23 comments/  238961 views/  42 favorites

True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 01

By: S-Des



Authors Note: This is my first attempt at writing a story, so please read with a little latitude. It's a story about blackmail and revenge, so if that's not your particular interest, you probably shouldn't read it. There are also some non-consensual/reluctance scenes, so proceed with that in mind. 

There has been a problem with the other two chapters getting completed despite my best efforts. I apologize to everyone who has asked me to finish it. I am doing my best, but there were issues beyond my control (not to mention beyond my skill). It should be completed very soon.

There have been a few small edits to this chapter to hopefully make it a little more clear, but they don't change any major storylines. If you've already read this chapter, nothing has been altered that would necessitate reading it again.  

*

"Michael please, you can't do this!" Michelle begged. 

"It's too late, it's already done," he replied without any apparent emotion. 

"But if you go through with it, you won't be the man I married. I'll never be able to look at you the same again." 

"It doesn't matter," he deadpanned, "This is what I had to do. Your feelings don't have anything to do with it." She looked at him with such pain, he wondered if he could keep this up. 

"This was my decision to make and I'm willing to live with the consequences. I guess you could say it's my turn to sacrifice," he said ruefully. 

She barely acknowledged his words as she thought about how much she had lost already. He watched sadly as the only woman he had ever loved, turned and slowly walked out the door, to wait for the police. He thought back to how everything started, hoping to give himself the strength to finish, no matter what the outcome.

...Michael was having a great time with his friends. Their band had been getting more popular in the area, and he was making some decent cash (for a 26 year old without a real career). It was close to Christmas and they were playing an upscale restaurant/bar that they had been trying to book for months. Midway through the first set, the band noticed him blow a change and looked over to see him staring blankly toward the door. 

Four women had walked in, obviously ready to have a drink after work (judging from the way they were dressed). All seemed to be in their mid-twenties and looked like they were intent on having fun. Two were attractive brunettes with nice figures. One was a pleasant looking blonde who was a little overweight. The fourth was the one causing the problem. She was beautiful, had strawberry-blonde hair, stood about 5'7 and was thin with an amazing athletic body. However, what killed him were her eyes. She had the most devastating baby blue eyes he had ever seen. It made her look like an angel.

He recovered and mouthed an apology to the band. When they finished the set, he told the guys to wish him luck and took the band's sign-up sheet to where the women were seated. "Hi ladies, are you enjoying the show?" 

The girls giggled, and Stacy (one of the brunettes) said, "Oh, we're definitely enjoying it." She paused, and then added "Some more than others." 

Mike was a little curious about the answer, but continued. "Well, if you'd like to put your names and numbers on the list, we'd love to see you at another show." 

The girls laughed again, and Stacy said, "I think that can be arranged." Mike wasn't sure if she was messing with him but she seemed to be good-natured, so he went along. She introduced the group, "I'm Stacy, these are my friends Pam (brunette), Sally (blonde) and Michelle." 

He shook hands, made some small talk, and then excused himself to get ready for the next set. His band immediately gave him a hard time. His bass player laughed, chiding him for crashing and burning. 

"No, you've got it all wrong. I got their names, a little info, but didn't want to be too pushy. Let's just see what happens." All his friends smiled. Even though Mike wasn't exactly a chick magnet, he did pretty well for himself. That said, they all thought Michelle was way out of his league, however they were looking forward to watching him try.

The show continued to go well and he watched as all four girls danced together a lot. They all danced with guys from the bar except Michelle. After watching her turn down one man after another, Michael worried that she might not be available so he made a mental note to keep things light until he knew more. Each break he made a point of talking to the girls and trying to pick up any information he could. 

When the show ended, he offered to buy the girls a round. They sat for an hour talking, laughing and getting to know each other. He felt bad when Stacy said they had to leave. Although she hadn't given him enough signs to know what she was thinking, he knew that this might be his only chance with Michelle. "Mikki, I..." 

"Oh she hates that" Pam interrupted. 

"Ah...sorry" Mike apologized, kicking himself for starting badly. 

"It's OK," Michelle said, "Nobody calls me that but I kind of like it." The girls looked at each other and smiled.

"Well Mikki, I know it's late but I was wondering if you'd like to grab something to eat?" 

"Well, my friends drove," she said. Her friend Stacy protested, saying it was OK with them. Stacy never lost that smile which made Mike wonder if he was the butt of some joke. 

"Well, what do you say?" Mike said hopefully. 

Michelle considered him for a moment, "OK, I guess that would be fun." 

They left the club and started toward a nearby 24-hour restaurant when Mike decided to go for broke "If you'd like, I could make you something at my place." 

She took a second to think and said, "Sure, as long as you promise to take me home when I ask." With Mike's agreement, they headed to his place.

When they arrived, he was sure this was going to be a superb night. They started with some snacks and wine as they talked. After a while, they moved to the couch, and then Mike made his move. He put on soft music and asked her to dance. 

He couldn't get over how soft she felt. Although he wasn't much of a dancer, she was so light on her feet it made him feel masterful. She had a quality about her that made him feel like he could do anything. He wondered if it was just the high of a great show or was she that magical. 

He knew that this would be the best time to press his luck. He began lightly caressing her back while softly kissing her lips and face. 

She pulled back for a second, "Mike, I don't want to mislead you. This isn't going any further tonight and I need you to know that." 

Mike nodded, but didn't buy it. He thought of the number of women who had said just that, then were picking up their clothes off his floor the next morning. Oddly, as soon as that thought crossed his mind, he felt an uncomfortable twinge. It was almost like listening to someone insult a close friend. 

He soon found out she wasn't kidding. Every time he made any move, she shut him down cold. He kissed her lips, ears and neck, but couldn't get an inch farther. He finally gave up, choosing to at least enjoy her company. 

The sun started coming out and they were both tired so he asked if she wanted to go home. 

She gave him a look that he couldn't place. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to stay here the rest of the night." 

Mike couldn't believe she had changed her mind. They went to the bedroom and he got her some sweat pants and a shirt to wear to bed. When she came out of the bathroom he knew he would remember that image for the rest of his life; hair pulled back into a ponytail, make-up washed off and wearing his old clothes. She actually looked better than before.

"You are beautiful," he said admiringly. 

"Thank you" she blushed. She got under the covers with him, gave him a kiss on the cheek and rolled over to go to sleep. 

"Fuck me!" his mind screamed. How the hell am I going to sleep with her lying next to me like this? After a minute of quiet suffering, he laughed to himself. She was clear from the beginning that he wasn't getting anywhere and he really did enjoy being with her. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he found it refreshing that she wasn't just looking to get laid. Eventually he dozed off and had interesting (and frustrating) dreams.

He woke at noon. A quick look around the house verified that she was gone. He was beginning to wonder if he screwed up somehow. He sat down to figure out what he might have done wrong when the doorbell rang. 

"Good morning sleepyhead, I've got breakfast," she said as he let her in. She had picked up coffee and bagels and they shared them as they continued to get to know each other. She stayed with him all weekend. When he finally took her home Sunday night, neither of them had any doubt something special was going on. 

As the weeks went on, they spent as much time together as possible. She spent the night a number of times, but always with the understanding that it wasn't going beyond what she felt comfortable with. When he finally asked about her reluctance to advance their physical relationship, she was direct. "I've only been with a couple of men in my life, and it has to be the right relationship. It's how I was raised." 

He respected that and never pushed her. He met her friends and then finally, her family. He knew her mom and dad were very important to her, so he really tried making a good impression. They were very friendly and he could easily see where she got her amazing personality. Her dad gave him a rough going over at first but in the end, treated him like one of his family.

By the fifth month, he was sure she was the one he wanted to marry. He bought a nice ring and surprised her one evening at home. 

Unfortunately, she surprised him too. "Mike, I'm sorry but we just don't know each other well enough. I am planning on one wedding in my life and have to be sure that it is with the man who would sacrifice everything for me. I do love you, but I have to say no for now." 

He was crushed. He tried to take solace from her explanation but it left him wondering if she really felt as strongly for him. 

They didn't see each other all week. He made the excuse of being busy with work and the band but it was more about hurt feelings. 

Saturday afternoon he was moping around the house when the doorbell rang. He was a little surprised to see her and she asked to come in and talk. She tried to kiss him, but he pulled back at the last second. He saw the hurt register on her face, and immediately regretted the unintentional slight. She studied his face for a few seconds, and then took a deep breath. 

"Mike, I know my answer hurt you and I'm sorry. I want you to understand that I love you and this has been the most comfortable I've ever felt with anyone. However, I need you to be patient with me while we get to know all the little things about each other. These things make or break a marriage and it's important to me that we take our time and learn them fully." 

Mike nodded as he listened. He couldn't argue with her logic. He desperately wanted to believe that she felt just as strongly as he did. 

She continued, "It doesn't mean I don't feel strongly enough about you to consider it, I've been very torn about my decision. It's just that I don't feel like we're ready to make a lifetime commitment yet. Once we have, you'll never have to worry about me or what I might do. I want to feel the same about you." 

She paused as she flashed him her sexiest smile. 

"Another problem is sex," she began. 

Mike groaned as the major sore spot between them was brought up. 

"How can I know you're the right one if you won't make love to me?" She smiled from ear to ear as she watched his shocked expression. 

It took him a second to get his jaw off the floor. "Are you saying you're ready?" 

She gave him a lustful look. "Yes. I want you and I mean right now, Mister." 

Mike embraced her and they began to kiss deeply. As he ran his hands up and down her back, then moving to her breasts, he realized she was squeezing his ass with one hand and reaching into his pants with the other. He was surprised by her urgency. For someone who had the brakes on all this time, she had given herself to him completely without reservations. 

She took down his pants and began jerking him off as he got his hands under her sweater to touch her beautiful breasts for the first time. She let him go for a second and worked her sweater over her head, then resumed massaging his prick. 

