Emily's Ordeal

"Yes, I knew her from school," Emily replied.

"Have you paid her yet?"

"Not yet," Will answered for Emily. "I have taken out a loan, but I haven't converted it to Bitcoin yet."

"How long do you have to pay before Dawn Charles carries out her threat?"

"Three days," Emily replied.

"Please catch them," Will pleaded putting his arm around Emily. "They have put a huge strain on our marriage."

"I understand. Some of the victims have gotten divorced because of this. We need to move fast," the detective sergeant said with determination sensing an opportunity. "We will set up a sting. You can ask to meet Dawn Charles and tell her you have the money but need help to convert the money to Bitcoin. We will swoop into arrest her but, Emily, we need you to agree to testify against her and her accomplices. Will you testify against them?"

Emily looked at Will, "It is your decision," he told her. "I'll support you whatever you decide."

Emily took a deep breath and nodded.

The police officers almost sighed in relief, "Thank you, Emily," the detective sergeant told her. "We do not underestimate how brave you are and do not underestimate how grateful we are too. You are going save a lot of women from suffering the same fate I need to talk to my boss and arrange the sting. We will brief you just before you meet her."

"What shall I tell her," Will asked. "She is sending messages to me from Emily's phone."

"Tell her Emily has the money and needs to meet to change the money to Bitcoin, tomorrow."

"What if she is alone and the other men aren't there?" Emily asked worriedly.

"She never goes anywhere without them. I promise you we will get them."

The detective constable stood up and made a call on his phone, "It's on boss," he told the detective sergeant.

"Will, send the message now," Detective Sergeant Taylor told him.

Will did what he was told. His phone quickly pinged with an angry reply, and he showed it to the police officers.

"Good, right be there as agreed. When we come in it will be confusing and more than likely very frightening. Try and stay calm and as still as possible. We will know who you are, and you will not be harmed," Detective Sergeant Taylor told Emily reassuringly.

The next day Will drove a visibly frightened Emily to the coffee shop. He gave her his phone and she went inside.

Dawn and the two men were waiting for her.

"You are making me work for five grand, aren't you?" Dawn said spitefully with exasperation. "It really isn't that difficult converting money to Bitcoin. Give me that fucking phone and bank details."

Emily watched as Dawn began to use the phone when chaos erupted.

"ARMED POLICE!" screamed a police officer with a semiautomatic rifle pointed at Dawn. He was followed by other armed policemen with the same weapon who pointed theirs at the men. "ON THE FLOOR NOW!"

Chairs went flying as other customers turned and revealed themselves as police officers. Dawn and the two men looked stunned as they were forced to the ground and put in handcuffs. Detective Sergeant Taylor then walked in with Detective Constable Nugent. Both police officers had determined smiles on their faces. Detective Sergeant Taylor read Dawn and the men their rights before they were led away. Dawn looked at Emily with fury as she passed her.

"Well done, Emily, and thank you," Detective Sergeant Taylor told her happily as she knew she had brought down the gang she had been after for a long time. "We've finally got her. We're now going to be able to search their residences without a warrant and I am in no doubt that we will be able to find more evidence. We have your phone and your husband's phone. I am cautiously optimistic we will be able to persuade more victims to testify against them and put them away for a long time. We'll call you to arrange for you to come to the police station to give a formal statement."

A female uniformed police officer came and helped a still-stunned Emily to her feet and led her outside. Will immediately pulled her into his arms and held onto her while she quietly sobbed.

"Let's go home," he told her.

When they got home there were two negative STD test results waiting for them. Both Emily and Will sighed with relief and looked at each other with "What now," eyes. Both were uncertain whether their marriage would survive Emily's ordeal or not.

"Let's discuss it tomorrow when we are less emotional," Emily suggested.

"Shall we get a takeaway for dinner tonight?" Will asked for no other reason other needing to say something.

"That would be nice," Emily replied kissing Will.

Chapter 8

Emily and Will gave statements to the police. Dawn and the two men were charged and remanded in custody.

Now safe, Emily and Will agreed to marriage counselling to resolve the trust issues that Dawn had caused in their marriage. Emily needed to be sure that Will would believe her from now on and Will needed to be able to forgive himself for letting her down.

They sat nervously in front of the therapist who looked at them with sympathy after hearing their story.

"You both have been through a lot. I think Will you want to say something to Emily," the therapist asked.

