I am not sure I had ever seen Melanie so angry. In fact, I am not certain I had ever seen her angry at all. When we had been married, even during our worst argument, she had never been angry. Disappointed? Sure. Annoyed? Absolutely. Scared? More than I apparently had known. It was the main reason her betrayal had been so devastating. In an ocean of improbable outcomes, with wave after wave crashing to the shore, in my mind, Melanie abandoning me would have been a continent away. Even now, after years of self examination and a disciplined and sustained rebuilding of my confidence, I knew I would never be the same. Soul mates never give up on each other. But mine did.
Sure, he had to be desperate. The lawsuits and attorney fees totaled twelve million dollars. He was rich, that much was certain, but he wasn’t that rich. The sharks thought, in the end, that judge would award almost seven million in judgments. They tried to explain their calculations to me once. My book was called property and had a valuation, and his lawsuit had been frivolous and without merit and they had amassed a mountain of evidence to prove that he, and his lawyer, knew that very fact. It all sounded like the person spewing the better bull shit was going to win.
Still, his mistake wouldn’t leave him penniless, but it would be damn close. And, without a source of income, like the silver platter, cushy job he had been handed before, that outcome would be devastating.
It was the only thing that made sense. He had sent her. To stop me. In a final attempt to save the only thing that really mattered to him. Money.
“He needed a wife and a family.”
Melanie looked up, but still didn’t respond. I knew for certain that she had no idea what I was talking about. I had to admire his ability to keep her in the dark. I had never been able to hide even the smallest secret from her, mostly because the guilt would have eaten me alive. I guess a conscience wasn’t one of John Davis’ concerns.
“A few members of the board of directors started asking him questions. Why didn’t he have a family? When was he going to stop with the long list of woman and partying? It wasn’t that they gave a shit about him, or the women for that matter, but it had the potential to be problematic for the company. You can’t have your next CEO caught up in sex scandal. It’s bad for business. He just flat out asked Stephanie Carmichael to marry him for the money. Of course, she was banging him for cash, so he probably thought she’d just agree.”
Stephanie was what most people would call a slut, or at least that was the rumor around the plant, and her husband David was what I called an ass.
I never had any firsthand knowledge of their exploits, but I had heard the stories. Most of the time rumors are just that, but in their case, I had always believed they might be true. Stephanie Carmichael was always the woman showing a little too much skin, wearing the outfit that was just a little inappropriate, and saying something that could easily have meant something much, much different. Her husband was always the guy talking about what a hot piece of ass his wife was and trying to get guys to admit they were checking her out. I always thought she was pretty good looking for a former daytime stripper. Of course, the contents of her resume might have been just a rumor, too. Still, what would have been laughable stories about anyone else, actually seemed plausible for them. One night stands, wild house parties, swinging, pictures and videos on the internet. I had no idea if any of those things were true.
What I did know, for certain, was that David Carmichael’s was the other name crossed off the infamous list, with Stephanie’s name written in right next to it. And David had mysteriously disappeared immediately following his termination. Also, though I had always thought she was a very ditzy bleached blonde, she apparently wasn’t as dumb as she often looked.
“She has the gift tax records to prove it. Three years worth. He gave her almost a hundred and fifty grand for the twice a week treatment.”
Stephie, the name she seemed to prefer, had spilled the beans on Davis’ little seduction scheme. She also made no bones about fucking him for money.
“We had an arrangement. He was generous with his gifts and I showed him my appreciation as best I could, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at the condo that he leased for me. My husband and I appreciated his gifts, but as soon as my Davie finished nursing school and came home, I dropped that fat fucker and his tiny dick.”
She also had no problem giving a very convincing explanation of why he was still picking up a little on the side for years after he married Melanie.
I looked right at Melanie as I finished my next sentence.
“Apparently, he was looking for something he couldn’t get at home. Like anal and blow jobs.”
I wasn’t certain Stephanie had been telling the truth, until I saw the look in Melanie’s eyes. Then I knew for certain.
“Of course, she could be making it up. Because that certainly doesn’t sound like the woman I married.”
I could tell she was about to lose it. It had been almost an hour since she had even made a sound. I decided it was if I was ever going to have my pound of flesh it would have to be soon.
“So what did he tell you when he sent you here?”
“He told me to get you to stop the lawsuits by any means necessary.”
“Does he pimp you out often or just when he is about to lose his fortune?”
“He’s not my pimp. He’s my husband.”
“Hey, no judgment here. I know, first hand, what that tight little body of yours can do to a man. It makes you believe things that in reality just can’t possibly be true. So, when are we going to get to the ‘by any means necessary’ part of the show? Because, to be honest, the persuasive argument portion has become a little tedious.”
“What’s it going to take?”
She said it with such a lack of conviction. It was the only time that I allowed myself to feel even the tiniest amount of sorrow for her. It was just beyond my understanding. How could someone so beautiful, so full of life, so energetic, have such a lack of self confidence? How could that person let themselves be used in such a way? For money?
Honestly, I understood the appeal at least a little. My favorite chair had cost me well over a thousand dollars. When we furnished our first apartment, I am not sure Melanie and I spent that much on everything we owned. So, yeah, it was extravagant. It was also comfortable as shit.
Still, there was no doubt in my mind that I would trade every one of my extravagances to have just one more day alone with Melanie in our dumpy, little, first apartment. To have things be the way they were. I guess that just made us different people.