Bad Decisions

He opened the desk and started looking through her files. Ordinarily, he would never have done this, but he felt that she no longer deserved any consideration after her betrayal of their marriage vows.

What he found shocked him to the core. It seemed that Karen had been lying to him throughout their entire marriage.

He pulled out a folder she used for her banking records and was shocked to see how much she had socked away out of her pay. He knew how much she deposited in their joint account and was shocked to see that she had deposited much more than the agreed-upon ten percent into her private account, which now had over $250,000.

Looking through her purchases over the last few months, he saw that she had purchased a very expensive man's Rolex watch along with other gifts. No doubt, for her lover, since she had never given him anything that extravagant. She had also purchased a lot of expensive clothing online, including some racy stuff from Victoria's Secret. Of course, he hadn't seen any of this.

But there was more - much more. He also found medical bills for a family planning clinic. Apparently, she was able to get pregnant - twice in the last two years - and had gone in for an abortion. Both times, she paid cash out of her own account. He wondered if one or both of the children she aborted was really his.

He also saw that she had been paying for birth control pills for at least the last four years on a regular basis. Worse yet, he found a receipt for "Plan B" morning after pills. According to the date on the receipt, Karen had purchased them earlier this week.

And there was more. Among her receipts was a fairly recent one for a hefty down payment on a condo in a fairly wealthy part of town. Was this to be her love-nest, he wondered, or was this part of her exit strategy from the marriage? There were also receipts for utilities and new furniture. He looked at the key ring he found earlier and wondered if one of them was a key to her condo. He intended to find out.

He turned on her computer to see what he could glean from that. He knew she always wrote her passwords down and found a piece of paper taped to the bottom of her keyboard with a list of usernames and passwords written on it. He tried the first one and sure enough, the computer came right up.

Opening her browser, he found a link to an online email program and went in. Sure enough, the email client came right up and showed her inbox. Apparently, she was so confident he would never snoop on her that she kept the username and password cached on the system. He began scanning her emails and was shocked at what he found.

There were a number of emails to and from someone named Greg Wilson. Almost all of the emails were explicit, with Greg commenting on how much he loved having sex with Karen. Her responses were pretty much the same. He noticed the emails went back almost an entire year - about the time he first noticed the changes in her.

From what he could tell, their trysts initially took place in hotel rooms, but they later decided to meet up at homes she was selling.

He spotted an email dated about six months ago that partially answered one of his questions.

"Did you take care of that little problem?" Greg asked.

"Yes," Karen said. "I went down and had the abortion today."

"Too bad you didn't keep it," Greg said. "You could've passed it off as Jason's."

"I couldn't do that," she replied. "As far as he knows I can't have any children. He would know it wasn't his."

Jason thought back six months and realized that was about the time he first caught her lying. The bitch, he thought to himself. The lying, conniving, cheating BITCH!

He kept scanning through their emails. At one point, Greg suggested they have sex in Karen's marital bed, but she put her foot down on that.

"I will not do that to Jason," she told him in one email.

"C'mon," Greg wrote back. "The stupid cuck has no idea what's going on."

"No," she wrote back. "I'm not going to do that."

"What if you had a place of your own?" Greg asked. "You could pay cash on a nice condo with the commissions you make and your husband would never know the difference."

"You may be onto something there," she wrote back. "I do have my own account and Jason never asks about it. Let me see what's available." That was three months ago. The receipt for the down payment was dated just over a month ago.

"I got a condo," she told him in an email. "I just made the down payment and I have new furniture coming in about a week. Jason doesn't know anything about it."

"Excellent," Greg wrote back. "We'll have to christen every room in the place." Jason sat back, shocked at this revelation. He continued looking through the emails.

"So why do you stay with your husband?" Greg asked. "Why not just leave him and move into the condo?"

"Believe it or not, I still have feelings for him," Karen said. "He may be a stodgy accountant for a chain of tire stores, but I like him and he's good to me. I only got the condo so we'd have a place to hook up without having to risk being seen at a hotel. Besides, you're still married."

