Dexter's Renaissance Ch. 01-02

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What to do about a devious, cheating wife.
7.5k words
4.67
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125

Part 1 of the 7 part series

Updated 10/31/2022
Created 10/17/2011
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coaster2
coaster2
2,587 Followers

This story will be submitted daily for seven days, two chapters per day. Editing by ErikThread and DaveT with my thanks for their helpful suggestions and skillful editing.

Chapter 1 Discovery

There is something to be said for living in a tropical paradise. First, there's the sunshine. Second, the year-around warmth. Third, the scantily dressed women.

Yes indeed, it can help restore the emotional balance of a wounded man. But this day it was simply hot. I had only just arrived on this island two weeks earlier and I wasn't quite prepared for continuous heat. To me, hot usually means beer, and around here, beer means Grolsch ... or Heineken ... or in a pinch, Amstel.

Those are the deep thoughts that passed by me as I lounged on the balcony of my little room in Cole Bay, Sint Maarten, just a tiny speck of land in the eastern Caribbean that almost totally relies on tourism. It's a shared island, part Dutch and part French. The French have the biggest territory, St. Martin, but more people live here in Sint Maarten, the Dutch territory.

From my balcony you can see St. Kitts, St. Bartholemey, Antigua, and a couple of other islands with the naked eye. My little abode sits on a strip of land with the Caribbean on one side, Simpson's Bay Lagoon on the other, and the airport too damn close.

This was my chosen residence. Just me, myself, and I ... Dexter McLeod. Age: forty-seven, height: six-foot-one, weight: one-ninety, eyes: blue, hair: blonde-grey, skin: gradually turning brown, status: separated. I was enjoying my exile, along with the seventy five thousand fellow island residents and god knows how many cruise ship tourists.

Not so many days ago I was the head of the CADD department at Pinecone Engineering, a medium size firm. Twenty three years earlier, when computer aided design was in its infancy, I was one of their first hires to effect the conversion. Fresh out of technical college, they needed someone to begin the move from old-style drafting to computer design and modeling.

I had pretty much created the department myself, so that made me Pinecone's Computer Aided Design and Drafting guru.

It was a good job and I was well paid. I was home every night except when I had to travel to a jobsite, but that wasn't very often. I had twenty-six designers reporting to me and I got along well with all of them. The tech schools were turning out a lot more young people with the necessary skills so we could be picky about whom we hired. However, in the end, experience was a big benefit and that's what I had in spades.

With my wife, Sandra, and our two children, Jonathan, 22, and Meredith, 20, we lived in a nice suburban two storey house only a few blocks from the commuter train station. We lived in Maple Ridge, east of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. I would get up at five am and catch the five-forty-five train to the city, giving me almost an hour to enjoy a large latte and the morning paper. I'd leave the office at four and be home by five-fifteen. Other than the early rise, it was quite a satisfactory routine.

Sandra's a good looking woman. I know a hundred guys who would love to have her, but she chose me. She was five-six, a hundred thirty pounds, with a nice body that she'd kept through two kids. Dark brown wavy hair, cut at the base of the neck, brown eyes, a button nose, and perfect teeth to show off a great smile. All things considered, I felt I was a pretty lucky guy to have found her.

Sandra hadn't worked during the children's early years but got bored with being alone at home when they were in their teens. She looked around for a part-time job, but with her limited skills, it wasn't easy to find one. Then luck, or fate, took over.

Our financial advisor, Randall Teller, was visiting our home one evening and in general conversation mentioned that he needed someone to help him with organization at his office. Simple work really; filing, taking messages, organizing meetings.

It wasn't a full time job and it didn't pay much but he was looking for someone just like Sandra. You can guess the rest. She jumped at the chance and started the next week. I didn't mind. She would start at one in the afternoon and come home at five. That gave her the entire morning for any housework or meal preparation.

Occasionally she would help Randall with organizing a seminar for clients and prospects. They were usually held either at ten in the morning or seven in the evening at one of the local hotels. They were only held once every three months so I didn't notice much change in our routine. I certainly had no complaints.

