A Tangled Web Ch. 02

The accumulated effect of the antiandrogens Bruce had been giving Dan left him extra emotional and now severely depressed. Unfortunately, Maggie didn't know about the pills Bruce was giving Dan and couldn't warn him.

Around midnight, Dan drove to one of his new high-rise construction sites, used his keys to cross the property's chain link fence, and then operated the construction lift that carried him to the highest floor. The building had unfinished floors but no walls or windows yet. A cold wind whipped across the floor with such force that it felt like he would be carried away. "Not quite yet," he thought.

He debated the pros and cons of ending his life for almost two hours. He could think of dozens of reasons in favor, but only two against. The first was the guilt he felt for the trauma that eyewitnesses, police officers, and EMTs would experience when discovering the scene. Of course, it's late, so that may not be many people. That alone was not enough to tip the scales. The second reason was...revenge. Revenge from a man with absolutely nothing to lose.

Nearly hypothermic, Dan returned to his car and headed back to the hotel. During the drive, he realized he had inadvertently broken his promise to Maggie. He doubted Eric would share information about the affair, despite how Dan had spoken with him. He did know Eric had apologized in a voicemail, so he didn't think Eric would be vindictive. But by quitting his job, he brought a lot of attention to the reason, and all of Cindy's and, perhaps by extension, Bruce's red flags would be up.

If it were up to him, he'd delete the videos from Bruce's account tonight, but he had promised to talk to Maggie first, and he was done breaking his promises to her. It was too late to call her now. He'd have to wait until later that morning.

******

The night before, Eric arrived first at The Aviary. He sat at a small table and ordered a vodka martini, extra dry, for himself and a double shot of Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon for Jack. He gambled that his old friend hadn't changed his drink order in the past 16 years.

Jack arrived just as Eric had finished his first drink and had ordered another. Eric watched as Jack sat down without any formal greeting, but also without any apparent signs of animosity. He looked concerned.

"Jack, thanks for coming. I took the liberty of placing your old drink order. My apologies if it has changed."

"Thanks, Eric. It's fine. As long as you didn't put anything in it." He smirked.

"I still drink it from time to time...usually with Bruce. It's his favorite, for sure. Now, what did you drag me out here for? You said it's about Bruce?"

"Yeah. You'll need to give me a few minutes on the backstory to explain. Please listen until I finish." Without some warning, Eric knew Jack's patience sitting across the table from him would run out before he could finish what he had to say.

"As you know, our companies have bid on many of the same projects over the years. Foundstone has always won most of them, but MW Design has won a few of the biggest over the past couple of years." Eric saw Jack's face tighten, so he quickly put his hands up in surrender and added, "I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know, and I'm not gloating. Foundstone will always be the firm by which all others are measured."

"Our largest successful bids can largely be attributed to one person, Dan Caddel. Dan immerses himself in the client's business for months on end and has an unparalleled talent for discovering and fixing problems that clients don't even know they have. He's an architectural genius beyond anything I've seen, including in the most talented man I know—you. What's more, he is beloved by his colleagues and clients." Eric noticed Jack's surprise at the unexpected compliment but saw a confused look return as Jack wondered where all this was going.

"Dan has been married to his college sweetheart for six years, and I know they've been looking forward to starting a family. I've seen Dan's love for Cindy, and I've never seen him look or act inappropriately with another woman. And you know as well as I do just how rare that is nowadays. From my observations of Cindy over the years, I could say the same for her love of Dan." Eric paused to maintain composure as he shared the next part of his story.

"Dan has been telling me for two years that Cindy is struggling with the hours he has been working. After I destroyed both our lives, I know you and I put all our energies into our businesses, working 'round the clock. But I blindly, perhaps selfishly, placed that same expectation on Dan, and today I learned that it contributed to the marital discord he's experiencing."

"You may not want to believe me, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret my relationship with your ex-wife. It pretty much killed her, you, me, and Debra—literally or figuratively—and destroyed numerous friendships. So imagine my horror discovering that I've incubated marital problems for a wonderful couple in love...and for my best architect, no less! Well, I should say former best architect since he quit earlier today."

