The Letter A

So I was sweet and loving, took care of the kids, acted affectionate to Marie as before, and even asked her for sex once or twice. But I tried to do it in a tentative way, making it easy for her to say No to me. I really had no desire whatsoever to touch her ever again.

A big day in Marie's life was approaching. She had been elected the new President of the Key Society, an important charity in our town, and would be formally inaugurated at a dinner where she would give a speech, outlining the charity's plans for the coming year. Marie had served on the Key Society's Board for three years, and her elevation to President was a big honor.

She was nervous about her presentation, and asked for my help in making the Powerpoint part of it that she planned to use. This was my golden opportunity!

For a week or so I worked with her every evening, letting her show me her slides and other materials and arranging them into a smoothly-flowing presentation. She practiced it several times in the month before her big night, and it always went fine.

At the same time, I had made my own, very different Powerpoint presentation, and had it ready to substitute for hers. The night before her dinner, I deleted Marie's file and put mine in its place. I also added a lock, so that once the file started to run she would not be able to turn it off.

My only other bit of preparation was to make sure that Marie had invited Harry and his wife to the dinner. I casually asked her: yes, she said, they would be there.

** ** ** **

On the big night I was excited as Marie, though for different reasons. We got there early, Marie dressed elegantly in a black evening dress, looking terrific. I helped her set up the laptop, and do a couple of tests to make sure it would play.

We all enjoyed a nice dinner, and some introductory remarks. Then the outgoing President gave Marie a warm introduction, and she walked to the podium, looking shy but proud, as everyone applauded.

She began to speak, and started the Powerpoint file. At first it behaved as she expected, showing photos of the Key Society's charitable projects, and then pie-charts with revenues and expenditures. Then, as I'd programmed, it changed the subject suddenly.

First there was a series of still photos—shots I'd chosen from the two videos—of a couple having sex in various positions. Some of the photos were a bit dark, but the overall effect of seeing ten or twelve of them confirmed that they were Marie and Harry. In one photo she was on her knees, blowing him; in another his cock was shoved halfway into her ass, while she looked back at him, mouth wide open in excitement. There were shots of him licking her pussy, and several of them fucking in different positions.

Marie had gone on talking about Key Society business for a few moments; then, noticing the sudden murmuring of her audience, she turned around and looked at the screen behind her. She gasped, and a sudden movement of her arm knocked over the water glass on the podium. She stood stock still a moment, in utter and complete shock. Then, a bright red blush quickly covering her entire face and neck, she frantically started pressing buttons on the laptop, hoping desperately to get the file to stop playing.

By then the still photos had been replaced by short video clips. In one, Harry was busily thrusting in Marie's ass, while we could hear her moaning, "fuck me, you bastard—come on, fuck my ass!"

In the next, they were lying together naked on a bed. Harry said, "how are you going to keep Bill from finding out I'm the one who knocked you up?" Marie replied, "as long as I keep giving him a little pussy from time to time, he'll never suspect a thing." And Harry said, "but not too much pussy, baby—your cunt belongs to me." And he leaned over and stuck his fingers roughly into her cunt.

There were two or three more clips, of Harry and Marie fucking and sucking, but by then the point had been made. Finally the screen went dark.

The room was in an uproar. There was laughing and hooting from every table. Marie stood in total shock and disbelief, too stunned at that moment even to be embarrassed. At the next table I could see Harry's wife Caroline pick up a vase of flowers and smash it down on Harry's head, then stalk out of the room.

Amid laughter and shouts, people gradually emptied from the ballroom, looking back at Marie, gesturing to each other as they replayed the astonishing scene. In a surprisingly short time, Marie and I were alone.

She stood, defeated and lost, at the podium. I sat at the table ten feet away, a broad grin on my face, gazing up at her. Finally her eyes rose and she looked at me with an expression of terrible sadness.

"Bill ... how could you do this to me? I thought you loved me!"

In the circumstances I found her question hilarious. I broke out into gales of laughter and, still laughing, walked out the door.

** ** ** **

No, No, of Course Not! It didn't happen like that!

