Consequences Pt. 11H

She eyed him suspiciously.

"Don't ask and you can't know,'' he admitted.

She went and collected a phone and a burner phone that she kept just for such occasions. "You can use mine but I suggest you use the burner."

"Yes of course, I suppose this could take some time, it's going to be a shock for Dad."

She stopped him for a moment and took him into a long close hug, then spoke, "David, you know I have your best interests at heart don't you?" He nodded. "OK, I want you to try to step back from this before you do too much. I believe you have taken the warning on board correctly and are taking appropriate action by involving your Dad, so now you have to keep control of the paranoia." He grimaced at that, he knew it but found it hard to hear.

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Taking precautions:

David arranged to meet his father in a bar they knew and meantime messaged home to say he had a late meeting come up and would eat out. It took a long time for him to convince his Dad because he really didn't want to divulge so much about Olivia that would upset his parents. So he homed in on a possible security issue because of the relationship of his lawyer. He could see that his Dad didn't accept that he was being told everything, so in the end he said, "Dad, I need you to trust me on this, I have been advised that there is possibly something going on that frightens the life out of me, I sincerely hope it isn't true but I have to make sure and for now I want you to check all our legal documents, and if there is a whiff of anything wrong I want you to take everything away. Do you think your lawyer could draw up whatever authority documents I need to sign and then be available to join you at my lawyers if called upon to do so?"

In the end it was settled and David left feeling some of the immediate worries were being looked at, why he had had these sudden fears he couldn't put his finger on but they certainly started when Angela mentioned that he could say no. After a completely insecure thought, he started to message Aleesha to add Angela to his list to check and then thought better of it. At the same time, he began to draw up a list of all the possible people who might have to be checked. It was a long list and the possible cost of the investigation suddenly occurred to him, so he decided to hold off on that too until the legal situation had been clarified. Next he went to phone Jane from the burner and stopped himself. The less people who knew about this the better, so he should restrict himself to doing the natural things that Olivia would expect of him, so he headed home.

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David

I talked in generalities with the others about Olivia probably being divorced from myself before long but that she wanted to remain working on the projects. I gauged their reaction and most were guarded, I guessed they were all concerned about my obsession with getting her back to normal. I felt this was impossible but couldn't repeat what had been said many times before. On the whole, I did not gain any further insight.

My Dad must have pulled strings because before lunch I was called to his lawyers office. They had papers ready for me to sign and then I spoke in brief about what I was envisaging could be wrong. I explained to the lawyer that my wife and I were estranged but that she wanted to keep working with us on the projects that we were progressing as a separate Company. He knew the set up having dealt with the paperwork so I explained that there was a possibility of Olivia being institutionalised and that my Lawyer had been tasked to secure our position so that all interests were clearly identified legally. Then if there was a split she would benefit equally without being able to affect the Business or Company interests. He nodded his head sagely, understanding where I was headed.

I felt I could trust this man, so I asked him what would be necessary for myself to have complete confidentiality from him, presumably as a client. He produced a simple document from his drawer which effectively sealed that arrangement upon payment of a minimum fee of 100$. That done, I showed him the copy of the first part of Olivia's notebook saying, "As you will see this is the work of a very sick mind, it is obviously meant for my eyes only but I assume that as your client I can extend that commitment of privacy. He read it showing signs of exasperation as he did. "So you have a decision to decide whether you need her?"

"Yes, but you will note that whilst asking for something she does her best to influence me to say no."

He re-read then said, "I see, and you are concerned at why she would want you to say no."

"Yes indeed" then I explained that I didn't want to cast unnecessary criticism but one of the ladies at the Retreat was my Lawyer's ex-long term girlfriend. My concern is that there is something in the separation documents that doesn't quite fit the fair share of assets that I intended or that somehow an interest in the development company has slipped in, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

My father let out a low gasp as I said that.

