The Ultimate Payback

"No. No Elliot. I didn't lie. I had no idea this opportunity would come up. It wasn't intentional. Roger said he wanted to do something special to celebrate my award and thought we could do it so much better alone in a hotel room."

"So do you love him?"

"Of course not, honey. I love only you. I would never do anything to hurt you or our marriage. This is just about me feeling young and attractive again. And sex with Roger does that."

"Well, as long as it won't change our relationship I suppose I can agree to it."

"You mean you will let me do it?"

"There doesn't seem to be anything I can say that will change your mind, so enjoy yourselves."

Lynn threw herself at him and put her arms around his neck.

"Oh thank you Elliot. You won't regret it. When I get home on Sunday I'll make it up to you. You'll see."

# # #

Monday morning Elliot stopped by his office and told his personal assistant that he would be out of the office for a couple of days and that she could run the day-to-day business while he was away.

The first key player in Elliot's plan was his personal attorney, Antinio Cordova. Cordova and Dr. Jenkins were the only people besides Elliot who knew that he would soon be dead because of the brain tumor.

When that happened Cordova would have a full power of attorney to open Elliot's safe after he was gone and remove all of the material inside it. This included his will, all the photos, videos, audio transcripts of the affair Elliot had collected, and everything related to his final instructions. A court officer and a newspaper reporter would be present as witnesses when these documents were opened and read aloud.

He stopped by Cordova's office to make certain that everything was in place to be activated as soon as he was declared dead, then he went to his investment banker to keep the appointment he had made last week.

When he had first learned about Lynn's affair he had all of his financial assets deposited into an account with a single investment bank, Morgan and Morgan. Now he sat across from his broker and told him that he would be retiring soon and wanted to give away most of his wealth to charitable organizations. Although the broker hesitated at first, giving Elliot a lecture on how to manage his money, he responded to a threat to move his account to a competitor. The distribution was to begin immediately and be completed by the end of the week.

The last thing he did was to sign the title to his home over to the St. Jude Childrens Cancer Research Hospital to be effective immediately after his death. He had no plans for his Mercedes Benz. Lynn could have that, although she would probably have to sell it for money to live on.

With a great feeling of relief now that the plan was put in motion he decided to go home for the rest of the afternoon. As he approached his driveway he saw another car parked there. He knew from Sam's intel that it belonged to Dr. Roger Wallace.

Elliot drove to a nearby park and connected his laptop computer to his home network. He called up the camera and microphone hidden in the master bedroom and sure enough, there they were fucking like rabbits. He recorded every last filthy detail of it, then transferred the video files to his home server. He sent his lawyer an encrypted email instructing him to release the video to the internet soon after his death.

The Finale

Two nights later the doors to the ballroom of the Lexington Hotel opened for the awards banquet. Earlier that day Elliot had bribed a woman neighbor to call the hotel and tell them that that Dr. Wallace would be bringing an extra guest and to please set a place for him next to Mrs. Davidson. The new guest would be Dr. Defunto Vincitore

Elliot had spent the two prior nights staying in a room in the banquet hotel. Now he was in his room putting on his best Armani suit. After adding one other item he snugged down his $300 Italian necktie, checked himself in the mirror, and headed for the ballroom.

When he arrived he stood in the shadows and checked out the venue. There were two large round tables at the front of the room and he watched as Lynn and Dr. Wallace took their seats next to each other. After everyone was seated Lynn wondered who was supposed to be in the empty seat beside her. She looked at the name placard and asked Roger who Dr. Vincitore was. Roger shook his head. Elliot murmured to himself, "There's the cue for my grand entrance." He went up to the maître d' and identified himself as Dr. Vincitore. The man nodded and escorted him to the seat next to Lynn. She whispered to her lover "This must be the Italian doctor."

As Elliot/Defunto approached Roger stood and reached out his hand. "Dr. Vincitore I presume?" Elliot bowed and held out his hand, keeping Lynn from getting a clear view of his face. When he was seated Lynn turned toward him and held out her hand. As he raised his head she jerked her hand back and hissed through clenched teeth, "You! What are you doing here?"

"Why I came to see my loving wife get her reward," he said with a smile.

"That's award, not reward idiot!"

"We'll see."

Lynn looked around for security, but just then her name was called to come up to the podium and receive her award. She went up and smiled at the director as he took her hand.

"Ms. Davidson I am pleased to present to you this award for Outstanding Employee of the Year. I have heard much about your dedicated work and unselfishness and I want you to know I and the company appreciate your dedication to your job."

With that he gave her an engraved walnut plaque and waited for the photographer to take a couple of photos of them. Then the director sat down and gave the podium over to Lynn to express her thanks, which was the standard crap you hear in all these ego-inflating get togethers. As Lynn turned to go back to her seat her husband stood up and turned to the room full of people.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Lynn's husband Elliot and I have my own award I would like to present to my wife. It involves a prize which is in this envelope." He held up a fancy envelope and handed it to her."