He looked at her breasts and tried to take in how perfect she was before resuming his exploration. Her breasts were medium sized (he guessed a C cup), upturned without a hint of sagging, and sat perfectly centered as if a master surgeon placed them there. There wasn't an ounce of fat on her body. She was so amazing; he thought she could have been a model if she had chosen. He lowered his head and began nibbling on her nipples, alternating from the left to the right. 

She finally let go of his cock as he pushed her gently down to the couch. He undid her jeans and belt, then began tugging them down her hips. She tried to help him by hooking her thumbs in the waistband of her panties, but he stopped her. This was their first time and he wanted to savor every second. 

Once he slid her jeans off, he dropped them on the floor and looked again at the body he had been waiting for since the night he met her in the bar. He leaned on one knee between her legs as he ran his hands up and down the outside of her thighs as he began kissing around her flat stomach and incredibly cute belly button. As he continued kissing her stomach, he brought his hands up her sides to both breasts, never losing contact with her soft skin. Then he dropped his lips down to her legs and starting at the knees, slowly worked his way back up. 

Michelle was being worked into a frenzy. She would have loved this even if it wasn't great. It would hardly be his fault if he was too eager. She had made him wait so long she was ready to tear off his clothes, he must be insane by now. However, to her delight, he was doing everything perfectly. She was already excited and wet before he had even touched her pussy. He wouldn't take off her panties and it was driving her crazy to know he was going to take his time no matter what. His kissing and light licking of her erogenous zones was superb. 

He began to caress her lightly over the panties. He dragged his fingers over her clit, straight down her labia, then tantalizingly close to her anus, then back. He had worked his mouth up to the top of her thighs and began to lightly lick over the fabric feeling how wet she was. As he was doing that, he ran his index finger just under the elastic on the side, moving up and down, touching her flesh softly. He moved his mouth to her clit and stayed there, while pulling the panties to the side and inserting the tip of his finger inside her. 

He already knew she was wet, but couldn't believe how drenched she was! His finger started to slide in easily, but he quickly found she was very tight and he'd need to take his time. She responded to this double attack by lifting her hips to meet him and moaning, "Please Mike, I'm ready." 

"Oh no," he said to himself. "You've made me wait so long. Trust me, I'm going to make this something you'll remember forever." He used his free hand to slide her panties over a little more and then stuck his tongue just inside her and began moving up and down, teasing her slit. 

"Yes!" she cried. "Right there, please just a little more." 

Mike knew that it was time to turn up the heat. He grabbed one side of her panties with both hands and ripped, quickly repeating it on the other side. With unrestricted access, he stuck his tongue deeply into her while going back to her breast with one hand. She began thrusting at him in a constant motion while her breathing became erratic. 

"That's it, I'm cumming!" she yelled. 

He thrust a finger deep inside her while sucking on her clit. 

"Yes...Mike...Fuck...Yes!" Then she began to spasm wildly. 

He let her wind down for a few seconds before moving up to kiss her. When he started to rub his cock across the lips of her pussy to find the entrance, she stopped him. 

"Oh no baby, I want to give you a little payback first." 

He grinned, "Well, if that's what you want, who am I to argue?" 

He laid back as she climbed on top. She kissed and licked every inch of his body, trying to get him as frenzied as he had her. When she reached his penis, she briefly took him into her mouth, and then moved to his balls. She licked and nibbled everywhere she could reach, then put him back in her mouth. She swirled her tongue around the tip of his penis and used one hand to masturbate him. As she continued her amazing technique, she upped the ante by removing her hand and taking him deeper. When she felt his pubic hair on her lips, she paused, savoring her moment. This was her first try at doing this with a man and she pulled it off flawlessly. She knew he must be in ecstasy (or maybe agony, in a good way). 

Mike couldn't believe the woman who wouldn't sleep with him (hell, wouldn't let him touch her breasts) was deep-throating him. He had an 8" dick that was fairly thick and had always brought him compliments from the women he had dated. She took it as if it was nothing and it felt insanely good. 

She pulled back and started using the combination of her hand and mouth again while staring into his eyes. Once he saw those amazing blue eyes looking back at him at the same time she had him in her mouth, he lost all control. 

"That's it Mikki, I'm cumming!" 

He expected her to pull back but she surprised him again by staying right there and moaning loudly. He began cumming harder then he could ever remember. 

Thank goodness she had her hand on him or he might have choked her as his hips pumped wildly. She continued staring into his eyes as she sucked as hard as possible to give him every ounce of pleasure she could. When finished, she let him slide out of her mouth and began kissing her way back up his body. 

After taking a minute to recover, he smiled at her. "Where did you learn that?" 

"What, do you think that just because I don't sleep around a lot I forgot how to do it?" she teased. "When you go without for a long time, you do a lot of reading, thinking and talking about it. I also have understanding girlfriends who fill me in on all the good stuff." 

He just couldn't seem to stop grinning. "Well, please remind me to thank the one who filled you in on that little tidbit you just shared." 

"Stacy will be honored at your praise," she giggled. They leisurely kissed for a few minutes while catching their breath before Mikki asked, "Now how long before we can make love? I really need you inside of me." 

Mike laughed, "Obviously you have a lot to learn about how men behave after five months of foreplay. Here, maybe this will give you a clue." 

He turned her to her back and moved his already firm prick to her soft, wet folds. "Now let's see what else you've learned...." 

They continued until deep into the night, making up for lost time. By the next month, he began to have an even greater appreciation for her. He realized how good he felt making her feel safe and loved. He stopped trying to win her like a prize, and started trying to know her like a partner. When he felt the time was right he went to see her parents. After a long talk, he got their blessing and was ready to do it right this time. 

It was her parent's 30th wedding anniversary party. All her family and friends were there. About two hours into it, he spoke quietly with her mom and dad. Everyone agreed it was time. Michael went to the stage and borrowed the DJ's mic. 

"I'd like to make a toast to Jim and Mary" he started. "When Mikki and I started dating, they took me in like one of the family. Other than him threatening to kick my ass if I didn't leave his daughter alone, it was great." 


True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 01



Everyone shared a laugh because it was widely known how overprotective Jim was of his only daughter. 

"With my parents being gone, I have really come to appreciate them and the example they set with their love and devotion, both to each other and to Michelle. With that in mind, I spoke to them earlier and they gave me permission to make this speech on their special day." He breathed deeply and hoped he could get it all out.

"Mikki, I want to thank you for the last eight months. I never dreamed of meeting anyone like you. You have made a bigger difference in my life than I thought was possible." 

The room began to murmur as her friends could see what was going to happen. 

"A few months ago I asked you an important question and you said no." 

She began to blush terribly. 

"But more than that" he continued, "You showed me what I didn't understand about you and about love. I've stopped trying to prove to you that I was the right man, and started making sure that I am."

This did it for Michelle, as tears began rolling down her cheeks. 

"I've known since the night I met you, but I took the last few months to confirm it because you asked me to. You are the only person I want to spend my life with, and if you'll let me, I will spend all of it trying to make you happy. Mikki, will you please marry me?" 

The applause drowned out her response, but everyone could see the reaction. She jumped into his arms and nodded wildly. In front of her friends and family, just as she always dreamed, she was able to share her happiest moment.

Not long after the party, Michelle started a new job. She was hired as a manager in the R&D division of a large telecommunications company. It had branches all over the US. After three years on the job, she was doing well but hadn't advanced since her original hire. Some of her coworkers were jerks (putting it mildly) and didn't want to see a woman getting ahead. Chief among these was Ryan, head of her department. She didn't think he acted appropriately towards her and was intentionally blocking her advancement. She tried dealing with it like a good employee but it was frustrating. 

At the company Christmas Party (on a Friday after work), she was hoping to convince Ryan to let her transfer to another department where she might have a clean start. Mike hadn't been feeling well, so had already left. He didn't have a problem with Michelle staying late at the party without him since he had driven separately. She stayed to spend time with her friends and hoped to have a chance to talk with her boss. 

Unlike many marriages, Mike and Michelle trusted each other completely. There was no jealousy because neither gave any reason for the other to feel it. They both felt completely fulfilled, so there had never been any time either was tempted to do anything that could be harmful to their marriage. It wasn't even a consideration. 

Still, Mike didn't like Ryan and had expressed it to his wife numerous times. While never jealous, he felt it was his job to protect her. He was always concerned about how kind and trusting she could be. Mike rarely talked about his past to Michelle for good reason. He had been in trouble a lot and used to hang with a very bad crowd. There were many things he had done that he wasn't proud of now that he was older, so he knew from experience how men could be. 

Michelle stayed at the party with several friends and employees dancing and drinking. She was careful not to drink too much because she had to drive home, but after a couple hours, she was definitely tipsy. She had been trying to talk to Ryan, but couldn't catch a second with him until late in the party. He was already pretty hammered when she caught him on his way to the bathroom. He told her he'd be back in a moment and they could talk. 

As Ryan entered the bathroom, his imagination went wild. He had always wanted a perfect opportunity to make a pass at her, but she was annoyingly proper. She wouldn't go out for drinks with the staff without her husband. At work, she was unapproachable. This party seemed like just the right opening. He had been watching her husband earlier in the night because he looked sick. Ryan kept an eye on the couple, hoping Michael was going to leave early. 

When Michael left without his wife, Ryan began trying to get other managers to bring her drinks. He had an overblown sense of his seduction skills and hoped to get her a little drunk to see how far he could get. When she approached him in the hall and asked to speak privately, he thought his chance was finally here. 

When he finished in the bathroom, they headed to his office at the end of the hall. 

As they entered, Michelle tried to be diplomatic. "Ryan, I really like working here but I don't feel like I'm going to be able to advance. I'd like to request a transfer to Jason's department to see if I might fit in there better." 

