A Tangled Web Ch. 02

As Maggie looked in horror through some of the nearly 900 videos on the site, all she could think to ask was... "What kind of monster did I marry?" She had started with the most recent videos, so the extreme degradation and humiliation of the husband of one of Bruce's sex partners was one of the first things she noticed. Her idiot husband had organized all but the most recent videos by folders presumably labeled after the woman's first name. Over the last two hours, Maggie had viewed portions of videos throughout the folder labeled "Cindy." Even from the limited viewing she had done, it was clear that her husband had gradually worn down a woman until she said, and did, the most unspeakable things.

Maggie also found a text file in the "Admin" folder containing Brue's notes with ideas he had thought of to humiliate "Dan." One telling notation read, "Steal my clients, and I'll steal your wife. Steal my clients, and I'll steal your life."

Maggie knew she needed to find whomever this Dan person was, and fast.

Maggie called her friend Nancy, who also happened to be a divorce attorney. Bruce's father had the couple sign an airtight prenup to ensure the marriage dissolution terms, so Maggie already knew what she'd be left with. Instead, Maggie was looking for her friend's help finding a P.I. who could identify the Dan discussed in the videos.

Nancy invited Maggie over to her house, saying that with that many hours of videos, it was unlikely a P.I. would be needed to identify the parties involved. She said she was happy to help Maggie save money by working with her to identify people in the videos. She would also help her copy the videos to another cloud service and preserve them, in case Bruce decided to delete the videos from his account. Unfortunately, the sheer number of high-definition videos would make this a costly endeavor.

That evening, Maggie stayed at Nancy's house, texting Bruce that they were having a girl's night. She figured he was probably having sex, or drinking, and wouldn't even care. Thirty minutes later, she received his response..."Okay, have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do! :-) "

Maggie thought the last sentence was unnecessary. She could no longer imagine anything Bruce wouldn't do.

******

By 11 PM that evening, the two women had pieced together who Cindy and Dan were from conversations in the videos. A quick google search confirmed there was a Cindy and Dan Caddel, and the internet image of Cindy matched the person in the videos. After that, Dan's occupation and office phone number were also easy to find.

However, it took until 9 AM the following day before all videos were copied to the new cloud service. Nancy suggested deleting the videos from Bruce's cloud service so he couldn't do anything with them, but Maggie wanted to contact Dan first. She knew that once the videos were deleted, Bruce would realize he'd been discovered, and she wasn't sure she was prepared for that just yet.

At 10 AM, Maggie called Dan's office and spoke with Dan's personal assistant, Molly. Not wanting to reveal the personal nature of her call, Maggie said she was from the Chicago Department of Buildings and needed to speak with Dan Caddel as soon as possible. Dan was at his desk, so Molly transferred the call to him after informing him of the caller.

"Hello. This is Dan Caddel."

"Hi Dan, my name is Maggie, and I have an urgent personal matter to discuss with you. I apologize for misrepresenting myself to your colleague, but I think you'll soon be thankful for my discretion. Is there somewhere I could meet with you briefly today?"

"Maggie, I'm sorry, but you're not giving me enough information to know whether meeting you is a good idea." The urgency in her voice added to her credibility, but Dan didn't know what was going on. He thought he might even be being set up to look like he was having an affair with this woman.

"I understand, Dan. I'm sorry. Are we the only two people on this line?"

"Yes, Molly transferred the call and doesn't monitor them."

"Ok, Dan. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I just learned that my husband is having an affair with your wife. And I have evidence that the affair has been going on a long time."

Perhaps in some strange measure of self-preservation, Dan's brain didn't initially process what she had said. So he had to ask her to repeat it. Once she did, his stomach dropped, and he felt sick.

She continued, "I need to meet with you before you tell anyone, or confront Cindy, because I haven't even told you the worst part. There are difficult things you need to see and hear."

"I don't believe you. Cindy would never cheat!" Dan exclaimed, far more confidently than he felt.

"She was targeted, Dan, by a man who went to hell and back to corrupt her. And he did it because he was jealous of your success and wanted payback."

"What?! Who is your husband?"

"Bruce Webb."

