Zoea - Retaliation

To the readers:

I wrote a story in 2006 titled Zoea: My Wife. I had over four hundred twenty five comments from readers who both liked and disliked the story but not the ending. There has been over 252 thousand reads. I ended the story rather abruptly with Zoea showing up at his door in the Bahamas. The readers weren't happy so I pulled it and added the ending as it is now. Of course, some people still thought there should be more. If I changed the ending again, that wouldn't have been fair to all the readers who took the time to read and comment on the original story. I recently decided to explain what happened after Zoea's death. After all these years, here's Zoea: Retaliation. One other question I was asked a lot was how did Zoea pronounce her name. She pronounce it the same as Zoey, Why, I don't know.

* * * *

I was lost. I had no idea what to do. The love of my life just committed suicide. In minutes, the police were in my room. I sat there crying, trying to explain she was my wife but we had separated. She had flown in from the states and wanted us to get back together. When I told her I could never trust her again, she went to the railing, climbed up and jumped off. I ran to the rail but was too late.

I had to go to the police station and fill out reports. They interrogated me for hours while their team scoured my room. As expected, they concluded it was a suicide. They had witnesses who saw her jump. I was released but wasn't in my right mind and actually thought about jumping myself. But that would mean Brad and Amy would get off scot-free. I knew I had to act quickly before Amy did anything with the power of attorney that Zoea gave her.

After I called my lawyer, Scott and told him Zoea committed suicide, he explained to me that she tore up the divorce papers, which would have given Amy the power of attorney. The divorce stopped at that point. Everything reverted to me since I was her beneficiary. So I still had ownership of our house and belongings. I also retained our business holdings.

He advised me to call Brad and Amy to notify them of Amy's death and let them know all her assets were frozen. He would follow up with them about our business dealings. We would all have to get together and iron things out. He didn't know about Brad, Amy, and Zoea being together but I still had to have this meeting.

I asked Scott to contact the funeral home and handle the details for me. I hated what she did to us but I wanted her to have a decent burial. Then I called Brad and told him to put Amy on the phone too.

"I thought you wanted nothing to do with us," said Brad in a very snotty tone.

"I don't but this can't be helped. Zoea came down to the Bahamas and we had a talk. After I told her we could no longer be together, she climbed over the railing, and jumped."

I heard Amy scream. I had tears running down my face despite what my wife did.

"I'm so sorry Eric. We all truly loved her."

"Our lawyer has put a stop to all the financial dealings. I am the beneficiary of Amy's will so everything reverted back to me. Unfortunately, we are still business partners. I will be back in Ohio in a few days and we'll have to find a way to dissolve the business or split it up. I will never forgive you or Amy. I always thought you were my best friends."

"Eric we are so sorry. We'll let everyone know that Zoea passed away. We'll talk to you when you return."

"Tell Amy that the power of attorney isn't any good as of yesterday. Try to get our business paperwork together in the next few days. We have to figure out how we're going forward. You are no longer my friends and I know we can't work together."

A few days later, I made it back to the states. The next day Zoea's casket arrived at the funeral home. Scott had taken care of everything. The funeral service would be the following day. I couldn't believe the amount of people who showed up for her funeral. I hated to think about it but I wondered how many of the people Zoea had sex with, both men and women. I didn't want to think that way but I couldn't help it.

A number of people struggled to face me when they gave their condolences. Brad and Amy both stayed up front and helped greet people. Many were our customers and most of our employees were there. They even came in from our Illinois office. I had to wonder how many of them had a taste of Zoea. Brad and Amy had a luncheon set up for all the guests after the funeral. Even though I told them they were no longer my friends, I had to admit they were there for me.

The day after the funeral, I met with Scott, Brad, and Amy to discuss the business. Everything I had turned over to Zoea stayed with me, even the house and all our personal belongings. Brad suggested for the time being that one of us run the Illinois office and the other one the Ohio office. It would give us time to figure out what we were going to do since neither of us had the money to buy out the other.

