Author's Note: In the immortal words of The Troubador, I finished this story "Because both my fans requested it". I apologize again for submitting Chapter 1, then deciding to do a major rewrite of the story. It was unfair to make readers have to wait over two months for the rest. This story is completed and each of the four chapters will be submitted on successive days.
I forgot to let readers know that the story was about blackmail before the 1st Chapter, and was properly spanked. This time I'm making sure you understand, so please don't read it and be annoyed that it's about blackmail. This chapter also has a non-consent scene.
There have been a number of Literotica authors and readers who've given me help getting this just right (sometimes enough to make it seem more like torture). I can't thank all of them enough, but I figure putting there names up here is good revenge...er...I mean the least I can do.
First, thanks to Joesephus. He is a good man and an excellent author. I hope you're doing well, my friend. Wetapap has been tireless in offering me suggestions (you are my minister of sadism). AverageJoe, DocT1400 and Bart all took a look at this and gave me tips. Finally, AngelLove bailed me out with a last minute edit, finding mistakes that I couldn't believe were still there after reading this about 100 times. Please, for your own sake, don't ever ask me to be an editor!
Although I tried to make this chapter explain some of the events from Ch1, it may still be confusing to read without at least looking over the 1st chapter. All comments are welcomed as always, although the constructive ones are much easier to learn from. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the story is about blackmail?
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"...Well you better make sure you bring her in line. She's useless the way she was last weekend." Bill listened to the frantic response on the other end of the phone for a moment. "I don't care, you need to scare the shit out of her. I know her kind, if you can break her, she'll go along with everything and you'll never have a problem with her again. You either need to bring her in line or you need to let her go. She's dangerous the way she is right now."
He listened to a few more apologies before cutting in, "Look Ryan, I have to go. It's your problem so you deal with it. I helped you find an out, you have to make it work. By the way, I don't want to have this conversation again, goodbye."
As he hung up the phone, Bill smiled to himself. He was intentionally hard on Ryan to make a point but he believed Michelle was far closer to breaking than Ryan understood. The night at the hotel was fun for him, but more importantly, it gave him the chance to get a read on her. This little housewife was so scared something was going to happen to her husband that she would agree to almost anything. Now that she was in this mess, she'd be too scared of losing him to ever come forward.
He thought fondly of how hard she tried not to enjoy herself. It made things much more interesting for him. Bill was all about power, and forcing a woman to bend to his will was the ultimate power. He was actually glad she wasn't some bimbo that went along with things, getting off on being dominated. Having someone truly innocent and unwilling like Michelle would be much more valuable in the long run...
Bill owned his own small company that distributed hardware for high tech companies. He organized smaller companies and gave them access to the big boys. His company was profitable, but it wasn't how Bill had made his fortune. His main occupation was the stock market. He had made millions from investing in some of the companies he sold to. To the casual observer it appeared that he made wise investments. The truth was that he had good sources for making his choices.
He had always been good at reading people. That asset helped him to get by in High School and College. He found people who could help him with classes and always seemed to find the one favor he could do for them that they couldn't turn down. Bill always found a way to deliver and turned those favors to his advantage. If it wasn't to get help with his grades, he would use his skills to earn extra money or often he just did it to work girls from the campus. He never had a shortage of hot young coeds staying the night, although rarely did any of them tell their friends.
When he graduated, he started at the ground floor of a software development company. Within two years he had risen to manage his own department. He used his contacts to start up his own company. Five years later, he made his first million. Instead of slowing down and enjoying his success, Bill used the money he had made to make his contacts very happy. Whether it was vacations, lavish gifts, or hookers for lonely businessmen, he seemed to always know the best way to get to the men he needed to further his own business. When he met Ryan, he sized him up in the first five minutes.
Ryan was obviously a weasel. He was ambitious, but too cowardly to take risks. Although he was smart, Ryan never worked hard enough to get what he wanted. He made it to his current position by a combination of sucking up and liberally bullshitting his superiors. Bill was amazed that no one had caught on. Ryan wouldn't have lasted a month in Bill's company, but he was exactly the kind of man Bill loved to meet.
Two nights later, high on coke with a hooker blowing him, Ryan bragged about finding a hole in his company's accounting practices. When Bill asked him what he planned to do about it, Ryan tried to talk big, but obviously wasn't going to take advantage of the opportunity. Bill spent the next 24 hours massaging his ego, feeding him with get rich stories and a constant parade of bimbos.
By the time Ryan went back to work, he had been instructed on exactly how to take advantage of the situation and minimize the risk to himself. Bill believed he would, especially after a crash course in how to move money through a series of off shore bank accounts which would make it incredibly difficult to trace. This would make Ryan permanently indebted to Bill, giving him access to information and technology that was worth far more than the pittance Ryan was making.
When Bill had received Ryan's frantic phone call right after the office party, he should have been furious. In a mindless pass at his employee, Ryan had done something so stupid that it endangered everything. That was the difference between the two men. Ryan saw a potentially career ending problem, Bill saw a great opportunity.
