True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 04

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Husband's actions shock wife.
13.8k words
4.32
244.3k
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Part 4 of the 4 part series

Updated 10/29/2022
Created 01/04/2006
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S-Des
S-Des
3,013 Followers

Author's Note: I wish to thank the everyone that helped me with this story. Special thanks to my volunteer editor Angel Love. This chapter has some violence and no sex.

*

Michelle thought that she must be imagining things, Ryan couldn't have just said what she thought he did.

"Dead?" she heard herself repeat distantly.

"Yeah, the idiots went for a joy ride, drunk off their asses, and wound up wrapped around a tree about 100' down a ravine. Now what the hell do I do? Do you have any idea how hard it is to set up these meetings? I can't just put an ad in the paper. If you want to get out of this anytime soon, you better come up with a way to help fix this."

Michelle was at a loss, was Ryan really asking for her help in finding ways to degrade her? It was insane. He must be really desperate.

Unfortunately for Ryan, the news just kept getting worse. Keith still hadn't come back to work and when his superiors went through his files, they found a very questionable deal with Ryan without any reasonable explanation. They cancelled it, making things even tougher on Ryan's department.

After leaving, Michelle met Stacy in her office where they talked about her wildly successful date with Alan. The fact that Ryan's secretary was his Godmother was an unbelievable stroke of luck. Alan had insisted on talking to her by himself, promising that he would come by as soon as he had something to tell them.

Before she went back to work, Stacy told Michelle some of the details of her wild night with him, smiling broadly. Michelle noticed the look in her friend's eye, indicating her liaison had become far more than the recruiting mission it started out as. Michelle envied her friend's newfound happiness, hoping it lasted longer than her usual relationships.

"Just think about how much fun you missed out on because you wouldn't listen to me about what a great guy he was. You've always been too stubborn."

"Yeah, yeah," Stacy mumbled, "this from the queen of wise choices." She stopped cold as she realized the way that sounded. "Michelle, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..."

"It's Ok," Michelle interrupted. "I know what you meant." She turned away to let Stacy know she wanted to be alone. She didn't want her friend to see how much the inadvertent remark hurt.

As she walked slowly from the room, Stacy wondered if she'd ever be able to have a conversation with her friend without worrying about saying the wrong thing.

They made it through the rest of the day without saying much to each other. Stacy tried apologizing again, but Michelle assured her it wasn't necessary. Tuesday brought better news when Alan stopped by to see them. Once they were in Michelle's office, he excitedly filled them in on his progress.

"Well, I have good news and better news," he stopped, suddenly feeling a little awkward about talking to Michelle for the first time since he found out the truth.

Michelle could tell he was nervous and tried to put him at ease. "It's okay Alan," she said, touching his hand, "what going on?"

He relaxed a little, "First, I talked to Sarah. It took a while to convince her, but she is willing to help. Her only condition is that she wants to talk to Michelle first. I can promise you that she won't say anything to Ryan. She saw you coming out of his office a couple of those times," he paused, looking sadly at Michelle, "She believes you. She was so angry, I asked her to take a day off of work so that she wouldn't give anything away."

"Next," he continued, with a proud smile, "We now have a little friend helping us." He paused, enjoying the girls' confused looks. "I went into Ryan's office while he was at lunch to install some software and I made a few special upgrades. From now on, there's a file only I know about that is backing up everything he does. I'll be able to check out anything he reads or sends. I will even be able to track what sites he visits and if he does any online chats."

"Finally, I went to my friend Karen, who knows more about tech gadgets than I ever will. She gave me one of the best surveillance cameras out there. It's a fake smoke detector and will show the whole office and it records sound as well. It's wired to a recorder I set up in the empty office next door. I ran that cable and an extension chord through the ceiling. It's scary, but the whole thing only took 20 minutes to set up. I've already checked it out and you can see and hear everything he says and does in the entire room. Karen even came up with a bug I could put into Ryan's phone. It's not as reliable as the camera, but should do the job if he talks with anyone."

