Arson

The big gangster demonstrated the images a second time. They showed Drew exiting the warehouse just ahead of the fire that ravaged the building. How Big Gene Canoliapi had come by the recording he had no idea, but it was very bad news. The police suspected arson, however, Drew was a first class fire bug, without this evidence, they would never be able to prove that the fire which swept through the warehouse was anything other than an unfortunate accident. Worse, Drew had performed his unauthorized task in Big Gene's territory.

"Never mind how I came across this particular bit of film, Mr. Henderson, it is enough that I possess it. I COULD turn it over to the police. A two-time loser like you could get life. Worse, you invaded MY territory and interfered with MY operation. We were quite content to squeeze the owner of that warehouse for protection money. That was actually more lucrative in the long term than a simple insurance payment would have been. I don't care what sob story he told you or how much lettuce he filled your wallet with, you had NO business torching the place. In any event, the owner has been dealt with. Which brings us to the question of what to do with you! Your behavior is VERY disappointing to me."

"Please Big Gene, I'm sorry it will never happen again. The straight life was just not bringing in enough cash. I won't ever repeat that mistake!" pleaded Drew

"You're damn right you won't!" spat the gangster in return.

The large mobster stroked his chin and continued, This is bad for you, Drew. When I'm pissed off, I don't just get angry, I get even! Imagine the scandal, reformed son-in-law of that renowned minister, backsliding to his life of crime. The papers will LOVE that. I can't imagine the toll it will take on Angie, that ever so cute wife of yours. "

The portly gangster paused, seemingly lost in thought for a moment before he continued,

"How IS that wife of yours and the kid?" I could not help but notice the last time I saw her, that sweet little Angie had dropped all the baby weight She looks better than ever. And little Suzie is what now? Two? Be a real shame if the two of them if daddy goes away to jail until Suzie graduates high school, leaving them at my mercy."

No! Please leave my family alone. They never need to be involved we can settle this between ourselves, Big Gene!"

Big Gene let Drew Henderson twist for a moment before he continued.

"We settle this, Mr. Henderson, when and how I decide to settle it. I COULD turn this little bit of information over to the boys in blue. I'm sure they would be just as happy to bring down the son-in-law of that sanctimonious, Reverend Platt as I would be. HOWEVER, having the cops sniff around my operation is not ideal, they might uncover things that will REALLY interest them. You should have stayed on the straight and narrow, Drew, now your family has to pay the price."

"No! Big Gene, leave my family alone! Do whatever you want. Put a bullet in my brain, break my knees, carve your initials in my cheek, ANYTHING but that!"

"Killing you is a waste of ammunition. Sending you to prison or maiming you teaches you nothing. What I do has to sting to guarantee that you no longer commit such a grievous bit of malfeasance. I can't stand the phony sanctimonious types like your moronic father-in-law. He rakes in as much every week as I do in a month, only HE doesn't have IRS agents camping out on his doorstep waiting for him to fart! I need to break your heart, Mr. Henderson, then you will never betray me again."

Drew loosened his suddenly too tight collar. "Please Big Gene. This was MY fuck up, Angie had nothing to do with it, Angie's father is like a second dad to me. I have a nice life insurance policy, it yours! Take me out any way you want!"

"This is not about the money, Mr. Henderson. I can buy and sell you a dozen times over. I'm not interested in your any remuneration you care to offer, Angie however, is quite interesting to me."

"Don't you dare lay a hand on her!" Screamed Drew.

The big gangster just laughed.

"On the contrary, she is going to lay her hands on me! Here is what I want, Drew, Angie as my intimate "personal assistant" for two uninterrupted weeks. She will prefer that to my threats against Suzie and her nauseating parents."

"I'll kill myself!" screamed Drew.

"Do that, and it just becomes easier to threaten her with you out of the picture. If you off yourself, I'll ask for two MONTHS instead!" sneered the hood.

"I'll turn myself in!"

"In THAT case, I make Angie my plaything for as long as you are interred!"

"Please, Big Gene, anything, anything else!"

"I don't want anything else, Drew, pal. What does the good book say about sins of the father being visited upon the son? I get what I want, Mr. Henderson. I want Angie. I'm going to send you home now so you can confess to your wife about your sins and their unfortunate consequences. Have her at my house at eight o'clock tomorrow night. And don't even think of trying to run away or calling the police. You tell NO ONE before, during, or after these two weeks. My snipers can take out a target before the cops are able to put down their donuts."