"Listen, babe, say the word and I'll dump Kristy in a heartbeat," Greg wrote back. "She's a royal pain in the ass anyway."

"We'll see what happens after the conference," she wrote back. After the conference? What's happening after the conference, he asked himself. Jason began printing her emails and copying the receipts he found when the phone rang. Karen's number came up on the display.

"Hello," he said, answering the call.

"It's me, babe," Karen said. "Are you alright? You sound out of sorts."

"I've got a splitting headache," he said, not wanting to let her know he was onto her.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm settling down for the night," she said. "You take something for that headache and get some rest. I love you and I miss you," she said.

"Yeah, me too," he said. "Goodbye." He ended the call, wondering if she noticed that he didn't specifically say he loved her or missed her. Truth is, he was close to punching a hole in the wall.

He decided to find out who this Greg character was, so he began looking on the web site for the company Karen worked for. Sure enough, he found him. Greg Wilson, the site said, is the regional manager for the real estate company Karen works for. In other words, she was fucking her boss. He printed the page out and put it with his stack of stuff.

Unable to rest, he decided to see if he could get into her condo. He verified the address but wondered if she had a security system set up. He looked through her paperwork, and found a series of numbers on the paperwork next to the word, "alarm." Of course, she would write it down, he thought to himself. She writes everything down.

He closed down her computer and headed out, stopping in the garage to grab a pair of latex gloves. He didn't want to leave any evidence that he had been there.

He found the complex easily and parked in her allotted spot. Walking to the door, he put the gloves on and tried one of the keys on the ring he found in her jewelry box. Sure enough, the door opened and he walked in. He saw the alarm's system console on the wall next to the door and entered the code he found in her paperwork, then verified the alarm was off.

After turning on some lights, he looked around the condo and was impressed with Karen's choice of furnishings. She always had good taste, he thought. Too bad she wasn't as loyal as she was color-coordinated. Of course, there were no pictures that included him - he hadn't really expected any, anyway. This was, after all, her love nest, her "escape" from their marriage.

Walking into the kitchen, he noticed she even had a few dishes and some silverware. There wasn't much in the refrigerator, and the pantry seemed just as deserted. He was somewhat surprised to see the place was fully furnished, complete with tasteful portraits of flowers. There was even a large flat-screen television mounted to the wall.

He walked into the master bedroom and noted that, too, was fully furnished, complete with long, lacy curtains over the windows that fell to the floor. She loved lacy curtains and had put them all over their house. Looking down, he couldn't help but notice they hung directly over an electric baseboard heater. He shook his head, wondering if Karen even considered the potential fire hazard.

Opening the dresser drawers, he found some lingerie that he had never seen before along with men's underwear he suspected belonged to Greg. He also found an assortment of sex toys, including a couple of huge dildos. He pulled out his phone and took pictures. He also found a card addressed to Karen in her nightstand drawer. He opened it and saw it was from Greg.

"Just wanted to say thanks for the watch," the card read. "Can't wait for your housewarming!!" It was signed, "Love, Greg." He felt like ripping Greg's arm off at the socket and beating his cheating wife with it.

He found even more clothes - both men's and women's - on hangars inside the walk-in closet. Inside the master bathroom, he couldn't help but spot the two toothbrushes hanging over the sink and the "his" and "hers" towels on the rack next to the shower. He pulled out his phone and took more pictures.

The second bedroom only contained a small desk and a chair. A network cable laid on the desk, suggesting she used that for her laptop. A few pieces of mail, addressed to her, lay on the table. All of them were from utility companies. He took a picture of those, making sure her name and address could be clearly read in the photos. The windows here were also covered with long, lacy curtains that fell to the floor. As in the master bedroom, they, too, fell right in front of an electric baseboard heater.

Looking around, he noticed a few other things that could be considered fire or safety hazards. For example, there were no smoke detectors in the bedrooms and the one mounted in the kitchen ceiling looked very old. He wondered if it even had a battery in it.