It was a nice fantasy, but it couldn't happen like that. The whole town would know that Harry was the father of my kids, and I'd lose them in the divorce—plus it would be miserable for them to be known as Marie's bastards.

No, I had to handle it more subtly. And I did.

** ** ** **

First, I made several visits to a divorce lawyer I knew, and worked with him to prepare some documents for when I would need them.

Then I created exactly the Powerpoint file I just described—but I didn't wait until the night of Marie's dinner to play it. Instead, I installed it and had it ready for Marie on a night four weeks before the dinner.

That evening after the kids were in bed I called to Marie. "Honey, I want you to come in and see the draft version of the Powerpoint file I made for your talk next month."

"Can't it wait, Bill?" she asked grumpily. "I'm dead tired tonight."

"No, honey," I said firmly. "I need to see what changes are required, so I'll have time to make them. Please remember that I'm doing all this for you in my own spare time."

That brought her into the study, where I sat her in front of the computer. "Just press the letter 'A' when you're ready, and the file will run on its own," I said, smiling to myself.

I watched her carefully. At first all was well, and she practiced her remarks to the first few Key Society slides. Then she gasped, and her face went pale as she saw the still images of her and Harry fucking. She turned to me, her mouth wide open, but no sound came out. I just looked back at her, expressionless.

Then came the video clips: Harry fucking her ass, them talking about how he'd fathered her kids and kept me in the dark, and more scenes of fucking. By now Marie was trying desperately to make the file stop running, but I'd locked it.

Then the screen went blank—the whole thing had taken about two minutes to run. Marie sat slumped in her chair, her head down. She couldn't bring herself to look at me. I calmly enjoyed every moment of her misery.

Finally she spoke, lifting her head to look at me. She had aged twenty years in five minutes. "Bill, I ... I didn't ...

"Oh, Bill, I'm so sorry!" She started to cry. "I'm so very sorry ... can you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you?" I said coldly. "For what? Well, let's see, shall we? For having an affair with Harry Dorner that seems to have gone on for the last six years we've been married? For letting him fuck your ass and come in your mouth, pleasures you have always denied me? For having two of his children and letting me think they were mine? For laughing at me and speaking scornfully about me behind my back? For denying me sex at Harry's insistence? Is that about the list, Marie? Is that what you want me to forgive you for?"

She was sobbing energetically now. "Bill, I don't love him! You're the man I love, the man I have always loved!"

My anger was cold, controlled. I said nothing, but what I was thinking was, "no, Marie, that's bullshit. You love the life we have together, you love how I do things for you, how I take care of the kids, but you don't love me. No woman could possibly love a husband and behave behind his back the way you have."

I sat back and let her cry. It gave me considerable pleasure to see it, and I didn't say a word for the twenty minutes it took for her to cry it all out.

Finally she subsided to a few sniffles. She wiped her face with her hands and looked at me. "What are you going to do, Bill? Are you going to divorce me?"

"No, Marie, I won't do that," I lied. "I care too much about Katie and Brian, even if they are some other man's kids." I let those words hang in the air a moment, then went on.

"But things are going to be mighty different around here, you can bet on that. Starting right now. Get that asshole Harry on the phone and tell him to be here in fifteen minutes."

She looked at me in horror. "But ... I can't do that! He's at home with his wife and children! He won't come!"

I smiled. "Say whatever you need to, but get him over here. You might tell him from me that if he's not here in fifteen minutes, his marriage will be over by tomorrow."

She looked at me, perhaps in fright at the cold intensity in my face. Then without another word she went into the kitchen and called her lover.

When Harry arrived he spared me the bland, insincere smile I'd expected. Marie must have told him what had happened, and he looked jumpy and worried.

"Come into the study and sit down, Harry. You too, Marie. We have some talking to do."

As soon as we were seated I began. "Okay, Harry, here's the situation. You've been fucking Marie and making a fool of me for a very long time. Now it's over. Everything's changed, and it's time for you to pay the piper."

He started to reply, but I cut him off . "Sit—watch—and listen." I replayed the Powerpoint file, and was pleased to see him gasp in horror at what it contained. When the file stopped there was a long, wonderful silence. I think I enjoyed it more than they did!

