Enforcing The Pre-Nup

Jerry was all business. Stan had a bad reputation with law enforcement.

They brainstormed. Vivian came up with the plan.

Stan put his cell phone in a briefcase one of his security detail carried while he made speeches, so it wouldn't be a distraction.

He had a rally with state workers to attend tomorrow. I would appear to frighten him, and they would serve Stan and his crew, confiscating all cellphones. They wouldn't arrest him, just say he was under investigation, hoping he would panic and do something stupid.

I was driven to the rally the next day. I was rolled in in a wheelchair, I was pretty sore, but had brought a cane, because I wanted to be on my feet when I confronted him.

They kept me in seclusion until the speech was over and the question and answer session began. There was nothing spontaneous about them, they were all preapproved, and he had just the right answers. They wheeled me out at the very end. The press had already started packing up.

I stood, and the SBI agents cleared a path. I hobbled right to the edge of the platform.

"I've got a question, you sonofabitch" I screamed, even though it made my rib feel like hell.

"Where the hell is my wife? Out servicing political allies? Who's she blowing for you today?"

He actually went pale, then turned to leave the platform. He was met by eight SBI agents, with warrants.

The press was having a field day, screaming questions, demanding answers. I think Stanley knew right then his political career was over, but was too delusional and obsessive to recognize it.

I was pretty much unnoticed until the guy with the briefcase made a dash for freedom, running across the stage and jumping into the crowd.

Bad luck for him, he ran right at me. I held the cane like a bat, waiting. He saw me at the last second and tried to veer off. It was the one who kicked me in the balls.

I caught him across the forearm. Everyone close heard the snap of the bone, and he dropped the case. Despite an obviously broken arm, he tried to pick up up. I hooked him around the neck and pulled, a really bad idea, because it propelled him right into me, and down we went, him on top of me. I got to relive the joy of a breaking rib all over again. Pain took over and all I could do was lie there.

The agents had gotten to us by them and they seized him and the case, and helped me back into the wheelchair. There's always an ambulance or two at these big rallies, so they were quick to come.

Not as quick as a reporter though. He shoved a microphone into my face and asked what happened.

"Stanley Wallace happened" I gasped out.

"He did this to me."

The cops pulled him out of the way, making room for the ambulance. Someone had identified me, and one of the crowd yelled out a question as the painkillers took the hurt away.

"Mr. Yount! Do you still support Stanley Wallace?"

"Not no, but hell no! The man is a snake, who'll do anything to get elected. He'd ass rape his grandmother on network TV if he thought it would get the pervert vote out. Since she's dead, he'd dig her up and do it if it got him the necromancer vote."

All right, that was a little over the top, and I should have said sodomize, but I was going for effect.

...............................................

Jerry gave a statement for the press from the rally stage.

"At this time, Speaker Wallace is being investigated for possible campaign violations, aggravated assault, communicating threats, and kidnapping. The FBI has graciously allowed us to lead the investigation, and we will work closely together, releasing any new information as it becomes available. That is all I can say at this time. Thank you."

The press had a field day. There was video and photos of him being led away. My confrontation with his security man was on youtube, and had two million hits in five days. The networks, especially Fox, practically kept it in the public eye twenty four hours a day.

Stanley went into seclusion, saying the charges were false, fabricated by his political enemies and a bitter ex son in law, because his daughter was divorcing him for abuse and mental cruelty. He continued to run ads until the stations pulled them.

In four days, he went from neck and neck to almost zero chance of winning. The analysts were predicting a landslide victory for his opponent.

I was in protective custody. My brother Fred was a county deputy, and the SBI asked the sheriff to loan him out for security purposes, because he'd know who was supposed to be around.

His whole family, Celeste, the boys, and Amy moved into my house. Vivian was there as often as she could. She and Amy hovered over me.

Once Amy caught me holding our wedding picture and crying. She spoke to me and I didn't acknowledge her. She was eleven now, starting to look more like Celeste every day. I felt her hands on my cheeks, pulling me around. I had long since shaven off my beard, but the gesture was the same.