Things gradually changed as the kids finished high school and started their post-secondary educations. Jonathan, now called Jon, had decided on an engineering degree. At first he thought he would take Environmental Engineering but ultimately decided on Mining and Mineral Processing. I think both Sandra and I were completely baffled by his choice. Talk about a reversal of thinking!

Meredith, Merry to most of us, had chosen interior design and had been attending two years of community arts school. She had an eye for colour and design and both Sandra and I thought she had made a good choice.

Jon would now be in his final year and Merry would be finished her training and out looking for a job at the end of her current semester. We had corresponded briefly by e-mail but it was pretty unsatisfactory since most of the e-mails were either dumping on me or begging me to come back. That wasn't going to happen.

So how did I get from there to here? Simple. I discovered my wife was having an affair with good old Randall and planned to divorce me. She would get at least half of everything I had worked for over the past twenty-three years and I thought that was completely unfair. So, I took action.

I had very little leverage over my assets. Obstacle number one: I had originally bought our home in joint ownership with Sandra. To sell it or even re-mortgage it would require her signature as well as mine. Obstacle number two: I had set up separate RRSP's (Registered Retirement Savings Plans) for Sandra and myself. Mine was worth close to $400k while Sandra's was a little over $200k. In a divorce she would get at least $100k of mine. Since she was having the affair with Randall, cashing in my RRSP or even moving it to another firm would immediately send up a red flag and alert them that I was onto their plans.

I could easily empty the chequing and savings accounts and cash in a number of old whole life insurance policies I owned in my name. The two term policies had little if any cash value, so I would simply change the beneficiary on them to the children. I would also change my will.

I thought about trying to trick Sandra on the mortgage. It was up for renewal in the next few months and I wondered if I could set it up so that she would sign the papers without really noticing that I was the sole title on the document. It was a small mortgage, one hundred thousand on a house recently valued at six hundred thousand.

I discarded that idea. The house itself was titled in both our names. In addition, I was pretty sure that her lover would want to see anything that might involve their plan to take advantage of me and he would spot that strategy right away. Again, that might also tell them that I was on to them and force them to change their plans.

I also learned they were willing to wait for my twenty-fifth anniversary at Pinecone. In seventeen months I would be receiving a nice contribution that I would add to my RRSP and they didn't want to miss out on that. It was a very tidy package of stock that would be worth a great deal when I decided to retire. Unfortunately, through my ignorance, Randall was made well aware of this future windfall during our discussions about our financial affairs. They were willing to wait to make was sure they would get the stock included in the property settlement as a going away gift.

I was convinced Randall was the mastermind behind this scheme. Sandra wasn't stupid but she wasn't that wise to the ways of finance. She apparently had dreams of wealth and leisure and Randall would make them all come true.

Randall had sired five children, currently all between the ages twelve and twenty. He was fifty-something years old and normally would have to work hard for some years before he could retire and take it easy. His wife, Laura, was an unattractive woman in her early forties who spent most of her time looking after the five children. They had decided to home-school them and that was her role on top of looking after the household. A full time job, for sure. I wondered what she would think of this plot. The courts would not be kind to Randall leaving her and running off with another woman.

I suppose you're wondering how I found out about my wife and her lover. Well, like most of these things, it was accidental. Both Sandra and I had laptop computers. I needed a laptop for my road trips and Sandra wanted one for her job. I had set up a wireless system for the house and bought a laser printer with wireless capability that either of us could access.

Sandra isn't particularly gifted when it comes to computers. It took me hours to help her create even the simplest Excel templates and then get her to understand how to use them. Hardly a week would go by when she wouldn't summon me to help her untangle some problem or other that she'd created. I guess I shouldn't be too critical. I was using a computer all day, every day. It was a matter of the experience that I had and she didn't.

In self-defence, I created a network where I could get into her computer from mine. That way I could see what she was doing without having to stop everything and sit on her system and patiently explain what she had done wrong and what I was doing to fix it. I didn't bother to mention this to her. I didn't think it was important at the time.

