “All she needed was a chance.” Of course he was proud of his wife. He’d always been proud to have her on his arm and especially tonight.
The conversation quickly became awkward after the introduction and they spoke for just a few minutes more before Howard ran off to schmooze with a pair of vice presidents.
“My God, he is a troll,” William whispered to his wife. “And that breath is unbelievable. He smells like an ashtray. How gross.”
“I told you,” she said. At first Erika felt a weight lifted when she saw Howard walking away without spilling his guts, but after a while she began to worry what he did have up his sleeve.
Once the dinner began, it moved quite slowly with introductions and year wrap-up videos. The wait staff took forever to remove dishes and bring the next course. As dinner began, Erika kept one eye out for Howard, but began having so much fun that she eventually forgot about the strange little man.
The greatest moment in her life other than her wedding came when her name was announced and she ascended the stage to accept the award for top achievement at Certified.
When the evening ceremonies ended, everyone came to congratulate her again. With William by her side, Erika felt surrounded by love and adoration.
Then she saw Howard’s face before her. There was some sort of problem with the new proposal. The customer needed to speak to them immediately.