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A look of shock spread across Beverly's face. Gloria's face turned bright red as she suddenly realized her mistake. She hadn't investigated the status of the royalties except to verify that they were being paid. Gloria felt a crushing humiliation. However, that humiliation paled to what Beverly was feeling. The one thing she had been most proud of only came about because of her husband's sacrifice. Beverly began sobbing again because deep within, she seemed to accept the truth of it.

"I also want you to know that I won't abandon Sarah," Paul said kindly. "She isn't my daughter, but I do have feelings for her. I have instructed Mr. Chalmers to set up a trust for her. So far, I've funded it with two hundred thousand dollars. I intend to build that amount up until it reaches five hundred thousand dollars if I'm able. The interest from that trust will be available for the care of Sarah. Beverly, you will never have control over any of that money. You will only be permitted to submit bills, which will be verified, to pay for Sarah's upkeep. When Sarah turns twenty-five, the trust will be turned over to her. As for you, I strongly urge you to save the monies that come in from the series. You're going to need them. The truth of the matter is, Beverly, that you are not a very good actress. However, with your reputation, you probably can get small parts until your looks start to fade. I would suggest that you take a different career path, but if you don't mind spreading your legs to get parts, have at it."

A look of pure hated filled Beverly's face. It seemed that Paul had struck a major nerve. As angry as she was, Beverly said nothing. Instead, she looked to Kirk for comfort.

Paul blew out a breath and shook his head sadly. "In your entire life, Beverly, I don't believe that you have ever truly loved anyone other than yourself. But someday you will find love, and I hope that you aren't betrayed like I was." Paul paused and looked up a Kirk and then back to Beverly. "However, I fear that today is the day you're going to learn that pain, and if it is, you have my sympathy."

Slowly, Paul rose to his feet. "Beverly, this is the last time we will ever speak. If you have something to communicate to me, do so through Elliott. Take good care of Sarah, or the wrath of God will descend on you."

Paul looked around the room, then shook hands with Elliott and Pres. Patting Kirk on the shoulder, the two left together. Beverly put her head down on the table and sobbed piteously. Pres quickly gathered up his equipment, retrieved his car, and headed for the airport. His was the last flight out before the airport was shut down due to the oncoming blizzard.

One Year Later:

Preston Turner settled into a chair opposite his boss, James Baker. It was time for his annual review. Pres knew that all of his cases were reviewed periodically once he filed them. But during the annual review, his boss would review cases that Pres thought should be closed. Today, Pres was hoping to close the three cases from Cleveland and the one from Akron.

After going through Pres' annual review, which was one of high praise, the two men turned to the cases being reviewed to determine if they should be closed.

"Go through that project with Gary and Jason. Tell me why you think they should be closed," Mr. Baker instructed Pres.

"Gary Harris and Jason Witten," Pres read from his folder. "In case you don't remember, both men were supposed to be married within days, but we discovered that Gary's fiancé was a serial cheater. Gary totally humiliated Belinda at the church service and has moved on."

"Yes, I remember that video," Mr. Baker nodded. "I almost felt sorry for her. Apparently, she did love Gary. But, be that as it may, how has she fared?"

"After her cheating ways were exposed, Belinda left Cleveland. She finally wound up in Las Vegas, where she works as a cocktail waitress and part-time dealer. She has contact with her mother, but her father refuses to talk to her. Since her aborted wedding, Belinda continues to bed multiple men. I believe she is incapable of being faithful. However, sadly for her, Belinda still seems to be carrying a torch for Gary as she writes to him periodically. He apparently has forgiven her as he will answer one of her letters occasionally. However, there is absolutely no chance of a future reconciliation. Gary is, in fact, dating a Linda Chaucer fairly seriously. If my sources are correct, he intends to propose to her within the next two months."

"What about the best man? How was he dealt with?"

"Actually, we didn't have to do anything. The District Attorney fired him, and the bar suspended his license for five years. He has lost all of his friends and moved out of town shortly after the marriage fiasco."

"And Belinda's boss?"

"His wife took him to the cleaners in the divorce. He's not poor by any means, but he lost half of everything, and his three kids don't speak to him."

"What about the other lad, Jason Witton?"

"He married his fiancé, Melissa, and they appear to be very happy. Also, Melissa, without any objection, signed the prenuptial agreement. Oh, and they're expecting their first child any day now."

Mr. Baker smiled. "I approve the closing of both of those cases. Now tell me about Ben Sharpen's case."

"As we hoped, Ben was able to sue and get the natural fathers to repay him for the child support he had paid out for their children. However, Ben did a lot better than just getting the support money back. As you know, we located the money that his ex-wife had hidden overseas from her drug dealings. After taking the amount of alimony Ben paid her and three hundred thousand dollars for his pain and suffering, we let the IRS know where the rest of the money was. The lawsuits against the law firm and financial house were quite successful. After the legal fees were taken out, Ben wound up with almost two million dollars. The three natural fathers were all divorced by their wives. The two attorneys had had their wives sign prenuptial agreements, but they were thrown out. Their husbands had neglected to have separate attorneys representing their wives review the agreements. All three took big hits in the divorces.