Stacy and Michelle sat stunned at how much he had done in such a short time. Michelle put her head in her hands and began to cry. Alan looked in alarm at Stacy, wondering if he had done something wrong.

"Michelle, this is a good thing," Stacy said softly. "We can finally get the bastard and you'll be safe."

"I know," Michelle replied. "I didn't know we could do something like this. All the things I did with them..." her voice trailed off as her sobs became uncontrollable.

Stacy was about to move from her chair, but Alan beat her to it. He took Michelle's hand, "A lot of people don't know about all these things. You didn't have access to his office and the one being rehabbed next door. If you had tried this and been caught, something really bad might have happened. This isn't the time to blame yourself, you need to focus on keeping it together until we get something solid on him, Ok?"

Stacy flushed with pride as she watched him comfort her friend. Michelle raised her head, "But you don't understand, I've let them do such horrible things." Alan interrupted her by gently wiping a tear away with his thumb.

"Now you get a chance to pay him back," he said firmly, staring into her eyes. "When you tell your husband, you'll be able to prove you didn't have a choice." He noticed an alarmed look in Stacy's eyes and he quickly changed the subject. "I'll keep an eye on things and let you know if I find out anything, all right?"

Michelle nodded gratefully and hugged him before he left. Stacy walked him out of the office. When they were out of earshot, he turned and asked, "What was that about, why did you give me that look."

"Well, I didn't want her to worry about Mike right now," she stammered.

Alan looked at her very hard, "Stacy, you promised me no more lies. If you're not telling me something, we're going to have a big problem. I'm sticking my neck way out for you on nothing but your word."

"I can't Alan," she begged quietly, "It's not my secret to tell." He began to look angry, so she thought quickly. "I need to make a phone call. If you'll just give me a little time, I promise I'll tell you everything. There are some things I just can't say unless I have permission...please."

He seemed to think for a moment, then spoke. "I want you to talk to me before the end of the day or there won't be anything for us to talk about. Do you understand?"

Stacy nodded, then pulled him into a hug and kissed him. "That's for being so brilliant and trying to help my friend. If I can get permission to tell you everything, I'll give you something much better afterwards." Alan smiled despite his annoyance. She was positively adorable.

"...You have to let me tell him," Stacy demanded. "He has already done more than Michelle and I were able to in almost two months. He's taking a huge chance with his career and even putting himself in danger because I asked him to." She paused, "Mike, he's really special and I like him. Please don't ask me to push him away. I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone for any reason, but please, just let me tell Alan."

Mike thought for a long time. Stacy had done so much to help him and to keep Michelle safe. He didn't want her to be hurt over this. Plus this guy was taking unbelievable chances to help them. "Can you promise that he can be trusted? We're talking about me risking everything on some guy I've never even met."

"I'm sure you can trust him. He's already doing some really hairy stuff to help us. I won't tell him everything, I promise. Just let me be honest with him so I don't lose him."

Mike finally agreed, hoping this wasn't getting even more out of control than it already was.

~~~~~~

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Alan said in disbelief.

Stacy didn't hesitate. "That's the truth, I swear. Now do you understand why I couldn't tell you."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just never thought..." he trailed off as he wondered what the hell he had gotten involved in. "Well, I guess if it was my wife I'd think about it, but damn that's just crazy. Can he really pull it off?"

Stacy looked unsure, "I don't know. It's already so screwed up, I'm really worried about him. This whole thing is such a nightmare," she said shaking her head. She put her leg over his and pulled herself into his lap, leaning her head into his shoulder. "I really need you tonight, all right. Please make love to me."

Alan picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, where they made love, then held each other for hours. Neither could fall asleep, disturbed by what had already happened, but even more by the thought of what was coming.

~~~~~~

Wednesday, Sarah finally had the chance to talk to Michelle. The older woman promised to do anything she could to help and that no one would ever find out what she knew, no matter what. Michelle felt a little better after talking with her, even though it was incredibly embarrassing to have another person know about her secret.

That night, Mike told Michelle that he needed to go out of town again and begged her indulgence for a little while longer. He was going to leave Thursday and wouldn't return until Sunday afternoon. She was concerned about his going away again, but considering what she had put him through, how could she complain?