Ryan's mood immediately darkened. He was a jerk at good times and a bastard at the worst ones. Instead of his fantasy scenario playing out, here she was telling him she wanted to go work for Jason, who was his main competition for the promotion he'd been working towards for two years. 

Ryan seethed. Although he lusted after her, he never really liked her. She was too pretty and he thought she used it to get where she was. He knew she was good at her job, but had achieved her success far faster than he had at her age. It made him jealous and contributed to his desire to take her down a peg. Now when his best chance to seduce her was at hand, she surprises him with this. 

"Well," he thought, "if the bitch wants to leave..." 

He was far too drunk to adequately consider his next move. "Fine, if you want me to approve a transfer, I guess you'll have to do something for me." With that, he grabbed her and kissed her hard, forcing his hand over her breast. 

For a second, Michelle's shock kept her from responding. By the time she could react, he also had one hand grabbing her ass. She brought her knee up hard into his groin and he fell to the ground. He groaned as the pain hit him. At almost exactly the same time, he realized just how much trouble he was in. 

"You son of a bitch. I'm going to have your ass fired for this." 

As she stormed out, he boiled, feeling both fear and humiliation. "We'll see, bitch." 

She left the office and went back to the party. When Stacy saw Michelle's expression, she asked if everything was alright. Michelle almost told her what happened, but was embarrassed to have put herself in a situation alone with Ryan when he was obviously drunk. She knew he was a jerk and it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that it wasn't appropriate for her to go back to his office alone after hours, especially during a party. Now she was going to have to deal with a mess on Monday or she'd have to pretend it didn't happen. She decided to talk to Mike about it first, so she excused herself and headed home.

When she got there, her husband was already asleep. He hadn't been feeling well for a few days and she knew he needed the rest. While she was laying down next to him trying to fall asleep, the events of the party ran through head. At first she was angry, then embarrassed about what happened. Once she had time to think about it, she thought about what could happen around work. If it got out that she went to Ryan's office alone during the party, it might permanently derail her career, especially if he was fired for it. 

It was hard enough earning promotions as a woman without being thought of as some kind of tease who turned around and pressed charges against her boss. She thought about what Mike's reaction would be. He would be so furious that he'd probably march down and challenge Ryan to a fight. That would do wonders for her future. She wondered if part of him might even blame her for putting herself in that position. She had never given him a reason to doubt her before, but it was such a ridiculous thing to have done. 

After thinking about it long into the night, Michelle decided not to tell Mike. She'd go to Human Resources first thing Monday morning and ask for a transfer. She'd try to keep things quiet, but use the confrontation to insist that she could no longer work for Ryan. That's what she wanted in the first place and the firestorm surrounding a sexual harassment complaint could be far more trouble than it was worth. Part of her felt terrible for keeping it from Mike, but a part was relieved that he wouldn't have to find out how stupid she had been. 

When Monday came around, she steadied herself for the difficult and awkward confrontation. She got to her office and asked her secretary to contact the HR department. Stacy said she would, adding Ryan had left an urgent message for her to come in to his office the minute she arrived. 

"I'll just bet he did" Michelle thought.

She went to his office prepared for apologies and groveling, but was completely unprepared for what she found. Ryan was there with two other managers who were her level and a third man she didn't know. 

"Welcome back dear, did you have a nice weekend?" he said coldly. 

She was instantly on guard. Something felt very wrong. "What's this about, Ryan?" she asked suspiciously. 

"Well, after our little encounter, I had my guys in accounting go through the records for your department. I was disturbed by your overreaction and decided to see if you were hiding something. They went through the annual budget and I was amazed that they found over $50,000 missing." 

"What does it have to do with me?" she asked nervously. 

"It seems they have tracked it to an account opened in your name. Young lady, you have some big questions to answer." 

"This is a set up" she said, suddenly being very afraid. "No one is going to believe it after what happened Friday night." 

"Why my dear, what happened Friday? I recall you asking me back here and offering yourself to me as a bribe to not blow the whistle on you. After giving it some thought, I decided to take you up on your offer but you'll have to work with James and Paul here as well." 

Both managers smiled evilly. They had always thought she was amazing and would do anything to get into her pants as long as it wouldn't get them in trouble. Ryan didn't mention the third man.

"There is no way you can pin this on me. Do you think I'm stupid or something? If I agreed to do anything with you, I would be opening myself up to be blackmailed forever. I haven't done anything and I'll take my chances!" She said it with more conviction than she felt. She would never do what he had suggested, but now she was really scared. She never thought he would actually escalate their conflict. 

"Well," he started "I was afraid you might take that stance." 

He picked up his cell phone and hit the speed dial. He just said, "Take care of it," and then hung up. "All right Michelle, you can go back to your office. However, before you do anything stupid, trust me, I know something that you don't. I'll be calling you within the hour to tell you something important and then I'll give you one more chance before this gets out of control." 

She left with a horrible knot in her stomach. He had already invented some evidence linking her to embezzlement, what else would he do?

She was nervously sitting at her desk when Stacy told her Jeff from HR was on the phone. "I'm going to have to call them back later. I'm expecting another call and need to be free." 

Michelle's heart felt like it was going to explode as the minutes ticked by. She tried thinking of some method of defending herself and turning this on Ryan, but it happened so fast she was lost. She tried to call Mike, but it went through to his voicemail. She left him a tense message to please call back as soon as he could. Her decision not to tell him what happened at the party was obviously a bad mistake. 

Finally, Stacy let Michelle know Ryan was on the phone requesting that she come right to his office. "Thank you," she replied as she silently prayed. 

When she entered Ryan's office, she saw him with the same three men as before plus Tony from security. She had always been nervous around him, he gave her the creeps. A very large man with a dark sort of nature, none of the girls in the office liked him. It was whispered that there had been problems with a couple of girls who then left the company, but nobody knew for sure. 

"Well Michelle, what's your answer?" Ryan demanded.

"You can go to hell!" she said contemptuously. 

Ryan flashed a sneer, "I thought that would be the case. I'm sorry to tell you, but I just received a phone call from the police. It seems that there has been an accident and Mike is on his way to the hospital." Michelle felt her knees go out and the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor was Tony's strong grip. 

"Wh...Wh...What happened?" 

"Well you see," Ryan said with a wicked gleam in his eye, "The world is a very dangerous place, especially for cock-teasing embezzlers." 

She had to struggle to hear over the pounding in her head. "You did this?" 

"Why my dear, I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just saying that it will be sad to see you go to jail and not be there to protect your husband, because accidents happen all the time." The truth was there had been no call, but Ryan felt this was the best way to intimidate her. It seemed more menacing to deny any direct involvement while leaving no doubt he was responsible. 

Michelle completely lost all reason. "Please, don't do this to me. I'll stay here and be your best employee. I'll do anything you say." 

Ryan looked at the other men in the room "Anything?" 

Michelle felt sick. She had to get to the hospital, but it was clear that Tony wasn't letting go. 

"Please," she begged again, more quietly. 

"Anything?" Ryan repeated more forcefully. 

She didn't know what to do, how to confront this kind of evil. She felt her head spinning as she nodded almost imperceptibly. 

"I'm sorry dear, I didn't quite catch that." 

"Yes," she whispered quietly, never looking him in the eye. 

"Tony, please take Michelle to the hospital. It wouldn't due to have her husband wake up without his loving wife there." 

Michelle didn't even remember leaving Ryan's office....

As Mike began coming out of it, he looked around the hospital room. The first thing he saw was Mikki sitting beside him looking ashen. 

"Oh baby, are you alright?" she cried with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. 

"My head hurts but otherwise I'm OK. What about you, you look terrible?" 

"I'm just worried about you, that's all," she said. He was a little groggy, but could swear something wasn't right. "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry." She dropped her head to his chest and sobbed loudly. 

He really began to get concerned. "Mikki, what's going on?" he demanded. 

She pulled herself together the best she could and said, "I was just afraid I was going to lose you." 

He would have kept after her, but the sudden stress caused him to get dizzy and he felt himself going out again.

"...Well Miss, your husband's injuries are serious but nothing that he won't recover from," the doctor explained. "He'll need some rehab for broken arm and leg, but most patients recover fully in just a couple of months. He'll need to stay for three or four weeks depending on how quickly his body heals and how he reacts to the rehab program. After that, we'll just have to see." 

Michelle didn't know if this could get any worse. She was being forced to decide on becoming some kind of whore for her boss, or going to jail. She would have faced anything that threatened her, but she couldn't live if Mike was hurt because of her choice. 

Ryan was obviously serious, because of the accident on top of the blackmail. She certainly couldn't tell Michael what was going on when he couldn't do anything about it. There was no one to turn to. How could she escape? The answer was obvious, she couldn't. She came to the decision that changed her life irrevocably. "I can sacrifice to protect him," she thought. The next day, Ryan called her into his office. When he asked her if she was willing to cooperate, she couldn't look at him as she nodded her head. "Glad to hear it my dear." 

Michelle cringed every time he called her that. 

"Well, I guess we should start right now." He leaned over the intercom "Miss Walters, please hold my calls for the next 15 minutes. I have an important meeting." 

He leered at Michelle and she wanted to die. 

"Time to start earning that transfer my little whore. Come over here." 

She obediently walked to his desk. He pushed himself away and stood up. "Now where were we when you decided to be such a bitch?" He kissed her roughly, grabbing her breast. Then he worked his tongue into her mouth. He removed his lips from her and began pushing down on her shoulders. She didn't want to think about what came next, but there was no escaping it. She sank to her knees in front of him.

"I've been waiting for this for so long, it better be good." 

She felt numb like in a bizarre dream as she unzipped him, unbuckled his belt, and pulled out his cock. It was average sized, (not that much different from Mike's she thought idly) and was already hard. She didn't lick him, kiss him, or anything else that she would associate with making love to her husband. She drove him as far into her mouth as she could and began sucking hard while grabbing the rest of his shaft with her hand. She twisted slightly to make it feel better for him, hoping he would come quickly and this would be over for now. Unfortunately, her luck continued to be bad.