Jack was captivated and somewhat moved by Eric's sentiments and story, but he was not used to remaining silent for so long.

"So you're asking me to hire Dan and work him fewer hours?"

"No, not exactly." Eric knew Jack couldn't help himself from interrupting. He was surprised it had taken that long.

"Let me switch gears here as I explain how Bruce fits into all of this."

"I have no claims to Bruce. You are the only father he's ever known, and you did an incredible job raising him and giving him every opportunity to succeed. I'll always be grateful for how good a father you've been to Bruce, and how you've protected him from some of our darkest secrets."

"However, his penchant for treating others poorly hasn't escaped my attention over the years. I've always felt some responsibility both by depriving him of his mother's influence and for any genetic role I may have had in the darker side of his personality."

"I have it on good authority that Bruce didn't take some of the bids Foundstone lost to MW Designs very well, and that he has taken extreme measures to exact revenge. I regret that he didn't target my company or me. Instead, he targeted Dan Caddel in the most insidious way possible—by seducing his wife. It reportedly took him a year or more to gradually erode her defenses, eventually getting her to have sex with him while she verbally degrades and humiliates Dan. I don't know the full lengths to which Bruce went to pull this off or what else he has done or plans to do, but I'd bet there's more I don't know." Eric paused for Jack to speak, but Jack appeared speechless for perhaps the first time ever.

Jack knew Bruce had character flaws, but he couldn't hide his disgust at this revelation. Not only was it an affront to common decency and family honor, but it put Foundstone at risk of appearing complicit in Bruce's disgusting actions.

Eric continued, "Jack, I'm asking you to see if you can figure out what Bruce has done or plans to do. I don't think either of us can tolerate this behavior."

An awkward silence hung between them for a while before Jack finally spoke. He was now about to talk about the one thing he swore earlier tonight to avoid, even though it was unsolicited.

"I know you didn't ask, but I want you to know that I forgave you some time ago for...you know...the things you did. What you did was indefensible, but looking back on it...I don't think you were intentionally trying to hurt me. I think you fell in love, or lust, with my wife and made unfortunate choices that cost all of us almost everything."

"Now, that doesn't mean we're friends, so don't try to read too much into that," Jack quickly added.

"But I've never forgiven myself for the call I made to Debra informing her of the affair and that you were Bruce's father. That conversation should have been in person. Instead, I dropped way too much, too quickly on her as she fought traffic to get home. When she gasped and hung up without speaking, I knew I'd made a terrible mistake. I think that's when she hit the tree, and it haunts my nightmares. Please accept my sincere apologies for my role in her death."

"Sorry, Jack. I need to interrupt you."

"You need to know that your call was not Debra's last. After she hung up on you, she called and confronted me. My shock and silence as my world unraveled told her all she needed to know."

Eric paused a moment, fighting every self-preservation instinct to stop talking. She then said, "All these years, you've prevented me from having children, but only now do I realize it's not children you hate; it's me. What did I do to cause you to hate me this much?" I'm sorry for whatever it was. I gave up my dreams for you, and now I've nothing left." Her final words were, "I will die humiliated and alone."

That's when she hit the tree. I never got to say a word...not even to tell her how much I still loved her! That's what fuels my nightmares." Eric couldn't help but shed a few tears. This is not a story he was used to sharing.

"I'm sorry, Eric. Thank you for telling me. Regardless, I started the events with my call."

"No, Jack, my affair started the dominoes falling, and my silence tipped over the last one. You had, at best, a minor role in between."

"Okay, Eric. We'll leave it there."

"You have my word that I'll look into what Bruce has been, or is, up to. Let's hope I don't confirm any of what you told me."

"Thanks for coming, Jack."

"Of course. I told you I always would, if it involves Bruce."

******

Dan watched the hours pass as days before the small clock on the night table displayed 9:00 AM. Dan didn't know whether Maggie was still living at home, so he had waited to call her until after Bruce had left for work. She answered on the second ring.

"Hi, Dan. I'm glad you called. How are you holding up?"

"Hi, Maggie. Well, I'm still here. That's more than I would have expected 12 hours ago."

