The Vengeful Christmas Gift

"Lori, this is Luke Somple." There was silence. I don't know what I expected her to say and I continued, "Look, I, um, I'm good with remembering people's voices."

She interrupted me, "Yes it was me. Is there any chance we can have lunch today?" I didn't know what my schedule was but whatever it was I couldn't give a fuck less about it compared to this.

"Yes you tell me when and where and I'll be there," I said a little bit stunned.

"11:30 at The Hawk?" She asked.

"Yep see you then. Thank you," I said waiting for a final reply.

"Umm, yes no problem. I, I just had to get involved. I hope my butting in isn't a problem," She said nervously.

I came back with, "It's fine. I think I can understand your motivation. See you at 11:30."

When I put the phone down I went to see my boss Phil. I didn't tell him much, just that I had a personal emergency that had come up and that I needed flexibility on when I was in the office for the next few weeks. He had a sad look on his face and nodded and said, "Whatever you need. I'm not going to ask anything more, but I'm really sorry. I can see it in your face. Something's really not good."

I gave him a fake half smile, "Thanks, I never thought, I just never thought," and turned and left.

I got to my house just as a white van pulled up. Matt got out of it was three other guys. "This should take a couple hours max," he said. As we walked inside I let him know who had contacted me.

"That's fucking excellent. Excuse my French. Having an insider can really help fill in the picture. After you talk to her email me a summary of what she says. If she will let you record her all the better. See if she's game for that," He said excitedly. I told him I'd do that.

I gave Matt and his guys a tour of the house. They described what they wanted to do and what it would cost. "Go for it. I don't give a shit what it costs," I replied after they were done telling me the cost.

He nodded, "Ok we're on it." The guys got to work. Matt really had his shit together. He gave me instruction sheets and set up my phone to monitor things. He showed me how to log in remotely and how the system saved files. It was wild stuff and I knew that whatever happened in the house I would know about. He even had a set up to sniff activity through our wireless router. If a new device showed up and used our router, I was seeing what was going to and from the device.

They wrapped up and left. All I needed to do was get Sam's phone set up with a couple apps that would track her and everything she did on the phone.

I looked down at my watch and it was almost eleven. Lunch couldn't get here fast enough. I got to The Hawk and looked around. I saw a familiar woman and walked over to her, "Lori?"

"Hi Mr. Somple," she said as we shook hands.

"Luke," I replied as I sat. I took a deep breath. "Ok tell me everything you can. Do you mind if I record this? I'm sure I'll forget things. This is all overwhelming to me and my brain is all out of sorts."

She nodded, "Yes no problem."

She began to tell me what she knew starting at the beginning as she understood things. Since she had only worked with Sam for a few years she didn't really know anything about the start of the affair beyond what Sam had confided in her about. Evidently Trent and Sam were High School sweethearts. His family moved away and they lost touch. Right around the time we got married he moved back to the area. They reconnected and Sam was still in love with him. But she also loved me and was torn on what to do. The eventually started up their romantic relationship again.

At some point when they were together he made a comment that he intended to be a joke but that Sam thought about seriously afterwards. He joked that she could stay married to me but have his babies. She decided she wanted to do that. I sat there and felt the blood run out of my face when Lori told me that part. I felt cold and started to shiver.

"Are you ok?" Lori asked.

I nodded and quietly said, "Just keep going." They would meet about once every couple weeks for sex and emailed and texted daily.

I stopped Lori and asked, "When and why did Sam tell you all this? It seems to me that if I were having a long term affair like this I would keep it to myself or at most only tell my best friend. I don't mean any offense but I can't imagine telling my admin. Partly because I would be afraid of ending up talking to HR, and partly because I just can't imagine confiding in someone that isn't a life long friend."

She responded almost instantly, "That's the thing and part of why I'm here. Sam and I went to lunch one day and she was clearly bothered by something. She actually had tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she just stared at me. Then she said 'I haven't told anyone all of this ever. I need to tell someone. Can I tell you? I need to get this off my chest.' She just began telling me. I'll be honest I was a little uncomfortable and shocked but I wanted to help her. She was clearly very upset."