Big Gene waved his hands and Drew was dragged out of his seat, hustled out the door, and tossed into the alley behind Big Gene's hangout, his shoulder ricocheting against the overflowing trash can. Feeling lower than he ever had in his life, Drew's quivering legs at last raised his body from the asphalt and shamefully carried him home. Big Gene's goons were not hard to spot as he pulled up in front of his house.

Angie took one look at her husband's distraught expression and tear streaked face and knew that something was very wrong. While the stew simmered away to nothingness on the stove, Drew embraced his beautiful wife and, in agonizing detail, spilled out his confession and Big Gene's expectations. In his arms, the five foot five, chestnut haired woman with porcelain skin and stunning blue eyes, shivered, first with fear, and then with anger.

"How could you do this, Drew?"

"The money was too much to turn down. I know it was monumentally stupid."

"It's beyond stupid, Drew. Has our marriage meant nothing to you? Has my faith in YOU meant nothing? We get by. If we really had to we could have asked daddy for the money. I'm no more a fan of his lectures on financial responsibility as you are but he would not have turned us down. We were doing OK!"

She stepped out of her husband's embrace and asked,

"Does your faith mean so little to you? Do the people at church who believed in you mean nothing? Now, Suzie and mom and dad are in danger and I have to let a creepy evil gangster soil me physically and spiritually. You have turned your wife into a prostitute! You Jackass!"

"I'm sorry, honey!"

"Fat load of good that does me now. You have shit the bed and I'm the dump! You disgust me."

Angie's anger reached to boiling point and she forcefully punched Drew in the center of his chest.

"Our marriage is over! There is no way that I can ever trust you again. My father was right about you. Whoever you are you are NOT the man I married, in fact, you are no man at all!"

Drew listened to the rest of his wife's invective of insults and frustration. He agreed with his wife's every word. Both of them began weeping heavily. Suzie, confused at her parents emotional state, extended a hand to Angie who swept her up into her arms. For Drew the most painful words were the next ones Angie spoke as she caressed their daughter,

"It's just you and me now girl. I'm going away for a little while but when I come back we are going to have SO much fun."

Realizing he had set fire to much more than just a simple warehouse, Drew was in mental agony. Not even his first night in jail after his second conviction was anywhere near as bad. Well past midnight, Drew ate a dinner of cold leftovers and junk food. He did not even have to ask if he was expected to sleep on the couch. Angie's animosity and hostility was as intense as an arctic blast in January. Sleep was long in coming and was in no way refreshing.

Angie experienced wall to wall nightmares that were not eased upon waking. The enormity of what she was about to do was horrifying, especially for the daughter of a high profile conservative minister. Nearly as daunting was the prospect of a long lonely life as a single married woman. Her faith was such that not even this transgression merited divorce. Yet, Angie knew that she would never willingly sleep with Drew again. Her trust had been shattered in ways that she never imagined possible. When Drew had turned his life around, Angie had been overjoyed. His story of redemption had been an inspiration to every member of her father's church. Now, she wondered if he had ever believed in any of the same things she did. Still wondering who the stranger in the couch in the living room truly was, Angie frowned as daylight spilled through the curtains.

The time until eight P.M. Was the longest day either Drew or Angie had ever experienced. For many hours Angie prayed for an escape from her predicament. If that was not possible, she asked the Lord that He forgive her the many sins she was destined to commit. The first of those sins was concocting a cover story so that her parents would agree to watch Suzie for two weeks. Angie no longer trusted Drew with their daughter. Drew was too raw emotionally to put up much of a protest. Both husband and wife strode about as in a fog. Late in the afternoon, Angie begrudgingly ordered Chinese for both of them which they ate mechanically.