"That's enough for now baby," he cackled. "I've got another itch to scratch." 

He stood her up, spun her around and pushed her chest down hard onto the desk. Ryan flipped up her skirt and roughly yanked her panties down. He lined up with her pretty little slit and began pushing in. She was completely dry and there was only some of her spit on him, so it took several pushes to get all the way in. 

He began crashing against her hard, not caring if it hurt. It was all about his power over her and she felt ashamed knowing that she had let her husband down by not finding a way out of this. There wasn't any going back, there was another man inside her and this was just the start. 

Strangely, Michelle found she wasn't crying. It felt so surreal that she couldn't be sure this wasn't just a nightmare. His penis felt odd, pushing through her lips, not at all like her husband. Without the emotional connection she shared with Mike, she didn't feel anything but a dull pounding. She just tried to block it out somehow, until it was over.

Ryan however, couldn't have been more excited. First, she gave him a terrifically aggressive blowjob, and then he finally got his prick into her pussy, which he had fantasized about ever since he met her. He had many other surprises in store for her...later. Right now, he was going to enjoy the incredible feeling of this remarkably beautiful woman taking his cock, whether she liked it or not.

The sadistic nature of the whole thing was starting to get to him. He knew he couldn't hold out much longer. He grabbed her breasts with both hands and squeezed hard while he pushed all the way in, feeling her shake underneath him. He held there as he felt blast after blast erupt into her. 

It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't know if she was on the pill. Just the thought of getting the prissy little wife pregnant caused him to shake uncontrollably. His chest dropped down on her back, forcing her down hard onto the desk hard, knocking the wind out of her. Finished for now, he pulled his shrinking cock out of her used cunt. Ryan only wished that he had hours to spend breaking her in properly. That would have to wait for later. She was his now and he could use her whenever he wanted. 




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 01



He picked up her panties, wiped himself off and threw them on the side of her face as she continued to lie on the desk, not wanting to move. 

"You better put these on. We wouldn't want you walking out of here with cum dripping down your legs. People might talk. Oh, by the way, if you're not on the pill, you should do it today. You need to plan on this whenever any of us demand it and no one is going to wear a rubber. I wouldn't want you getting pregnant and loosening up that goldmine between your legs. Now get the fuck out of my office and get back to work, slut."

Michelle composed herself and went back to her office. She didn't say a word to Stacy as she walked in and closed the door behind her. She went to the far corner of the room, fell to the floor in a ball and cried, great heaves racking her body as the reality of her new life sunk in. 

During the next four days, she was taken twice more, once by Paul and again by Ryan. The encounter with Paul was a new lesson in humiliation. He was once a fierce rival for the job she eventually won; now he screwed her on his office couch unmercifully, and then dropped her on the floor like garbage. 

No one at work suspected a thing and she kept it together the best she could around Mike. Stacy was concerned with her sudden mood changes but could have never imagined the truth. Just one more day to the weekend and she would be able to get her head together and figure a way out. 

Friday around 3:00, Stacy informed her Ryan needed her in his office. 

"Damn!" she thought. Her stomach knotted as she wondered what was next. 

"Please tell him I'll be right there." She gathered herself for the inevitable, went down the hall and entered his office, closing the door behind her.

"Michelle, you're looking wonderful today," he said with a great deal of glee. 

She felt sick, "Can we just get it over with Ryan, I have work to finish." 

"Oh Michelle, I'm disappointed with your attitude. I just wanted you here to talk." 

She breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

"Were you planning on spending Saturday with your husband?" 

She tensed, knowing something bad was coming. "Yes, he really needs me. Why?" 

"Well, I have a 'meeting' that you need to take, so he'll have to get someone else to be his sitter." 

She fought back the urge to tell him to go to hell, knowing it would only lead to more pain for her. "What kind of meeting?" 

He smiled, "I'm so glad you asked. John and Paul are entertaining a client from a company we've negotiating with for months. They need the special kind of 'help' you're so good at." 

"Ryan, you never said anything about this happening on weekends or with more than one person. I don't think I can do it." 

Ryan felt like doing cartwheels. He wasn't 100% sure she would be ready yet, but her use of the word 'think' was a dead giveaway. He just needed to turn up the heat.

"Michelle, I'm fully aware you're not happy with our little arrangement. If you'd like to get out of it faster, you need to do your job well and when you're told. It's four months to the next review, if I'm promoted your problems are over. I'll be moved to the West coast division and you'll be free to do whatever the hell you want. I don't have much say in who would take over my job, so you might even come out of this with a big fat promotion. I don't care either way, as long as I get out of this lousy office." 

"Four months!" she thought miserably, "It might as well be forever. How can I possibly keep this up for so long?" She felt herself losing control, but didn't want to give Ryan the satisfaction of seeing her fall apart. She steadied herself, knowing if she had told Mike about the day Ryan hit on her, this probably wouldn't be happening. "I did this to myself, I won't let them hurt Mike again," she thought grimly. "Besides, Ryan isn't that smart, I'll find a way out of this and he'll pay for what he's done." 

She looked Ryan straight in the eye and said, "Fine, I'll be there. But you need to understand that if anything else happens to Mike I won't care what you threaten. I'll tell everybody on the planet what you've done and will have no problem dealing with whatever happens." 

Ryan smiled at her, "Michelle, if you do your job, everyone is going to be happy and come out of this in great shape." He wondered if she'd feel so tough after the weekend.

..."I'm sorry baby, I have a meeting that is terribly important to us and I can't miss it." As she repeated Ryan's vile lies, Michelle felt like she was stabbing Mike in the back. 

"Well if it's important, of course you should be there," he said. "I'd love for you to be here, but you have my full permission to go earn that promotion." 

Michelle shuddered at the horrible irony of his words.

She arrived at the hotel for her 'meeting' around 8:00. She dressed as Ryan had ordered, so was just glad that Mike wasn't there to see her leave. She was dressed like an escort with thigh high stockings, a thong, and bra that finished off the whore look just great. She wore a red skirt that came down about 6" below her ass, and showed the most cleavage of anything she'd ever worn. 

Paul met her in the lobby and wanted to immediately go upstairs. 

"Can we get something to drink first?" she asked, not wanting to do this sober. 

"There's plenty in the room. We've been negotiating with Bill for two hours and he's ready for the dessert." 

He could see her shiver as he said that. It really filled some nasty fantasy for him to see her put her through this. He couldn't wait to see how she'd react to what was coming. "We need to hurry though, we have to be out of here by 11:00." 

That hit her right in the gut. "He can't mean that they expect me to stay for so long," she thought, fearful of the answer.

When she got to the room, she found James and Bill already into the liquor and ready for some fun. Bill was the man she saw in Ryan's office the day they blackmailed her. He was in his early 40's, with a touch of gray hair that made him look distinguished. She would have casually thought him to be handsome if she didn't know why he was here. They poured her a drink and began talking. 

"Wow, you look amazing," he said. "I don't think the pictures do you justice." 

"Pictures?" she turned to Paul. 

"Yeah, well we took a few to give to our special clients to add a little incentive to our sales pitch." 

It seemed like he was daring her to complain, so she just kept quiet. The thought of what those pictures were or when they were taken disturbed her greatly though. They poured her a scotch and she began talking pleasantly. 

In a minute, Bill cut her off. "Listen Michelle, I could get friendly conversation at home or in the office. I came here to get a piece of ass from the finest looking slut I've ever seen." 

She knew it was coming, but the derisive comment was painful. A small tear formed in the corner of her eye. "What do you want me to do?" she asked. 

"Well, I think a little dance would be a good start. Paul, give us some mood music." He hit the button on the boom box and a slow song came on. 

She stood and Bill closed in on her like a predator. He pulled her close and immediately grabbed her ass with both hands. As they rocked together, he began kissing her face, ears, and neck. He looked down at the wonderful cleavage in front of him and moved one hand up to her breast. 

When she stiffened, he snapped, "Don't even think about short-changing me honey. We've got all night and I'm going to get my money's worth...well, I guess it's actually my company's money." 

All three men laughed. 

Bill finished the dance while running his hands all over her. As soon as the song ended, he ordered her to take off the dress. With shaking hands, she reached behind to undo the zipper. She slid the dress off and Bill whistled in appreciation. 

"Damn, you are a hot number." 

If the complements were intended to get her into the mood, it had the opposite effect. While she knew she couldn't back out, she began feeling so guilty she couldn't think straight. When Paul started the music so they could resume, it got much worse.

Through her discomfort, she could sense something familiar, something beautiful. Suddenly it hit her like a shot, "That song!" It was the song used for the first dance at Mike and Michelle's wedding. She began to cry as she begged Paul to change to another track. 

He deferred to Bill who said, "No, I think this one will do just fine." He pushed her to the bed and climbed in front of her. He quickly undid his fly and pulled out his penis. It was on the small side, but still 6" and a little thicker than Mike's was. 

"Come on whore, time to earn my business." 

She crawled to him feeling lower than human as her fondest memory was polluted by this despicable act. As she tentatively put his dick in her mouth, Bill called to John. 

"You said you haven't had her yet, feel free to have a taste." 

"That's very magnanimous of you Bill. What a kind, sharing man you are." They all shared another laugh at her expense. 

John came up behind her and slowly tugged her thong down her legs. When it was off her feet, he gave them to Bill as a souvenir. John then kissed his way up the back of her legs as he admired the view. She had a tight, heart-shaped ass and her pussy looked like a teenager's. He spread her legs quickly and jammed his mouth to her cunt. He licked hard and with little technique. 

She wasn't sure if he was inexperienced or was only trying to get her wet with spit. She tried to concentrate on making Bill cum so she could get another drink to deaden her senses. She was so miserable that the only way she thought she could continue was to get completely drunk.

