When plotting revenge, first dig two graves...
I first heard this saying at the ripe old age of twenty-five, when an early career mentor offered the sage advice in an attempt to defuse my anger. He was successful, and a few weeks later when I looked back on the affront, I realized that it had indeed been minor. The advice stayed with me, and numerous times after, when feeling attacked, I would take comfort in the words. In fact, I ended up using it as something of a safe spot, as I would often convince myself that I was being the mature professional by letting go of the slight, whether it was perceived or real.
I met my wife, Mary Helen, whom I simply call Helen, when I was twenty-seven and she was twenty-five. We hit it off pretty fast, finding we shared the same likes and carried similar opinions in most areas. It helped that she was a very attractive young woman that met most of the characteristics I liked. She is a tallish 5'8" and slender, with long lovely legs that end at a wonderfully toned butt. In addition, she has raven hair, dark brown eyes and full juicy lips. To top it off, she has a cute, impish way of smiling that always disarms me. Similarly, I think she likes how I am put together. She is always quick to say that she likes bigger guys, and at six-foot and one hundred and ninety pounds, I certainly fit that description. Still, I would call myself more rugged than handsome, quite happy to have her as the looks winner in the family.
Our dating progressed to the serious stage quite swiftly, as I think both of us were ready to settle down. So, thirteen months after our initial introduction we were standing at the altar of the Catholic Church, saying our vows. The next seven years seemed to fly by, and we were blessed with two wonderful children, our son Greg and our daughter Sally. Things seemed damn near perfect, and besides success in our family life, my career was also doing quite well. I had left the corporate world two years after we got married, and with Helen's full support, had started my own business. Amazingly, it had proved successful almost from the start, and we were now doing quite well. Actually, we were doing better than well, which had allowed my wife to quit her job and concentrate on the family. In addition, she was active in the church and did some volunteer work with several non-profits for fun.
Our success had also allowed us to afford nice things and during our marriage we had progressed from our initial apartment, through a starter home to the large residence we now enjoyed. It had been almost a perfect run, and looking back, I should have paid more attention to how good things were going.
I first met JD Thorton at a customer function. They were having a reception for key suppliers, and we were introduced by the VP of Procurement. We engaged in a brief conversation, and I learned enough to know that he wasn't a competitor, but that he was quite full of himself. It became almost comical to listen to him talk and several times, when glancing at the customer, he winked at me to let me know he thought the same. After that, months went by and I had completely forgotten about him when one day I got a call from him on my cell phone.
"Hey, man. This is JD Thornton, remember we met a while ago," he belted out, quickly bringing back the memory of our brief conversation.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" I asked, eager to get to the point.
"I wanted to see if you were available for lunch. I have a business idea I'd like to discuss that I think could be beneficial for both of us," he explained.
Reluctantly, I agreed, and the following week found us in a booth in a small out-of-the-way diner. We had just sat down when he got a phone call, and quickly he was in the middle of a loud conversation. While annoyed at the distraction, it did give me an opportunity to size the man up. I guessed JD was around forty, and he looked to be a couple inches taller than me, although he was leaner, almost rangy looking. He had a ruddy complexion and his brown hair was cut very short. He was dressed in jeans and a simple button shirt, with showy reptile cowboy boots. In total, I took him to be a man that was more focused on business than his appearance.
"Sorry about that," he mumbled when he ended the call a couple minutes later.
"Yeah, no problem," I replied, then continued, "What do you have in mind?"
"Let's order first. I'm starved," he answered.
He waved the waitress over and when she left, we idly chatted about random things until our food arrived. Only when we were almost finished, did he broach the subject of the meeting.
"Look, I think between our two companies, we have the capabilities to replace the supplier for the Neptune product line. You have a solid supply chain for the technical components and my fabricators in Mexico can bring in the structural elements very cheap. I'm thinking we join up and see what we can do," he explained.
Surprisingly, his idea had merit, a lot of merit actually, and I sat up in my chair as the potential sank in. We spent another hour discussing the concept, and then agreed that we would spend some time the following week getting into details. For the next few days, I pulled together some information to get prepared, and also did some back of the envelope calculations on the idea's potential. Conservatively, it looked like I could add thirty-percent to the income of my business, and the best part was it could be done with almost no investment.
