by Ephesus14
Thanks for a ‘new’ repost. Not much equity in this one. Wilson and Jacobson destroyed at least three lives and walk away with a relatively light slap on the wrist. Oh well, I guess falling back on the ‘Life Well Lived’ aphorism is going to have to suffice. Still, well written and a treat to read. Thanks much.
Couldn't even finish this. Nothing makes sense. Everything is completely disconnected. And the sex in it is so extremely unerotic that I just skipped it at some point.
Wife takes kids, but the police won't do anything because "she left out of her own free will"? That makes absolutely no sense. It makes even less sense that her doing it out of her own free will was, somehow, a reason to not prosecute her for cleaning out all the accounts.
Also, if the wife completely cleaned him out, canceled all their credit cards, and locked him out of all bank accounts... how did he have the funds to go on a fucking ocean cruise a few weeks later?
Why was MC's reaction to hearing his ten-year-old daughter tell him she hates him, as she leaves in a stranger's car, nothing more than a shrugged "Oh well"!? And then there wasn't a single word about MC missing his daughter in all the years until meeting her again. THEN it suddenly is all about rekindling his relationship with her.
Why doesn't Jimmy even know the last name of the woman he's been living with for over a year!? He was clueless about who MC was when he showed up in their apartment for the first time, even after introducing himself to loverboy using his full name. Why didn't he even recognize the guy, given how much time they spent scheming to steal his wife to take revenge for putting his cousin in jail!?
How did Jimmy go away "for a couple of years" after all their money was gone, if they only left MC, like, two years ago at that point?
1/5
Good start till the end of the first page, but you lost the readers with the sex scene and with missing any type of ending. All the destruction Carol caused and the fall out is that she “isn’t drinking as much”. She didn’t even pay back his half of the money. Needed Continuity
I liked it before.
And I like it now.
Still bugs me he waited so long
trying to find his daughter.
Top ratings from me all the same.
OK, just a loose end for me - what became of the money that Carol emptied from their accounts? Was that forgiven too?
Good read although I would have liked a little more depth/drama at the end. 4.4*
So she takes all the money, which he never recovers, turns her parents and all their friends against him and kidnaps his daughter? Why would he not, when he recovers, hire a PI? How does she stay out of jail after the theft and kidnapping? And why was the ending so brief? Inquiring minds want to know.
The premise is just too stupid to be believed. In real situations like this if somebody is falsely accused nobody would actually act the way the main character does. .
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...."if you don't leave we're going to beat you up. ..."
OK beat me up. I didn't do anything wrong and I'll take any beating you can give to listen to me for 2 minutes. .
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What happened to all the money that's the wife stole?
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Why doesn't he go to court and say Even if my crazy wife thinks I did that she has no right To keep my daughter away from me living in the household with another man.
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Just stupid
How foolish some be, Then to have a scam artist ruin a husband , wife and daughters lives. In some countries they (the guy and his cousin) could lose lie or limbs.
Well, well. We bend our fingers... Two bisexual girlfriends, then there was Grace - that's three. But who was the fourth woman Sam fucked on the first cruise? Was she so ugly that he didn't want to remember her, or was he so drunk that he couldn't remember the details?
Never understood why the MC never pursued custodial interference or tried for 1/2 of the money despite suggesting it earlier in the story. I don’t ever mind a little discontinuity but big ticket LV themes generally need to be resolved one way or another in these stories. I think you missed an opportunity to patch some holes in this repop.
Of course I’m just glad you are back and that you were able to recover your work.
Looking forward to seeing new and recovered archived material
~Spiny
Sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie. As in this story. It sucked when it was first published, it still sucks.
Bisexual girlfriends with benefits, thats a popular letters to Penthouse fantasy for sure
Great that he moved on and got his daughter back. Fuck the bitch for jumping to conclusions and for leaving with no effort to see if it really happened. Oh well shallow people do stupid stuff. As for Jimmy and David the fishing in California and Houston would have dropped slightly as they both would have been used as bait.
The daughter’s instant change of attitude towards Sam after he proved he never cheated and instantly taking her back into his life ruins it for me. The last 2 in counters with his daughter both had her calling him names and rejecting him.
Once Sam cleared his name he should have pushed Cheryl away saying, “my daughter died when she ten years old.” Sam walking away from Carol and Cheryl, leaving them nothing but the truth that Carol chose to believe lies and betrayed a good man would have been a better outcome for the confrontation.
Depending on how much money Carol stole and what half the equity was in the house when Sam sold it, there may or may not have been much to go after her for, especially with Carl living in California.
Didn't find the premise of the story believable. Wife leaves with stranger based on pictures, takes daughter and doesn't say why, cleans out all accounts and he doesn't do anything? Story would have been a better read if "getting answers" and getting revenge on the guy and getting his previous life back would have been the focus (without waiting years to do anything). A much happier ending would have been possible. All in all, way too many plot holes in this one.
Unfortunately, I remembered the ending before I finished the first page and that spoiled it a bit. This was always one of my favorite stories of yours. Please continue to repost all the stories you find.
Very good read. And thanks again for reposting your stories.
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Carol is damaged goods. She really needed professional help. Would have been better if instead of just a throwaway line that “her drinking problem is getting better”, it would have been mentioned that she was getting help.
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4 ****
Great story and very well done and might I add that it it is so refreshing to not see and especially hear, dot dot dot, when listening to your story with Text Aloud, the best damn tool for Authors! Thank you a million times. 5 BIG ASS FUCKING HUGE FLAMING NOVA STARS!
