Ruined - A Marriage In Ruin

She said, "Jack, I don't want a divorce. Whatever you think I did was not worth throwing away all the good years we had and I wish you could forgive me and work through our problems. I certainly don't want to do this here in front of my brothers and sister."

"Kelly, we are going to finish this now. There is no tomorrow for our marriage and the sooner you sign these papers the quicker we can both get on with our lives."

She got all red in the face and blurted out, "Well if you must divorce me I still plan on fighting the infidelity issue. That is the least you can do for me."

I knew she would play that card but I was of course ready for it. "If you chose to fight me on the infidelity issue Kelly I will have no recourse but to put this DVD into evidence before the court," and I threw a copy of the DVD onto the table with the divorce papers.

"In case you are wondering what it is, it is a video of all eight, yes I said eight, times you cheated on me at the spa."

Amber's face turned brilliant red and she shot daggers at Kelly. "You didn't? Kelly, how could you do that? You told me you did the same thing I did when approached and shut them down. How could you do that to Jack?"

"Yes Amber she did do that. She fucked Mario that first night when Steven approached you. Then she fucked Steven the next night. And on your second visit she fucked Mario all three nights and on this recent visit she fucked him three times. So yes, eight videos of you fucking Mario and Steve ought to get my infidelity issue squared away quite well. Sign the fucking divorce papers right now Kelly or I go to court with this. I am done messing around with you."

I could see that Tom and Carl were also in shock and Amber was quietly crying while Kelly signed the divorce papers. I left her one copy and put the rest in my brief case. Kelly had a numb look on her face and there were unshed tears in her eyes, for what I couldn't be sure but it didn't matter. I could see that she was shocked that I had the evidence to prove multiple incidents of infidelity but she wasn't done being shocked yet.

"Now, let's move on to the other issue before us, the grain issue. I can tell you are all in shock by what I just told you so I am going to make this quick but unfortunately worse."

"The bad news is that with this divorce you will no longer have the value of my stored grain included with your reserves and will be in violation of your grain license and your loan covenants."

"The good news is that I went to your father and presented my case to him and he agreed to sell me his 52% interest in the business. Your agreement with him had no clause for first right of refusal so I guess Richard didn't do the best job for you in the purchase after all. I didn't show him evidence of your cheating but he believed that I had it so to him this was a no brainer. He knew the company would be in trouble without my equity so he sold me his stock and now I am the majority shareholder in Gentry Grain, Inc. You each own 12% and as a group are in the minority position with 48%."

"The bad news is that I have negotiated a deal to sell my controlling interest in Gentry Grain to Cargill. They are always on the lookout for up and coming grain operations and Gentry Grain fills the bill at the right price. The good news is that you have the option to sell your shares to them for the same price I negotiated with them. It is my recommendation that you do that. I negotiated a very good price."

"The bad news is that now your company is owned by someone else and they will be evaluating personnel to see who adds value to the company. The good news is that as part of my negotiations you each have one year guaranteed employment. During that time I highly recommend that you bust your asses to prove to them that you are a valuable employee."

"Just so you know, I have also sold my farm to them and Wally has sold his farm to them as well. Wally has signed a long term contract with Cargill to manage both farms and we all know what a great job he does and will do for them."

The shock I had noted on all of their faces deepened and took on a degree of rage as well. Tom being the oldest and the unofficial leader of the Gentry clan was the first to actually speak.

"What the hell have you done Jack? You have destroyed this family business because my sister cheated on you? What kind of man are you anyway? How did you get my father to sell you his stock? What kind of lies did you tell him?"

"I tell you what Tom," I said, "First your father sold me his stock to keep you out of jail, to keep Carl out of jail and to keep Kelly out of jail. You ask what kind of man I am but you should be asking yourself what kind of man you are, what kind of man your brother is and what kind of woman your sister is."

I tossed the second DVD out onto the middle of the table. "I think this video will give you all the answers you need as to why this is all happening. It clearly shows your pickup on my yard the night I was beaten. It clearly shows you and Carl beating me. It clearly shows you coming out of my house with my belongings. Consider yourselves lucky that I chose this route of revenge instead of turning this over to Detectives Robbins and Carter."

Kelly finally spoke up, "Jack, how can you do this to me?"

"Kelly, you are another case altogether. With you I feel like I wasted my whole life. Your father always treated my dad well enough but always kind of like a second class 'dumb farm boy'. Tom and Carl treated me very much the same way, always thinking you were too good for the likes of me. You were my best friend but you also considered yourself better than me in many ways. I could always tell."

"You were a deceitful lover. You promised to be exclusive with me and immediately slept with Larry Evendale."

"You were a cheating wife, disrespecting me and our marriage by fucking those men. When you watch that video remember that I saw every second and I heard every word."

"And worst of all Kelly, you are a lousy best friend. You know I almost died in the attack? One of my broken ribs punctured a lung and it deflated. If the paramedics hadn't gotten to me when they did I would have died. Interestingly enough, Tom and Carl broke my ribs but it was the three or four kicks from your booted foot that drove the broken rib into my lung. You Kelly almost killed the man you say you love so much. I would call that being a pretty rotten friend don't you think?"

Kelly had fainted. Amber and Carl rushed to her to catch her before she fell out of her chair. Then Amber went and got a cold cloth to help revive her. When she was conscious again I took my final shot.

"So you now know your father sold me his stock to keep all three of you out of jail. He isn't very proud of his children you know, except you Amber, and I am sure you will hear plenty about that in the future."

"Like I said before, I believe I have wasted most of my life on you Kelly, but I won't be wasting any more of my future. Have a great life." With that I walked out the door with all deals done. I was free to move on and I would.