She held it in her hand and turned again to leave the podium, but Elliot spoke to her and the audience loudly "Please, open it so everyone can see what it is." She bashfully shook her head but Elliot wasn't finished.

"Come on everybody. Give the lady a hand."

A member of the audience raised the cry, "Open it for us."

She shook her head again until more of the crowd joined in the clamor to open it. Finally nodded yes, thinking Elliot's going to pay for this big time. It will be a cold day in hell before he gets between my legs again.

She opened the envelope and found some sheets of parchment inside. The writing was in an elaborate script font, leading Lynn to guess that it might not be so bad after all. She unfolded the paper held it up for the audience. Then she turned it around so she could read it....

Her face went white. "Fuck. It's a divorce petition! Damn you Elliot. You just had to do it in front of everyone. You're a real bastard."

At that point she began to cry. Elliot held his hand up to quiet the crowd. "I have one more thing to say to you Lynn.... You have been served."

Lynn blushed deeply and started to leave the podium. Elliot took her hand and guided her back.

"I have one more gift for you, sweetheart."

He reached inside his suitcoat and withdrew his grandfather's WWII Smith & Wesson 0.38 caliber revolver, put it beneath his chin, and pulled the trigger.

The hollow-point bullet did exactly what it was designed to do - it took off the top of Elliot's head and splattered blood and brains for ten feet around, covering the director, Lynn, and most importantly, Dr. Roger Wallace. The room was shocked into silence... except for the keening of Elliot's unfaithful wife.

Epilogue

By the following Monday Lynn had overcome her emotional shock enough to attend the opening of the old Wells Fargo safe. Elliot's lawyer had the safe brought to the conference room of Morgan and Morgan so all of the principals could be present. Cordova took the seat at the head of the table with Lynn to his right and Roger sitting next to her. As per Elliot's instructions Lynn's parents and family members were also present. They showed up anticipating a share of Elliot's wealth.

As the court officer dialed in the combination Lynn leaned over and whispered to Roger,

"By the time we leave here we will be very rich, dear. We can live anywhere we want to and enjoy life to the fullest. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in the Caribbean."

Roger leaned over to kiss her on the cheek thinking, Wow did I luck out when I seduced her. Not only did I get several months of good pussy, but I'm going to end up rich too. As soon as we're married I'll divorce her and walk away with half of her fortune.

His attention was brought back to the present by the sound of the heavy safe door swinging open. Elliot had labeled the compartments well and Cordova had a list of the order he wanted them revealed in.

He cleared his throat to get their attention.

"The first thing Mr. Davidson wanted me to do is show everyone these videos which were taken the day... the day he took his life. If you will direct your attention to the TV screen at the front of the room."

He started the DVD that had select scenes from Lynn and Roger's sexual escapades the afternoon before the banquet. The time and date were prominently displayed on the screen.

As soon as it was evident what they seeing Roger jumped up and shouted at Cordova "Turn that damned thing off. You have no business showing that."

"Dr. Wallace, Mr. Davidson made it clear that anyone who leaves the room during this video will be ineligible to receive any part of his estate."

Lynn pulled Roger down into his seat as the reporter at the other end of the table started taking notes.

The video continued for almost 10 minutes with most of the women looking disgusted and most of the men watching intently.

"The next order of business is the reading of the will."

Cordova removed the document and began reading the provisions.

"To my faithless wife Lynn I leave half of my all financial assets remaining after the distribution I have ordered upon my death.

"One quarter of that total will go to Lynn's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Blackstone, for doing such an amazing job raising their daughter and giving her a solid moral foundation to build her life upon.

"Next, the house. The house my wife and I shared for the entire 14 years of wedded bliss, is now owned by a major charity. Lynn may live there for 60 days after my death, but she then must vacate the residence so the charity can put it up for sale.

"Prior to my death I arranged with my lawyer to settle all outstanding bills and debts, as well as to disburse specified amounts to each of several charities. Before this disbursement my estate was valued at just over six million dollars..." Cordova paused for 30 seconds as specified by Elliot in his instructions.

"The current value of his estate... is $4,765 which will be apportioned among those designated to receive a share of the estate."

The sound of everyone sucking in their breath was followed by silence for a brief time before Lynn began keening.

Roger put his arm around her and helped her from the room as he thought, well she won't be giving me any sex for awhile. Time for me to seduce another beautiful rich woman to have an affair with.

# # #

Two days later, after Roger had said goodbye for good, Lynn opened up her computer for the first time since Elliot had killed himself. There were dozens of emails and messages from her friends, some comforting her but many others condemning her after seeing the sex video that was posted online. There was even one from a pornographic movie producer asking her to come to audition for a new movie he was making. She was about to delete them all when she saw that two of them were sent by Elliot on the day he shot himself.

The first was a medical report showing that Elliot only had only weeks to live when he killed himself. The second was simply one line that read,

"Defunto Vincitore is Italian for Dead Winner."

She slid to the floor as her keening echoed throughout the empty house.

# # # THE END # # #