Nothing to Live For

Standard warnings. All characters are over 18-years old. No sex in this one. It's all about revenge. I'm sure that I have a lot of the legal crap wrong. This is my world, deal with it.

Spoiler: The hero dies. If that bothers you, stop here. In fact, that should have been obvious from the title and description. Yes, it's over the top. It is fiction.

"Are you insane?" That was my lawyer, Donald Jenkins. "They have a literal air-tight case! There are probably a dozen witnesses, INCLUDING YOUR WIFE, not to mention the very clear videos from, not one, not two, but THREE separate security cameras -- ALL IN BROAD FUCKING DAYLIGHT! Your fingerprints and DNA are all over the weapon you used. Your motive is very well documented. That's not even mentioning that the police officers actually caught you in the act and had their body-cams on showing you attacking him."

Yep. All very good points. I could see where he thought I might be insane to refuse the plea deal that I was being offered. I plead guilty and get 5-years with another 5 probation, or I get convicted in court and chance the judge sentencing me to 15 to 20. Then again, if I were a normal intelligent person, I probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. First, it would have been best if I didn't actually commit the crime, or, if I did, I would have been much smarter about it and at least tried to cover my tracks. Nope. I did it and didn't care who knew about it.

"Look. You hired me to represent and advise you. I'm telling you that you don't stand a chance in hell at trial. The DA is only offering this deal because of the backlog of court cases. Giving you this deal eliminates the cost and time of a trial that isn't necessary. My best advice is to take the deal. You are not getting off on this. No lawyer in the world can get you off on this. I can't even put up any defense. If we go to trial, all I will be able to do is sit beside you and watch the DA crucify you. There isn't even anything that I can make a case with. Once the prosecution rests, I will simply rest my case as well. I can't even call a single witness to defend you. You're toast. The only thing you can do is to mitigate this disaster as much as possible by serving the least amount of time possible. Going to trial will only cost you a hell of a lot of money just to make things worse for yourself."

"So, counselor, when will the trial be, how long will it last, and how long after that until sentencing?" I asked. His eyes kind of glazed over as he tried to come to terms with the fact that I simply didn't care.

"Because of the backlog, the actual trial will be in about 6-months. Before that, there will be your arraignment, hearings on the charges brought, evidentiary hearings, I'll make motions that will have to be heard, the DA will make motions, and a few other things. All I can do is to try and stall the trial, but it won't make any difference."

"Fine. You need to call my sister and let her know what my bail will be. She'll bail me out."

"That's not going to be cheap."

"Not your problem. Also, send her your invoices. She'll make sure to take care of them."

He left. I'm sure that he was thinking about getting a mental evaluation on me. Perhaps there might be an insanity defense. That was fine with me. I had no issue with paying more money to him for doing his best, not that it would actually matter.

Oh, you may be wondering what's going on. Let me go back a couple of months.

So, my name is Dan Malloy. I'm 56-years old, and live with my beautiful and loving wife, Kimberly. We've been married for 25-years and have two wonderful daughters, Gina and Susan. Gina is 22 and a senior in college. Like me, she is studying Mechanical Engineering. Sue is 20 and studying Business Administration. They are planning on taking over my firm when I retire. It's a small firm, and we are not rich by any means, but we are comfortable. We own our home, still making payments, but there are only a few more years left on that. We drive decent cars, even if they aren't top of the line luxury automobiles. I have made sure that I put enough away in my investment accounts to retire nicely when I turn 65.

Kimberly has been a stay-at-home mom since Gina was born. Once both kids were fully entrenched in school, she did some volunteering at different charities as a way to get out of the house while the girls were in school. When Sue left for college, her volunteering hours increased to make up for becoming empty nesters. I had no problem with that, and even encouraged her. It made her happy, as well as allowing us to attend several more evening events.