Making sure everything was just as it was when he entered, he turned off all the lights, reactivated the security system and left, making sure the door was locked. He went back to his car and headed home, considering his options.

Divorce was a no-brainer in his mind. Even if she got rid of the condo and called it quits with her lover, he could never trust her again. He also knew that men often got the short end of the stick, financially speaking. He knew from her financial records that she made considerably more than he did, so he hoped that would be enough to avoid alimony. He decided to wait until he spoke with an attorney before taking any action.

He also hoped the fact that she already purchased a condo in her name only would mean he wouldn't have to give her the house or sell it and give her half the proceeds. In his mind, she abandoned him when she bought the condo without telling him. They didn't have any children, so child support and custody weren't an issue.

But he wanted the two cheaters to pay for what they had done. Violence was out of the question, as he had no desire to go to jail. After he got home, he looked in the phone book and found a listing for Gregory Wilson. He hoped it was the right Greg Wilson and dialed the number.

"Wilson residence," said a female voice.

"Is this Mrs. Wilson?" he asked.

"Yes, it is," the woman said. "To whom am I speaking?"

"My name is Jason Chandler. Is your husband the regional manager for Acme Real Estate?" Jason asked.

"Yes, he is," the woman said. "But he's gone to a conference this weekend and he'll be out next week visiting other offices. You'll have to call the regional office and leave a message for him there."

"Actually, Mrs. Wilson, you're the one I'd like to speak with," Jason said.

"Oh?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Jason said. "I hate to tell you this, but my wife is having an affair with your husband."

"Are you sure about this?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," Jason said. "And I can prove it."

"You have ironclad proof of this?" she asked.

"I can even show you where they get together if you want," Jason said. He could hear her sigh over the phone.

"Is tomorrow okay?" she asked.

"Sure," Jason said. "What time works best for you?"

"Make it about 1:00 in the afternoon," she said. He gave her the address and directions to Karen's condo.

"I'll see you there then," Jason told her, ending the call. Smiling, he went to his desk and began making a list of things to do. First thing, he decided, would be to change the locks on the doors. He could wrap that up in plenty of time to meet Greg's wife at Karen's condo. He considered getting drunk that night but put the idea out of his head.

Instead, he grabbed a piece of cold pizza and munched on that as he considered all of his options. Finishing the pizza, he trudged up the stairs to bed.

He got up early the next day and headed to a local hardware store, where he bought everything he needed to change the door locks. He also made another key to the condo. By noon, he had all of them changed. He showered and, grabbing the audio recorder and all of the emails he printed from Karen's account, headed over to her condo to meet Greg's wife.

He pulled into Karen's slot and spotted an attractive dark-haired woman in a Toyota Corolla not far away. He walked to the car and knocked on the window. She rolled the window down and looked at him.

"Are you Kristy Wilson?" he asked. She nodded her head.

"I am," she said. "You must be Jason Chandler."

"One and the same," he said, opening her door. "Come with me, I'll show you their love-nest. You may want to put these on first, though," he added, handing her a pair of latex gloves. "I don't want to leave any fingerprints."

"Good idea," she said. They went to her door and Jason used the key he had made to open it. He was glad to see it worked. After turning off the security alarm, they stepped inside. Jason showed her the bedroom, opening the drawers and the closet so she could see Greg's clothing.

"Oh my God," she said. "I've been looking for some of this stuff the past couple of weeks. I was wondering where his clothes were disappearing to."

"Has your husband been wearing a Rolex watch lately?" Jason asked. She nodded her head.

"Yes," she said. "He told me it was a gift from management." Jason shook his head and pulled the card out of Karen's nightstand. He opened it up and showed it to her. She read the note and began crying.

"Is that his handwriting?" Jason asked.

"Yes," she said, sobbing.

"There's more," he said, pulling out the emails and the audio recorder. She read through the emails, tears flowing down her cheeks. Then he played the audio from Friday.

"I'm sorry about all this," he said, wrapping his arms around her. He felt like crying as well, but held it in.