"Never heard of him! How does he know me?"

"He's the son of Jack Webb, the owner of Foundstone. You've been credited with winning many contacts he was competing for. I don't know all the details, but I know he wants to destroy your marriage, self-esteem, and perhaps more. Again, I'm so sorry...but please trust me, we need to meet before you tell anyone."

Dan instinctively knew Maggie wasn't lying. Despite, or perhaps because of, the bizarre story, Dan felt it was true. He was pretty good at reading people, and all of Maggie's vocal inflections and her pacing seemed earnest.

"Okay, Maggie. Where do you want to meet?"

"I can meet you at the Starbucks Reserve on North Michigan Avenue in as soon as an hour."

"I'll see you in an hour." Dan hung up the phone before realizing he had no idea what Maggie looked like or how he'd identify her at the multi-level coffee shop.

******

Dan pulled his black Audi A6 in front of the coffee shop and entered the front door. He needn't have worried about finding Maggie because she immediately recognized him from photos on MW Design's website.

"Hi, Dan. I'm Maggie. Thanks for coming." She said as she shook Dan's hand. He looked attractive in his photo, but she discovered he was even more handsome in person. He was shocked that his mystery caller was pretty enough to be a morning TV news anchor and was disarmed, yet tentative, when responding to her greeting.

"Let me buy you a drink, and then we'll talk."

"Thanks. I'll have an Americano, black."

Bruce picked out a table in the back corner of the shop. Minutes later, Maggie approached the table with his drink and a vanilla latte.

"Dan, my husband is an evil man. I've known for some time that he's a liar, a cheater, and a physically-abusive husband. But only yesterday did I discover the depths of his depravity. I found an internet cloud account with over 900 videos of women Bruce has seduced over the past few years."

"He seems to have a place where he can perform massages and record them. One hundred and sixty of those videos feature your wife, Cindy. However, some are sort of duplicates in that they are from different cameras during the same meetings. Still, it appears that Bruce and Cindy have been meeting close to twice a week for the past year."

Maggie paused to give Dan time to process the information she shared. It broke her heart that tears were already forming in his eyes, and she hadn't gotten to the worst part.

"Bruce acted like a predator when it came to your wife. The videos show Bruce coaxing Cindy to do things to belittle and betray you a little more each time. Your wife resisted most of it for a long time, but eventually, he wore her down. Now they spend much of their time degrading you during sex. Based on the things he has gotten her to say and do, I'm fairly confident that he'll look to send you and others videos of the depravity. I'm afraid of what he has planned."

"I don't know what to say, Maggie. I've loved Cindy with all my heart since we met in college. She knew an affair had rocked my family and assured me she would never cheat. I'm devastated."

Maggie risked reaching across the table to cover his hand with hers. "Dan, I know you may or may not want to talk to others about this. So please know I'm here for you."

"I'm going to give you the address, username, and password for the location of the videos. I only ask that we speak again before you take any action. Okay?"

"Our lives are inexorably linked now, and anything you do also affects me—to include anything that would tip him off that he has been discovered. I have a prenup, and under its terms, the reason for my divorce is irrelevant. However, I will be in physical danger and need to be prepared. I also need to reveal the existence of these tapes to my parents before Bruce talks to them, if I have any hope of saving my relationship with them."

"Feel free to copy any of his videos to your cloud account. We can then discuss whether or when to delete the videos in his account." Dan nodded his agreement.

Maggie handed Dan a paper with the information he'd need to access the videos, along with her cell phone number.

"Dan, how you react to the videos may be influenced by which ones you view first. You need to see the most recent ones, but I highly suggest you start at the beginning."

"Please call me when you're ready to discuss next steps, or if you just need someone to talk to."

"Thanks, Maggie. I'm more grateful to you than I'm able to show right now. I will be in touch soon."

Maggie gave him a sympathetic smile and took the rest of her coffee to go. Dan logged into the cloud service on his phone and found the "Cindy" folder. He clicked on a random video from five months ago. Fast forwarding, it took Dan less than 30 seconds to confirm that Cindy had an affair. He logged out of the site and left his untouched coffee behind.

