Sentence

Many thanks to editor extraordinaire and fledgling author

LovelyAnon

, not only for fixing mistakes, but for challenging the writer to do better.

Grateful thanks to AdrienneL for catching some small errors and one major one.

The German version of this story is posted in German Literotica as

Warum hat er Funken in den Augen? by Egon Hoppe

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They had managed the strain to their marriage for over a year -- until the week before Sterling had to report.

After Hillary came home from taking the kids to school Monday morning, she walked briskly into the kitchen, where Sterling was lingering at the breakfast table. She grabbed the coffee pot, refilled his cup, poured one for herself and sat down opposite him.

"We need to talk," she said. Her voice was calm and unemotional.

"Is there something new I don't know about?" he asked.

"It's not new because I'm sure you've thought about it, but you've pushed it out of your mind. You don't want to face it, and you think that I can't help. I'm talking about next week."

"We've said everything there is to say about next week."

"Please wait until I've finished," she said, with a bit of impatience breaking into her measured tone. "I've been working for weeks on how to say this, so just listen."

He wasn't put off by her no-nonsense manner. That was her personality, part of what drew them together.

***************

Sterling met Hillary when he was the newest coding hotshot. She was even hotter because she was a year younger and already head of IT.

He rose through the ranks quickly and within a year was her assistant. They were a terrific team, and their bosses loved them.

They worked well together because they were similar in many ways. Neither was adept at social skills. Because they were always three steps ahead of everyone else, they understood each other.

To employees in other departments, their manner often seemed harsh and abrupt, but those who reported to them overlooked their social awkwardness, because Hillary and Sterling put their subordinates' interests above those of the stockholders.

Hillary didn't care that she was smarter than he was. It hardly ever came up -- only when Sterling made a rare error or when he occasionally bumped up against something that he was having trouble with. At such times, Hillary would step in and take care of everything in what seemed like a split second. He was always appreciative and never resented her.

She tried to downplay her superiority because she didn't want to embarrass him. Eventually, she relaxed when she saw that he wasn't threatened by her brilliance.

Once their emotional involvement began, they learned to disguise their feelings toward each other while at work. They became so good at deception that sometimes, for fun, they'd use the skill on each other, for things like birthday surprises.

One night at a bar, Hillary saw that Sterling was troubled and asked him what the problem was. He tried to hide it, but she plied him with drinks and eventually got it out of him. He admitted that he wanted to marry her, but if he did, he would have to quit the best job he ever had to stay home with their kids. He drunkenly apologized for being a selfish macho male pig.

Hillary resigned the next morning after promising their bosses she'd come in and consult if there was ever a problem Sterling couldn't handle. She also promised them that would never happen.

Sterling went into a kind of shock. He refused the promotion. He reported to work as usual during Hillary's last two weeks but avoided her and wouldn't meet with human resources. He didn't answer her phone calls after work.

Two days before her final day, she called him into her office and yelled at him. During their relationship, there had been some good fights, but never had she yelled at him as boss to employee. Her first words were, "What the fuck are you doing?" It got worse from there.

He stood there and took her onslaught without batting an eye and or opening his mouth. She saw she was getting nowhere and in a calm voice asked him why he wouldn't talk to her.

"I can't say anything appropriate," he replied.

She started to answer, but stopped herself. This wasn't working. She needed another plan. In an instant, she thought of the solution.

She was still nervous but brought every deceptive skill she had mastered into play.

"I'm not happy about how you're acting, Sterling, but my last day is tomorrow. Because of what we do, there's a chance that my next company will be dealing with this one at some point. I can't afford to end our working relationship on a bad note, so I'm going to forget the last half-hour, and I hope you will, too. I'm taking you out to dinner tonight."

"I'm sorry but I can't make it."

"I'm sorry, too, because if you have other plans you'll have to change them. It's going to be a business dinner, and it will be on my expense account. My boss is upset that you rejected the transition he planned, so you and I have to work out an alternative."

"Why don't you just tell him you're staying?"

"We can discuss that tonight," she said. "I'll see you at Chez Tromperie at eight."

"But..."

"This meeting is over, except for a warning. Don't even think of not showing up tonight."

***************

The dinner at the expensive restaurant started with her toasting their careers with champagne. After that, she started a lengthy review of all their joint successes through the years.

They finished the bottle of champagne, a bottle of white and a bottle of red by the time they had coffee. She ordered a bottle of port instead of dessert as they continued to discuss work.

She had to help him walk out to the taxi she called after arranging with the valet for their cars to remain at the restaurant's lot until the next day. She gave the driver her address and somehow got Sterling onto her living room couch. He was barely able to sit.

After a few cups of coffee, he woke up a little. She pulled up a chair and sat facing him. She leaned in toward him and spoke to him in a soft but determined voice.

"All right, Sterling, what gives?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I want the truth."

"You, you, you liar!"

"That's right. You just figured out the whole business dinner was so I could get you drunk and bring you here. You didn't notice that I hardly drank anything while I was pretending to keep up with you. I'm stone cold sober, and that's the truth. Now I want the truth from you."

"I'm not going to, to..."

