Secrets

"I did nothing," Gareth said indignantly. "It was her, she just went fucking mental."

Matthew rubbed his chin and hesitated. He had known Katie for a long time and while she had a temper, she was not overly impulsive, there had to be something else.

"Did you cheat on her?" Matthew asked and Gareth shovelled the last of his curry into his mouth.

"Fuck no." He scowled, spraying rice over his trousers and looked back at the television screen. "She decided she didn't like my porn any more."

Matthew sighed. "It's not kiddie porn is it?"

Gareth's scowl turned to a grimace. "No it isn't," he said indignantly. "You really think I'm one of those 'paedos?"

Matthew spluttered a half-hearted apology. "Well you do have weird tastes in porn," he replied and grunted, picking up his book. "I mean I think not, but it wouldn't surprise me what you watch."

"It was some bondage porn, OK? Some girl beating a guy up and doing stuff." Matthew froze, he didn't want his friend to elaborate on his fantasy and left the rest of the question unanswered. He bade his friend good night and ambled into his room, he would need his rest.

Matthew woke at 4am and saw his friend asleep on the couch, a film blaring in the background and turned it off, before returning to his bed. Gareth was barely awake as he darted in and out of the room, trying to iron his smartest shirt while eating some cereal and then frantically getting ready.

"Suit? You are wearing a suit? What are you going for, mega manager or somethink?"Matthew brushed him off and ran out of the room with his file in his hand, bidding his friend farewell.

The company was based in the same town where he lived, and although he only had to catch one bus, he left in plenty of time and arrived an hour early. After sitting down and drinking a coffee at one of the four coffee shops in the out-of-town industrial park, Matthew wandered over to his destination a mere thirty minutes early.

Matthew was shaking as the receptionist beckoned him into the side room; it had been a few years since he had gone for a job interview and was incredibly nervous. He had to check his suit still fit him and was a little disappointed that the trousers were a lot tighter than he remembered to the point of them being almost uncomfortable.

He put that down to the dry cleaning, if tumble drying could shrink clothes then it stood to reason that the big machines his local cleaners used, which looked like tumble dryers could do so also.

The suit was, however, the least of his worries. When and if, Joseph found about his role in Katherine's pregnancy he would be fired and wanted to leave his place of work before he was found out. He really did want to be accused of taking advantage or raping Katherine across the office, or being the butt of the office gossip, he wanted out and it was why he had applied for several jobs at competing software houses in the local area.

Matthew was introduced to Kieran, the Development Manager at High Energy Games, and Samuel, the Managing Director, and they shook hands. They welcomed him and passed him a bottle of water before settling down and asking questions.

Matthew answered confidently and truthfully until they asked about why he was leaving his current employer, and obviously not wanting to disclose the story about Katherine he spun the interviewers a line about wanting a new challenge. They smiled at him and Matthew forced a smile back.

The technical challenge that followed the interview was no more tougher than the questions he was asked and he was passed a laptop and asked to code a simple application which he did in no time and then demonstrated it on the emulator.

It took almost two hours but Matthew was confident, he might just escape his destiny in the office with Joseph. Not that this made him any happier and sat down on a park bench with a sandwich looking out over the small grassy football pitch and assorted swings and slides.

Whichever way he looked at it, he was going to be a father in a few weeks time, a young girl was bringing a child into the world and it was his fault. He rubbed his eyes and exhaled sharply, making a decision that if he needed to give Katherine some money of their baby, he just didn't know how to pass her money without her knowing why.

A hand came over Charlotte's face and she struggled before being pushed down onto her sofa. She looked into his eyes and groaned. "Ethan. This is my home. You can't break in–"

Ethan interrupted her by striking her across the face with his gloved hand. "I'll do what I fuckin' like when bitches owe me cash. Nice house you got here, lot of nice things."

Charlotte bit her lip. "Go, please go." Ethan looked down at the mother in her nightie and grunted as Charlotte desperately tried to preserve her modesty.

"Fuck off," he grunted and looked around the room. "Where's my money?"

"I'm getting it," Charlotte cried. "You said I had until the end of the week."

Ethan pursed his lips. "Yeah, well. I want to make sure I'm gonna get paid."

Charlotte sniffed. "You will, you will."