"It's not your fault," she said. "I've suspected something like this for a while, but I never had any proof." After a while, she collected herself and looked at him.

"So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to divorce her," he said. "What about you?"

"I'm kicking that rat fucking bastard out of the house as soon as I see him," she said. Suddenly, she stopped crying and looked at him. "I've got an idea," she said.

"What's that?" he asked.

"They want to live here together, why don't we help them?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, why don't we pack their crap up and drop it off over here?" she responded. Jason thought for a bit and smiled at her.

"I kinda like that idea," he said. "But we'd better get moving, they'll be back in a day or two." She shook her head.

"Greg said he would be gone for a week after the convention," she said. "I'd bet anything she'll find an excuse to be gone as well."

Jason suddenly remembered the recorded conversation. Karen specifically asked him if he had everything set for the next week, but didn't indicate what it was they had planned.

"Damn," he said. "I think you're right. Still, I want to get her crap out of my house as soon as possible."

"I agree," she said. "Meet you back here in, say, three hours?"

"Works for me," he said. "I'm just going to toss her crap in trash bags, so I think I can do that and be back here in three hours."

"I'll see you then," she said, standing up. Jason took a hard look at her. She was shorter than Karen, with a girl-next-door cuteness that added to her shapely figure. He though Greg was a fucking moron to cheat on this woman.

They left the condo and arrived about three hours later, their cars crammed with bags full of their respective spouse's belongings. They carried the bags into the condo and tossed them into the nearly empty second bedroom, not caring if anything broke. They knew the two cheaters would have to spend hours sorting through everything.

"I don't know about you, but I wasn't exactly very careful with his things," she said. He laughed.

"Neither was I," Jason said. They laughed and did a high-five. He looked at her.

"I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," he said.

"Me too," she said. "I could really go for a nice juicy hamburger."

"A big, thick cheeseburger sounds really good to me as well," he said. "I know just the place. Care to join me? My treat."

"Lead on," she said. He drove to the bar he and Ron like to visit and she followed. After they parked, Kristy looked at the front of the building.

"A bar?" she asked.

"Trust me," he said. "They make the best burgers here. You'll love it."

"Okay," she said. "I just hope you're not going to ply me with alcohol and take advantage of me." He laughed.

"As inviting as that sounds, I wouldn't do that to you," he said.

"Darn," she said, laughing. They went inside and ordered a beer and a burger with fries. As they ate, they swapped stories of their failing marriages. Her story was somewhat similar to his - she met him in college and they married shortly thereafter, except she wanted children and he didn't. He started working for Acme Real Estate and she got a job doing accounts receivable for a home improvement company.

"Are you a CPA?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No, I never went quite that far, but I was hoping to do so someday," she said. He told her about his background and job.

"We're always on the lookout for a good person," he said. "Maybe if you can get me a resume we can help each other out."

"I just may do that, Mr. Chandler," she said, taking a bite of her burger. Just then, his phone buzzed. He saw the number was Karen's phone, so he answered.

"Hello," he said in a neutral tone of voice.

"Hey, baby," Karen said. He could tell she had been drinking. "Whatcha up to?"

"Oh, just down at the bar getting a burger," he said. "What's up with you?"

"Guess what?" she asked. "I got the top seller award," she said, not waiting for his response.

"I'm happy for you," he said.

"Yeah, and they want me to stay here in Vegas next week to work with their agents," she said. Of course, he already knew that was a lie. "Isn't that terrific? There's talk that I might get moved into management soon." No doubt, on her back, he thought to himself.

"That's wonderful," he said. "What about our anniversary? That's coming up this Wednesday."

"I know," she said. "And I'm sorry about that. Maybe we can celebrate it next weekend."

"Don't bother," he said. "I know your work is important to you and I sure wouldn't want you missing a big sale."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said. "It's just that you only get to celebrate 10 years of marriage once, but I understand how much your job means to you. Don't worry about it."

"Well, yes, my job is important to me, but I thought you might be happy for me," she said.

"I'm very happy," he told her. "Go, work with your agents. Don't worry about me."