The meeting the following week went well, and we put together a straw man of the new venture, including the business structure. We talked about approaching the customer and presenting our plan, but JD was adamant that we wait until we had developed it further. We agreed that the next step was due diligence on the supply chain, so as soon as we finished, I set up meetings with my key suppliers. Over the next month, we met with them, and although I thought it would be prudent to visit his fabricators in Mexico, JD wanted to wait until we finished the technical due diligence.
So far, things had gone exceedingly well, and my enthusiasm was evident to Helen. I had been holding off telling her about the opportunity until it had more legs, but finally I was forced to.
"What's got you so giddy?" she asked, then added, "You've been buzzing for weeks."
I started to laugh from her description, and then explained, "I'm working on a new business idea that I think will be very good. It should make us a lot of money."
"Don't you think we have enough money?" she asked, although I knew part of it was meant as a tease.
"Keeping you looking good is expensive," I said, instantly knowing I chose my words poorly.
"Oh, really?" she replied, as her left eyebrow arched.
"Sorry, that didn't come out right," I followed.
"I would hope not," she said, feigning annoyance.
Later that night, as soon as the kids were in bed, I trailed her like a hound until I had her cornered in the bedroom. She giggled while I maneuvered her to the bed, and we made slow, satisfying love. I was always thrilled when Helen climaxed beneath me, and was rewarded when her moans and sighs signaled she was on her way. Near the finish, she bit my shoulder to mute her sounds and I felt her body spasm as her legs lifted into the air.
"A nice one," I whispered as we cuddled.
"You're so proud of yourself. I think this business thing has made you horny," she replied.
"You make me horny, and the business thing is to take care of the family," I answered.
"Honey, if it works, maybe we can give some to the church," she whispered while snuggling closer.
Helen's caring soul was one of the things I loved so much about her. It wasn't the first time she had communicated she had all she wanted, and wanted to help others. Certainly, her work with the church and the non-profits played a part, but I knew it was something central to her as well. Even without those influences, I think she would have made a similar request.
"We'll see," I replied, pulling her tightly against me.
I'm not naturally optimistic or enthusiastic when it comes to business matters, as experience has taught me it was far better to be deliberate and maintain an even keel. However, I was breaking this tenet with the new venture. There was a jauntiness in my step, excitement in my day-to-day dealings, and a smile that I couldn't get off my face. Thus, I didn't pick up on the message at first when JD suddenly went radio silent.
I had been trying to contact him through phone calls and email for almost a week when I realized something was amiss, and during a phone call with one of my long-term suppliers, the dirty reality was suddenly made clear.
"Hey, I thought you and JD were working this Neptune thing together?" Ron, the technical manager at the supplier asked at the end of an unrelated call.
"We are..." I answered, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand-up.
"Okay...well... I think you might want to look into it," he said, showing obvious discomfort before adding, "Give Sam a call."
Sam, or Samantha, was a crusty older woman that handled contracts for the company, and as soon as I ended the call with Ron, I was on the phone to her.
"Sam, what's going on?" I asked after the normal pleasantries.
"It's confidential..." she started, then no doubt thinking about the years we had known each other, she said, "The guy, JD, said he was going to go this alone."
Now, it was all suddenly very clear. JD Thornton had used me, manipulated me, to get knowledge of the supply chain, and once educated, was now going to cut me out. It was a dirty trick, but thinking about it, I realized I shouldn't be surprised. My initial thoughts on him were not positive, but I had allowed my interest in the deal and the eagerness to make money to overcome my concerns. It took another two weeks to get the complete picture, and in that time I learned that he had contacted all my suppliers and even made a presentation to the customer. I seethed as I realized all this had been done behind my back with definite malice.
"Hey sport," JD said through the phone with dismissive arrogance.
It had taken two more weeks to get him to answer, and I suspected he felt he now had the deal with a bow around it making me no longer a threat. Thus, he could enjoy the win while taking the opportunity to rub my nose in it.