"When was this?" I asked still trying to put this all together.

"Maybe," She thought for a few seconds, "I guess it was last October." That was almost a year ago I thought.

"Why tell me now?" I asked.

"Because I could see she was down a few weeks ago and asked her what was wrong. She told me it was what she told me before but that it was getting more troubling for her. She looked scared and confused."

I felt confused as well and had to ask, "What was? What was getting more troubling?"

Lori then had a surprised look on her face and said, "Opps I forgot to tell you something she told me in October. She felt terrible about what she had done and that none of your three kids were yours."

"What! What?" I replied thinking I had to have misheard her.

"Oh, yeah. It wasn't just your oldest that Trent fathered, your young son also," She said almost like it was no big deal.

I felt like I just got kicked in the gut and stammered, "Ok, ok, Back to what she said a few weeks ago." My head was spinning at this point.

"Oh yes. She felt terrible about what she had done and was trying to figure out what to do about it. I mean she was trying to figure out how to make things right. She also, umm, I don't know if I should say this," She said looking down at the ground.

Oh God I thought, there's more? It's worse? A little freaked out I pleaded, "Please say it. Please Lori."

"Well ok. She said that she was, well, she was falling in love with you more than before and was afraid of what to do. She said if you found out you would certainly leave her and she would be without you. She was trying to figure out how to not lose you but felt she needed to tell you."

Ok that was not what I thought I was going to hear. I sat there dumbfounded for a bit.

"Are you ok Luke?" Lori asked concerned.

"Not really. I'm trying to let this all sink in," I managed to say.

Lori continued, "I've only known Sam for a few years, but I see her almost every day and it's clear that this is eating her up and getting worse. I felt I needed to let you know so that maybe you could, I don't know, do something."

"Do what?" I asked in a fog.

Lori was shaking her head, "I don't know. You aren't going to divorce her are you?"

I thought that was a stupid question. A little irriatated I replied, "Well I would say that is pretty likely. She's been having an affair for at least thriteen years, planned to have another man's children and deny me the opportunity to be a father? I can't imagine how any human being could take a bigger crap on another person."

Lori sat there with the saddest look on her face and barely got out, "Can't you, can't you work it out somehow?"

"This isn't one of those Hallmark movies Lori. This is real life. She betrayed me, for sure hundreds of times. Honestly right now I want to go home, pack up all my things, and just leave. Just leave a note that says fuck you you cheating lying slut and leave."

Lori sat there with a look of horror on her face and seemed to get pissed when she said, "Did you hear what I said about her falling in love with you and wanting to end the affair?"

I sighed. That was a curve ball in all this. If she truly felt remorse and was trying to change what she was doing, that was something I needed to really think about. I loved Sam with all my heart and I couldn't imagine life without her. She was my best friend. But Jesus how could I ever get passed this? At this moment I didn't see how that was possible but I knew this was day one of whatever the future was going to be. I needed to get all the facts and not react out of the hard emotions in me at this point.

Confronted with reality I quietly said, "Ok, that is something I need to think about. I don't know what I'm going to do but I may need your help. Can I count on you to help me?"

She nodded eagerly, "Call it women's intuition, but I truly believe she knows she did a horrible thing and honestly loves you and wants to make it right. I'm asking you, please give her some type of chance before you divorce her." I could see Lori was dead serious and was absolutely convinced of what she was saying.

"You know I think Hallmark movies are just things to make us feel like our lives are hollow and sad and lack the romance that leads to happiness. Life isn't that happy or perfect." Lori looked at me with a blank look. I continued, "Ok Lori it's a deal. I'll give her some type of chance. But you have to swear to me that you will not tip Sam off in any way shape or form. Agreed?"

"Agreed," She said with a smile.

I left and as I drove I decided to just take a drive to decompress. A bunch of ideas ran through my head. I then texted Lori. "I have some things I'm going to want. I'll send you a list later so you can get started on them. Time is of the essence so the sooner you can get what I'm going to ask for the better."