As for Ben, he left the Cleveland Clinic and has set up several medical clinics of his own. Also, he has a girlfriend. Linda Crawford used to be a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic but now works for Ben at one of his clinics. And Ben joined a gym and has lost forty pounds so far."

"What about his ex-wife and her children," Mr. Baker pressed.

"Mrs. Sharpen was convicted of several charges, including drug trafficking and income tax evasion. The heroin she sold was proved to be the cause of that teenager's death. She received a sentence of twenty years to life. Her children received jail sentences ranging from five to seven years. Her last four lovers also received jail terms, but I did not inquire as to the lengths because they were not part of this project."

"Excellent work. I approve the closure of this one also."

"Janet Arnold's case has been especially satisfying for me," Pres continued on to the next case without being asked. "I am particularly pleased with the outcome. Mrs. Arnold and her children had been so totally screwed by one of our members that it was embarrassing."

"I remember this case," Mr. Baker admitted. "It was discussed at length at several supervisor's meetings. You feel it's ready to be closed now?"

"Yes, sir. The final judgments have been issued, and Mrs. Arnold got half of the assets we could locate. At first, I thought there might be more money out there somewhere. But judging by Mr. Arnold's state of affairs, I'm pretty sure we got it all."

"And how is good old Mr. Arnold faring?"

"After Mrs. Arnold received her share, we paid Mr. Arnold's back taxes with penalties. As you know, we never pay the government interest because they can take three years or longer to determine that extra taxes are owed. Because of government incompetence, we do not believe they are entitled to any interest. Nevertheless, when it all shook out, Mr. Arnold was left with less than two hundred thousand dollars. Since this amount exceeds the maximum amount one of our members is allowed to retain when they break the covenant, I was prepared to continue working on this case. However, one of his partnership investments went belly up, and he lost all but about thirty thousand dollars. He's now selling used cars."

"What about the other two partnerships? Even receiving half of his portion of the income would be over the maximum allowed."

"To cover his portion of the losses from the failed partnership, he had to sell his interest in the other two. However, we were able to get Mrs. Arnold's claim in place before he sold out. She is now receiving the income that is rightfully hers."

"Oh, one other thing," Pres said, smiling as he pulled out a sheet of paper. "It seems that the paperwork for the extradition order got messed up. Mr. Arnold had to spend three months in a Costa Rican jail. He went in slightly overweight but left definitely on the skinny side. Apparently, the marshals were amused because they had never seen someone so happy to be returned to an American prison.

"Just out of idle curiosity," Pres' boss asked, "what happened to the woman Mr. Arnold ran away with?"

"Ah, Tammy," Pres smiled. "It took her almost two months to get back to the United States. After living in virtual poverty in Costa Rica, I dare say she has a new appreciation for America. Anyway, her behavior with her previous boss made it hard to find a new job. She did, eventually, get a position as an administrative assistant. As far as I can tell, she has not gone back to her gold digger ways. However, she will be monitored, and if she does, and it's with one of our members, we'll take action."

"I want to error on the side of caution," Mr. Baker said as he studied the report. "Perhaps we'll keep this one open a bit longer to see what Tammy does and to see if Mr. Arnold has any more money hidden away. Now, for the last case, that of Mr. Paul Bracken. I am aware of what was, but I'd like you to go through it the results."

"The divorce was challenged, but the courts dismissed them. Mr. Bracken is now producing a new television series entitled Runaway Husbands. He negotiated a deal with the studio where he owns the series. It's been in the top ten since it first went on. It's already been renewed for two years. And the funny thing about this series is that I think the part of the narrator would have been perfect for Paul's ex-wife Beverly. I can't help but believe that he wrote the series with her in mind."

"And was Mr. Southern able to extricate himself from Beverly's clutches," Mr. Baker laughed.

"Their relationship ended that day. And I believe that Mr. Bracken was correct when he said that Beverly would fall in love and possibly be betrayed one day. From what I've observed, Beverly truly did love Kirk and was crushed when he left her. She didn't date for six months after that and has only dated sporadically. Beverly is a real estate agent now, and as far as we can tell, she is not sleeping with anyone currently. Beverly seems to be spending most of her non-working time with her daughter, Sarah. She has turned out to be a much better mother than I ever would have thought. Oh yes, she does occasionally perform in the local community theater."

"This one wasn't really your project, but I figured as long as you were coming in to see me, I'd review it. I'm ready to close it based on the results.

With the review completed, Pres began to rise, "If you don't have anything else, I'll get back to work."

"Yes, I have one more item I want to discuss with you." Mr. Baker waved Pres back into his chair.

"What would that be, sir?"

"As you know, we recently passed two million members, and we're growing faster than anticipated. We need ever more field representatives, and we have a great need for qualified regional supervisors. I just got the approval this morning, and you're being promoted into one of those supervisory positions. Congratulations."

Pres was stunned but still managed to thank Mr. Baker.

"You deserve it, Pres. Your work has been exemplary. You'll be starting on Monday. However, I'm going to warn you that three or four of the projects your new team is working are doing very poorly right now. I'm confident you can straighten them out. Good Luck.

The two men shook hands, and Pres let his boss' office beaming.

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