Bill pushed her away. "OK bitch, you better stop before this goes too far. I get to be the first one in that beautiful cunt tonight, so roll over." 

She reluctantly moved to her back, trying to shut out the humiliation. 

"Damn, why can't the lights be off," she thought as a tear trickled down her cheek. 

Bill slid her down a couple of feet so her head was off the bed and with no preliminaries forced himself all the way into her in one thrust. 

"Owww!" her crying stopped momentarily as the pain distracted her. 

"That's right baby, you just relax while you make your company a whole lot of money. You should be proud, I wouldn't do this for just any bimbo. This must make you one of the highest priced whores ever." 

As she sadly heard the last refrain from a song she had treasured for years, John forced his long, thin cock through her lips and into her throat. He fucked her mouth and throat unmercifully as she realized she'd never be able to listen to that song again...

At 10:55, they pushed her from the room into the hallway. 

Paul spoke harshly to her, "If you think that performance was satisfactory, you are dreaming. Ryan's going to hear about this and he's not going to be happy." He closed the door to apologize to Bill for not having a more 'enthusiastic' whore, and left her. 

She stumbled to the elevator sad, lonely and broken. Not only had she been degraded for several hours, but they were still dissatisfied with her and she was sure there would be trouble come Monday. She hurried to the lobby to hail a cab. She needed to get home, get in the shower and take something that would make her stop feeling.

The problems weren't her fault. The trauma at the beginning of the session had scarred her terribly. She couldn't even pretend to like (or tolerate) what was happening to her. She let them use her but just tried to hold on until the end so she could go home. In the beginning, her tears and innocence excited the men. However, after an hour or two, it was grating and they wanted her to grow up and quit whining. She just couldn't pull it together, especially with three men taking turns with her, often two of them using her at the same time. 

Although she didn't cause any actual problems for Ryan, it wasn't likely that other men Ryan wanted her to entertain would be thrilled by that type of performance. She made it home and spent 45 minutes in the shower until she was so cold she couldn't stop shivering. She took some sleeping pills and hoped she wouldn't dream.

Paul was right, Monday morning Ryan was furious. However, he was careful about how he worded his rebuke. "Just what were you trying to pull? You volunteered for this, now you try to ruin everything. If you screw up one of my deals, you'll be here with me for at least another six months, is that what you want?" 

Although Michelle was confused about his choice of words, there were other concerns front and center in her mind. "Th...They said there were pictures. What kind of pictures?" 

"Don't you worry about that. Just get ready for this weekend." 

"But Mike's coming home Saturday. You can't expect me to leave him." 

"No, I'll let him have you Saturday, but your ass is mine Friday night. I'll make sure no one bothers you until then, so make sure you are ready. Don't make any plans and be ready to receive your punishment for doing a bad job." 

Considering the kind of man she now knew Ryan was, that thought was amazingly disconcerting. Michelle left his office wondering how much worse her life was about to become.



True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 02



Author's Note: In the immortal words of The Troubador, I finished this story "Because both my fans requested it". I apologize again for submitting Chapter 1, then deciding to do a major rewrite of the story. It was unfair to make readers have to wait over two months for the rest. This story is completed and each of the four chapters will be submitted on successive days. 

I forgot to let readers know that the story was about blackmail before the 1st Chapter, and was properly spanked. This time I'm making sure you understand, so please don't read it and be annoyed that it's about blackmail. This chapter also has a non-consent scene.

There have been a number of Literotica authors and readers who've given me help getting this just right (sometimes enough to make it seem more like torture). I can't thank all of them enough, but I figure putting there names up here is good revenge...er...I mean the least I can do. 

First, thanks to Joesephus. He is a good man and an excellent author. I hope you're doing well, my friend. Wetapap has been tireless in offering me suggestions (you are my minister of sadism). AverageJoe, DocT1400 and Bart all took a look at this and gave me tips. Finally, AngelLove bailed me out with a last minute edit, finding mistakes that I couldn't believe were still there after reading this about 100 times. Please, for your own sake, don't ever ask me to be an editor! 

Although I tried to make this chapter explain some of the events from Ch1, it may still be confusing to read without at least looking over the 1st chapter. All comments are welcomed as always, although the constructive ones are much easier to learn from. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the story is about blackmail?

*

"...Well you better make sure you bring her in line. She's useless the way she was last weekend." Bill listened to the frantic response on the other end of the phone for a moment. "I don't care, you need to scare the shit out of her. I know her kind, if you can break her, she'll go along with everything and you'll never have a problem with her again. You either need to bring her in line or you need to let her go. She's dangerous the way she is right now."

He listened to a few more apologies before cutting in, "Look Ryan, I have to go. It's your problem so you deal with it. I helped you find an out, you have to make it work. By the way, I don't want to have this conversation again, goodbye."

As he hung up the phone, Bill smiled to himself. He was intentionally hard on Ryan to make a point but he believed Michelle was far closer to breaking than Ryan understood. The night at the hotel was fun for him, but more importantly, it gave him the chance to get a read on her. This little housewife was so scared something was going to happen to her husband that she would agree to almost anything. Now that she was in this mess, she'd be too scared of losing him to ever come forward. 

He thought fondly of how hard she tried not to enjoy herself. It made things much more interesting for him. Bill was all about power, and forcing a woman to bend to his will was the ultimate power. He was actually glad she wasn't some bimbo that went along with things, getting off on being dominated. Having someone truly innocent and unwilling like Michelle would be much more valuable in the long run...

Bill owned his own small company that distributed hardware for high tech companies. He organized smaller companies and gave them access to the big boys. His company was profitable, but it wasn't how Bill had made his fortune. His main occupation was the stock market. He had made millions from investing in some of the companies he sold to. To the casual observer it appeared that he made wise investments. The truth was that he had good sources for making his choices.

He had always been good at reading people. That asset helped him to get by in High School and College. He found people who could help him with classes and always seemed to find the one favor he could do for them that they couldn't turn down. Bill always found a way to deliver and turned those favors to his advantage. If it wasn't to get help with his grades, he would use his skills to earn extra money or often he just did it to work girls from the campus. He never had a shortage of hot young coeds staying the night, although rarely did any of them tell their friends. 

When he graduated, he started at the ground floor of a software development company. Within two years he had risen to manage his own department. He used his contacts to start up his own company. Five years later, he made his first million. Instead of slowing down and enjoying his success, Bill used the money he had made to make his contacts very happy. Whether it was vacations, lavish gifts, or hookers for lonely businessmen, he seemed to always know the best way to get to the men he needed to further his own business. When he met Ryan, he sized him up in the first five minutes. 

Ryan was obviously a weasel. He was ambitious, but too cowardly to take risks. Although he was smart, Ryan never worked hard enough to get what he wanted. He made it to his current position by a combination of sucking up and liberally bullshitting his superiors. Bill was amazed that no one had caught on. Ryan wouldn't have lasted a month in Bill's company, but he was exactly the kind of man Bill loved to meet. 

Two nights later, high on coke with a hooker blowing him, Ryan bragged about finding a hole in his company's accounting practices. When Bill asked him what he planned to do about it, Ryan tried to talk big, but obviously wasn't going to take advantage of the opportunity. Bill spent the next 24 hours massaging his ego, feeding him with get rich stories and a constant parade of bimbos.

By the time Ryan went back to work, he had been instructed on exactly how to take advantage of the situation and minimize the risk to himself. Bill believed he would, especially after a crash course in how to move money through a series of off shore bank accounts which would make it incredibly difficult to trace. This would make Ryan permanently indebted to Bill, giving him access to information and technology that was worth far more than the pittance Ryan was making.

When Bill had received Ryan's frantic phone call right after the office party, he should have been furious. In a mindless pass at his employee, Ryan had done something so stupid that it endangered everything. That was the difference between the two men. Ryan saw a potentially career ending problem, Bill saw a great opportunity. 

"Ryan, you can kill three birds with one stone," he began, trying to calm the panic stricken manager. First, you have the chance to push the blame off on someone else for the missing money. It's from her department, people would logically think she was involved. Pointing the trail towards her should be easy. You don't need to prove she did it, if anyone ever misses it, she'll have to prove she didn't.

"Second, you can get the chance to finally get into her pants." He smiled to himself knowing that Ryan's ego wouldn't let him resist the chance to dominate the beautiful woman who had rejected him. "Third, you can use her to ensure yourself the promotion."