"I know Aunt Eve didn't do those things. And deep down, you do too. She'll come home, you'll see. Nothing could keep her from you. Believe, Uncle Tommy, please believe."

..................................................

They found the kiddie porn on my computer, and the feds loaned Jerry a couple of experts who chased the porn through three continents and eleven countries, before the trail ended in the state capital.

The computers and the cellphones yielded a lot of interesting information. Seems Stan was blackmailing a few supporters with hidden video of them in compromising positions, going back years. Other than the clip he showed me, there were no more shots of Eve. There were, however, clips of Greta with six different men. In each case she looked drugged or terrified.

It was too late for his party to salvage the election, so they denounced him and withdrew support a week before the election.

He was arrested shortly after that as he tried to leave the country. His campaign accountant, after realizing he was looking at fifty years, cut a deal and sang like a diva. The same was true for two of his security detail and the campaign manager. In fact, so many wanted to cut deals Jerry stopped offering them.

An assistant had a bargaining chip. She knew where Eve and Greta were.

...............................................

It had been over two weeks since I had been attacked. Jerry had every one available looking for them, but could find no trail at all. They were in a private rehab facility two states away.

Vivian told me, and even though she begged me not to, I went with them when they went to pick them up for questioning. Since they were out of state, the FBI took the lead.

They showed up with warrants and four teams, plus Jerry and part of his team. He was there as guests, and to take them into custody for questioning, to see if extradition was necessary..

They showed up unexpectedly. The director met them, invited them into his office. He said he had nothing to hide, and they would be free to look anywhere they wanted, but for liability purposes he wanted the company attorney present to look at the warrants and watch.

The agent in charge was polite, but had been on the job long enough to recognize stall tactics.

He turned to his crew.

"Start now. Detain anyone who tries to hinder you. I'll wait here with the good director for his lawyer."

I was outside, waiting with Vivian, because she insisted on coming. When the press stated speculating just how much I may have been involved, in a rare and controversial move she held a press conference.

"Tommy Yount, in my opinion as well as all who have come to know him, is a decent, moral person. I have come to consider him and his wife as surrogate children. My husband and I have enjoyed the friendship of he and his wife for years. I stand behind the belief that he will be vindicated and cleared of any hint of wrongdoing in this affair. Thank you."

I had served with her on two committees, and often escorted her to various functions if her husband, a lawyer with a very successful private practice, was unavailable. He introduced me to golf, and laughed when I became addicted. He was counsel of record for me in this mess.

When one tabloid speculated that we were all involved in some kind of high powered swinging group, he buried the paper under so many lawsuits they made a full retraction, after giving a hefty donation to his pride and joy. the LLI. Local Lawyer Involvement, a nonprofit group from all branches of law that took cases pro bono, gave free advice on everything from wills to divorces, and generally educated the public about the law and their roles in it. They even helped clean parks and worked in soup kitchens. It had become so popular there was a branch in every large town in the state. I was on the founding committee, brought on for a lay perspective, and because John liked me. Every out of town meeting ended in a round of golf, usually.

Vivian spotted them. Two ambulances with the clinic logo, exiting quietly from a service lot. She immediately called Jerry, and the FBI had them stopped before they had traveled a mile. Greta was in one, Eve in the other. The director was arrested immediately, and the clinic records and computers seized.

They had been there since the day after he nearly killed me, secluded and sedated the whole time. The director was charged later, among other things, with reckless medical endangerment of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, a felony in that state.

They were brought around slowly, monitored closely. I went in to see her while she was still out.

I leaned on my cane, watching her as she slept. She was pale, and thin. Her hair appeared lifeless. A memory of her, hair flying and eyes flashing, as she danced around the kitchen, singing to the baby flashed through my head.

I looked at her pregnant stomach, now seven months along, and wondered if the child was going to be all right, and if it was mine. I didn't speak, didn't try to touch her, knowing I would break down completely if I did. As it was, the tears made it hard for me to see.