Scott said he thought that was a pretty good suggestion. I asked Amy which office she would prefer to run and she said the Ohio office. They had two kids and one was in kindergarten. It would probably be easier for me to go to Chicago for the time being. I told them I would go until we got a plan put together. We set up some tentative plans and beginning the following week, I would go to Chicago.

Over the last couple of days, I thought a lot about Zoea and all the lies she told. I hated Brad for not telling me the truth about her, but when it came to cheating on me it was all her. She had been cheating on me even before we were married. That's why I told her we couldn't stay together. I believe she knew that she couldn't stay true to me and sharing her was not an option.

Before I left for Chicago Brad stopped by my house to talk to me. I didn't even want to let him in but I decided to be civil.

"Eric, we need to talk. At least I need to talk to you. I can't tell you how sorry I am about Zoea. I probably loved her as much as you did. You and I were like brothers. We shared our lives together. I knew about Zoea years ago. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. I knew how much you loved her. I hoped she would change but she actually got worse. I asked Amy to talk to her and they ended up together. They invited me into their bed and I had sex with both of them. I loved it but hated myself for doing it to you.

"Amy told me that Zoea is the only woman she has ever been with since we were married. I asked her about other guys and she told me she has been faithful to me. Both of our kids are mine. I hope we will be able to work together and someday be friends again. I'm really sorry for not telling you about Zoea and hurting you."

He then left my house. At one time, he truly was my best friend, but after fucking my wife, I wasn't sure I could ever forgive him. I contacted a real estate office and put my house up for sale. I told them I wanted two million dollars and wouldn't take a dollar less. I wanted another one hundred thousand dollars for the furnishings. I didn't want anything to remind me of Zoea. I left the money I took to the Bahamas in their bank hoping to return. I had enough money at our bank at home to live on. I had left it for Zoea.

I took Zoea's vehicle and drove to Chicago. We had an apartment that we kept for clients we did business with. I decided to stay there for the time being. When I went to the office the following day, almost everyone greeted me. I was expected. Most of the employees had been at Zoea's funeral and heard it was a suicide but still called it an accident.

A couple of the bosses resigned when they heard I was coming to take over. I had to figure they probably had relations with Zoea when she visited. I had to find out which ones I could trust and who I couldn't. I had hired almost everyone who worked here. I remember Barbara Watson as an executive secretary. She was now in her late forties but I felt I could really trust her. I called her into my office and asked her to sit down.

"Barb, I want you to be my secretary. I need someone I can trust and who will be honest with me."

"Mr. Burke, I always liked you. You are as nice of a boss as I ever had. I would love to be your secretary."

"Who are you working for now?" I asked.

"Mr. Crane and Mr. Aron. I was also working for Mr. Ross but he quit yesterday. I'm not sure why."

"I'll tell them I want you as my personal secretary. Helen can move up to your spot. I heard someone else quit. Who was that?"

"Mr. Roe. I'm glad to see him go. He wasn't the nicest man, flirting with all the women."

I waited a couple days to see how things were running. I changed the personnel around a little. I gave each broker a secretary. I called Barb in and asked her if she could tell me who Zoea hung around with when she was here. I could tell the question bothered her but I asked her to be honest. I could always trust her to tell the truth. We had around fifteen full time employees in our Chicago office.

"Mr. Burke, I hate saying anything bad about her. We all loved her. I know you probably figured out that she went out with Mr. Roe and Mr. Ross. She never did anything wrong while she was in our office but she did go to the nude health club. Mr. Roe and Mr. Ross belonged to the same club."

"Does anyone else working here belong?"

"Amanda, one of our newer secretaries, I think she does. She's single. This is a pretty good group of people working here, Mr. Burke."

I went to HR and pulled the records for Mr. Roe and Mr. Ross. They both were married and each had two kids. I wanted to do something to them but since they quit I decided not to harm them because of their families. I decided to deliver their last paycheck. When I went to the door, Mr. Roe opened the door. He immediately started apologizing.