"Ryan, you can kill three birds with one stone," he began, trying to calm the panic stricken manager. First, you have the chance to push the blame off on someone else for the missing money. It's from her department, people would logically think she was involved. Pointing the trail towards her should be easy. You don't need to prove she did it, if anyone ever misses it, she'll have to prove she didn't.
"Second, you can get the chance to finally get into her pants." He smiled to himself knowing that Ryan's ego wouldn't let him resist the chance to dominate the beautiful woman who had rejected him. "Third, you can use her to ensure yourself the promotion."
Ryan had been practically crying on the phone. With Bill's assurances, he started believing he had a chance.
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As she sat at her desk, Michelle went over the events that started this in her mind. "There had to be something else I could have done," she thought. She had been punishing herself since the first time she let Ryan take her in his office. After the failed 'meeting', she spent the remainder of the weekend quietly telling herself that it wasn't her fault. Sadly, she knew it didn't make any difference. She had let herself be bullied into doing what Ryan ordered and now was in too deep.
She thought about going to the police, but what could she say, "Gee, my boss hinted that he had someone run my husband off the road, then ordered me to have sex? Oh, by the way, he has evidence that I've committed a felony, but I'm innocent...please believe me." She shook her head sadly. Ryan had shown her a printout that had detailed listings of write-offs, expenses and purchases that he said weren't real. He told her there was over $50,000 missing from her department in the last year alone.
It wasn't surprising, she worked in one of the departments overseen by research and development, which had an overall budget in the millions. She was not a money kind of person. Her skill was working with the employees, gently pressuring them to work harder. She had a knack for knowing how to coordinate projects to make things get done.
Michelle had never worried about where the money came from, except when it came to how she would get the projects done within the budget she was allotted. Stacy double checked all the numbers, but this was something she never would have seen. As Michelle thought about the document, she sadly realized that it had kept her from going to people who could have helped her long enough to get caught in this trap.
Any hopes of getting proof of her innocence sank as the realization set in that she had no clue how to even begin tracing missing money and forged documents. "They never taught that class at college," she thought ruefully. She could go to someone within the company for help, but if it backfired she was screwed. How could she have any idea if the next person she talked to was loyal to Ryan? Even if they weren't, how could she initiate a conversation about missing money and her innocence? It was overwhelming.
Now there were pictures to deal with. She hadn't allowed herself to think about it when Bill mentioned the pictures, but it was devastating. If they had pictures of her doing these awful things, it was the final nail in the coffin. Even if she went to the police or someone inside her company, pictures showing her having sex with four different men would kill any sympathy for her. Especially if Ryan was selecting which pictures to show people. It would make her look like a whore...a willing whore. No one would take her seriously and she'd still have to worry about the physical threat to her and Mike.
She thought about Mike, the threat to his life and how he'd react if he found out. How could she tell the man she always believed she'd be staying with for the rest of her life that she had let this happen? It was already her word against the five conspirators, now that there were pictures, how would he believe that she wasn't doing this willingly? She had done this for one reason, because she was afraid Mike's life was in danger. Now that she was here, she realized how alone she was. She bowed her head and cried quietly, knowing that she was cornered. She was going to have to do what Ryan told her. Now she understood that the worst part was, the more she did, the more control he had over her.
The rest of the week passed without further incident. Although she could see how stressed out Michelle was, Stacy thought her friend seemed a little better than last week. These mood swings had been completely out of character. Michelle had cut herself off from all her friends since Mike's accident. Something was obviously wrong, but Stacy could only push so far. After all, her friend was also her boss.
Friday Michelle sat quietly behind her desk, dreading the call she knew was coming. When she hadn't heard from Ryan until 15 minutes before closing, she had almost given herself hope that he was too busy or had forgotten.
Suddenly Stacy's voice rang through, waking her from her thoughts, "Ryan is on line one."
Michelle picked up the phone with trembling fingers. "Yes," she said, almost whispering.
"Be at the far end of the North parking lot in 20 minutes. Remember, you did this to yourself."
She hung up the phone and thought again about asking Stacy for help. She stopped herself, knowing it was too late to turn back. She drove to where Ryan had instructed and waited. She reached into her purse and drank one of the mini-bottles of tequila she brought. The meeting with Bill, John and Paul had taught a lesson about needing to be a little drunk to be able to cope. If she had only been a little drunk before getting to the hotel, maybe she wouldn't be here now.
A rusty old van pulled into the space beside her. It had tinted windows, making it impossible for her to see the driver. The door opened and her heart sank as she watched Tony get out. She hadn't seen him since he dropped her off at the hospital after Mike had his 'accident'. She wondered if it was a coincidence that he wasn't in Ryan's office earlier in the day, but was there when she was told about it.
"Get out," he said rudely.
She opened the door and stepped out, bringing her purse.