"Now you are going to do what I tell you to do--exactly what I tell you to do--or your happy marriage to Caroline will come to a sudden and very public end. Got it? Don't say a word—just nod your head."

He nodded unwillingly, looking angry.

"Good. Now listen to me and keep your mouth shut. I have a number of documents for you to sign. I'll pass them to you one at a time. You may want to have your lawyer look at them, so I'll give you 48 hours to return them to me, signed, or Caroline will be invited to a little video screening.

"The first one says, basically, that you acknowledge being the biological father of Katie and Brian, and that you agree to pay child support for them until they turn 21, plus a lump-sum payment for college. The amounts are listed right there: $10,000 each per child per year, plus $100,000 each in the fall of their freshman year of college. The money will be paid into a trust fund of which I am the sole trustee, and I am authorized to use it as I see fit for the needs of the two children."

Harry rose up out of his chair, furious. "Listen, Bill, this is absolutely absurd! I have no intention ..."

I pushed him back in his chair. "Shut the fuck up, Harry. You have the money, as we both well know. This isn't your show anymore. It's mine, and you are all out of choices. Now SHUT UP, until I tell you you can speak."

I saw Marie gazing at me from across the room, with a kind of horrified fascination on her face. This was a side of her loving husband she hadn't seen before!

"The second document grants me your authorization to adopt the two children. Both you and Marie will have to sign it—I'll have her do it after you return it to me.

"This third one is an affidavit in which you forever relinquish your parental rights to Katie and Brian, and swear never to divulge, to any person whatever, that you are their biological father.

"And the last one is a private admission that you sexually harassed my wife in the workplace, compelling her into an affair with you."

"What?!" Harry jumped up again. "That is a total lie—she wanted it as much as I did!"

"Sit down, Harry," I said grimly. "That may be so, but Marie will be signing a complaint of sexual harassment against you anyway—that's one of my conditions for not divorcing her. Is that clear, Marie?" I said, turning to her.

Marie, looking terrified, glanced back and forth between me and Harry. She said nothing.

"Let me explain," I said to both of them. "I have no intention of doing anything with either of these documents. But they are my insurance, Harry, in case you ever think about going back on your financial commitment to the two children—YOUR two children. Or in case you get the idea that you might like someone else to know who their biological father is."

I handed Marie the sexual harassment complaint my lawyer had drafted. "Sign it, Marie".

Still looking frightened, she silently took the pen from my hand and signed the complaint at the bottom.

"Now, Harry, we're almost finished with your part of tonight's proceedings. I will expect to have those documents, signed, back in my hands within 48 hours. You can bring them here to the house.

"And if you ever get some dark, crazy idea, like having me killed, I assure you that several copies of your incriminating tapes and love-notes to Marie are in safe places; and several people have instructions to make sure they come to light if anything happens to me.

"Any questions?" I concluded, looking at him sardonically.

He stood, slowly, looking angry and frustrated. "You are a real son of a bitch, Bill, you know that?" He started for the door, not even looking at Marie.

"Oh, not yet, Harry—we're not quite done." He turned to face me.

"You've been humiliating me with my wife for six years. At first I thought I'd beat the living shit out of you for six minutes—one minute for each year. But I realized that I'd probably kill you by the end of that time. So I'm going to make it 60 seconds—just 10 seconds per year.

"Just a little pain after all that fun, you lowlife cunt!"

Harry just stared at me, unable to believe I was serious. He was several years younger than I was, along with being 2 inches taller and probably 25 pounds heavier. On the other hand, he wasn't nearly as angry as I was.

"Marie, leave the room," I barked. "Close the door behind you."

"No, Bill, please—please don't do this!" she begged.

Without another word I grabbed her by the arm, pushed her through the door, and closed it. Then I turned to Harry.

"Feel free to defend yourself, Harry, if you can." As I walked towards him he pulled his arms up in front of him in a defensive position, looking at me wide-eyed.

I slammed a quick right and a left into his belly, beneath his arms, and he crumpled in pain. I began to work him over, with a series of blows to the body—no sense hurting my hands on his face more than I had to. He tried feebly to fend me off, but the combination of fear and pain left him without much of a chance.