"Oh dear, Dan!" "Please don't talk like that. You don't know how much it would hurt me if anything happened to you. I'd feel responsible. I realize now I was a damn fool for dumping this all on you and driving away!"

"Dan, please promise me you won't hurt yourself!"

"Don't worry, Maggie, I won't. I've decided to stick around to get some payback."

"Well, that sounds ominous. But, Dan, why don't you come over to my house and we can talk? Bruce rarely works a full day, but that doesn't mean he comes here. He's never home before 7 PM."

"Maggie, I agree that we should get together to talk, but I think it's best to avoid your home. I'm going to propose we delete Bruce's videos, and if we do, that could lead Bruce to act unpredictably."

"Forgive me if this is too forward, but I've rented a hotel room and recommend you visit me here. It's away from our spouses and would give us some privacy to discuss next steps. I promise I'll keep my hands at my sides."

"Okay, Dan. Please text me the address and room number. Depending on where you are, I could be there within the hour.

"Thanks, Maggie. I'll see you soon."

When Dan greeted Maggie a short time later, she wrapped her arms around him and held him close for quite a few seconds. Dan hugged her back, clinging to the only thread of humanity left in his life. He couldn't believe how great she felt and was dizzy from the arousing scent of her perfume. He'd had increasing difficulty maintaining an erection recently, but his cock had just gone fully hard.

When they finally released their embrace, Dan spoke first.

"Maggie, I owe you an apology. You asked that I not take any action that could affect us until after we spoke. Unfortunately, my boss denied me time off to deal with my personal matters, and, without thinking, I shouted at him that it was my work for him that was costing me my family. I also let slip Bruce's name before quitting my job."

"I don't think my former boss would gossip about my plight, but many coworkers know of my absence. Even Cindy knows I quit, so I'm afraid I have inadvertently increased the risk that Bruce will discover we're onto him."

Maggie gave Dan a sympathetic look. "You've lost your job? I'm very sorry to hear that. Even with Bruce discovered, his actions continue to harm you."

"Anyway, no apology is necessary. That just means we need to move quickly to take back control."

Dan nodded silently.

"But before we do, there's something you need to see. I'm assuming you copied files from Bruce's cloud account?" Dan nodded again.

"Did you copy only the "Cindy" folder, or everything?"

"It was taking so long that I only copied Cindy's videos. That's a good point; we should probably preserve everything before deleting his account."

Maggie dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand. "No need, I've copied everything already. I only asked because there is another folder containing a file you need to see. We can connect to my account on your laptop, and I'll show you."

Dan was sitting up against the bed's headboard with the laptop on his lap. As Maggie bent down from her position standing alongside the bed, Dan inhaled more of her intoxicating perfume. Her breasts brushed against his left shoulder, and her face was only inches from his. As she navigated to her cloud account and entered her credentials, Dan was thankful that the laptop's weight kept his erection from springing forth."

'"Here we go. Okay, see this folder here? The one titled "Admin" contains several files with Bruce's notes. See, that file lists the surveillance equipment he must have purchased to make the videos. But let's open this one titled "Revenge."

Dan could hardly hear what Maggie was saying despite his ears being mere inches from her mouth. With the throbbing of his erection pounding in his ears, her voice sounded like it was from a faraway place. Moreover, her intoxicating aroma and the press of her body had him in a hypnotic state.

"Dan, did you hear me?" Maggie looked at him with a concerned look. "I know it's a lot to take in, but we need to go over this to mitigate the damage."

Maggie's abrupt question did the trick of snapping him out of his trance.

"I'm sorry. Could you repeat the part about the file?"

"Sure." Maggie gave him a concerned look. "This file lists the ideas Bruce has come up with to hurt you. I hope he hasn't acted on some of these crazy ideas, but you need to evaluate if you've seen or know anything that would confirm or cast doubt on them."

"I understand now, thanks," muttered Dan.

"I took the liberty last night of marking fourteen ideas I know he achieved, based on my review of the videos. That leaves us with only seven that I'm unsure of. I'm sorry. This won't be easy."'

"Dan, Bruce wanted to have sex with Cindy in your marital bed. Is there anything you've thought of that would shed light on whether he did?"