I checked on Greta. I had always liked her, the quiet smile she would get watching us together, the tears she shed when we gave her the tee shirt that said 'I'm Too Hot To Be A Grandmother!', Eve's way of telling her we were finally giving her that grandchild she wanted. Even in her sleep she looked haunted. I wondered now what kind of secret life she must have led all these years.

................................................

The story got bigger and bigger. In the end, besides Stanley, three of his security detail, his accountant, his campaign manager, both doctors and assorted nurses, the head of the party, two state representatives, one federal congressman, three judges, five lawyers, ten call girls, and thirteen businessmen got indited.

Jerry was like an avenging angel, wreaking havoc among the sinners. Every time somebody got arrested, he implicated someone else. The Wall Street Journal called it the biggest political scandal of the twenty first century. Countless editorials were written crying out for an end to career politicians, urging the strongest punishment possible for all guilty parties.

Greta and Eve were deposed, with Vivian present. After it was over she came out, fussed over Amy for a bit, and took me for a walk.

She handed me a transcript.

"I can't bear to tell you, so you'll just have to read it."

Greta had been abused and was almost a slave to Stanley almost from the time they married. Some of the things he had forced her to do made me so sick I actually threw up. He only let her have Eve because he needed a family image. He kept them under control with constant psychological conditioning and careful use of drugs.

The first time he used Eve as a sexual favor she was just over sixteen. He sacrificed her virginity to a sixty four year old man for political gain. The statute of limitations had expired, but his reputation was ruined. At seventy five he found himself divorced, broke, and shunned.

Along about then is when she started rebelling and getting into drugs and alcohol. He couldn't exactly make it public and face scrutiny, so he more or less had people clean up her messes and keep it out of the press.

She thought she had pulled away from him when she got to college, but he pulled her back in at twenty, through force and blackmail. He routinely filmed her and Greta, for leverage against the men he set them up with. His fixation for recording things hastened his downfall. There was evidence of corruption all the way back to the beginning of his career.

She had finally broken free when she met me, telling him if she lost me she had nothing to lose. She included Greta in the deal, and for almost four years both their lives had been normal as it was supposed to be.

She really didn't want to campaign for him, but went along t protect her mom. They were fine as long as I was there, but when I went home he systematically drugged them, reasserting his will.

They fought, but in the end he had control.

It all came apart when I came to take her home. If he had let her go, she would have taken her mother with her, and rumors would start.

There was a recording of him, his campaign manager, and two of his security team discussing letting them go, using the first time pregnancy and a worried mother as reasons, maybe filming them at home, cheering him on. The campaign manager killed that idea, reminding Stan he had made promises he needed to keep to secure support.

At that moment, I think I hated the campaign manager even more than Stanley.

Eve recovered enough to start asking for me. I was still terribly hurt and bitterly angry, and refused. Vivian begged me.

"She needs you. You were her anchor, her comfort, her vindication that she was a good person that was loved just for being her, with no agenda. Please, Tommy. For me, please."

I hugged her.

"You've been a surrogate mother for me. You know my parents died in an accident when I was in my late teens, and my feelings for you made me realize what I missed. Do you know we had decided to name the child Vivian Greta, for her mother and 'mine'?"

Vivian had tears in her eyes.

"I can't Vivian, not right now. If she needed me so badly, why didn't she stay home? Didn't she realized that anything he had on her would hurt him far worse than her if anything came out? What could have made her do it?"

Vivian slapped me.

"You! That's what made her do it. She couldn't take the chance that you would leave her if you found out. I know, it doesn't really make sense to us, but you have to remember, she wasn't thinking clearly, the mental and physical abuse, the drugs, the shame, made her desperate to keep it from you. You're her world, Tommy, the only good thing that's happened in her life since she was born."

She could see in her eyes she was losing.

"At least think about the baby. That's your child she's carrying! Doesn't she deserve a good life?"

The pain was clear in my voice.