I told him his kids saved his life because I had come to kill him. I reached in my coat and he dropped to his knees thinking I had a gun. I pulled out his final check and handed it to him. He started crying. I told him I never wanted to see his face again and I turned around and left.

I then went to Mr. Ross's house and his wife came to the door. She was a nice looking woman. I told her I was Eric Burke and I came by to see her husband, Larry. She told me he left town that morning. She figured it had something to do with my wife or me. She had found out about him and Zoea and they had a big argument. I just shook my head and handed her his final check. I told her if he came back to tell him I would like to see him. She laughed and said she didn't think he was coming back, but she would pass along the message.

Over the next couple of weeks, things were going along pretty good. Every day I had lunch with someone from the office. The guys were all married and were doing a good job. There were five in all. They each now had their own secretary. I asked each secretary to join us for lunch.

There was a receptionist and two general secretaries who helped wherever needed. I asked one of the salesmen to join me when taking out the secretaries for lunch. I didn't want to be taking any of the women out alone. The two extra secretaries worked for Roe and Ross. I told them that I wasn't going to replace their bosses. There was plenty of work for them to do if they wanted to stay.

Both women wanted to stay. Amanda said she was finishing her last semester at college, hoping to get into sales. She was learning investments and helped Mr. Ross with his sales. We were an investment firm and did very well. Our brokers knew their business. I told Amanda that we would talk again after she received her degree. She was new at our firm and said she was sorry to hear about my wife's death. She never met her but heard others really liked her.

I might mention here that Amanda was beautiful. According to Barb, she was very intelligent and a hard worker. She reminded me a lot of Zoea and that bothered me some. I figured someday I might ask her out but I wasn't going to do it now.

About a month later, I got a call from my Realtor who said they had a great offer on my house and furnishings. They had three buyers and the largest offer was two million five hundred thousand dollars. I had a week to reply and they needed to know what was not included in the furnishings. I told the salesmen I would be gone for about a week. I told Crane he was in charge, but I told Barb to keep an eye on things.

As much as I didn't want to do it, I called Amy to help me get rid of Zoea's things. I didn't know who else to ask. She spent two days packing everything up that belonged to Zoea. I told her to keep anything she wanted and give the rest away. I didn't want to bother with any of it. Amy cried while she went through Zoea's things. It was hard on me. Next to Zoea I probably loved Amy more than anyone. The only reason I never had sex with her was that I had promised Zoea I would stay true to her.

A couple of months had passed since Zoea's death so a lot of my thoughts had changed. I hated that Brad and Amy didn't tell me what Zoea had been doing. Since her death, I wanted to retaliate against Brad and Amy even though I knew the culprit was Zoea. I knew I couldn't be friends with Brad anymore. Then there was Amy, my second love who I couldn't harm. They had two little kids who were my godchildren.

I knew it was wrong but the only way to get even with Brad was to have sex with his wife. Zoea always told me that Amy always asked how good I was in bed. She was going to find out. On her last day of taking all of Zoea's stuff out she came back in and told me how sorry she felt for me. I took her in my arms and gently kissed her. She felt so good and didn't back away. She didn't stop me and kissed me over and over.

I took her into the bedroom and without saying a word, I unbuttoned her blouse and let it fall to the floor. I undid her bra and it joined her blouse. She just stared at me with teary eyes, not saying a word. I undid her pants and let them fall too. She stepped out of them and got on the middle of the bed. I quickly removed all my clothes except my briefs. I got between her legs and removed her panties.

She was very wet when I put my mouth on her pussy. I tongue fucked her while rubbing her nub at the same time. I heard her scream out as she was having an orgasm. I kept on tongue fucking her for another five minutes.

She spoke for the first time.

"Fuck me Eric. I've wanted you for so long."

I slipped off my briefs and told her to put my hard cock in her. She reached down and guided me to her. I leaned forward and kissed her with a face full of her juices. I felt her have another climax.

She screamed. "Oh god, I've always loved you. That feels so good."