Kim and I used to have an awesome sex life while we dated, became engaged, then married. Having kids slowed us down a bit, but it was still fairly often and exciting. As the kids grew, our responsibilities increased, and we aged, things began to get a bit less exciting and a little less often. Still, sex was fulfilling for both of us. We probably did it two to three times a week. No, it wasn't as adventurous as when we were younger, and it was fairly predictable, but we still engaged in various positions and activities. Start out a blowjob, then me giving her oral, a nice titty-fuck for a bit, missionary, doggie, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, changing thing up a bit depending on the mood. When we knew the girls would not be home for a while, we would occasionally make use of the couch in the livingroom or bending Kim over the table or counter. Yes, it was fairly predictable, but we both enjoyed it.

Everything came crashing down on a bright autumn morning. I had been to the doctor a week before to have some tests run. I had been feeling run-down and kind of blah for a while. It just seemed that I was tired all the time. Kim had noticed and hounded me until I gave in and made an appointment. I was depressed when I walked out of the office. The test results were in. I decided that I wasn't returning to the office that day. I needed to go somewhere and think. There were plans to be made and decisions that needed to happen. I also needed to think about what I was going to tell my wife and daughters.

I was headed to a little Sports Bar that I liked to get a burger and some alcohol as I thought about the news. I was at a stoplight by the local college when I noticed my wife's car pull out. That wasn't a surprise. One of the things that she volunteered for was tutoring at the college. She has a degree in English from before we got married and always loved literature. Having time available, she tutored some students on campus. What was surprising was that she was not alone. In fact, she was not even driving. Kim was sitting in the passenger seat as some young and very large black kid was driving. I was two cars back at the light, and they had not seen me. It was very evident, even from the quick glimpse that I got, that Kim's sole focus was on the kid that was driving.

The whole thing didn't seem right. Since they had turned onto the road in front of me and in the same direction, I decided to follow. I made sure that there were at least two cars between us. It didn't matter. Five minutes later, I watched as they pulled into a low-end motel. As they turned right to enter the motel's parking lot, I turned left into a parking lot for a strip mall. I had just pulled into a parking space by the street when I saw them leave her car and enter the motel lobby. A few minutes later, I watched as they walked along the balcony on the second floor and entered a room. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it wasn't going to be literature that they were studying in there -- more like anatomy.

It was two hours later that I saw them leave the room. By this time, I had my digital camera ready. I always carry my camera with me, because sometimes I need to take pictures of projects to document the issues being raised. I had the zoom lens on to make sure that I captured detailed photos of them. He had his hand on her ass as they walked back towards the lobby. This time I could recognize the asshole. He was the star receiver for the university football team. He was a senior this year and had scouts from every NFL team watching him every game. Most of the mock drafts had him being selected mid to late first round. Even the most critical analysis predicted that there was no way that he would get passed the second round. The kid was going to be a sure-fire star in the NFL. I'm a bit of a football nut, so I enjoy following the games and analysis that's available. It helps a lot during office pools and betting on the games. I win a lot more than I lose.

Well, fuck me sideways; that bitch is cheating on me. That's a total dealbreaker for me. We've discussed this a couple of times. 'Forsake all others' means something to me. It is a vow before God, family and friends to each other. That is a vow that is simply not broken. 'Until Death Do You Part'. OK, sure, there is divorce. Don't want me anymore? Fine. If you're stupid enough to want to leave, I'm smart enough to let you. I already fought for you once. That's what dating and engagement is for. I won that fight when she said, 'I Do'. I shouldn't have to fight for her again.

OK. All the plans and decisions that I had been mulling over needed to change. I needed a whole new plan. I waited about 10-minutes after they left before I started the car and went on my way. I ended up at the Sports Bar that had been my original destination. I carried my notepad in with me and selected a booth in the back, so I had some privacy. I ordered a burger, beer, and a bourbon from the waitress, then began to formulate my plan. I wrote down notes as I thought. There were four columns; What would likely happen to me, what to do about my daughters, what to do about the slut, and what to do about the asshole.