Ryan had been practically crying on the phone. With Bill's assurances, he started believing he had a chance. 

~~~~~~~~~~

As she sat at her desk, Michelle went over the events that started this in her mind. "There had to be something else I could have done," she thought. She had been punishing herself since the first time she let Ryan take her in his office. After the failed 'meeting', she spent the remainder of the weekend quietly telling herself that it wasn't her fault. Sadly, she knew it didn't make any difference. She had let herself be bullied into doing what Ryan ordered and now was in too deep. 

She thought about going to the police, but what could she say, "Gee, my boss hinted that he had someone run my husband off the road, then ordered me to have sex? Oh, by the way, he has evidence that I've committed a felony, but I'm innocent...please believe me." She shook her head sadly. Ryan had shown her a printout that had detailed listings of write-offs, expenses and purchases that he said weren't real. He told her there was over $50,000 missing from her department in the last year alone.

It wasn't surprising, she worked in one of the departments overseen by research and development, which had an overall budget in the millions. She was not a money kind of person. Her skill was working with the employees, gently pressuring them to work harder. She had a knack for knowing how to coordinate projects to make things get done. 

Michelle had never worried about where the money came from, except when it came to how she would get the projects done within the budget she was allotted. Stacy double checked all the numbers, but this was something she never would have seen. As Michelle thought about the document, she sadly realized that it had kept her from going to people who could have helped her long enough to get caught in this trap. 

Any hopes of getting proof of her innocence sank as the realization set in that she had no clue how to even begin tracing missing money and forged documents. "They never taught that class at college," she thought ruefully. She could go to someone within the company for help, but if it backfired she was screwed. How could she have any idea if the next person she talked to was loyal to Ryan? Even if they weren't, how could she initiate a conversation about missing money and her innocence? It was overwhelming. 

Now there were pictures to deal with. She hadn't allowed herself to think about it when Bill mentioned the pictures, but it was devastating. If they had pictures of her doing these awful things, it was the final nail in the coffin. Even if she went to the police or someone inside her company, pictures showing her having sex with four different men would kill any sympathy for her. Especially if Ryan was selecting which pictures to show people. It would make her look like a whore...a willing whore. No one would take her seriously and she'd still have to worry about the physical threat to her and Mike. 

She thought about Mike, the threat to his life and how he'd react if he found out. How could she tell the man she always believed she'd be staying with for the rest of her life that she had let this happen? It was already her word against the five conspirators, now that there were pictures, how would he believe that she wasn't doing this willingly? She had done this for one reason, because she was afraid Mike's life was in danger. Now that she was here, she realized how alone she was. She bowed her head and cried quietly, knowing that she was cornered. She was going to have to do what Ryan told her. Now she understood that the worst part was, the more she did, the more control he had over her. 

The rest of the week passed without further incident. Although she could see how stressed out Michelle was, Stacy thought her friend seemed a little better than last week. These mood swings had been completely out of character. Michelle had cut herself off from all her friends since Mike's accident. Something was obviously wrong, but Stacy could only push so far. After all, her friend was also her boss.

Friday Michelle sat quietly behind her desk, dreading the call she knew was coming. When she hadn't heard from Ryan until 15 minutes before closing, she had almost given herself hope that he was too busy or had forgotten. 

Suddenly Stacy's voice rang through, waking her from her thoughts, "Ryan is on line one." 

Michelle picked up the phone with trembling fingers. "Yes," she said, almost whispering. 

"Be at the far end of the North parking lot in 20 minutes. Remember, you did this to yourself." 

She hung up the phone and thought again about asking Stacy for help. She stopped herself, knowing it was too late to turn back. She drove to where Ryan had instructed and waited. She reached into her purse and drank one of the mini-bottles of tequila she brought. The meeting with Bill, John and Paul had taught a lesson about needing to be a little drunk to be able to cope. If she had only been a little drunk before getting to the hotel, maybe she wouldn't be here now.

A rusty old van pulled into the space beside her. It had tinted windows, making it impossible for her to see the driver. The door opened and her heart sank as she watched Tony get out. She hadn't seen him since he dropped her off at the hospital after Mike had his 'accident'. She wondered if it was a coincidence that he wasn't in Ryan's office earlier in the day, but was there when she was told about it. 

"Get out," he said rudely. 

She opened the door and stepped out, bringing her purse. 

"You won't need that where we are going," he said, pulling it from her hands and throwing it back in the car. He opened the van's sliding side door and ushered her inside. She climbed in and moved to the back. Tony got in behind her and pulled the door closed.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. It was a full-sized van that would normally have three bench seats, but they had been removed. She could see out the windows, but thought the tinting made it impossible to see in. There was carpeting covering the interior and some pillows lying scattered around. 

Tony spoke threateningly, "You are here for me. You'll do what I say, when I say it. This is your punishment. Do you understand?" 

She nodded without even thinking. He smiled as he saw her quiver.

Tony kneeled, leaning against the back of the driver's seat. "Now get your dress off." 

As she complied, he struggled out of his security uniform. When she brought up her eyes, she understood what the extent of her punishment would be. He was enormous! He was only partially aroused and was already at least as long as Mike but much thicker. 

"Suck me off and you better do it right!" he ordered. "Any time you don't please me, you'll be sorry." 

Michelle was so scared she reacted without hesitation. She grabbed his cock and began working on it with every skill she had ever learned. 

"That a girl," he said approvingly. "Keep working like that and things might work out just fine." 

Michelle was really afraid now. She had never even seen anyone as large as Tony. She had trouble even getting her mouth around him, so she licked and sucked around the shaft. 

After letting her continue for a minute, Tony decided he was ready for more. His voice dripped with sarcasm, "Sorry babe, this just isn't doing it for me." He pushed her backward against one of the large pillows and straddled her face. He moved her so that her head was against the pillow and she had nowhere to go. He put the head of his erection between her lips and began to push. 

"I'm warning you, if I even feel a tooth, you'll regret it." 

She took him seriously and opened her mouth as wide as she could. He managed to get a couple of inches into her mouth, and then began moving back and forth. He reached back and began rubbing her clit, trying to get her wet. He moved a finger to her labia, searching for her entrance. He inserted his middle finger to the second knuckle. He was at the wrong angle to get it in further, so he began moving it in and out quickly.

Michelle tried to concentrate on pleasing him, but began to get tired. Her jaw started to hurt and clenched slightly. 

"Ouch, you bitch!" he yelled, "I warned you." 

He reached back and grabbed one of her nipples and pinched very hard, then twisted and pulled. 

"Ahhh!" she hollered. 

"If you do it again, you're going to make me stop and then you'll be sorry." 

She nodded and began stretching wider than she thought was possible. Tony leaned forward and put his hands against the back door. With the change in his angle, he began shoving downward, trying to fit that monster into her small throat. She choked and gagged, causing him to graze a tooth again and he pulled out. 

"That's it whore, now the gloves are off."

"No please, I'm sorry!" she begged. 

He moved down between her legs and began moving his cock back and forth across her pussy. Her body had responded enough, he was able to slip the head into her. He pulled her legs up and was able to push several inches inside her. He began moving in and out, trying to get her loose enough to get deeper.

Michelle begged, "Tony, please slow down!" 

He leaned down and sucked one of her nipples, trying to get her more aroused. The change in positions allowed him to slide deeper. He was more than half-way in.

Michelle couldn't believe she could accommodate someone that large. It didn't really hurt, but it wasn't comfortable either. She tried to relax and let him get all the way inside her so he would finish and it could be over.

After another minute of thrusting, Tony was almost completely in. He treasured the look on her face. Someone like this would never give him the time of day in the real world. He wanted to make her beg. Once he had pushed himself all the way into her, he immediately began pounding hard, relishing the feeling of how tight she was. 

He abruptly pulled out, grabbed one leg and flipped her over. Shoving one massive paw under her stomach, he lifted and slid a pillow under her. He felt an amazing sense of power as he looked down at the beauty he was dominating. What a great looking ass! He would owe Ryan forever for this one. He put his cock against the entrance to her pussy again and pushed roughly into her. 

She made painful sounds while he worked himself inside of her. 

"Fuck you are tight, angel! But I'll bet this will be even better." He pulled out again and she felt him line up against her ass. 

"Nooo!" she yelled. She had tried this with Mike a couple of times, but neither of them found it to be exciting enough to keep trying. There was no way Tony would be able to fit that monster inside of her. Michelle panicked as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop this. 

He grabbed her around the back of her neck with one large hand, pushing her face into the carpet while beginning to force his way inside her. She wanted to scream louder but the carpet was blocking her air passages and she couldn't get a full breath. When he got halfway in, he paused. Tony was really enjoying this. She would remember this the next time she was out working for Ryan. She would know what was waiting if any clients even suggested she did a bad job. With that kind of pressure, she'd be the best whore ever. 

"Man, your ass is so tight it hurts." He smiled evilly, "Oh well, no pain no gain." Then he pushed hard. 

Michelle's thoughts were cloudy as she realized that she had passed out for a minute. There was more pain than she could believe. She didn't know how long she was out, but he was still pounding into her very hard and now was sliding his entire cock into her. Her moan of pain and humiliation alerted him that she was awake.

"Are you back with me, princess?" he asked maliciously. "Just in time, I've got a present for you." He pulled out of her abused ass and pulled her head up to his cock. 

He exploded just outside of her lips, the first blast hitting her from her chin to her nose. Then he forced his way into her mouth. She felt ill as she tasted the contents of both her holes mixed with his sperm. She swallowed because she knew it would be worse for her if she didn't. 

"That's what I'm talking about," he said contentedly. "Keep this up and Ryan will be getting an excellent report on you."

Michelle was finished, there was no more fight in her. She didn't resist anything he did to her over the next three hours. When he needed a break, he ordered a pizza from his cell phone. He made her blow the deliveryman, a college kid, as a tip. She did it without a complaint or even trying to cover herself. 




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 02



When Tony finished with her he said, "I guess you're good enough for now, slut." He didn't give her a chance to finish dressing as he opened the door to the van. He just pushed her out with his foot and she tumbled to the ground. 

She was still lying there as he drove away. She slowly finished dressing and limped to her car. When she climbed in, it became obvious that it hurt too much to sit in the seat normally. She had to maneuver awkwardly until she found a position that helped relieve the pain. She slammed down another tequila from her purse and started driving. 

When Michelle arrived home, she pulled into the garage. She dragged herself out of the car and slowly made her way to the door. Tired and sore, she entered the house. She immediately hurried to the bathroom where she threw up until there was nothing left in her stomach. After resting for a while, she tried to get up the stairs, but found she couldn't make it. She limped back to the couch and fell asleep quickly, finding no relief in her dreams either. 

~~~~~~~

At about 11:00AM, Stacy's phone rang. "Hello," she answered.

"Stacy, it's Mike. Michelle hasn't answered all morning and should be on her way here already. She's been acting strangely and I'm really worried. Could you please see what's going on?" Mike asked.

Stacy promised him she'd find Michelle and hung up. It took 20 minutes to make it to the couple's house. The garage door was closed, so she couldn't tell if her car was there. She parked in the driveway, and walked quickly to the front door. She rang the doorbell and saw a movement through the window. She looked closer and could see Michelle lying on the couch, still dressed in her clothes from yesterday. When she didn't get off the couch, Stacy checked the door. It was open, so she let herself in. 