Ethan chortled. "Yeah well, I think a little reminder is in order." He walked over to her and undid his belt.

"Oh no," Charlotte cried and Ethan grabbed her wrists.

"Oh yes, unless you want me to tell other members of your family what a dirty little whore you were."

Charlotte sniffed and brought her knees up, clenching them together. Ethan withdrew a knife from his belt before his trousers slid to the floor and he held up the blade to Charlotte.

"Do as I say unless you want my blade up your cunt." Charlotte shrieked, she was terrified, and her eyes were fixed on the cold weapon being waved in front of her. Ethan grunted and stepped out of his jeans, all the time ensuring that his eyes were focused on the knife.

Charlotte was sobbing, she knew no-one would hear her scream if she yelled out and just kept watching the knife in front of her face, seeing Ethan gently stroke himself to an erection in her peripheral vision.

She did not want to give him sex but Ethan just grunted as he climbed on top of her, prising her knees apart and causing her nightdress to ride up to expose her tan lines. She thought of running or hitting him, but she was too preoccupied by the blade, she knew he would kill her and think nothing of it if she tried to fight.

"Please," she cried, pleading with her attacker and tears streaming down her cheek. She tried to push him away but Ethan grunted and raised his other hand, slapping her across the face and then pushed the knife onto her throat.

"Shut it," he hissed and moved his erect penis into her crotch, impaling her unprepared body on his organ. She squealed in pain through the tears, she wasn't ready, and he was rough as he mercilessly pounded himself into her.

Charlotte sobbed uncontrollably crying in pain with every thrust he made into her unprotected loins. She was dry, and he was showing her no mercy. She felt the coldness of the blade press against her windpipe and he was pushing her further into the leather sofa, his elbows pressing against hers to restrain her.

"Fuckin' love this, you fuckin' slut," he sneered and grunted as she felt his cock twitch and he stopped ramming his cock into her and just felt him shoot several waves of semen into her.

She cried. "Get off me," she squealed and Ethan withdrew rubbing his leaking phallus on a cushion and then tossing it over to her. Charlotte howled in shock and her grabbed a tissue to wipe herself, seeing a few specks of blood on the paper towel.

"Don't get knocked up," he warned her with a smirk "And next time, I'll do that to Kat," he warned her as he quickly got dressed. Charlotte gasped and shook her head.

"Please no," she wailed and Ethan grunted.

"I want my money Friday. You have until 5pm."

"But that's two days away," Charlotte cried through the tears. "You said I had until Sunday."

Ethan gave her a rakish smile. "Give me the cunt of your daughter and you can have until Sunday."

Charlotte burst into tears as Ethan left the room subtly grabbing hold of a diamond necklace as he walked out of the door leaving Charlotte crying uncontrollably on the sofa.

Charlotte knew she should report the attack, but she also knew Ethan would hurt her children if she did, and she would have to explain to Joseph about her odd gamble; it was something she couldn't afford to do and struggled to her feet tentatively walking towards the stairs and her bathroom.

If she wasn't going to report it, she needed to be clean.

Chapter XV

"More champagne, Mr Mason," the stewardess asked and Paul nodded. The plane was two-thirds of the way over the Atlantic and he had more than enough money in his secret bank accounts to fund the life he wanted once he touched down in the Caribbean.

Paul stretched out and made a theatrical groaning sound as he pushed his arms up in front of him. The rotund man looked at his watch, "Joe" would be getting into the office and he felt a pang of guilt: he had known Joseph and his family for years but he had always wanted a place in the Caribbean – an immoral bachelor pad – and now he had one, as well as hundreds of thousands of pounds in an offshore account.

He had what he wanted and it was Joseph's fault anyway; he should never have been so trusting in business, didn't he know everyone was in it for themselves? Business was ruthless, no room for sentiment and Paul had used his position to get rich, something any half-decent businessman would have done.

Sarah called out across the executive office. "Joe, it's the bank on the phone. They need to talk to Paul or you urgently."

Joseph grunted. "Where is Paul?"

Sarah shrugged. "There's nothing in the diary."

"Oh pass them through," Joseph muttered and picked up his phone when it rang as Sarah transferred the call. "Joseph Wilson," he answered confidently and then went white.