"To say anything? Oh yes you are. You're not leaving here until you do. If you don't start talking, I'll tie you up while you're too wasted to resist. Maybe I'll torture you. But I need to know why you turned down my job."

"You, you, you -- you're not going to do it!"

"Do what?"

"You can't leave."

"Tomorrow is my last day."

"No. You're destroying everything you've worked for. I won't let you throw your career away. What I said was stupid. I wish I had kept my mouth shut."

There was silence for a while, followed by sniffling. Hillary blew her nose and looked at Sterling. Tears streamed down her face. She began speaking slowly, stopping often to take breaths.

"You dummy. I'm not throwing anything away. I'm just moving to a higher position. All those things we talked about at dinner were amazing. I'll always treasure them.

"But the most wonderful thing about my career is that it brought me you. We've talked about children, and no job is worth one minute away from our babies.

"I've looked forward to quitting since I realized you loved me, too. I've been waiting for you to pop the question, because I'm old-fashioned that way. I interpreted what you said the other night as your idea of a proposal.

"Even if you wanted to stay home with the babies in some misguided noble gesture, I would never have let you. I'm more selfish than you. I want those kids all day. You only get to see them in the morning, after work and on weekends.

"Did I make myself clear or do you have any questions?"

He stared at her and she kept crying until she jumped out of her chair and onto him. He fell over on the couch with her on top of him. She planted her mouth on his and gave him a deep kiss, then kissed him all over his face.

************

Almost everything in their lives was positive until the day last year when Sterling had been called to the president's office and told he was being placed on paid leave for a few weeks. He wasn't given an explanation, and when he got back to his office, his desktop was gone, along with the laptop he took home.

That's all he found out -- except from rumors relayed by his staff -- until he was asked to come in a month later. His boss said there were some problems with missing money and asked him if he would work with some agents from the FBI and IRS. He said sure and willingly spent the next three days in the Federal Building downtown answering questions.

Though the interrogators tried to hide what was behind their questions, he soon figured it out. Money was being transferred from company accounts into offshore accounts on a regular basis, and although the hacker doing it was a computer genius, he had entered one wrong number a couple of months ago, and that had alerted the company computer's security system. Otherwise, the thefts would still be undiscovered.

Sterling was being questioned because the FBI tracked the dealings to his computers. None of the missing money was found in any of his and Hillary's joint bank accounts, and so far the FBI hadn't cracked the offshore accounts.

After cooperating with the Feds, he was told to take some more paid leave. A few weeks later, he was indicted. All the company bosses would tell him is that the company didn't want to prosecute him, because nobody there believed he had done it, but the company lawyers said that if they didn't assume a neutral position on the federal prosecution, the stockholders could sue and cause major problems.

The Feds were certain he was guilty and continued to work feverishly to connect him to the missing money.

Hillary took charge of his defense team. She researched lawyers and came up with a champion. He pressed hard and forced the government's hand before it was ready for trial.

The only thing solid the Feds had on Sterling was something that didn't happen. The day before Sterling had been placed on leave, there had been a three-million-dollar transfer. By that time, the government's hackers had their tentacles into the company's computers for more than a month and had put in what they thought was a fool-proof defense against further transfers. The money disappeared anyway.

That's when the Feds made the company send Sterling home and took his computers. They couldn't find any evidence on them, but once Sterling no longer had access to the company's network, there were no more attempts at stealing money.

That bit of circumstantial evidence was what got the judge to find him guilty, even though his sentence was almost nothing: just two years in minimum security.

The company's executives each called him at home and explained why they couldn't show up for the trial, but his entire department was there the first day. Hillary was sitting with them, and he saw her comfort his assistant, Kali, when she burst into tears. Many of them came back on other days during the two weeks of the trial and sat with Hillary. Kali was there often, and whenever he looked back during a break, he saw her and Hillary deep in conversation.

After the trial, Hillary and his lawyer went on a two-pronged attack. They launched one appeal after another to overturn the sentence. The government lawyers wanted to keep him locked up as a flight risk, and then fought for an ankle bracelet, but his lawyer got him out on bail with no restrictions except leaving the city. While they were appealing, the lawyer and Hillary worked on other strategies to reduce the two-year sentence.

One day while he was waiting alone in court, the bailiff, Jake, told him his sentence had been reduced.

"Your wife is something else," Jake said, "This judge never reduces sentences, but my source who was in the meeting this morning told me your wife was like a bulldog. She reminded them that you cooperated with their interrogation and never asked for a lawyer. She showed that you were ready to take a lie detector test until the indictment came down and your lawyer wouldn't let you. She said you even agreed to be tried before a judge and testified on the stand, letting the prosecution try to cut you to pieces during cross-examination.

"She got the Feds and IRS lawyers doubting themselves and wouldn't stop until she got you down to two months and twenty-three days exactly. After your wife left, the judge and the lawyers were asking each other what had just happened? They weren't happy. What kind of a sentence is two months and twenty-three days? I don't think anybody has ever gotten two months and twenty-three days."

When every appeal was denied, the date was finally set for him to report to prison.

**************

"All right," said Sterling, taking a sip of coffee. "I know you mean well. What have you been working on?"