I rolled over onto my back. She mounted me and rode me for a good ten minutes while I played with her tits. I could feel that I was about to come and grabbed onto her hips. She ground herself against me as we both came. When she had finished coming she got up and went in to shower. I went into our second bath and took a shower too. Neither of us had said a word.

"Eric, just so you know, since I've been with Brad I have never been with another man," she said when she came back.

We both knew she was with a woman but she didn't mention that. She left with all of Zoea's things and I put a few personal items into my car. I boxed up my computer, TV, stereo system and collection of dvds and put them in the backseat. I left everything that reminded me of Zoea behind. Then I called the Realtor and notified them I had moved out.

The next day the buyers completed the paperwork for the sale. Scott received a check in my name for one million nine hundred thousand dollars after paying off the balance of the mortgage.

I headed back to Chicago and called a meeting. I explained that moving forward the business would be separate from the other branch and that we were going to have a change in management. In a few months, I would be moving back to the Bahamas. I formed a board of directors consisting of three brokers and Barbara. Two were included from the Ohio office as well. I would be doing business in the Bahamas and sending it to the Chicago office. Everyone seemed surprised I was leaving.

I told them that if at any time they wanted to buy me out, I would consider the offer. They all knew that it would take a few million dollars and that probably wouldn't happen. As far as everyone's daily tasks went, it was business as usual. I continued working with a brokerage payment firm out of the Ohio office and they sent out the weekly checks.

I finally got around to asking Amanda out. She was one beautiful woman. I asked her why she joined the nude health club. She told me that Mr. Roe mentioned it so she went there to see what it was like. She told me that she wasn't ashamed of her body and liked the sauna and massages. She only dealt with women and had nothing to do with the men there. She had it all... beauty, intelligence, and a great personality. She mentioned that Mr. Roe made advances at her and she rebuffed him and threatened to report him if he ever tried again.

I took her out for dinner and we went into the lounge, had a few drinks, and danced. She was a wonderful person to be with. She told me her parents died in an auto accident when she was a little girl. Her grandparents raised her and she loved them very much.

I know I cared for her but I would be moving to the Bahamas in two weeks and didn't want to start a relationship here. When I took her home that night, I kissed her goodnight. It felt so good. She said she wasn't ready to go further and I wasn't going to push her.

I had intended to get back at so many people but it wouldn't solve anything. None of them forced Zoea and I had to realize she was at fault for most of it. What I was the maddest about was Brad and Amy keeping it from me but I figured I sort of got even with them when I fucked Amy. I doubt if she ever told him. I still had strong feelings for Amy but I wouldn't be going back.

It was time to move on and I had packed and shipped my things that I saved to my apartment in the Bahamas. They would take two weeks to arrive. I talked with Scott to make sure everything was in order. He forwarded all my financial accounts to my bank in the Bahamas. He said that all the business papers were in order. He had talked to Brad a few days before who hadn't seemed his usual happy self. I called Amy and said goodbye. She cried as we hung up. I had Scott drop me off at the airport. I thanked him for all he had done for me.

I arrived in the Bahamas and did nothing but sit on the beach and drink beer for the first few days. After my personal things arrived, I rented a small office on the ground floor of my apartment building. I put up my sign, 'ERIC BURKE, BROKER' in bold letters. Underneath it simply said 'Investments and Brokerage Firm'.

I was surprised how many people who were on vacation stopped in. I picked up a number of accounts and let the people know they could contact me through the office in Chicago too. It was easy to set up or transfer accounts in the computer age. I also had people who lived in the Bahamas doing business with me as well. As far as I knew, I was the only brokerage firm in the area.

I contacted the Chicago office at least once a week to see how everything was going. I usually talked to Barb who said everything was going great. Apparently, after Mr. Roe and Mr. Ross heard I left, they asked for their jobs back. Mr. Crane spoke for the board and said they weren't welcome in our office.

I got a call a couple of weeks later from Amanda. She wanted to tell me she graduated and took the brokerage test and passed with flying colors. She wondered what her chances were of selling for our firm. I told her to give me a week or two to see if we could add another broker. I would get back to her. Until then she stayed a secretary.