Sarah watched concerned as Joseph argued about "there being a mistake." There was no way that the company had borrowed hundreds of thousands of pounds, or that their working capital had been exhausted, or that DirectDebits were being returned and certainly the automated payments for the wages due today should not have been returned unpaid: the company had loads of money, Paul and their accountants always assured him that they had were well financed.

"There must have been some fraud then," Joseph told the lady on the end of the phone and strode over to Paul's desk wrenching it open. He searched for the ledger that his Financial Director kept and picked up the huge book, striding back towards his desk.

"What's up?" Sarah asked and Joseph ignored her, his eyes drawn towards a letter in the book on the most recent page addressed to him. Joseph groaned, this was not going to be good news, and he wrenched open the envelope.

"Dear Joseph, by now you will know my secret in that I have emptied the company bank accounts and fled the country. I'm sorry, but I couldn't face working for the rest of my life in this shitty town. All I can say is that I am a long way away from you, and I know you will wonder how I can have done this, but I know you are fucking Sarah behind Charlotte's back. I am no less of a cheating cunt than you. The staff wages are in my bottom drawer, good luck telling them they are all out of work. Paul. P.S. Sorry it had to end like this."

"The fucking bastard," Joseph cried out and Sarah looked at him. Joseph picked up the phone and told her that he would ring her back later, and that he needed to speak to his co-director.

"What's up?" Sarah asked concerned as Joseph threw the ledger showing that the company had over £300,000 in credit across the room.

Joseph pulled open the bottom drawer, breaking the lock on the flimsy cabinet, and took out a tray of envelopes each one filled with notes and looked at Sarah. "Paul's fucked us," he said without emotion and sat down at the desk rubbing his forehead. "Fucked us good time."

"Fucked us? What does that mean, Joseph?"

Joseph rubbed his eye and looked out of the window. "It means he has emptied our bank accounts and left the country. He has ruined everything."

He rubbed his hair and stood up as Sarah shrieked, his mind was still trying to work out just how Paul could have done such a thing. "Oh my God Joe, what does this mean?" He leant over to kiss her on the lips and then taking the tray of envelopes strode into the main office, he had to tell the staff something.

Joseph explained what he knew and handed out the envelopes, each one with the employee's name written in Paul's lazy handwriting, and they stared ashen-faced at the co-owner. Some were tearful, others angry, but as Joseph explained, he did not know what was happening until an hour ago and had no idea if he could save the company or not.

Joseph was popular in the office, he was rightly believed and even the angry employees directed their vitriol towards the absent director not Joseph. "Go home," he told them. "And take tomorrow off. I'll know on Monday," he promised and watched as all but two of his employees left the office.

"I'll be awhile," he told Matthew as he watched him count through his bundle of notes.

"I know," Matthew replied mournfully and stared at the envelope. "But I thought you might want some help."

Joseph snorted. "I don't know where to start," he muttered and looked at Sarah hesitating in the doorway. "Go home," he told him. "And update your CV, there is nothing you can do here."

Matthew nodded and Joseph watched him pick up his things and leave the office. "And don't tell Charlotte, please."

"No I won't," Matthew promised and wandered out of the building. His phone rang the moment he stepped into the sunlight, him idly answering it before checking who it was.

"Matthew, it's Kieran from High Energy Games Ltd."

Matthew was snapped out of his daydream and shook his head. "Oh sorry, yes, hi."

"Right, I'm ringing to offer you the post. We were very impressed with you and think you are right for us. We'd like to offer you £28,750 with an uplift of five percent if you pass probation."

Matthew gave a sharp intake of breath and smiled at his phone. "Yeah, yes, I'd love to take it. Yeah, that's brilliant."

There was sniff down the end of the phone. "Umm, right I'll stick the contract in the post. Obviously, we would need to discuss start date."

Matthew sighed. "Ahh right, this isn't easy, but my existing employer may just have collapsed, ummm, there's been some fraud at the director level, so that might be real soon if you want."

"Wow," Kieran replied in shock. "I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, umm, as soon as references come back we can talk. I'll put a reference request in the post."

Matthew looked back at his employer and turned around, he needed to speak to Joseph about the job. If Expressive Games Ltd was about to collapse, he needed to make sure his reference requests would be responded to and pushed open the double doors at the bottom of the office block.