The Lawyer said, "I know that firm and I wouldn't doubt their integrity for one moment but I can see why you feel that everything should be checked. I think in the circumstances it would be wise if I accompanied you father to see them. Leave it with us David."

I shook his hand, recovered my copy papers and then my fathers and left the office. I could hear them talking as I left and was sure that they were becoming as worried as I.

On the way to my own office I received a message from Aleesha assuring me that everything was in hand so that by the time I got there I was feeling far more relaxed than before. I noticed Olivia wasn't in and then thought that perhaps she was looking for somewhere else to live after what happened in her apartment on Friday. I rang my contact who was part of that and he advised me with much laughter how they had indeed got their prey, gagged, and stripped him off, tied him up, stuck a dildo where he would probably least like it and made sure he fully understood what would happen to him if he ever showed his face within 200 miles again; then left him spread eagle on the bed.

A thought struck me and I texted Aleesha and asked that I be advised if Olivia was seen on the cameras anywhere near our old home.

It was towards the end of the day that I got a message from my Dad saying that they had found some worrying things in the documents and had taken all documents away. Later I was to hear that my lawyers office had tried to delay bringing out the documents and it was only my Dad's Lawyer who had been able to bring the right sort of pressure to bear, in order to get the process speeded up. I gave a sigh of great relief as I read the news and was able to carry on with my day. I knuckled down to working on the plans for Roses land development. I spoke to Ruth and said I was sending her the suggested plan of targets for similar development sites and asked her to give me her opinion but keep them completely confidential. Then I realised I would need to stop using my laptop with a connection to the office network or internet and so spent some time making alterations and downloading anything I needed onto memory cards, yep it was paranoia.

In a quiet moment I began to augment my list of people who may wish to take revenge on me. I realised I had done something that affected Monica and I suddenly wondered if I had overstepped the mark. I should probably come clean about it but I didn't know how to best approach it. After some thought, I decided to call her into my office and come straight to the point. When she left I didn't feel that she had any grievance against me as she said that she saw him from time to time but things had cooled when she herself realised he was married. I had explained that I had told him that he should make a choice and not keep her hanging on thinking he was available. In truth I had been a lot more harsh than that but I wasn't about to tell her.

I started to consider what I would need in order to employ Olivia on the development project, I felt that I needed a confidentiality agreement and thought I ought to talk about that with Michael, it wasn't something that we needed day to day but the development side was highly confidential and I wondered if it ought to be signed by anyone involved because of Olivia, then I remembered that Roger signed one. I explained to Michael in as general terms as I could and he agreed that we should all sign something so that there was no suggestion that any one person was distrusted. I agreed and realised that I would have to extend the signature to anyone staying at the Retreat. In fact we probably need one for anyone who joined this Retreat, or any other in the future.

My father was probably still with the lawyer so I rang him, he seemed very busy, still working through documents but eventually I convinced him to give me a moment after which I explained what I wanted and he agreed that we ought to get something put in place, asap. He asked the Lawyer if one of their people could draw up 2 such documents and he said someone would be in touch with me directly. I therefore took some time to draw up my own idea of the things we needed to cover for each. It took some time and I decided to head home to go over the documents with Jane and the others. Before I left I made some copies and called Rachel in to discuss what I had in mind. I left it with her and passed another copy to Michael and Monica for their input, then I headed for The Retreat. As each one arrived home I spent some time going over what their worries might be and how we should deal with them in a document.

"What started all this off?" Jane asked.

"Essentially Olivia has asked to work on the development program and wants me to do whatever will allow me to trust her. I have had lawyers going over various documents but it was decided that we ought to have a confidentiality agreement and while we were about it we talked about having one for people who want to join or spend any time at one of the Retreats, literally something that has to be signed before they are allowed in.

"That makes sense after the incident with Rose," she said. "So we are not going to pick on anyone, We'll have something that everyone signs including me and you?"

I confirmed that to be correct and she seemed happy with it, then I decided that I ought to explore whether I could trust her further.