******

Dan knew he needed time away from work to figure out what to do next. So when he returned to work, he went straight to Eric's office. Eric's personal assistant, Beverly, could tell something was wrong and waved Dan towards Eric's open door.

"Eric, I need to take some time off to deal with an urgent personal matter."

"Dan, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope everyone is okay. But listen, I can't afford to lose you during the next two weeks as we get ready to start the big project." Eric quickly regretted that his sympathetic words lacked any emotion, but he knew he couldn't lose Dan right now.

"Everyone is okay health-wise, but this job is costing me my wife. I need to take some time to see if I can salvage my marriage." Dan was embarrassed to reveal his problem, but it was clear he needed to make a stronger case, or he would be denied time off.

"I'm sorry, Dan. Truly, I am. But I can't lose you right now. If an extra hour or two at home in the mornings would help, I could live with that. But you need to remind your wife that what you do for this company is what pays for her life too."

"Is that what you told your wife before she died?" A suddenly furious Dan fumed. The realization of Maggie's news was beginning to sink in and likely contributed to his sharp reply. But he also knew he'd been having much more trouble controlling his emotions recently.

'"Or better, is that what you'd tell her if she miraculously called you from home right now? You'd say, "I think I have an opening in my schedule two weeks from now. Let's schedule something on my calendar?!"'

Eric recoiled in surprise. He had never seen Dan angry before and was scared of where this conversation would lead.

"It's this job that got me in the mess I need to clean up!" Dan continued.

Recovering only slightly, Eric struggled to regain control of the conversation and settled on a response he'd regret later.

"Look, I understand working long hours can strain a relationship. But there are obviously other areas where you two aren't as compatible as you'd thought, or your marriage would be strong enough to survive your employment."

Dan had heard enough.

"When I said this job is costing me my wife, I meant it literally. Bruce Webb, Jack's kid, was so jealous that I'd won jobs for you that he made it a point to seduce and fuck my wife! My beautiful, precious Cindy! The love of my life and the mother of my future children!"

"It took him the better part of a year to corrupt her. But now has done it so thoroughly that they spend most of their time together degrading and humiliating me during sex."

"I'm utterly destroyed."

"And you're so devoid of feelings that you might as well be dancing on my grave. What have I ever done to you to deserve this kind of treatment?!"

"You can take this job and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I quit!"

As Dan stormed out of the office, he saw Beverly had tears streaming down her face. Eric had not closed his door for the unexpected conversation. As Dan raced past her desk, she mouthed the words, "I'm sorry" to him. She had been with Eric since the beginning and protected his secrets, but she had also become quite fond of Dan and knew he didn't deserve what had happened.

Dan hadn't walked three steps before Eric regretted everything he had said. He tried unsuccessfully to reach Dan on his cell phone. Finally, he had to settle for leaving a message to apologize and offer Dan whatever time off he needed. By late afternoon, it was clear to Eric that Dan probably wasn't coming back. Eric was racked with a level of guilt he hadn't felt in many years. And he was again haunted by the question, "What had s/he done to deserve this? The answer was a simple "nothing." But for the second time now, he didn't get to provide it.

Eric knew he needed to call an old friend, but it would be the second hardest conversation of his life.

******

"Hi Jack, it's Eric. Listen, I need to talk to you about something serious involving Bruce. Can you meet me for drinks tonight night at The Aviary?"

"What the hell, Eric? This had better be fucking important. I'll be there at 8 pm." Jack was suspicious of the call but knew he needed to find out what Jack was talking about. He imagined this hadn't been any easy call for Eric to have made, so it was probably something serious.

Jack and Eric had been college roommates and were once each other's best friends. They played the same sports, attended the same parties, and even fucked in the same room at the same time. So when Jack was starting his company, Eric was the first person he called to join him. While Jack would be reluctant to admit it now, Eric's success was perhaps the primary reason the company survived its first few years.

After four years, Eric and Jack had an epic falling out, and Eric left his position as VP at Foundstone to start his own company. Neither Jack nor Eric would talk about what happened, so rumors were all over the place. Some of the employees Eric had worked closest with had taken a gamble and joined his new company. That list included the only employee who knew the whole story behind Eric's departure, his personal assistant, Beverly.