Me: Did it really matter? Not particularly. There was an over-ridding issue that made everything in this column moot. There was no possible way for me to forgive and forget what my slut-wife did. There could be no possible path to reconciliation. There was also no future for me with my daughters either. While I loved them with all my heart, I would never be invited to their graduations from college, I would never walk them down the aisle for their wedding, I would never bounce their children on my knee.

Speaking of my daughters, I needed them to be taken care of. Sure, they were grown adults now and could take care of themselves. Still, I wanted them to succeed. There was still college to finish. Then they needed to gain experience before taking over the firm. I also needed to make sure that they had enough resources to sustain them until they were completely self-sufficient. If I could leave them more to make their lives better, it would be a bonus.

For the slut-wife, I wanted to screw her over as much as possible. I would give her a fucking over that she would never forget. She wanted to fuck around on me with some big strong athlete? I would show her what a real fucking was. I gave her everything I had, and she repays me like that. OK, she would get nothing more from me.

Asshole: He took one of the most precious things I had away from me. I would repay him by taking his most precious thing away.

Once the brainstorming was done, I began a flowchart. For those of you unfamiliar with it, a flowchart is used in engineering to chart the path of decisions or events. It is an if/or document. You begin with the first step. That step has two outcomes. If yes, do this. Or, if no, do that. It expands from there. The outcome of each step leads to the next step until the problem is solved. This can be used to logically solve virtually any problem. It can also be used as a way to figure out possible issues and resolve them beforehand and look ahead to possible roadblocks so they can be eliminated.

Four hours, three beers, and two double bourbons later, I had the outline of my plan. Unfortunately, three beers and two double bourbons later, I was not in any condition to deal with the slut. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done it, but I drove back to the office. I was far from blitzed, it had been five drinks in four hours, so I wasn't that bad. Still, I was probably over the limit. I have a small room with a bed and attached bathroom at the office. It was handy for those long night when I was under a deadline and had to work long into the night. It wasn't unheard of for me to make use of it, but it wasn't a normal occurrence. I sent a short text to the slut telling her that I had a deadline, and some issues came up. I was planning on a long night and just sleeping at the office.

The next morning, I got up and continued my plans. By noon, I had everything written into detailed steps. By the end of the day, I had gone through every step, detail by detail, and revised as I found minor issues. I decided that I had 30-days to take care of everything before the last step. I stayed two hours later than usual rearranging the steps to fit the timeline before going home.

By this time, I had control of my emotions enough to act somewhat normal. I had also concocted a cover story to give my wife for why I had been so worn out and what the doctor had said. Basically, I was going to tell her that age and overworking was beginning to take its toll. He wanted me to cut back a little on work and get more exercise. Of course, I would be too tired for sex for a while until my new lifestyle began to take effect. Yeah, my dick wasn't going anywhere near that cesspool ever again, but she didn't need to know that. No telling how many other cocks she has going in there.

I managed to have a normal evening at home. I didn't have to fake being tired, I really was. Kim tried to be affectionate, but I was just too exhausted from the mental stress and the fitful sleep from last night. She asked about the project I was working on, and I gave her some bullshit about a time sensitive design that had changed parameters. She never really involved herself in the company, so I could pretty much tell her anything and she would believe me.

The next morning, I was up early. I had some appointments to make and people to talk to. I should probably note here that the business as well as most of everything we owned was in just my name. Yes, we started the business after we were married, but I was the one with the income and credentials. It was formed as a Sole Proprietor with me being the owner. Kim's name was not on any of the paperwork. As for our house, again, it the title and mortgage were just under my name. It was just easier that way. Kim had no income, so she would only lower the credit rating. It didn't matter to either of us at the time, because we were planning on spending the rest of our lives together. Even if something happened to me, Kim would be the beneficiary. I even made out a will stating that.

By the end of the week, I had the new will signed and notarized. I had also hired a private investigator to watch my wife and gather more evidence on what she was doing. I had no doubts, but the girls would need more concrete proof. That was the easy step. The next few things would be a bit more complicated and require help outside the legal and business professionals.