"Jane, do you feel that there is any point where you might have a conflict of interest when dealing with Olivia and myself?"

She looked at me, not understanding. "How do you mean?"

"Well if I go forward with a divorce there could be things fired back and forth that might stretch what you feel able to say to one or the other."

"Ohh I see what you mean."

"I don't want to put you in an invidious position so I thought we ought to talk about boundaries."

"If you are definitely going for a divorce then I would say from that moment on that my commitment is to you, however I will not give away privileged information about my times with Angela and Olivia as I consider those confidential."

I thought for a moment then made my decision, "I am going to show you something that Olivia gave me, she doesn't want me to show anyone else but I have already done so to Angela upon Olivia's agreement as well as a lawyer, and since you know all about a lot of things I am going to show you. You can decide not to read it if you wish but I need someone I can trust. I know I can trust everyone here but Olivia has asked that I don't influence anyone else with it and that makes sense, I don't believe in burning bridges unnecessarily. It's basically a confession of sorts that has greater ramifications."

Jane sat looking at me for a while and then put her hand out so I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pages and as she read it the sadness seemed to literally roll over her, at the end she just held me and we shared the same feelings as if someone we loved had passed away. Eventually I explained to her the fears arising from the document including whether there might be someone who would feed Olivia information albeit unwittingly. We decided to try and prevent any further information being discussed or transmitted outside of the Retreat and against everything we held dear we needed to stop updating everyone. "I don't want to pick on anyone but people like Roger and Rose's group should be kept in the dark," I said.

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The following day Olivia didn't come to work again so David sent her a message asking why she wasn't in and when she intended to come back to work. He messaged Aleesha to see if her people had a line on where she was and shortly after a young Lawyer rang about David's confidentiality agreement and he arranged to go and see her. He was pretty sure he had everyone's input except Olivia, his Dads lawyer caught sight of him as he passed through and asked him to pop in to discuss issues. The content for the agreements discussed and resolved with the young lawyer he went back to his Dads and now his Lawyer.

"We are withdrawing all documents that have been previously sent to Olivia's lawyers," he said. "Then going through them to make sure they are fireproof after which we will serve them again, I just want to check that you want us to serve the divorce papers at the same time."

"Yes please, with the threat of grounds of multiple infidelity if necessary, but if she wants that job I will expect no opposition. Do you agree that the terms I am offering are more than fair?"

"Yes I do, my divorce expert agrees too, so we will push on with it all and I understand you are going to get confidentiality agreements in place. Hopefully we will have protected the Development Company fully. Your fathers family are valued clients and I understand this might affect your grandmother."

"Yes indeed, we plan to develop land she owns in Florida along the same lines, we will need her group to sign as well."

"It gets more complex by the moment."

As the day went on, reports started to come in on the whereabouts of the various people but there was no sign of Olivia and a feeling in his bones told him she was with someone. On a hunch he messaged Olivia's parents to ask if they had heard from her lately.

"Yes she arrived Sunday, she's out at the moment I'm afraid."

"That's ok, she hasn't come in for a couple of days and we just wanted to check if she is ok."

"All's not well between you then?" Her father said intuitively.

"It's not been good for quite a while, her old self got out of control."

He seemed to know exactly what I was talking about, I could feel the sadness in his voice.

"How's your project going?" he asked.

"Going well as far as I know, I'll be talking to you as soon as we get the go-ahead, but I am worried about what Olivia is up to there right now, she has become very unpredictable."

"Leave it to me son, I'll call in a favour or two and find out."

"Thank you very much sir."

"No need for us to mention anything to the women folk," he added.

"No, indeed," I agreed, thankful that he had a good head on his shoulders. I was going to message Abby, just to warn her, but couldn't think what to say. I did message Aleesha that I had heard Olivia had been to her parents in Ohio.