Seconds later I got a response, "Absolutely as fast as I can." Then another text, "And so you know. She pretty much only communicates with him using her phone with the black case." What phone with a black case? Sam's phone had a silver case. She has another phone I've never seen? Wonderful. I asked Lori more about this black phone.

My mind was numb and I was completely unable to concentrate. Then I had a crazy thought. We had an office at home that Sam used a fair amount. I wonder if there was anything there hidden or even just laying around.

When I got home I went inside and just stood at the door. I knew what had to be done but was afraid of what I might find. I said to myself that fear has no value at times like this. Let's go and get done what needs done. I got changed and as I did come up with a few things I wanted from Lori. I texted her, "I have some requests. 1) Can you get me her work calendar as far back as it goes in your system? I want to know all the days she was out of the office or had something on her calendar after 5pm and what the reason was? 2) Her calendar for the next 3 months. 3) If you get an opportunity and it isn't obvious, ask her why she hasn't totally ended her relationship with Trent. I'm assuming they are still seeing each other."

A minute later, "Will do," came back.

I went into the office in our house and wondered where to start. First I looked in the closet and went through what was in there. Nothing. Went through the bookcases and again nothing. Inch by inch I went through the room. I then came to the desk. As I looked at it I realized something, the one side of the desk was thick but didn't have any drawers in it. So was it just hollow space I wondered. I looked at how to get into the hollow space and noticed that I could easily slide a piece of wood out to get into the inside of the desk.

I slide the wood and a box fell out. "No shit," I said out loud. I just stared at it. I got a flash light and there were other items inside. It was the motherlode of stuff. Day planners, note books, pictures, flash drives, DVDs. "Jesus Christ," I muttered. I felt sick to my stomach but also overwhelmed. Not just emotionally but thinking about the hours of work ahead of me just trying to sift through this all. It could take weeks.

I texted Matt Leone and told him what I found. I asked him if he could send over another couple people to help copy all this stuff. He said he would no problem and asked if nine am the next day was good. I said yes no problem. I sat down and went through a box of pictures. There were ones that were just Trent and Sam in different locations. Then there were the ones of them together. Nudes, her sucking him, his cock inside her. Lots and lots of pictures. I took a few pictures with my phone.

Then there was the DVD's and flash drives. I figured whatever was on them wasn't going to get easier to deal with so I just grabbed my laptop and put them in. The first DVD showed a bed and I heard Sam talking but she wasn't yet in the video.

"Ok set that up and get over here and start fucking me!" She climbed on to the bed and right behind her was Trent. I could tell from how she looked this was quite a few years ago. They started kissing and touching each other. Before long she was sucking him.

I popped the DVD out and saw there was a date written on the case. I noticed one that had 'first 3some' written on it. "Wonderful," I sighed. I put it in and sure enough that was what it was. There was Sam and Trent and another guy named Jeff. Sam was initially a little hesitant and Trent encouraged her with play with Jeff. Before long she had Jeff's cock in her pussy and Trent's in her mouth. Ok enough of that for now.

For the next hour I tried to write down a basic inventory of what I found. One thing I found that was a goldmine was a little notebook that had her passwords in it. I took a picture of that. A secret email account was among the passwords as well as phone info. Excellent. The other thing was a single key. It obviously wasn't a house key. It looked like a key to a storage locker. There was a number written on a plastic tab on the key chain. This I had to check out.

After I put everything back in the desk I took the key and drove to the storage unit. I had a sick feeling in my stomach the whole way there. I pulled up to the gate and entered the code. The gate went up. I drove to the storage unit and parked. It was a small unit. I put the key in the lock, took a deep breath, and opened it.

There was a set of shelves and a clothes rack. I looked at the clothes. Sexy dresses and stuff I had never seen before. There wasn't a huge amount of outfits but there were a lot. Clearly items from over the years.

I looked through them all and took some video. There were some nighties, a maids outfit, a leather teddy, etc. I felt light headed and just knew I had to soldier through this. I started to feel like Sam was the enemy. I got to the shelves and they had some various boxes on them. I started at the top.