"Carly, how's my favorite sister today?" I said when she answered her phone.

"I damn well better be your favorite sister, since I'm the only sister you have, Jackass." She replied. "Now, what do you want?"

"What do I want? I'm deeply offended that you immediately assume that I want something when I call you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you start the conversation with that 'favorite' shit, you always want something. What is it?"

"Well, aside from your snarky remarks, I do want to see by favorite and most beautiful sister. It's been a while, and I thought that you might like for me to treat you to lunch today."

"Oh shit. It's worse than I thought. 'Favorite', 'beautiful', and you buying. Hold on while I look up to the sky and see if the four horsemen of the apocalypse are coming."

My sister and I got along really well. We were pretty much all we had anymore since our parents died. She had divorced her cheating husband about 5-years ago. Since then, she had gone back to school and gotten her MBA. She was currently an accounts manager at a manufacturing firm in town. They were one of my clients. Truthfully, she was too smart for that position and only needed experience and time before she would become a vice-president. If she had gotten the MBA and started with them right out of college, she very well could have been CEO by this point. Instead, she got married to that dickhead and dropped out of the workforce for a while.

"Seriously, Car. I do need your help. I need to see you today. Take the whole afternoon off and meet me at Hammerheads at 11:00." My voice was desperate and I'm sure that she could hear the cracking in it.

"Oh fuck. It's bad, isn't it?"

"It's worse than you could even begin to imagine. Please, Car."

"Of course, big bro. I'll be there. Not only are you my big brother, but we both know that I owe you everything for what you've done for me."

"You don't owe me anything, sis. I did what I did because you are family. You needed help, and I just did what family does."

"Fine, then I'll do what family does this time."

I was at the same table in the back corner when she walked in. The hostess pointed in my direction, and she came over and sat across from me.

"Do you have to go back today?" I asked.

"Nope. You asked for me to take the afternoon off, so I did." She replied.

Hearing that, I placed our order with the waitress. I knew what she liked, so I just ordered for both of us.

"Bourbon at this time? Shit, it must be the apocalypse."

"Pretty much." I replied. "OK, Carly. Here it is. You know that I've been wanting you to come over and work for me. I understand that you want to be on your own and earning your own way. You think that working for your family will make it seem nepotism. That simply isn't the case. You are very good at what you do, and you are being undervalued where you work. I really need you now."

"Look, Dan. I appreciate the offer, I really do. I'm just not sure how it would work. I know we get along fine, but how would that change if you became my boss? I've heard horror stories about when family members go to work for their relatives."

[SIGH] "OK, Car. I didn't want to have to do it this way, but I'm desperate. When I said that I need you to work for my company, it wasn't an overstatement. I don't just need you to come to work for my firm, I need you to take over as CEO. I need you to run the firm, at least until Gina and Sue are ready to take over. I need you to mentor them and prepare them for that. When they turn 30-years old, you can begin transferring responsibilities if you feel that they are ready. Gina will most likely take over as COO, and Sue will become CEO. By then, you should be able to retire or work as a consultant occasionally."

"Dan, you're kind of starting to worry me. If I take over your firm and train your daughters to take over when they graduate, what will you be doing. I couldn't help but notice that you left that part out."

"This is why I wanted you to just accept my offer. I didn't want to go into this right now. I had hoped to tell you differently. Now, I'm going to have to guilt you into it." I sighed. "Carly, I found out two things a week ago. Both on the same day. No one else knows this, but I'm dying. I have pancreatic cancer. There's nothing that they can do. I will be lucky to live for another 6-months. It's probably more like three of four months. Things are going to be going downhill fast. The other thing is that Kim is cheating on me with at least one of the students at the college she tutors at. I'm setting things up for the girls, and you are going to be trustee of the estate. Kim won't get a damned thing. Everything is being set up in trusts that you will administer with the help of my lawyer.