That's it, I thought, I have done all I can, it's down to the professionals now. I went home to see if Lauren was in a good mood and maybe Ana and Jane and Bree and Louise and Ruth and Jo and Rachel and Amber.

The following day reports continued to come in but nothing useful, I couldn't get out of my mind that Olivia must be up to something but what? There was nothing from her father or any sign of her at the house or her flat. Later in the day I had a call to say the documents were ready and ask how many copies we would need. I asked for 30 each and a separate binder for each set. I arranged for a collection before the day was out.

Halfway through the day I had a call from Olivia's father, "She is in hospital David, you better come."

"How bad is it?"

"Very bad, she's been seriously beaten and abused."

"Ok do we know who did it?"

"No, the police just say they are looking into it."

He was already heading out the door calling Aleesha but turned to Monica and said, "Can you book two seats on the first plane to Ohio, you know where." On the way, he spoke to his Police Detective friend, Philip, telling him what had happened and asking whether any of the people who were recently implicated were still there. He left them to look into it, there had already been a lot of embarrassment, they wouldn't want more.

He and Aleesha were in Ohio as quickly as physically possible, they didn't stop for anything.

They split upon arrival, she headed for the police department, he to the hospital but on the way he collected her father. She was asleep when he entered the ward so he sat by the bed. She would sense him when she was ready if anyone could, he sat for what seemed forever, working through his to-do list, playing his games and leaving messages. Eventually she came around if only groggy, and immediately uttered, "David?".

"You have really got yourself in trouble this time haven't you?" he asked with a smile in his voice. "Who did it Olivia?"

She shook her head.

"Tut, Tut, Tut. You know if you take up that job you will be undertaking to tell the truth."

"You don't mean that," she groaned.

"I do, I have spent two whole days sorting out the legal issues, except that I think you wanted me to say no!"

She gave a tight smile. "Why on earth would you say that? "she croaked out.

"You did your best to make me feel really awful and drive me away didn't you? And then you asked me for the job, yeah right!"

There might have been a giggle if her mouth wasn't half closed by bruises and stitches.

"You wanted me to say no and divorce you and then you could come back here and what, marry an old love and live off the money from the development program? You must love whoever it is very much to put up with me all these years? Just think, every time we made love, you must have been thinking of him, imagining your body in his arms. Jeeze, that must have been awful, all this time I have been bedding somebody else's woman and I could have been with someone who really wanted me, what a waste of years."

"So I am going to take it out on everyone else you have ever known. If you give me those names before I have to waste money searching for them, perhaps I might only break your man's legs."

"Noooo" she tried to say and I immediately assumed I had hit the spot and started thinking of other punishments.

"Is that a no you don't want me to break his legs or a no you don't want me to get everyone you've known. I wonder if Ana has always been in on it?" He allowed her a moment to decide.

She tried in vain to shake her head.

"Stop lying Olivia, I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth. Who is he or do I have to beat up every man in the town?" I half joked. "If he was one of the guys involved in doing this to you he is as good as dead anyway because he will be spending a long time in prison." I saw her twitch at that, surely not I thought but I continued anyway. "So he was one of them, what kind of man are you into that he would do this to you? You really are sick in the head aren't you" Jeeze I've been bedding a sicko all these years as well as a whore."

I got back to the point "It's the only thing that makes sense Olivia, but it's not going to happen and if you don't stop lying, nothing else is going to happen either, it's your last chance ever. There's no 'us' any more so you don't need to worry, the divorce papers will have been re-served to your lawyers by now but every single paper has been checked and amended with conditions imposed because someone messed up didn't they huh? Then you were so kind to give me a document that proved you were unfaithful, even before we tried for a baby. "I'm looking forward to catching up with the guy who was about to give you an orgasm when I phoned. Was it the love of your life or was it Peter? Or was it Zac or maybe one of the men who took your virginity, pity he didn't come to the reunion you must have been so disappointed, surely it wasn't Bill." I rambled on becoming more and more extreme in possibilities.