Opening the first box I was treated to an array of sex toys. Dildos of various sizes and colors. I never saw any of this stuff before. Sam and I had included some toys in our marriage but she wasn't a fanatic about using them. There was selection of porn movies. Pretty standard stuff and none that I ever saw before. I actually wondered if I would find that Sam did some amateur porn. My mind went down all kinds of dark avenues at times with all that I was finding out recently.

The next box had some trinkets in it. Stuff you would get on trips. Some of the places were ones I knew she had been to because of work, some I never heard her mention. Some were places that I certainly wouldn't have approved of her going to without me, like the Hedonism resort. Looking at this was like looking at the belongings of someone you don't know. They had no connection to me at all. Like browsing through an antiques shop and wondering who owned the different articles.

I rummaged through the box, then I saw something that made me wince. A picture of Sam and Trent on a little boat with a frame that said Gary G's Lobsta Fishing Tours. Bar Harbor Maine. The casual observer would say so they went on a lobster boat in Maine. It's not like it's a picture of her getting gang banged. Maybe true, but what needs to be understood is that I mentioned to Sam six years ago the idea of us going to Maine for a short vacation. She was super excited about the idea for awhile and then cooled on it and we never went. When she was big on the idea I really looked forward to us getting away to go there. Now I saw why she lost interest in going with me, she went with Trent after I gave her the idea. I felt like someone just stabbed me in the heart.

The third box was fairly empty. A few DVD's and files. Here were all her day planners from when she first started working. These would be very helpful to have. I wondered if I needed to hire some type of research assistant that would be cheaper than paying Matt Leone's team. I started to consider that seriously but who could I find that would be cheap and that I could trust with my life. That was a hard test to pass. I decided to give that some thought.

I leafed through the calendars for some reason. I for certain wanted to have someone summarize all of this. I went to the car and grabbed my laptop that I happened to have in my backpack. I put in one of the DVD's. This one was from Hedonism. It looked like video someone professional did. There was a part that showed Sam drinking shots of Jagermeister out of the belly buttons of a few guys. When she got done she flashed her tits and then laid on the table. Each one of the guys drank a shot from her belly button and then each licked her nipples and kissed her. I was becoming numb to this stuff.

From the other DVD's she had this was like watching old episodes of The Waltons or Little House On The Prairie by comparison. There was a flash drive and I put that in the laptop. There were some video files and I opened one titles amateur stripping contest. It was from Hedonism and sure enough there was Sam up on stage. She did a pretty standard strip show. She had guys putting dollars in her garter and she put her pussy in front of pretty much every guy. She didn't let anyone touch her thank God.

I did a quick inventory list like I did the desk. I also stopped at the office and asked if I could get a duplicate key to the unit. They obliged for a $5 fee.

I texted Matt and asked him for a couple recommendations. First a lawyer and second a marriage counselor. For a lawyer he gave me a guy named Bob Hines. I recognized the name from hearing my parents mention it since he had a partner years ago who was married to a friend of my Mom's. For marriage counselor he told me to call a woman named Jill Cushman.

When I got home I put in calls to each of them and set up appointments. As luck had it Bob Hines had an opening that if I left then I could get to. I headed out the door.

I pulled into the office on Market Street when I saw the sign Hines and Associates LPA. I went in and told the receptionist I was there so see Bob. I sat and he offered me some coffee. "Yes sounds good. Cream and sugar in that. Baileys if you've got any," I said jokingly.

Bob turned and smiled, "Actually, you're in luck!" as he pulled out a bottle.

"No shit, no wonder Matt Leone recommended you," I said. Bob laughed.

"You know that once Matt mentioned you I remembered your name. My Mom was good friends with Wilma the wife of your former partner Barney."

He had a friendly look on his face. "What are your parent's names?"

"Andy and Jane Somple."

He got a big smile and exciterly said, "I met them a couple times at parties Barney and Wilma had. Great people. Your Mom is a freaking riot. What a card!"

I laughed, "She does stand out in a crowd."

Bob sat at the edge of his desk and with a warm smile said, "You know I always do the best for my clients, but given your parents and the link through Barney, know that I'll go the extra mile." I thanked him for that.