Sandra discovered e-mail early on. She thought it was wonderful and was happily adding to her mailing list of friends and family on a regular basis. I would pass along the occasional joke or funny video that was sent to me by my friends. She would keep everything. Luckily, she had lots of capacity on her hard drive as, aside from the videos and family photos, nothing else took up much space.

One Sunday afternoon I walked into her "sewing room" where she kept her computer. She had been on it for some time and I was about to ask her if she would like me to get some Chinese take-out for dinner that night. She jumped when I appeared and quickly closed the lid on her laptop, pretending to have finished with it. She stood up, but the look on her face told me that she'd been caught at something she didn't want me to see.

She quickly agreed to my suggestion about the Chinese food and pulled out the menu from the local restaurant and chose some items. I nodded and took the menu with the discount coupon and stuck it in my shirt pocket. But I was curious. What had she been looking at that caused her to react the way she did? It was easy enough to find out.

I went back downstairs to my home-office in the basement and logged onto her computer. The thought crossed my mind that she might have been surfing porn sites. That would be interesting. Let's just have a look. Nope. She was on her e-mail program. I wouldn't normally look through her mail but her reaction to my surprising her got me more than a bit curious.

I looked in the sent file and saw several messages that she hadn't filed yet. I clicked on the one she had just written and began to read. That's when my nice little world turned to shit.

Randall, my love. When is our next seminar? I can't wait to have you inside me again. That wonderful feeling of being so filled and satisfied is impossible to forget. Soon, please Randall. Having sex in your office is too dangerous.

I don't know if I can wait another seventeen months until we can be together forever. I need you more than just once a week.

Please, help me. I love you,

Sandra.

I don't know how you would feel reading something like this from your wife but I was devastated. It was so completely out of the blue that I had no warning or preparation for it. We had been married just after I started at Pinecone and for the entire twenty-three years I believed she was the love of my life and I was the love of hers. Now ... it appeared that I was about to be replaced.

My stomach was in a knot and I could hardly breathe. My head was spinning and I thought I might pass out. I sat staring at the screen -- I don't know how long -- seeing nothing but those destructive words. I was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. Could I stop this? Could I win her back? Maybe it was just a fantasy letter that her imagination had created. I was immobile with shock.

I'm not sure when I came back to the land of the living. It was several minutes I'm sure. My only thought was to see if this was just an overactive imagination ... perhaps something my wife was acting out in private. But ... she had sent the e-mail. She had sent it to Randall. I put my hand back on the mouse and began to explore.

It took me a while to find the subfolder where she foolishly kept her personal e-mail. It was hidden under "Family," which I found quite offensive. I opened a subfolder marked "Nineteen Eleven" and found at least fifty e-mails, all of them to or from Randall Teller. Nineteen Eleven? What did that mean? Then I had a thought that ran chills through me. Nineteen Eleven; the nineteenth of November. My anniversary date at Pinecone.

In one year and one hundred-and-fifty-five days I would celebrate twenty-five years with my employer. Yeah, I was keeping track. Why wouldn't I? On that day I would receive twenty-five hundred shares of Pinecone stock. I had been getting some stock options over the years and they were the foundation of our RRSP's. Aside from the two originating partners, I was one of only three people who'd been around that long. It was a more than generous reward for loyalty. Current value on today's market: $100k, give or take. Future Value: As much as $250k if the rumour was true. More again if I held on to them for any length of time.

The rumour being quietly circulated in the office was that a very large international firm wanted buy us out and was willing to pay a big number to get us. I hadn't shared this with Sandra as I didn't want to get her hopes up. I wasn't sure that Randall might not have picked up on the rumour however. He was constantly watching the stock market reports.

I read through several of the more recent e-mails. There it was in black and white. The plan was to work me until my anniversary date then dump me for everything she could get from me. Cold blooded you think? Yeah. Ice cold! I wondered as I ran a copy of every e-mail to the printer on my desk. When did she stop loving me? I know there was a time when I never had a doubt about her but that's over now. When did it end?