Keeping an eye on the clock above my desk—don't want to go past the time-limit, do we?—I enjoyed the feeling of my fists in his midsection. He was gasping, bent over, trying only to get away from me.

When only 10 seconds remained I suddenly stopped, and moved back a step. He tried to straighten up, thinking I was finished, and I hit him with two quick jabs squarely on his nose, then a powerful right-hand punch just below his left eye. He fell to the floor, howling in pain, and rolled to his knees.

I went to the door and let in Marie, looking even more terrified than before. I told her to get Harry a wet washcloth.

Ten minutes later I pushed him out my front door. He was still holding a cloth over his bleeding face, and saying, "how the hell am I going to explain this to Caroline?"

"Not my problem, Harry. Have a great night!"

Taking Marie by the arm, I led her back into the study and sat her down. I had never seen her this way before—she was trembling with terror.

"It's all right, Marie—I would never hit you. You don't have to be afraid."

"God, Bill, what's gotten into you? How could you have done that to Harry?"

I looked at her in some surprise. "Do you really not get it, Marie? Do you really not see that what he did with you—what he did to me—is vicious and wrong?"

She blushed. "Yes, yes of course. It's just ... well, you seem so angry it's like you've gone crazy!"

I didn't have any answer to make to that, so I was silent for a minute.

"Marie, I said I wouldn't divorce you. But our marriage is damn well not going to continue the way it's been going. From now on things will be quite different. Do you understand me?"

"Of course, Bill. I will do anything to make up for what I've ... what I've done to you." She looked at me pleadingly.

"All right," I said. "Let's begin with a couple of groundrules. You will find a new job within two weeks—I will not have you seeing Harry every day at work anymore.

"It should be obvious, I hope—but you will have no further personal contact with Harry of any kind, at any time. No touching, no kissing, no fucking, no phone calls, no emails, no nothing.

"Next. If our marriage is to continue, it will be on a very different basis. I am no longer willing to put up with your bad moods, your coldness or your indifference. I expect you to be a cheerful, affectionate, and loving wife.

"Each and every day, you will show by your attitude and behavior that you love me and are grateful to be married to me.

"And all that wild, uninhibited sexuality you shared only with Harry? I expect you to be sharing it with me now. I look forward to seeing you in the sexy underthings I've never seen you wear, the ones hidden in the back of your drawer."

I looked meaningfully at her, and she lowered her eyes in shame.

"And I expect that you will be ready, willing, and eager whenever I want to have sex. If you really love me, Marie, you have a hell of a lot of lost time to make up for!"

She moved across the room and kneeled at my feet, putting her arms tightly around my legs and looking up at you. "I do love you, Bill—more than I can say! And I'll show you how much, I promise!"

I looked at her—at her pale face, streaked with tears, and her frightened eyes. Somewhere inside me were the remaining shreds of all the love and devotion I had felt for this woman I'd shared so much with. But they were overshadowed, reduced to insignificance, by my rage at her selfishness and hypocrisy. She deserved everything she was going to get!

I pretended to soften a little. "Listen, Marie," I said more gently. "Your big Key Society dinner is in four weeks. Let's use these weeks to start over, to make something new, maybe even better, out of our marriage.

"If all goes well, then the dinner will be our chance to celebrate the success of our new beginning. What do you say?"

She nodded up at me, hugging my legs more tightly. "Yes, Bill—thank you! Thank you for giving me a chance! And I'll be everything you want me to be!"

I pulled her up into my arms and, crying, she kissed my lips and face over and over.

"Now you just give me ten minutes to get cleaned up a bit, and then let me start making up to you for everything!" she said as she got up, smiling.

She left the room and I sat back, grinning to myself. Watching Marie twist herself into a pretzel trying to please me for the next four weeks was going to be a lot of fun!

It sort of surprised me that she didn't notice what I had not done—I had not asked her anything about the affair, how it started and so on. I guess the whole evening had been such a shock to her, she hadn't had time to think about it. But the reason I didn't ask, of course, was that I simply didn't give a damn. I was done with Marie—she just didn't know it yet.