A tear rolled down Will's cheek, "I am so sorry Emily. I walked out when you needed me the most. I wouldn't believe you when you tried to explain. What I did was unforgivable. You went through a horrible experience. I love you, Emily. I want to stay with you, I want us to stay married. Please let me regain your trust." Emily cried openly as she listened to Will.

"Would you like to reply, Emily?"

"When you walked out, it was the most painful experience of my life," Emily said to her husband. "Hearing that you did not believe me, crushed my soul. I thought I had lost the one person I loved the most in the world. I believe you are sorry, and I do love you, but I need to know you will be there for me if there is a next time. I cannot go through that again." Will hung his head in remorse.

"Okay, okay," the therapist smiled. "Let us see what we want to achieve from our sessions. Do you both love each other?"

The couple nodded.

"When push comes to shove, do you both want to stay married?"

"Yes," they both replied with sad expressions. They then instinctively held each other's hand.

"Now, do you both trust each other?"

"Yes," Will replied.

"I want to," Emily said.

Will looked crushed at her reply, "Tell me how to and I'll do it."

"Will, we will discuss that next time," the therapist told him gently. "First, Emily, how did you feel about Will's help during your ordeal? Can you tell him?"

"Will, without you I don't think I would have coped," she sobbed. "You saved me. If you hadn't called your friend and his girlfriend, then the police wouldn't have got involved and I know that video would have been online. I don't think I could have gone on. You supported me and when you said that you would have stayed with me even if the video was released it made life worth living." Emily then turned and sobbed into his shoulder.

"So, he stood by you even though he overcame his doubts, supported you, and told you he wanted to stay with you no matter what," the therapist paraphrased Emily. "Let me ask you a question, Emily, if you saw a picture of Will having sex with another woman before he had a chance to confess and his only explanation was that he couldn't remember anything, how would you react?"

Emily gave a pained expression, "I not sure I would believe him," she replied quietly.

"Don't you think it is unfair for you not to trust him then?"

"Oh God! I suppose not," she said guiltily.

"With this in mind, do you trust Will?"

"I still don't know," she replied honestly. "I want to, though and I feel awful for not trusting him after all his help."

"Good," the therapist replied. "Don't feel bad. It is a natural reaction after he walked out on you even though it is unfair. Our time is up. For homework I want you both to write down why you love each other, and I want you both to do something romantic together. We can discuss it next time."

Emily and Will decided to book a last-minute weekend away together to the coast to do "something romantic". They still had the five thousand pounds, so they decided to spend it rather than pay it back. They wanted to recreate their first trip together when they first began to date. They stayed in the same town and the same hotel. For them both it was a relief to be away. Away from all the reminders of what happened and their marriage problems. Be free to be themselves again. The weather wasn't as nice as the first time, but the sightseeing and candle-lit dinners allowed them to reconnect as a couple. They made love for the first time since Emily's ordeal. For Emily, it felt like her soul was being cleansed by her husband.

He surprised her by unhesitatingly going down on her. His tongue circling her clit felt glorious. She gripped his head tightly in place between her legs to make sure he would not stop. When the orgasm came her eyes widened and her back arched as she coated his face with her cum. It felt magical.

Emily gasped when Will entered her. They watched each other the whole time. When Emily orgasmed, her brow furrowed, and her thighs squeezed her husband, but her eyes never left his. They weren't powerful orgasms just beautiful and numerous. When she felt Will cum inside her eyes finally left his as she closed her eyes and savoured the feeling before tears began to roll down her face.

"What's wrong?" Will asked with concern.

"Nothing is wrong," she replied shaking her head. "Thank you. I needed that. You always know what I need. I love you."

In the days leading up to their next counselling session, Emily became a little withdrawn. All she wanted was for Will to hold her, but she wouldn't tell him what was wrong.

The therapist studied the couple in front of her before speaking, "Let us discuss the worst aspects of what happened. Emily, how did you feel knowing that you had sex with another man but had no memory of it?"

Emily began to cry at the pain she felt afterwards, "I've never felt anything more painful. Knowing that I had hurt Will was the worst of it. I felt ashamed and disgusted with myself. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror." Will looked distraught at hearing his wife's words.

"How did you feel when Will walked out?"

"I felt lost and alone. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I thought I had lost Will."

"Will, how did it feel to see another man having sex with your wife?"

"It was the worst and most painful thing I've ever felt in my life seeing Emily with another man. But knowing what happened I now see something worse because whenever I see those pictures in my head, I see my wife being raped and I wasn't there to protect her." Will then broke down and sobbed.