She'd been working for Randall Teller for over three years. I can't imagine it was going on before then. She hardly knew him. So it had to start later on. Her e-mails dated back a little over two years and at first they weren't at all personal. That began a little over eighteen months ago. From then on things got more intimate and inappropriate with each succeeding one.

Teller was in his early fifties, almost ten years older than Sandra. He was a little shorter than me but seemed to be pretty fit. Styled grey hair and nice business clothes made him look very much like the successful professional. Until now I never had any reason to dislike Randall, but that had all changed in a heartbeat. He was intent on stealing my wife and a good part of my hard won wealth. I was obligated to defend myself and I would do that any way I could, fair means or foul.

The company that Teller represented was an internationally known investment firm with offices throughout North America and Europe. I decided that one of my many projects over the next little while was to satisfy myself that Mr. Randall Teller hadn't been tampering with my accounts, specifically with my RRSP. I no longer cared what he did with Sandra's but I would guard mine with my life. I would be going over my statements for the past two years very carefully.

Chapter 2 Planning

I'm a computer guy as I've already explained. But once in a while when I'm faced with a problem that isn't easy to solve I revert to pen and paper. I was determined to develop a plan that would allow me to extract every last dime I could from my modest wealth. I was going to need it in my new life, whatever that would be.

So I began to make a list of things.

Date: Mar. 25/07

Home Equity: ± $500k

Home Value: ± $600k

Debt: $100k Mortgage Term: expires 31/5/07

Problem: Joint ownership

RRSP: DMcL ±$400k

SMcL ±$200k Not available

Savings: Joint account $5k prox.

Chequing: Joint account $3k – 5k prox.

Business: DMcL work account $2k prox.

Stock: Future -- 2500 shares Pinecone stock @ $40/share current value

Protect! through 19/11/09

Obstacles: Cost of Divorce – lawyer's fees (both?)

Divorce Law ... 50% split all assets ... plus Alimony?

No Divorce Option - Disappear?

Other Options?

Joint Ownership on house

Early warning may prompt them to act sooner than 19/11/09

Who to trust?

The more I thought about it, the more appealing just abandoning the marriage looked. But that would require a very different strategy. If I could find a way to protect more of my assets, it would put the ball in my loving wife's court.

In a perfect world I would re-mortgage the house to the hilt and pocket the cash. Since the mortgage was paid by monthly direct transfer, it would give me some getaway time before the two conspirators would realize what I'd done. Joint ownership had put a stake in that idea. I needed an option and with the state my mind was in that afternoon I knew it wasn't going to come to me then.

My last note about whom I should trust was a reminder to me to be very careful about the people I talked to and what I talked about. I wanted to do nothing that would tip off Sandra or Randall about my knowledge. I pretty much ruled out telling the kids. I was sure one or both of them would spill the beans so they were going to have to be kept in the dark at least as long as their mother.

I did my damndest to act normally that afternoon. As usual on a Sunday evening it was just Sandra, Merry and me for dinner. Jon was living on campus and we seldom saw him apart from holidays or when he needed money. I managed to get my emotions under control by the time I picked up the package from the Chinese restaurant. I didn't have much of an appetite but I was determined not to draw attention to myself.

I wasn't very effective at work over the next week. I was constantly trying to work through the problems facing me, coming to terms with the deceit and treachery of my wife. I was going through various stages of emotions: anger, frustration and depression before returning to anger. As for Randall Teller, I was committed to revenge. One way or another he would pay for his sins.

Within a few days the genesis of one or two ideas began to form. If there were two main objectives for me they were to protect my twenty-fifth anniversary stock award and to somehow extract at least half the equity from our home, if not more. If I focussed on just one or two things I would probably be better off.

Gradually, I began to become immune to my feelings when it came to Sandra. If she wanted sex, I gave her every excuse I could think of to avoid it. When I thought she might become suspicious, I reluctantly gave in with none of the enthusiasm I might have previously shown. She didn't seem to notice and on top of that she was much less aggressive herself.

coaster2
coaster2
2,587 Followers