"What about me? Do I deserve any of this? And I do think about the baby. What if it's not mine? Worse, what if it is mine? You know I'll get custody. I don't think a judge alive would let her raise a child alone with her history."

Vivian grabbed my arm so hard it left a bruise.

"Don't ever say anything like that where she could hear it. That baby and the hope that you may forgive her is all that's keeping her alive. Please Tommy. I've never asked you for anything again. Please."

Celeste came to me later that day.

"I'm going to see her. I want her to look me in the eye and tell me why she betrayed you. Maybe it'll ease the pain for both of us. Amy is begging to see her, but I won't let her, not yet. I'll call you later."

..................................................

Celeste talked to her, and Greta. She never said a whole lot about what they talked about, but she did say her psychiatrist wanted to talk to me. In fact, she said, she was almost begging. Celeste, Amy, and Vivian ganged up on me, badgering me for three days before I agreed. I think I surprised them all by laying down some ground rules.

"This is not about me. If I get the least sense of an agenda, or if she tries to steer me in a direction I don't want to go, the conversation is over. I reserve to refuse to answer any questions, but will not give her the same courtesy. If she refuses to answer, the conversation is over. Make it clear to her, and if she still wants to talk, I leave, and there will be no second chance. And make this really plain to her. She is to bear no message from Eve. None."

It took the doctor two days before she decided to agree to my terms. I think it shocked her when I refused to go to her office and made her come to my house.

I made sure we were alone. I didn't offer her refreshments. I just had her sit on the couch.

"Well?"

"First Tommy, thank you for seeing me. You have a lovely home."

"Thank you. And it's Mr. Yount. You're not my friend, you're not my doctor, you're a salesman, here to sell me something I probably don't want. So, let's keep it formal. I'll make it easy for you. What do you want?"

She reddened. I had pretty much blocked her normal course of action, so she had to think on the fly, trying to tell me what she needed from me without angering me. It took her a few minutes to decide how to proceed.

"I'll come right to the point. Eve is not holding up very well. We've gotten the drugs out of her system, but she's not improving. She needs you. I've spent a good bit of time with her. You're her rock, her vindication that she was a good person and deserved happiness. By taking that away, you're destroying her. If it weren't for the baby, I'm afraid she'd be suicidal. Please, you don't have to talk about the future, you don't have to commit to anything, just be there. She needs you, Tom, er Mr. Yount."

She waited expectantly.

"Let me ask you something, doctor, since we're talking about your patient, am I covered by confidentiality rules? Can you discuss anything I've said or will say today with anyone?"

She agreed that the conversation was covered. I could see the shock on her face when I went off.

"You know what doctor? I'm tired of being told what to do to ease Eves' pain, what I need to do to get her better. You know what else, doc? Fuck her! I'm sick to death about people telling me to help her."

"Did I wreck the marriage? Is there a film of me out there somewhere performing oral sex with someone just to help her dad win an election? Did I get her nearly beaten to death, then drugged and hidden away? She's in a guarded facility that keeps the real world away. I'm forced to deal with the nut jobs, the tabloids, the looks and whispers when I walk down the street. Walk a mile in my shoes, doctor, and then ask me to be compassionate. This conversation is over. Goodbye doctor. Have a nice life."

I didn't slam the door in her face, but it was pretty close.

I felt a little bad about it later. She had been drugged and confined against her will, but man. did it feel good to vent. Maybe I needed to check into therapy myself.

...............................................

I had not been idle during this time. My lawyer came to me.

"Time to protect your assets. Remember that prenupt we made up, just for fun? Well, it might have been a joke, but that doesn't make it any less legal."

I remembered. I didn't want the money, but it was a way to make her admit she had betrayed me. He froze all her assets, citing the prenupt. I reminded him to tell her all she had to do was admit her adultery and she got it all back. But it had to be dome publicly, in a manner of my choosing. She refused.

Greta was out of the hospital, but was in seclusion at a high end clinic specializing in trauma and abuse cases. She wasn't restricted to the grounds, although they discouraged leaving the facility.