Angie fretted about her wardrobe until she realized that it simply did not matter. She clad herself in a tan pantsuit, as though she was dressing for an interview for a job she was not sure she wanted. She dispensed with makeup as well, her only concession, drops in her eyes to take away their red and puffy appearance. Angie had cried herself out. She was positive that she could not produce another tear even if she was exposed to a room full of freshly sliced onions. Drew put on a suit in the unlikely notion that dressing to impress would somehow ameliorate Big Gene's rage. Angie's soul twisted itself in knots as she regaled her parents with, what she hoped, was a plausible explanation for her sudden two week absence. It had been a very long time indeed since Angie had willingly lied to her parents. She could tell that her slightly avuncular, gray haired, father did not entirely buy her story, yet he was astute enough to discern its importance. The old man knew better than to try and force the truth from his only child. The Reverend, in reading his daughter's and son-in-law's expressions, grasped that something serious had occurred in their relationship. He hoped that the two week appointment was intense marriage counseling. "Or perhaps," he thought, "she just needs some time to clear her head and make some momentous decisions." He had never been entirely sold on Drew's sincerity, but he also understood that he could no longer live his daughter's life. He gathered Suzie up in his arms, and placing a comforting expression on his face, wished the couple well.

At seven fifteen Angie and Drew entered the family automobile and began the drive to the gangster's impressive suburban home. Not a word was spoken by either occupant of the car. The radio was left silent as the only sounds that filled the vehicle were those of the wheels upon the macadam and traffic noises. Angie felt her gorge rising as the car pulled to a stop at the end of the driveway of the Canoliapi mansion. She flashed her husband a last look of utter contempt. She did not wait, as was her custom, for Drew to hold the door for her. Drew offered his hand to his bride as they made their way up the steps but Angie slapped it away.

A Hispanic maid ushered the two of them into a paneled office. Big Gene Canoliapi sat behind a wide walnut desk. His face lit up when he spied Angie. Drew received the stink eye. Up close, Big Gene was everything Angie feared. A huge man with a significant paunch he had to be past fifty. His salt and pepper hair covered a large scalp above a face that might once have been handsome. Sun and drink had taken a toll on his complexion, which was not helped by the livid red scar than snaked along his jawline. He reminded Angie of a thirties movie monster. It was easy to believe that he had been cobbled together out of spare parts. Much to her own amazement she succeeded in showing no reaction when viewing his scarred countenance

"Right on time!" stated the gangster as he offered Angie his right hand; she accepted it as though it was a dead salmon.

After the two were seated Big Gene continued,

"I assume Mrs. Henderson, may I call you Angie, that your felonious husband explained the situation."

Angie took a deep breath, "Yes, Mr. Canoliapi. I understand that you are interested in me. I assure you that the feeling is not mutual, however, I will do what I must to protect my family and my parents."

The mobster smiled and replied, "If you are supremely obedient for the next two weeks, neither you nor your precious daughter or your parents will ever have a hint of my existence. I am afraid however, to ensure your compliance, my men are going to continue their unobtrusive surveillance your parent's home. I understand that Suzie is there as well."

"Please, Mr. Canoliapi, I will do whatever you ask. Please leave my family alone."

"That is now entirely up to you, Angie."

Angie's eyes grew large and a pleading look filled them as she asked,

"Why me Mr. Canoliapi?"

"Really, Angie, I'm surprised you ask that question. How did your father's sermon go on the radio last week? Something about when trouble appears in our lives don't ask, "Why me?", as instead "Why not me?""

Angie winced at one of her father's favorite homilies being regurgitated by so venial a being. She inhaled once more and replied with,

"You know what I mean."

Big Gene nodded and replied, "Indeed I do, part of the answer to that question can be found in any mirror, the rest of the answer is found in who you are. There are no perfect lives. Your father has held himself up as a man beyond reproach and his family as an easily followed path to as much perfection as found on this side of the grave. It tickles me to knock him off his pedestal, to prove that the emperor has no clothes, I will revel in that reality even IF you do manage to keep your lips sealed for the rest of your days and he never finds out about his beautiful daughter's "extracurricular" activities."

"Then why did you not strike at my father?"

"And make him into the martyr his deluded mind already thinks he is? No way."

Angie sat stonily in the appraising gaze of the mobster for a long moment before the big man began speaking again.

"Well, time is wasting. We really should begin your adventure, Mrs. Henderson. Why don't you give your husband a goodbye kiss. He will pick you up at this same time in a fortnight."

He turned to Drew and stated flatly, "I assume you will be able to find your own way out, Mr. Henderson."

Angie, not wanting to give the criminal who controlled her destiny the satisfaction of seeing just how thoroughly her marriage was already damaged, leaned over and offered her husband her lips. The kiss she provided was a bit more than chaste but was quite far from passionate. It fooled no one.