As she walked through the door, she asked tentatively, "Michelle, are you alright?" 

Michelle's eyes fluttered open and focused on her friend. She knew there was no way to hide this. She rolled over, trying to hide her face and began sobbing.

Stacy slowly walked to the couch. When she reached her friend, she could smell the stench of dried sweat and sperm. It was all over her face, had run down her legs and was ground into her clothes. 

As her behavior of the last week flashed through Stacy's head, tears appeared in her eyes. She realized that her friend must be in deep trouble. She tried to comfort the crying woman, hoping that somehow this wasn't as bad as it looked.

She called their friend Pam and asked her to pick up Mike at the hospital. Stacy told her that Michelle had injured herself but that she couldn't talk about it right now. "Just please don't tell him, no matter what. Michelle doesn't want him to worry." 

Pam agreed to get Mike and make-up something so he wouldn't be alarmed. She said she'd do whatever she could to stall him. She asked if her husband Pete should come over. He had been Mike and Michelle's doctor since their marriage. 

Stacy asked Michelle, who firmly shook her head no. Stacy tried to sound nonchalant, "I think she'll be OK. She just needs to get some rest."

She hung up the phone and helped her friend up the stairs to the bedroom. Once Michelle was undressed, Stacy started a hot bath for her. She hustled Michelle into the bathtub and found what they had in the medicine cabinet to help with the pain. 

Once Michelle was settled in, Stacy couldn't take it anymore. No matter how much sympathy she felt, she couldn't let this go on further. Michelle was obviously suffering and was determined to do it alone. Even if her friend had done something stupid like an affair, Stacy wasn't going to let her go through it by herself.

"Alright, enough of this, you tell me what's going on and you tell me right now. No more excuses or I'm leaving." 

When Michelle began to cry, Stacy reprimanded herself for being too harsh. 

"I don't...know...what...to...do," she stuttered. 

Slowly the whole story spilled out. When she was finished, Michelle begged, "Please, you can't tell Mike. It would kill him to know what they've done to me and that they used him to make it happen."

Stacy fumed, "Look, this is insane. There's got to be a way out of this. What if you just went to the police?"

"And tell them what? I've been having sex with men from work because I think that my husband's accident was their doing? I've tried to get Ryan or the others to slip up and say something that might help me out of this mess, but they won't admit to anything. They just tell me what to do. I said no once to Paul, hoping he would threaten me or something. I thought maybe if I knew he might admit to anything, I could tape him or something. He just smiled at me and said, "Whatever you want Michelle." 

Ryan called me into his office an hour later. He told me that if I wanted to change the arrangement, that I should just let him know. Then he pulled out pictures of me from the 'meeting' and some when he took me in his office. Then he took out a picture of Mike in his room at the hospital. He asked me if I was sure I wanted things to change.

"Son of a bitch, what was I supposed to say? He's telling me he can get to Mike anytime, plus he can discredit anything I say about him blackmailing me because it's my word against all five of them. Now that he has pictures that make me look like I'm having a good time, nobody would ever believe me. You tell me how I'm supposed to get out of this?"

Stacy was frustrated that she couldn't seem to help. "Fine, let's talk to Mike and you two can decide. I'll help any way I can."

Michelle buried her face in her hands. "How do I talk to him? Either he is going to hate me for what I've done or he's going to be so angry he'll do something to get himself in trouble, or worse." She shuddered as she thought of Mike going after Ryan, only to end up in jail or dead. 

"I would do anything to have that first day back. I was so shocked about everything that happened, I just froze up. I saw Mike in the hospital and couldn't see how there was anything he could do. I was terrified that something else could happen to him, he was so helpless." She sobbed as her voice trailed off. 

After a moment, Michelle regained her composure. "I thought if I just agreed to go along with them, I'd have time to figure a way out before anything happened. By the time I realized there wasn't anything I could do to get myself out, it was too late. I haven't given up, there has to be a way to nail that son of a bitch. I've worked for him for two years, I know he isn't that smart. I just have to be careful because I'm not going to put Mike in danger to do it."

Stacy listened skeptically, afraid they'd never let her friend go. She thought about going behind Michelle's back and talking to Mike, but what if it just made things worse? It was a big chance to take with her friend's life. She didn't know what to do other than nosing around at work. Maybe she could find a way to help.

When Mike arrived home, he was greeted with the story that Michelle had injured herself at the gym. It was probably just a pulled hamstring but she would be limping for a day or two and the medicine made her tired, so she needed rest. 

Mike accepted the story but was worried about her. He thought something had been wrong since the stupid Office Party and he needed to find out if there was something she wasn't telling him. She had a stubborn streak and didn't like having to ask anyone, even him, for help. It was the only part of her personality that frustrated him. 

The next day her parents came over. While Mary and Stacy fussed over Michelle, Mike and her dad transformed the basement into a make-shift gym. He needed to continue the rehab he had been doing at the hospital. The insurance company wouldn't continue paying for him to see a private physical therapist but he still needed to get his strength back. It wasn't something new to him because he used to workout for football and track in high school, then stepped it up in college with martial arts training. 

He got a list of suggestions from the therapist at the hospital including dietary, stretching, strength training, and therapeutic to set up a training regimen. They put in weights, a speed bag, heavy bag and a treadmill that her parents had brought with them. 

They spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Mike still thought Michelle seemed distant, although she denied anything being wrong.

When she was called into Ryan's office on Monday, he seemed very pleased with himself. "So I take it your punishment was effective?" 

"Yes" she said quietly. 

"I don't have to worry that you'll let me down again?" 

"No Ryan." 

"I can see you're not at your best, so I'll give you a week off for good behavior. I have another 'meeting' for you in two weeks and I expect it to go perfectly, do you understand me?" 

She looked at the floor, "Yes Ryan." 

Although Ryan was smiling, Michelle would have been shocked at what was going on just under the surface. Ryan was a mess. His screw-up at the office party could have cost him everything and now he was in a situation that was way beyond his control. 

His relationship with Bill had been highly profitable, even coming close to setting him up for life. Over the last two years, John and Paul had been brought on board when he felt he could trust them. With their help, he had been able to increase his extra income and still have enough left over to keep them happy. 

Unfortunately, he knew that a good thing couldn't last forever and had been looking forward to getting his promotion and moving to new surroundings. The increase in pay would allow him to continue his lifestyle without having to worry about getting caught. He had wisely invested much of the money he had stolen. He just needed to get through the next four months. Then came his screw up at the office party. His first thought was to call Bill for help.

Bill had advised him to bring John and Paul in on their plot because they had as much to lose as he did. If Ryan lost his job, it was possible that the circumstances would trigger a more in-depth investigation into his department. If the missing money was discovered, the trail would eventually lead to all three of them. Bill said to give them assurances that he would compensate them well for their risk. By having a group confront Michelle initially, they could always claim she was making up their demands. It would make it less likely she would be believed and it would be incredibly intimidating for a woman unprepared for that kind of threat.

The problem was, the embezzlement accusation probably wouldn't be enough to keep her quiet. Bill warned him that Michelle didn't seem like the type who would fold with a direct threat. He talked to her once while visiting Ryan over some purchases. He thought she was stunning, but completely untouchable. She didn't give off any signal that she was anything but happily married. But that might be the way to get to her. Bill believed that a threat against the husband might be enough to make her crumble. The question was how to do it credibly.

The answer came from an unlikely source...Tony. He suggested that he could follow her husband. Once he had an opportunity, he'd run Mike off the road. If it went bad, the worst that would happen is that he'd get a ticket for causing an accident, which didn't bother someone like him. If he got away, they could tell Michelle if she wouldn't go along with them, her life (and more importantly her husband's life) wouldn't be worth squat. 

They talked all Sunday about how to pull it off. If Tony's plan was successful, she'd most likely be too afraid to go to the cops. Just in case she called their bluff, Bill warned them to be very careful about what they said around her. The first thing she would probably think of would be getting one of them to say something she could use against them. As long as they were all careful, it would be her word against theirs.

The embezzlement accusation would help scare her. If they could intimidate her enough to go along with it, even for a week, he could use a hidden camera to get pictures of her performing. She was little miss perfect and Ryan knew that nothing would break her will more than the fear of everyone seeing her behave like a slut. It would make her too scared to ever tell her husband and Ryan could use it to defend himself if it ever came out that she was sleeping with them. She couldn't cry rape if he had pictures of her apparent cooperation, which would make her look very willing. Every time she did it, she would dig herself deeper until there was no way out.

Luckily, Tony pulled off the accident without any complications. It actually happened before Michelle ever went into Ryan's office. He couldn't threaten her unless he already knew Tony had been successful. In a stroke of luck, Mike had been hurt badly enough to be stuck in the hospital for a month. It helped make Michelle feel like she had nowhere to turn. It seemed perfect!

"Perfect," he thought disgustedly. This had been anything but perfect. Ryan wasn't a master criminal, he was a coward. Once he confronted her, there was no going back. If anything went wrong, embezzlement would be the least of his problems. Then to top everything off, her first meeting had been a disappointment to Bill. Ryan had to come up with a way to scare her enough so that she would do a good job in the future without freaking her out to the point where she ran to the cops.

He again turned to Tony. They had met years earlier through an associate. Ryan needed something done that wasn't exactly legal and Tony had taken care of it with no questions asked. When he had the opportunity, Ryan got him a job with security. He knew it would be helpful to have someone like Tony owing him favors. Tony had a reputation for being far too rough with women and Ryan thought he'd be the perfect 'bad guy' to give Michelle the motivation she needed.

When he asked him to scare Michelle but not to hurt her, all he could do was hope that it didn't get fucked up. He spent the whole weekend in a panic that Tony had gone too far. He saw the video from the camera they put above the driver's seat. It was way more than he had wanted, so he had no choice but to wait until he saw her at the office today to know if it worked. 