"I've been talking to Jake a lot," said Hillary, "and taking him to lunch whenever I could. The other day, when I told you I had to meet someone for dinner to talk about your case, I was having dinner with him."

"Jake?" he said. "You mean the bailiff?"

"He's very smart," she said. "He's kicked around cops, courts and corrections for a long time. He had the information and contacts I needed."

"He's a pretty good looking guy, too," said Sterling, staring into the distance and talking without much emotion.

"That's irrelevant," said Hillary. "What's important is that he likes you, and he likes me. I think I persuaded him that you're innocent, and he's helping me."

"What does he want from you in return?"

"Nothing for him," Hillary said.

"You mean there's no money involved and no favors? I don't believe you."

"I didn't say that. Of course, it's going to take money. It will go to other people, not him."

"How do you know?"

"Because he won't even touch the money. I told you he's only given me information and contacts. I'm doing everything on my own."

"How much money is it?"

"Who cares?" she said. "We've been banking and investing so much of our income that we have enough money for the kids' colleges and plenty more to live well the rest of our lives even if neither of us ever works again -- which won't happen.

"When I clear you, the government is going to pay back everything we've spent on legal fees, with interest. Your paid leave ended when you were convicted, but by the time I'm done, the company will pay your back salary from then until you're at work again."

"How do you know the person you're giving money to isn't splitting it with Jake?" he asked.

"I don't know, and I don't care about any of that," she said. "All I care about are the results."

"Okay," he said. "It sounds like you haven't done anything yet. Whatever Jake put into your mind, forget it. The last thing the kids need is a jailbird mother along with a jailbird father. You're not going to do anything. I won't let you."

She didn't say anything for a minute. When she finally spoke, it was in a soft but firm voice.

"Let's back up to where I asked you to shut up until I finished. You've never told me what to do, and you're not starting now. I never tried to control you. Our marriage is based on love, respect and letting us make choices for ourselves and our family.

"A lot of things can happen in prison, even in just a few months. The money is going to people who will make sure you come home with both eyes, all your teeth and all your bones the same as they are next Monday."

"You've been watching too many prison movies. I'm in minimum security. White collar criminals. Nobody gets hurt."

"I know all that. I'll admit I was surprised when Jake explained minimum security to me. All you have to do is watch TV and maybe work in the kitchen or laundry. How can they call that paying your debt to society?"

"You almost sound like you wish I was serving hard time."

"You're wandering off the subject," she said. "Right after Jake explained minimum security to me, he told me something else. There's an inmate in your prison who shouldn't be there. He's a thug who works for the mob, but all they could get on him was something that didn't involve violence or guns and he had expensive lawyers.

"He's no white-collar criminal, and Jake said that until he's released next year, he's running the joint. Every prisoner and most of the guards are afraid of him, and they let him get away with some scary stuff. Jake has reason to believe you'll be in danger."

"I'm suspicious of what Jake told you," Sterling said. "People say and do a lot of things when money's involved. I don't care about the money, but what if you get caught bribing guards or prisoners?

"Maybe you'll get off with a hand-slap, but everyone will think I put you up to it, and that will affect their perception of me. Not just potential jurors or judges, but also the people at work.

"Up to now, everyone has been supportive, from the bosses on down. You saw how my team supported me in court and how some of the women were crying when the verdict was read. It was like they thought I was going to be executed."

"You're wandering again," she said. "Listen! I'm not going to get caught, because this has been going on forever, and everybody in the system knows it. If they catch me and charge me, it would open a can of worms that would ruin a lot of people. So they mind their own business.

"There's nothing illegal about giving someone a gift and getting nothing of value in return. In fact, everything I'm saying is only hypothetical. I haven't done anything. And you'll never know if I do.

"If anyone connects you to a lie detector and asks you whether I did anything, you can honestly say you don't know. But that will never happen.

"You know me. After Jake told me about the violent prisoner and the cost of protection, I did a lot of research to confirm he was telling the truth. I now trust him more than anyone."

"More than me?"

Hillary ignored his retort. She took a deep breath and looked at him in a strange way.

"What?" he said. She kept looking at him as if she was observing a rat in a cage. He squirmed. Finally, she took another deep breath and began talking faster than before.

"The only thing the guards won't let the mob guy get away with is bringing in women. At this facility, only married inmates get conjugal visits. If someone found out that the guards let a prisoner violate that regulation, they could all be fired. That's the only thing they're more scared of than the gangster.

"So they look the other way while he makes other prisoners his women. He isn't gay, so prefers men that have milder personalities and certain body types. You're fit, but you're small and don't have an overly muscular body. I'm not saying you look like a woman, but Jake said you would be meat for this guy.

"The money I'm paying will make sure he isn't as rough with you as with his other girlfriends, but he gets off on humiliation. You'll be forced to do some disgusting things that may affect your mind. I'm going to find the best therapist in town for this kind of thing. When you get out, I'll do everything to make sure you recover.

"As I said before, we've got enough money for several lifetimes, so I'll spend whatever it costs for the therapy to heal you. But before that, we need to implement a strategy to get you through the next couple of months."