Friday went without incident until the end of the day. Ryan popped by her office unannounced and ordered her to go out with him and the guys to blow off steam. She thought frantically about what to do, but couldn't think of any way out of it. She had been firm about deciding to refuse Ryan no matter what, but wasn't prepared for this.

If Michelle refused, they probably would never get the chance to find evidence against Ryan. Mike was out of town, so she couldn't be sure she'd be safe. Alan had done something that could ruin his career to help. As she thought about how much was riding on what happened, Michelle reluctantly agreed to go, hoping once Ryan left the office, she and Stacy could think of something.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked her friend. "Do we give up everything now? All the things that bastard made me do and he'll just be able to walk away. "

Stacy was about to say something when Alan ran into the office, breathing heavily. "You can't go. It's a trap!"

"What are you talking about?" Michelle asked.

"Sarah warned me that something was wrong, so I went to the office and pulled today's tape. He was making plans with John and Paul. He said they were going to take you to Tony's."

Michelle felt her knees give out as she fell back against her desk. "Why, I haven't done anything wrong?" Even as she said it, she knew the answer. Ryan was a sadistic pig and wanted to take out his frustration over what had been going on. Once she went along with them, it would be too late for her to say no.

"But he wants me to go in an hour, what can I do? Is there anything from the tape that we can use?"

Alan shook his head. "It sounds bad since we know what's going on, but he could just say that you agreed to go. If they find out about the camera now, I'm screwed because there's nothing to warrant what I've done besides your word."

Stacy racked her brain frantically. Mike would kill her if she let Michelle go with them. "I don't care what the consequences are. You can't go. Remember how bad Tony hurt you last time, and that was by himself."

Michelle paced as she tried to come up with some way to get out of this without putting herself in danger or ruining their chance to get Ryan. They were so close. She couldn't give up now. Then it hit her. "Guys, give me a second, I have to make a call."

Jim was in the middle of a sales meeting with a client when his secretary knocked on the door. "Beth, I asked not to be disturbed."

"Yes sir, but it's your daughter. She says it's an emergency."

He excused himself and picked up the phone. After a brief conversation, he became very agitated. "I don't understand," he said. There was a flurry of conversation on the other end, then he said, "Don't worry, I'll be there."

He turned back to the client. "Dave, I'm sorry but I have to leave right now." He turned and hurried from the room, not even giving the man a chance to ask what was wrong.

As he sped along the highway toward Michelle's work, Jim tried making sense of the conversation on the phone. "Dad, you have to help me, right now. There are some men that are going to hurt me unless you can get here before I have to go with them." When he told her he didn't understand, she became painfully specific. "It's the people who caused Mike's accident. They've been making me do things." As she paused, trying to find a way to continue, Jim briefly thought about asking exactly what she meant, but was afraid of the answer. "They threatened to kill him if I didn't do what they told me to."

"I just found out they want me to come with them somewhere and they're planning to hurt me. I can't go to the police and Mike's out of town. If you don't get here before 5:00, I have to go with them. Please help me." He could feel his heart breaking at the sound of his daughter's pain.

"There isn't time to explain," she continued, "But you have to come up with a reason why I have to go with you. If they don't believe it, Mike and I are both in danger."

Jim saw the exit he had to take and realized he only had a few minutes to come up with some kind of excuse for something he couldn't even begin to fathom. Even though he wanted to use the baseball bat he always kept behind his seat, he kept telling himself he had to trust his daughter that this situation was dangerous. He couldn't imagine how something like this could have happened, but tried to clear his head. He looked at his watch and saw that it was already 5:00. She was his little girl, if anything happened to her...

He forced himself to stop thinking like that as he swerved, narrowly avoiding an accident. He swore to himself that whoever was responsible would wish that all he was doing was using a bat on them.

Michelle left the office slowly, trying to think of some way to stall. As she walked out the door, Ryan pulled up in front of her in his Mercedes. She looked in to see John and Paul sitting in the back seat. She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle when she was startled by the screeching of tires. She looked up to see her dad's car slide to a stop just a few feet away from her.