"So, how do you feel now?"

"Angry. Angry that Emily put herself in that situation and angry at the man and Dawn Charles for doing to her."

"Do you forgive Emily?"

"Yes," Will replied simply.

Emily embraced Will and sobbed with him.

"I can see all this is news to both of you," the therapist reproached them. "You failed to consider each other's perspective." Emily and Will hung their heads in shame. "Did you do something romantic?"

They told the therapist where they went and what they did and how they felt reconnected to each other. The therapist listened approvingly.

"Okay, I think I would like to hear what you love about each other," the therapist said. "Emily, can you go first and tell Will."

Emily looked at the piece of paper with what she had written. She had put much thought into it, but it felt inadequate, "Will, I wrote so many things what I love about you but the only thing that matters is the way you make me feel. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be married to someone who knows what I need even when I don't. It is the greatest feeling, no one else will ever be able to make me feel like that."

Will looked at his piece of paper with his own homework on it and Emily's words made what he had written feel inadequate too, "Emily you are my world. That is all. You are the warmest and most loving person I know and life without you doesn't bear thinking about."

Emily and Will embraced and kissed each other.

The therapist smiled. She could see this couple were going to make it like she knew they were when they first walked in. They just needed guidance but there was still one issue to resolve, "Emily, do you trust Will?"

Emily wiped away a tear, "Not yet, but I am getting there," she admitted before turning to her husband. "I'm getting there, Will. Keep doing what you are doing. I want my life to be with you and I am going to work on myself so I can trust you."

"I sense there is something else, Emily."

Emily suddenly looked guilty, "Will, I feel awful about saying I don't trust you when I did this because it gives you reason not to trust me too. After you walked out, I forgot to take my birth control and I haven't taken it since so there is a good chance that I might be pregnant after the weekend."

"Will, would like to respond?"

Will just shrugged his shoulders, "So what? Having children was one of the reasons we got married, wasn't it? If you're pregnant it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to us, would it?"

Emily pulled Will towards her to kiss him deeply and lovingly.

Epilogue

Emily wasn't pregnant but it did initiate a conversation about whether they were ready to start a family and they both agreed they were.

The trial of Dawn and the two men came to court. Due to the nature of the crime, Emily was able to testify remotely and there was a media ban on identifying her. Emily's willingness to testify enabled the police to persuade other women to testify against them too.

When they searched Dawn's home, they found nothing but when they searched the men's house, they discovered a treasure trove of evidence. Scopolamine was found in the house. A laptop gave evidence of them buying Scopolamine on the dark web and they were able to identify the supplier. Pictures and videos of the victims of the men having sex with the women were found on the laptop too. DNA evidence was found of the victims being in the house. This allowed the police to charge the men with rape.

The nature of the crimes was the same. Dawn befriended married women and asked them to go to a bar to help her meet men. The two men would then chat them up and ask them to go to a house party with them. The victim would then unknowingly be given Scopolamine and in their suggestible state would have sex with one of the men. The act would be filmed, and pictures taken to blackmail the victims.

The men were given life sentences with a minimum of twenty years to be served. The judge called them a very real and dangerous threat to women.

Dawn to save herself, threw the men under the bus. She was given a lighter sentence because there was no evidence linking her to the Scopolamine. She was sentenced for blackmail only, five years with a minimum of two to be served.

In their victim impact statements, the victims described how their marriages failed and their reputations destroyed because of what Dawn and the men did. They described how they lost their jobs and struggled to find new ones. In one case a victim lost custody of her children and the mother of the victim who committed suicide wept in court as she told of how she lost her daughter when the video of her daughter was posted online and that the video of her dead daughter is still there.

If Dawn thought that she needed to just bide her time in prison and get out to spend the money she blackmailed off her victims, she was sorely mistaken. An innocuous piece of evidence on her phone, just a name and phone number. Cross-referencing it led to a big player in human trafficking this led to Dawn being identified as the mysterious person behind a codename. This led to an international operation involving police forces across Europe to bring down a very dangerous human trafficking ring. Her involvement led to her being given a life sentence. The blackmail was just a side hustle for her, just a bit of fun.

By the time Emily gave evidence she was already pregnant. She and Will managed to resolve their differences and their marriage became stronger for it. Emily gave birth to a girl they named Freya. They decided to sell the house they lived in because held too many unhappy memories of Emily's ordeal. Once they were in their new house Emily became pregnant again and a few years later, pregnant one last time before enough was declared.