"Ugh, Maggie. I've no idea. That's a disgusting thought, though." Dan said as the nausea building in his stomach was counteracting his heretofore blissful state.

"Ok, no worries. How about this...are you still drinking protein shakes in the morning from the powder in your kitchen? I recall Cindy talking about that on one of the tapes."

"Yes, every morning except today."

"Have you noticed any change to the taste? Or have you been having any symptoms that would accompany a rise in estrogen and a decline in testosterone?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!!! Yes, and yes! Did he put something in it?!" "I'm going to kill him!"

"Ok, sorry Dan. I know this is hard. What did you notice was different?"

"Well, a few months ago, the taste of my chocolate powder shakes started having more of a chemical taste. I chalked it up to a change in formula and vowed to get a different brand next time. But the powder is expensive, so I planned to finish the four-month supply. Now that I think of it, I thought it odd that I hadn't noticed the change in taste the first few servings." Dan lamented, wishing he had spent more time investigating the change.

"So what the hell did he put in it?"

'"Well, it looks like he obtained prescriptions for anti-androgens and estrogen from a telemedicine doctor he has listed here. He planned to ground them up and put them in your powder." "Um, there's no way to put this delicately...he writes, and I'm paraphrasing now, that he wants you to lose muscle mass, make you more prone to emotional outbursts, give you breasts, soften your skin, widen your hips, raise your voice, shrink your testicles, weaken your erections, and make you infertile. He calls it "Operation Dan to Dana."'

"That motherfucker! I've experienced many of those symptoms, now that you mention it! So I guess this means he was in my house and fucked in my marital bed too!"

Maggie put a comforting hand on his cheek. "It'll be okay, sweetie. Now that you've stopped taking the protein drinks, I'm sure things will improve. But you should make an appointment with an endocrinologist to see if you need something more."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to do that. I hope I'm not permanently infertile. The prospect of children has meant everything to me."

Maggie paused before saying, "I'm going to skip the next one and return to it at the end. Okay, this one says Bruce had an idea to get Cindy pregnant and have you raise the baby. Cindy's not pregnant, is she?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But she just came off the pill so that we could try to start a family. So maybe he's inseminating her as we speak. Who knows?" Dan said in a dejected voice.

"Having watched the videos, I can tell Cindy wanted a family with you. I don't think she'd knowingly have his baby, but I wouldn't put it past him to drug or trick her."

"Next, Bruce planned to create a highlight video of the most humiliating things Cindy did and post it to several porn sites. I assume you don't know if he's already done that?"

"No, I don't. But we need to delete those videos so he no longer can."

"Okay, last one. And then I have a much better surprise." Maggie said before exhaling hard. "This one might just break Dan," she feared.

"Yeah, okay, um...after Cindy told Bruce that she had gone off the pill, he wanted to prevent her from getting pregnant. He thought the prescriptions he would give you, or perhaps had given you, would eventually make you infertile. But he wanted to do something else to prevent pregnancy before that happened, or to be doubly sure, who knows? But what the rat bastard did was travel all around the city buying up Plan B One-Step pills and grinding them up into espresso drinks he gave Cindy. He notes the Plan B pills should stop pregnancies from sex that occurred within the previous 72 hours." Maggie sighed as she looked at the tears streaming down Dan's face.

"Dan, he said he wanted to abort your babies one at a time."

If Dan was crying before, he was now wailing like a wounded animal. He turned on his side and put a pillow over his head as he tried to muffle his sounds and block out the world's pain. "How could anyone be so cruel to someone they don't even know?!" Dan thought.

Maggie moved to lay alongside Dan and stoked the back of his head. They lay like this for almost 20 minutes before Dan came up for air.

"I'm sorry he's a monster, Dan. You're 10,000 times the man he is, and he's jealous, insecure, and cruel. I will help you pay him back for the women he filmed and us."

Maggie decided she didn't need to bring up the defiling of his toothbrush or Cindy's rings. It seemed gratuitously cruel to mention them when she was sure he'd have no way of knowing if they had happened.

Dan thanked Maggie as she coaxed him into sitting up next to her. It felt like Maggie had informed him of a thousand injustices, so he didn't realize she had skipped anything.