He heard the sounds the moment he opened the door to Expressive Games. A panting, a furious squealing. What was happening? What was going on?

He quietly edged along the corridor and peered through the window unto the executive office, and gasped in shock, Joseph was having sex with Sarah on his desk, and he immediately dodged out of sight.

Did Charlotte know? Should he tell her? He looked back, took out his phone, and surreptitiously snapped a photograph of the two adults screwing on the desk, it might just be needed if Joseph found out about Katherine and his behaviour at the Christmas Party; it was a good insurance.

Matthew quietly walked out of his employer and picked up his phone, texting Joseph, "I have a new job. Just need references. Please ring when free. Matt."

He scowled at the building thinking of Joseph, he had always been a bit of a father figure to him, someone who he had looked up to. It was natural, Joseph was successful and had a loving family and Matthew was just starting out in the world, but he was cheating on his wife, on Charlotte. His perfect family life was a mirage and he found it faintly depressing.

He sighed and walked around to his bank to pay in some of his money, he would use a thousand pounds of it to give to Katherine, just as he had promised himself, which would pay for quite a few baby things. Matthew had resigned himself to using some of his savings not to get onto the property ladder as originally intended but to ensure that his child had a proper start in life.

Matthew knocked sharply on the door to Katherine's house and waited. He knew Charlotte was in, her car was on the drive, but he needed to see the teenager. The one thousand pounds was burning a hole in his jacket pocket and he wondered if his story would hold up. Would Katherine get suspicious? Would Joseph get suspicious if he knew?

He knocked again and there was running footsteps to the door. "Oh hello Matt."

Matthew smiled. "Is Katherine in?"

Charlotte hesitated and shook her head. "No, why, what's up?"

Matthew pursed his lips together and took an envelope out of his pocket passing it to her. "Please can you give her that?"

Charlotte looked down at the burgeoning package and frowned slightly. "Sure, what is it?"

Matthew took a deep breath. "I, um, I bullied my credit card provider into giving me some money back that they took," he lied, his heart beating furiously. "And they sent it, but I think that Katherine needs it far more than I do."

Charlotte's lips curled and then she glanced down at the package. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. It was just a refund. What she doesn't need can go to the baby in a trust fund, I think she needs it, she is expecting it."

Charlotte looked down and nodded, thanking him. "That's um, very generous of you. I'll pass it onto her." Matthew hesitated and then left. For Charlotte she scrambled to count the money and put aside two hundred pounds putting it back in the envelope – the rest would pay for Ethan. Charlotte looked up at the ceiling, muttering a silent "thank you" to God: Matthew's generosity had saved her.

Ethan was surprised and a little disappointed to see Charlotte, she threw the money onto the table in front of him in full view of the pub and a number of eyes turned to watch him. Ethan scrambled the money up and glared at the woman who glowered angrily at him and spoke agressively. "You paid up now?"

Ethan scowled and pushed the money under the table, counting it out of sight. "Yeah," he replied gruffly. "Pity, I was going to enjoy fucking up your daughter."

"Tell me," Charlotte asked, her arms extended and looking at the moneylender. "Do your friends know that you rape women? Defenceless woman? And then threaten pregnant teenagers? Do your friends know you are a NONCE?" There was an intake of breath as all eyes looked at Ethan.

"I'd shut the fuck up now if I was you," he hissed and waved his fingers in front of him. "I know where your daughter is, and–"

" And if you touch my daughter, I will not rest until I have ripped your–"

"Shut it," he interrupted and returned to his pint of beer. The silence in the pub evaporated and everyone turned back to their own conversation. "You've paid. Now get the fuck out of my sight."

"I want my ring back," she said and he grunted. "It was my engagement ring. I want it back."

"No chance love, now get the fuck out of here."

"I want my ring back," she said firmly, her eyes fizzing with anger and he stood up, pushing her against the wall. "I had to pawn some jewellery to pay you, I want my engagement ring back."

"I said, get the fuck out of here," he hissed at her, his hand pushing against her throat. "You ain't getting that ring back because I used it to pay off ya debts. Now unless you want me to go fucking up your daughter, fuck off," he barked at her, his eyes boring into her face. He took a deep breath and spat at her, causing Charlotte to wipe her face in disgust.