Pretty good story, I could feel the MCs frustration. Any punishment the two perps got wouldn't be enough. There are a lot of creeps in this world and there are few who need to be eliminated, I'm sure everyone has a list but what can you do. 5 stars
Her whole family telling him that he is the Devil, and he never asks any f them to explain? That is a huge plot hole. Over all, I like the story.
The commenter, who gave only 3 stars, “because this isn’t the kind of story I want to read, a week before Christmas,” gets my award for dumbest comment.
Kind of a meh ending.
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@HIV, she spent all the money, that's when Jimmy took off.
The end is depressing. I guess because it's more realistic than most stories. Both of them were over each other long ago. He missed out on so much of his daughter growing up and if it's anything like in real life she's still going to be a problem child. I'd think he would still go after his ex any way he could for taking his kid away. And it's crazy how she didn't even want to confront him and throw the evidence in his face. Her parents should have had karma because even if he did cheat it's not a reason to take their kid away. So much time had passed and he accepted it and found happiness that it doesn't feel fulfilling after the truth comes out.
To the anon who complained it was a re-post. Did you read the very first sentence? It was in bold print, and clearly stated it was a re-post. E14 is one of the best writers in LW and I, for one, am really enjoying his re-post.
Not exactly a feel good ending, but I like a story where the bitch burns herself!
@OverconfidentSarcasm,
some of your questions would have been answered if you had READ the story and not skimmed or skipped.
Wish there would have been more about finding, arresting and prosecuting the scumbags. It would have helped fill in the ending especially after the MC offered to help in their prosecution. Good story overall.
This is an old story rerun. I definitely remember this one. Please we need new stories
Miscommunication or lack of communication is a Lazy plot device. The stupid whore couldn't even realize that she had been drugged, and that everything the dirt bags were doing to her and her daughter were ruining their lives. Just ridiculous.
What was the twelve years about? For twelve years, the ex-wife didn’t ask him for his side of the story. The daughter was ten when she left and she’s still a minor.
A divorce would have given him visitation. Why wasn’t that factored into your story?
Why would his in laws automatically presume his guilt and never even try to talk to him? Why weren’t they involved in their daughter or grand daughters life after the divorce?
If the two lowlifes could brag about drugging and raping women, why didn’t they do the same to the 15 year old?
Why would Jacobsons wife marry a man who bragged about photoshopping pictures and ruining some guys marriage? Why marry a man who bragged about drugging and raping women?
Why didn’t she go to the cops?
This whole story has more holes than Swiss cheese.
@sbrooks103x
Kind of a meh ending. - Better than most
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@HIV, she spent all the money, that's when Jimmy took off.- More like Jimmy spent it then took off.
After not giving her husband any time to defend himself, turning the daughter against him, then leaving for 5 yrs until accidently found, wifey actually asks, when all is shown, "What about us?" The bitch actually thinks he'd return to her, or waited before finding somebody else? I felt for the husband. 4 stars Bob
If she ran off absent a legal divorce or seperation with a custodial agreement, she was guilty of parental kidnapping. If he had done a divorce by abandonment, this would have come up in the court case, and he could have gotten a warrant put out for her arrest. Too many holes in this story.
The plot hinges on the extraordinary coincidence of the MC, who lives in Louisiana as the story begins, recognizing his ex-wife as the script girl in a Hollywood, California, studio for the actor son of his Texas-based second wife whom he met on a cruise through the Caribbean. I have no problem with the Deus ex Machina nature of this improbable turn of events other than the fact the MC, his past and current wives and his daughter never stop to reflect and wonder about it, either collectively or individually. The author would have served the story line well had his characters acknowledged this remarkable example of serendipity and more explicitly voiced their thoughts and feelings about it.
2/5 "see if you can prosecute Wilson and Jacobson" wtf, what kind of person does that? Any sane human being would've report to the police in the first place, not giving them chance to escape.
This was a great story. Carol believed her husband had cheated on her like her first husband did. But he proved that it never happened. The rapists will be going to jail. Carol’s husband met a wonderful woman and married her after divorcing Carol. He reclaimed his relationship with his daughter. Five star story. I really enjoyed it!!!
Good, ending was a bit rushed (not for the BTB) more related to the way forward and healing
I think it is great that you are restoring these stories to lit. You were one of my favorite writers (you JPB ,and Q ). I'd like to see more of your old ones and new as well. Thank you for the gift! 5 stars!
somewhere east of Omaha
"I was also going to see if there was anything I could do TO them." - What a perv! If it were me, - I'd have written
" I was also going to see if there was anything I could do FOR them" but then, that's me!
Three hundred fifty million people live in the US and he runs into his estranged wife about a thousand miles from his home and she happens to work on his wife's son. Believable...I don't think so. But, most of this writer's stories are like that.
Totally pushing the boundaries of credibility. I have little to no idea what the MC did as a job, but I'm pretty sure that it was better and more secure than the low life's. Which makes me wonder why she'd even bother rather than confronting the MC. What did she gain from running away? It's almost certain that she'd have got the house, spousal support, child support and 50% of everything else.
She didn't just leave her husband but her whole support network and the grandparents, who would have provided financial support and childcare.
Perhaps it would have been better to go into the shame angle, that she was a dirty video slut, because being cheated on doesn't make people runaway, apart from some men in LW tales.
anonymous, Carol drove off in "An SUV I didn't remember seeing before, was backing out of my driveway as I turned into it. Carol, my wife was in the front passenger seat. The rear passenger window opened and the head of my ten-year-old daughter, Cheryl, appeared . I opened my window, smiled and waved at her. But instead of her returning the smile and wave, I heard "We hate you!" as the SUV headed down the street."
So he could sell Carol's car.
Talk about serendipity. Btw, parental kidnapping is a crime. Make your characters report it please.