The gangster stood, approached Angie as she rose from her chair, and took her hand.

"If you will follow me Angie, dear."

He gazed as Drew as one would a wart and said simply, "Goodnight Mr. Henderson."

Angie's heart was beating so hard that the young housewife was positive that it would explode as Big Gene led her through a door further into the depths of his mansion. At one point, the big gangster confiscated her phone and purse and placed them in a wall safe. With the closure of each door behind her, Angie's fear increased. At last she was led into a large recreation room. There was pooltable, video games, televisions and a long bar lined with taps along one wall. In front of the room was a tiny stage with a pole and spotlight about a dozen men were scattered about the room some drinking or playing darts or pool. The room fell silent when Big Gene led Angie into it.

"OK boys," Big Gene announced, "I have a bit of entertainment for tonight."

He turned to Angie and informed her. I'm going to put some music on, why don't you head up to that stage and show us what you got. Keep peeling until there is nothing left to peel."

Angie mouth fell open in an oval of terror.

"I WILL NOT!" she cried.

"Already you disobey me, Angie?" Big Gene took out his cellphone and made a call.

"What's the layout, Vince?" inquired Big Gene. At his signal the room fell silent an he placed the call on speaker. A very matter of fact voice responded. "The old lady is heading up the stairs, holdin' the kid. You want me to take the shot?"

"No!" screamed Angie.

"Not at this time." replied Big Gene laconically.

He cut off the phone call looked levelly at Angie and said very firmly, " Any further refusal on your part, Angie means that someone you love WILL die. Don't make me repeat this phone call. Now get up on that stage!"

Angie gasped as she strode up the three steps to the center of the stage. A bright spotlight encircled her and raunchy music began to play over the excellent sound system. For a long moment Angie stood in the circle of light numb with fear and shame. She forced herself to begin moving. The only stripping she had ever done had been halfhearted attempts to please Drew, usually on his birthday. Never had she imagined a circumstance where someone other than her husband would be expecting her to remove her clothes. Despite the intensity of the spotlight, Angie was just able to discern Big Gene's silhouette gesturing with his cell phone.

Angie's heart leaped and she rather ungracefully bent to unfasten the straps of the heeled sandal-like shoes she was wearing. With no flair at all, she stepped out of her shoes and turned. The beat of the music was forcing its way through her mental fog. Intelligently, several beats behind the music, she cast off the jacket to the suit. With her back to the audience of criminals she began to open the buttons of her blouse.

The audience of jaded crooks witnessing Angie's debasement, found her blush of shyness at first comical and then endearing. All of the Big gene's henchmen enjoyed the view. The woman upon the stage was quite beautiful with legs that promised to be very nice and with the suit jacket off, it became obvious that she had some rather nice sized breasts. Most of the guys thought that she was far more beautiful than the strippers their boss usually hired. Angie bit her lower lip and let out a soft gasp, she tried to imagine that she was safely in her bedroom, undressing for Drew. But then, Angie realized that she didn't want Drew to ever see her naked again. Fighting back the tears she thought she had left behind, Angie faced the audience once more and opened her blouse wide. The men roared at the sight of her tightly toned tummy and her succulent hills of femininity restrained by her white lacy bra. The blouse fluttered to the floor.

Angie thought her fingers were made of iron as they had a ton of trouble opening the front button of the slacks. Not wanting to show these vile men her front, Angie turned and began working off the tan pants. The shy housewife had no idea how provocatively this caused her her red pantie clad rump to flex as the garment slid down her thighs towards her knees.

Her turn freed one of the legs from her pants and the second soon followed. Everyone could tell that the minister's daughter had very fine pins indeed. Angie became acutely aware that hr next exposure would give these hoods a view that a Christian wife was supposed to gift only her husband. She paced a bit about the stage in something approaching time to the music. Visions of her mother receiving a sniper's bullet forced her hands to the dorsal side of her bra. Her panicked fingers struggled to preform a task they had done thousands of times before. There were a few boos from the crowd and then the garment opened. Shielding herself with one hand, Angie allowed her brassier to tumble to the floor. The small group of men applauded loudly. Angie's succulent tits were a quite arousing sight. Fear made her prominent nipples become enticingly erect.