What nobody else knew was that Eric had been having an affair with Jack's wife for three and a half years and was Bruce's biological father. Jack discovered the affair when he found his wife's secret email account. He soon had Bruce's DNA tested, then confronted his wife. She broke down and admitted everything, begging for his forgiveness. To say that he was devastated would understate the depth of Jack's pain from the betrayals by his wife and best friend.

After confronting his wife, Jack's next call was to Eric's wife, Debra. He had known Debra since she first started dating Eric and had become very fond of her over the years. He knew she would take this news hard, but he felt she needed to know. In subsequent months, Jack would question whether he had called Debra for her benefit, or to punish Eric. One thing he was sure of, he had shared too much too quickly. As a result, Debra had, likely intentionally, run off the road at high speed and directly into a tree. Ten minutes later, medics pronounced her dead at the crash site.

Eric announced his departure from the firm before Jack fired him. Jack knew that with the sudden loss of Eric's wife and the termination of the affair with Jack's wife, Eric had paid a high price for his betrayal. Jack's only words to Eric were, "Sorry to hear about Debra. She was a better wife and friend than either of us deserved." "Please understand that our friendship and business relationship are both over. Unless it's about donating a kidney to Bruce, I never want to hear from you again."

For the most part, Jack and Eric had both honored that demand. Sure, there was the occasional convention they both had to attend, but they would only share an obligatory greeting.

******

Dan's anger had already turned back to crying before he reached his reserved parking space for the very last time. He had worked hard to provide for his family and company, only to be betrayed by both. Although he was already emotionally spent, he needed time to review the evidence and think.

Dan drove to a nearby hotel and rented a room. He figured he could use the bed to rest on and off. Of course, he couldn't imagine sleeping, but he hadn't been feeling well these past few weeks and often felt sore and weak. But he was primarily interested in the privacy and internet service the hotel provided.

He was opening the door to his room when his cell phone rang; the caller id showed it was Eric. He had nothing to say to his former boss, so he turned the phone off. Inside, he sat down on the bed before he opened his laptop, connected to the WiFi, and launched a VPN service.

First things first, he knew he needed to preserve the evidence. So he created a new Cloud account and started copying files to his new account. Apparently, this would take a long time, so he focused on the "Cindy" folder. After copying a few videos at a time, he used another web browser to view them. At 8:15 PM, over six hours after arriving at the hotel, Dan had seen excerpts of all the videos in the "Cindy" folder. Unfortunately, it was also the time his cell phone rang.

He saw it was Cindy calling and realized he hadn't explained his absence. He answered the call, planning to tell her he would probably be at the office all night. Before he could say anything, an exasperated Cindy exclaimed, "Dan, what's going on?! Were you fired?!"

"Oh, fuck!" Dan thought. He hadn't considered word of his departure would make it back to Cindy. Clearly, this was a major oversight. Of course his departure would be huge news, and the couple had many personal friends at the firm.

"No, Cindy, I quit. I told Eric I wanted some time off so we could spend more time together. He denied me that time off."

"Oh, no! I appreciate the sentiment, but this rash action doesn't sound like you at all. You know our plans depend on you having your job." Cindy realized too late that her last statement was a bit insensitive, so she switched gears.

"You've been acting strange recently—more emotional and impulsive. Is everything all right?"

"I'll be fine. But I need to cool off over this work situation and wrap my head around what to do next. I've rented a room at a hotel and plan to stay here until I get my shit together. You don't need an intoxicated me around you until I do. Let me call you tomorrow, and we can talk more." Dan disconnected the call, thinking there wasn't going to be a tomorrow. Cindy called back, but he let the call go to voicemail, just as he had with all the calls from coworkers and friends.

Maggie was right. Viewing the videos in order did show the lengths to which Bruce went to corrupt Cindy. But he still couldn't see how she went along, and there was no excuse for her role degrading him.

"For God's sake, I've got a fully-functioning, seven-inch cock, and she makes it sound like an inverted clit!" He thought aloud. "Her enthusiastic humiliation of me to please lover boy is such an extreme breach of trust that it could never be restored!"