Betrayed

A tear was making a path down my cheek and Toni definitely noticed it.

"Ricky, what is wrong honey? Please tell me what is going on."

I explained the entire conversation I had had with Kate to her and told her everything I had in mind. She was upset and gave me another hug and said, "Oh Ricky, I am so sorry. What do you need from me?"

"Can you work a couple of hours a day for the next week? I just need you to do some of the administrative stuff for a few days and then we will see what needs to be done on a go forward basis."

For the rest of the afternoon I made plans for the coming week, made all of the necessary phone calls to set things up and around normal quitting time I ended my day at the office. I did take home some work though, figuring I would need to get it done over the weekend.

Saturday afternoon I got the call from Lucca telling me he had everything I wanted and would email it to me. I thanked him and told him we would be in touch soon.

I spent a few hours reviewing the photos Lucca had sent and watching and listening to the video too. I was able to fast forward through some of it but when it got to the intimate stuff I did pay particular attention. What I saw surprised me.

I made a point of printing a few stills from the video to insert into the presentation I was working on. I also created a couple of short clips for effect. Then I spent the rest of the night putting the final touches on my presentation.

I went to bed but didn't think I slept very well. You think you don't sleep but I am sure I did get some sleep. Early Sunday morning I got up and did a final rework on the presentation and spent the rest of the time before I had to leave for the airport looking out the window.

Monday morning Kate walked into the offices and was met by Toni. She said,

"Toni, this is a surprise seeing you here. Where is Rick? I tried calling him all night last night with no answer. He also seems to have his cell phone turned off."

Toni looked at Kate with a very neutral look and said, "Hello Ms. Becker." She handed Kate an envelope and added, "Ms. Becker, this is your formal notification that your services are no longer required at the Castille Ad Agency. Your temp agency has also been notified. Thank you for your services."

Of course Kate was shocked and somewhat speechless but managed to blurt out "What is going on Toni?"

"Ms. Becker, I was simply asked by Mr. Castille to terminate your services. I have taken the liberty to pack up all of your personal belongings and they are here in this box." She bent down to pick up one of those paper cartons that are so often used to store things and slid it across the desk to Kate.

Again Kate was stunned and said, "I am going in to talk to Rick and straighten this all out."

"Well Rick isn't in right now so that won't be possible. Besides, at this time you will need to leave the building," replied Toni.

Kate asked, "Where is Rick?"

"Actually he is in New York making a presentation to Carone Enterprises, Inc. for their new advertising campaign."

Kate had a day full of shocks because she once again looked shocked. This piece of news seemed to take the life right out of her. "Rick and I were going to go to New York and make that presentation together," sobbed Kate. "We were going to make it a special time in New York for just the two of us," she said with tears streaming down her face.

Inside Toni was sympathetic to Kate but controlled her emotions and said, "Well Ms. Becker I guess that was before you went off to Las Vegas with another man. Rick will not be back in the office until Friday and he asked if I would make an appointment for you to meet with him then. Would 4:00 p.m. Friday work out for you?"

Kate was barely able to whisper, "Yes."

"Very well, then he will see you at 4:00 p.m. Friday."

Kate spent a miserable four days waiting for her meeting with Rick. She called his cell phone a number of times but each time it just went to voice mail.

When he arrived in New York Rick called Henri Carone to set up a meeting at his hotel to present their new advertising campaign. He told Henri that he preferred to meet away from the corporate offices because part of the meeting was personal. He also asked Henri to bring his daughter Marilyn along.

He continued to get phone calls from Kate but seeing her numbers (home and cell) he didn't take the calls and again they went to voice mail after which he deleted them without listening to them.

When Rick started to make his presentation he warned Henri Carone and Marilyn Pierce that he had two motives for being there. One was to present what he thought would be a very good ad campaign and the other motive was personal because it involved Kenny, Marilyn's husband.