"What the hell?" Ryan yelled as he got out of the front seat.

Jim quickly pulled himself out of his car. "Michelle, thank goodness I caught you, Stacy said you left."

Michelle tried to appear surprised instead of showing the incredible relief she actually felt. "Dad, what's wrong?" she asked. She hadn't had time to explain everything to him, so she could only hope that he understood enough about the situation to come up with an excuse that Ryan would have to accept without suspecting anything.

"It's your Mom," he said, running up to her. "She's at the hospital and they think she's had a heart attack. I just got the call while I was on my way home. When Stacy couldn't find you, I was so worried that you were gone. I had to come find you." He hugged Michelle and took a second to assess the situation. He expected to see mobsters or thugs, but instead saw three well-dressed businessmen in a fancy car. He knew Michelle would never have said the things she did unless she was serious, so he wanted to get her out of there as fast as possible. "We have to go now."

As they turned to walk away, Michelle heard Ryan mutter in frustration. When they got in the car, Jim put it in reverse and pulled quickly away.

During the trip to her house, Michelle checked the rearview mirror constantly, making sure Ryan wasn't following them. She couldn't believe the level of paranoia that she felt. This situation had obviously pushed her past her breaking point. When they got to her house, they went inside where Michelle made them both some tea. Then she did the second hardest thing she could imagine, telling her father everything.

When she finished, he held her as she cried. He wanted to go home and get his gun, but she begged him not to. "Now that Alan is helping, we really believe we can prove I'm innocent and send his ass to jail," she said bitterly.

"You mean you'd be willing to go along with them for a while longer? You can't be that worried about this embezzlement nonsense, Michelle. There's no way for him to frame you for something like that. It wouldn't hold up in court."

"No, I won't let him touch me," she said, avoiding his eyes. "He just caught me by surprise today. They haven't tried anything in weeks, so I thought there was still time to get evidence against him before I had to tell Mike. Forget about the blackmail, if I can't prove my story, Ryan's going to get away with everything. The worst thing he'd have to face is getting fired." Michelle paused, "If I can't prove they were threatening Mike's life, how can I ever face him?"

"Michelle," he scolded softly, "he's your husband. You don't have to go through this to prove something to him."

"Yes I do," she said firmly. "I should have told him the day Ryan made a pass at me. Everything that happened after that is my fault for keeping it from him. Now I'm in so much trouble that I need to at least be able to convince him that I didn't do this for myself. I don't expect him to forgive me, but if I can prove they forced me, maybe he won't hate me afterwards." Her father just shook his head, wondering how any man could deal with what Mike would be hit with.

Later, Jim took her back to work and picked up her car. She followed him back to her parent's house where she spent the rest of the weekend. Sunday, Michelle and both her parents went to her house where they waited for Mike to get back. When he came home in the afternoon, Michelle and Mary worked on lunch for everyone while Mike went downstairs for his workout.

When Jim made his way down the stairs later, he could hear Mike hitting the heavy bag hard. They had anchored it at both ends so he could work his kickboxing practice along with punching. Mike hadn't seriously worked on his martial arts in years, but had used it to rehab from the accident. Once he found out about what happened to Michelle, he had been working at an insane pace that he couldn't hope to sustain. It didn't matter because he knew he had to be ready, for Michelle's sake. Right now he was giving the bag an incredible workout.

"Easy Mike, you're going to break something."

Mike never looked back at him but muttered under his breath, "I don't care."

That comment didn't go unnoticed by his father-in-law. "What's that supposed to mean," he said suspiciously.

Mike paused to catch his breath and leaned his head against the bag. "It means that if you hadn't been there Friday, what would have happened would have been all my fault."

Jim was caught off guard. "How did you find out?"

"Stacy called me while Michelle was calling you. She kept me updated until you picked her up. That son of a bitch did something out of his normal routine and surprised me. I'm sure he was planning something really bad. If you hadn't been there..." He started hitting the bag again, trying to find some way to vent his frustration.

S-Des
S-Des
3,013 Followers