His presentation would end up being rather devastating for Kenny because Henri Carone, the owner of Carone Enterprises, Inc. wasn't too pleased to see his son in law being intimate with a woman who wasn't his daughter Marilyn. Marilyn was royally pissed off. She was not shocked however because she had suspected that Kenny played around on her but she was still pissed. Now she had proof though and for that she was grateful.

The ad presentation included some very sensual pictures of Kenny and the woman. Even though the pictures angered him Rick knew the concept would be awesome for the advertising. He had created a caption "WEAR ME AND EXPERIENCE EUPHORIA".

"I think the name for your new scent should be "EUPHORIA" and these pictures certainly communicate that concept." The woman in the pictures was clearly in a euphoric state because he had captured the image off of one of the videos at the moment of orgasm.

Henri and Marilyn were both somewhat in shock after seeing Kenny with the beautiful woman but both had to agree that the concept was wonderful and would certainly sell the new scent. "Rick, I think you are on to something here and we appreciate the insight. The emotions emitted by this woman are unbelievable."

Rick smiled and continued, "Well I am sure you will want to hire a different male model for that role because I sense Kenny is history but you may want to consider this woman. She is very beautiful and very sensual as we all can see. Everyone has their own looks and it is almost impossible to recreate the look using a different person. No one will ever replace Andie MacDowell in L'Oreal commercials "Because you're worth it." No one could replace Kate Walsh in the Cadillac CTS commercial. "When you turn your car on does it return the favor?" And no one can ever replace Cindy Crawford in the Pepsi commercial.

I think this woman's look is the one we need for this campaign. I can give you her name and number if you are interested."

Henri said, "Oh yes, when you said her look is what we need I agree. It will be perfect for what we need. Please do give us her name and number."

Rick slid a piece of paper across the table to Henri. "The name she uses is Allison Kendall. I am not certain if that is her real name or not but it is what she is using. Her number is on the paper and of course you need to know that she is a call girl. I don't know if she will be interested but perhaps a move and a new occupation will be appealing to her. All you can do is ask."

No it wasn't Kate Becker in the pictures and videos with Kenny Pierce. Kate must have had second thoughts while they were flying out to Vegas because when they arrived they got separate rooms and all evidence indicated that she had rebuffed every attempt Kenny made to be intimate. Kate never slept with Kenny but I am afraid the damage was still done.

By the time late evening rolled around Kenny was so frustrated that he engaged the services of a hooker and she is the woman in all of the ad campaign pictures. Fortunately Lucca had continued to have surveillance on Kenny because the result was some fabulous concept pictures. I hope that Allison will agree to do the ads because she will be perfect for them.

You don't need all the details of what happened to Kenny, but be assured he paid a huge price.

Friday afternoon Kate sat down with Rick.

"Rick, I don't understand what is happening here right now. Why did you terminate my services? I know you still need a PA and Toni isn't ready to come back yet. Please Rick, I didn't sleep with Kenny, I promise."

"Kate, why should I believe that? After all you did go off alone with him to Vegas."

"Rick, I swear to you I didn't sleep with him. You said you loved me enough to let me go."

"You are right; I did say I loved you enough to let you go. The only problem Kate is that your definition of letting you go is different than mine. You meant go to

Vegas and I meant to let you go, to not hold on to you. That is the difference."

"Kate I know you didn't sleep with Kenny. But, it doesn't matter; the damage had already been done. I loved you Kate. Almost from the first moment I met you I started to love you. I loved you when you were fat and unattractive. Your looks didn't matter to me. But my love wasn't enough for you. You had to have the approval of everyone else around you so you lost weight, had some work done and improved your looks to the point of being beautiful. I loved you then too just as before. It wasn't the looks for me it was who you are."

"But the approval of others wasn't enough for you either. Then Kenny showed up and drooled all over you. You ate that up. Here was Kenny a guy you had known for over eight years who never once paid any attention to you when you were the old you and now he is drooling over you and you fell for it. He didn't love you Kate, he loved your looks. I loved you but my love wasn't enough."

"You asked if I loved you enough to let you go and I answered yes but I also asked you if you loved me enough to not go and by your actions you answered that question no. You were going to go no matter what. I even asked for my ring back hoping it would shock some sense into you and you took it off and laid it on my desk. You were going no matter what."

"Kate that is when the damage was done. That is when I realized that I would never be able to trust you with my heart. That is when I knew that I would never be enough for you. Something else would have come along that was more important to you than me. I will not live that way Kate. That is why our relationship is over."

This whole time Kate was sitting there in a state of shock. Tears were streaming down her face. She realizes her mistake but it is too late. She begged Rick, "Rick, I am so sorry. I know I made a terrible mistake but I really do love you with all my heart. Can't you forgive me and give me another chance?"

"Kate there is no need for me to forgive you. You are and always were free to do whatever you wanted to do. I do not have the right or the power to tell you what to do. You were free to choose and you did. You chose and it wasn't me you chose. It was clear from that choice that I wasn't as important to you as you were to me. When you put the ring on my desk and walked out the door I said, 'Goodbye, I hope it is worth it'. That was the moment I let you go. It's over Kate. I wish you nothing but good luck in the future, but it is over."

Epilog:

In the months that followed Kate tried unsuccessfully to talk to Rick but he would have nothing to do with it. Despite the fact that Toni was furious with her, she was able to continue her friendship and learned that part of the problem was in fact Rick's.

Knowing that she had not ever slept with Kenny would have allowed many men to forgive and move forward in a loving relationship with Kate. But Rick had psychological issues from his childhood that would not let him do that.

Kate learned from Toni that Rick's mother had taken a lover and ultimately just walked out of his life. One day she told him she was going to leave with another man and wouldn't see him anymore. There was no emotion on her part and though Rick cried and begged she just turned and walked out. He never saw her again. Then Rick's father was distraught because his wife cheated and left him. He started to drink a lot and the effect was that he too abandoned Rick. Two people he loved just walked out on him. His father got drunk nightly and one night had a fatal auto accident. He truly left Rick.

Rick went into foster care and was ultimately adopted by Toni's family. She told her that it took years before Rick actually believed his adoptive family wouldn't walk out on him. He probably needed a psychiatrist to work through all of his problems, but had never done that.

Kate cried a lot when she learned of everything that had happened to Rick. She cried for herself but she also cried for Rick because she too had just walked out on him. There was no way he could live with that, no way to repair the damage that had done to him.

Kate tried numerous times to contact Rick with no luck. He never answered his phone and though she left several voice mails he never returned her calls. One time she called him from a pay phone but the minute he recognized her voice he hung up on her. She didn't exactly stalk him but she did know his routine and once in a while when she was particularly lonesome for him would go to see him run or see him in a restaurant hoping that they could reconnect.

One time she called his number early in the morning and a woman answered and Kate asked her who she was.

"I am Rick's fiancé, who is this?"

"Please tell Rick that Kate called. Please tell him I am so sorry and that I will never bother him again."

With that call Kate lost all hope. She let herself go again, gained weight, stopped taking care of herself, reverted to the unattractive woman she had been before meeting Rick.

She would occasionally see Rick and his new wife and each time she would withdraw even further inside of herself. When she finally saw them with their new baby she imploded upon herself and from then on melted into obscurity. She became a robot, doing her work, going home, eating and sleeping and working.

She hadn't committed a terrible crime and in fact hadn't even cheated on Rick in the traditional sense. She had no way of knowing that he was in such a fragile state. But, regardless, she had to pay the price for her foolish actions. Should Rick have forgiven her and continued the relationship? Probably, but we are all a product of what happens in our lives and he certainly had enough happen to him that wouldn't allow him to overlook what she had done. She had left him. Yes, she had to pay the price no matter how severe.

The End