Now that he saw her, he was sure it was exactly what they needed. With the fear or her reaction gone, he thought again about the video. The way Tony abused her was so nasty it was incredible. Ryan only wished he could treat her that way. That kind of complete disregard for her was incredibly arousing. Maybe they'd have to do her together sometime. Maybe when this was almost over. But for now...

He had a confident grin as he proceeded. "Well, since I'm rewarding you with a week off, the least you can do is show your gratitude." 

"Yes sir," she said and didn't hesitate to fall to her knees and give him the best blowjob she could perform.

~~~~~~~

The next two months passed slowly for Michelle, but at least there were no repeats with Tony. There had been four 'meetings' and they had been relatively painless. She didn't enjoy them, but when she pretended she did, the men treated her fairly well. The encounters at work were kept down also. She wasn't sure why, but guessed Ryan was afraid it would be too suspicious for them to be going after her all the time. 

She and Stacy had tried everything they could think of to dig up evidence against Ryan, but had come up empty. Whatever he was into, they found he was very careful to cover his tracks. Because of the way the company's records were handled, it was impossible for either of them to get a look at Ryan's 'evidence' against Michelle without risking him finding out about it. Because days, sometimes over a week would go by without any of them bothering her, there didn't seem to be a way to trap them to find evidence that would back up Michelle's story.

Although everyone that knew her could see something had changed, she hid it well enough to avoid too many questions. She never let it show to Ryan or the men he made her entertain. They were happy, business was good for him and she was counting down the days left in this horrible arrangement. 

Mike was good as new, if not better. He had been working out every day and looked great. Now that he had recovered, Michelle agonized daily about telling him. She might have done it if she didn't have the memory of that awful night with Tony. As it was, she was too scared to ever risk pissing off Ryan again. Now it wasn't just for Mike, she was frightened for herself.

Though she did everything she could think of to keep it to herself, she brought her depression home. She often couldn't bear to look Mike in the face, especially when he tried to make love to her. No matter how tender he was, his touches reminded her of the horrible things she was doing and how she was betraying him. She often had to make excuses to be alone or risk him seeing how ashamed she was.

It invaded every aspect of their life. Since the night with Tony, she treated the men she had to be with like lovers. She did it out of fear, never desire, but it was very little comfort. 

The worst part for her was how it damaged the couple's communication. Until the night of the party, she always felt like she could tell him anything. She talked to him about things she never shared with anyone else. She knew she would never forgive herself for not telling him what happened the night of the party. 

When her guilt drove a wedge between them, she alienated the only person who could have found a way to comfort her during this nightmare. The effect of this on her husband was predictable.

Mike had been suspicious for weeks, now he had moved on to anger. He had concluded that Michelle was cheating on him. He refused to believe it for over a month but the evidence was overwhelming. Late hour 'business meetings', low sex drive, suspicious injuries she tried to hide and a lack of communication they had never experienced before. He confronted her often about her behavior and mood swings, but she always denied there was a problem. When he could no longer tolerate her string of excuses, he decided to find out for himself.

He thought about hiring a private eye but was afraid if she found out it could destroy their marriage, especially if somehow he was wrong. He decided to ask for a week off from work and did some snooping on his own. It didn't turn up anything until she called him Friday from work. 

"I'm sorry honey, I have another meeting with the new clients. I will try not to be late but it's really important." 

"Yeah, well all these meetings seem to be more important than us lately," he said with bitterness. He might not have any proof yet but he wasn't going to let her treat him like an idiot either. He could hear her nervous breathing while she scrambled for a response.

Michelle carefully tried to placate him without giving anything away. "I know this has been hard on you but it's almost over. I promise I'll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you if you can just be patient a little longer. Please don't be angry with me. I love you." 

Mike bitterly replied, "Fine, do what you have to do but don't expect me to wait up." He hung up the phone without waiting for a reply. 

When she hung up the phone, Michelle wiped the tears from her eyes. She wondered if this was the beginning of the end for them. Although she tried to hold out hope, part of her knew it was inevitable. Keeping it from him was damaging their marriage, the same as if she told him the truth, only slower. She went to the rest room to change into the outfit she was required to wear tonight. After most of the office had left, she slipped out to the parking lot, hoping no one would notice her, while thinking about what was coming.




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 02



Tonight she was going to meet with three managers who worked at the division Ryan was trying to be promoted to. They were flying in and would meet her at a hotel near the airport. She had met two of them before individually, but this was her first threesome since the disaster with Bill, John and Paul. Ryan believed with their influence among upper management, this could insure his promotion. 

Her husband watched her leaving work and knew he had been right. She had changed since she left home that morning and was dressed like the kind of bimbo he used to go out with when he was a musician. It made him sick to his stomach but if he was going to lose his wife, it wouldn't be without a fight. At the same time, he wasn't going to let her make a fool out of him, at least no more than she had already.

He followed her to an upscale hotel near the airport. He stayed a safe distance behind as she entered the lobby and went to the bar. Once inside she sat down and had a drink. He couldn't help noticing she looked sad. Something wasn't right but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. She had been acting so strangely, could an affair really be all that this was? 

Mike looked at the floor as he thought about their first time together and how she could have possibly changed so much...

... After Michelle had finished giving him the most incredible oral sex that he could remember, Mike held her close and relaxed. They leisurely kissed for a few minutes while catching their breath before Mikki asked, "Now how long before we can make love? I really need you inside of me." 

Mike laughed, "Obviously you have a lot to learn about how men behave after five months of foreplay. Here, maybe this will give you a clue." 

He turned her to her back and moved his firm prick to her soft, wet pussy. "Now let's see what else you've learned." As he entered her, he was nervous. She was so tight, he didn't want to hurt her. He took his time working all the way in. When their pelvises finally met, he paused to give her time to adjust. He was surprised to see a tear in her eye and was afraid he had gone too fast. 

"Mikki, are you OK?" 

She answered softly, "I just need a second...Mike...Do you love me?" 

"Michelle" he groaned, "You know I love you. You are the most important person in my life." 

Mike couldn't figure out what she was really asking. He settled for kissing her on her face and neck while brushing her beautiful hair back with one hand. 

"Michelle, do you want me to stop?"

She looked at him with surprise...and something else. "You would do that?" 

"If you need more time, we can wait until you're ready." He started to pull out when she caught his arm. 

"No...please...make love to me." She looked at him pleadingly.

It didn't escape his attention that she didn't asked to get fucked, but to make love. It was obvious that the wildcat of a few minutes ago wasn't as confident as she seemed. He wasn't sure what had changed, but he wanted her to understand that he was more worried about what she was feeling than himself. 

Mike had slept with a number of women in his life. He took pride in being regarded as a good lover. He paid close attention to pick up what women liked and had used it to his advantage often. This time it was more important to him than that. 

He looked deeply into her eyes and began moving his hips. He never looked away as he used one arm to prop himself up slightly and the other hand to run between them exploring her face, breasts, stomach and finally settled on her clit. He rubbed her softly in small circles while continuing to rotate his hips. 

He slipped his hand under her, massaging one side of her ass, then ran the hand down to her knee. He softly made circles behind her knee while never stopping the rhythm inside of her and never looking away from those beautiful eyes. 

They kissed hungrily and he tried changing up his stroke, faster...slower...deeper...shallower, twisting, searching for what she responded to the most. He pulled all the way out, leaving just the tip of his cock barely touching her lips, almost falling out. Then in one smooth push, he sank all the way inside her again. Suddenly she moaned loudly, deeper than before. 

Mike smiled because he had found what he was looking for. He repeated the motion several times as beads of sweat began showing on her forehead. He stopped and pulled all the way out, ignoring her moan of protest. He pulled her up as he laid down, moving her on top of him. 

Michelle wasn't sure what he was doing. He had her on the edge of cumming, then maddeningly stopped. Now he wanted her to take over. She wasn't used to this. She wasn't that experienced, and most of the time her two previous lovers had preferred taking charge. 

By this time she was incredibly turned on, so she stopped worrying about what was going on and began to enjoy herself. She took his cock in her hand and moved it slowly back and forth across her pussy. She could feel the wonderful sensation building again as he slipped back inside her. She moved slowly down until she felt her pelvis meet his again. He took her hands and moved them to her breasts and gently urged her to massage them. Then moving his hands to her hips, he began thrusting upward. 

After letting her build another head of steam, he sat up suddenly, taking her right nipple into his mouth. He sucked hard, then moved to the left breast. She moved her hands to his shoulders for leverage as she began moving harder against him, moving toward the building orgasm. Again he denied her by spinning her back underneath him. She groaned in frustration, needing desperately to feel the release. 

He teased her, "Are you ready yet?"

"Please Mike, make me cum. Hurry, I can't wait anymore." She could never remember begging like that before, but he had her on fire and she couldn't take it.

Her breathing was ragged and the sweat poured off her now. As he began fucking her harder, he could hear the wet sounds his prick made as it slid into her. He was doing everything possible to hang on longer, but she was so warm and wet, there was no way to keep this going. All he wanted was to make her cum first.

He began kissing her, his tongue dancing with hers as he returned his free hand to her clit, using his thumb to massage it over and over. She began shaking again like before and he knew she was close. He then moved his face so they were cheek to cheek and whispered into her ear "Please cum for me Mikki. I want you to cum so badly. Please trust me, relax, let it happen." No one had talked to her like that during sex before. It was comforting, arousing and...

"Oh Mike, I'm cumming, oh please don't stop. Right there!" She made a noise somewhere between a scream and a moan, then began bucking against him hard. He thrust all the way inside her and held himself there He had to move his hand under her to keep her close. It felt like it went on forever and triggered his own release. He came deep inside her and it felt perfect, different from any other woman he had been with...

That memory had always been so important to him. From that night on, they had an amazing sex life that Mike had always assumed she found as fulfilling as he did. He treasured how innocent she seemed and the way it made him feel secure in their marriage. Now, as he watched the way she was acting, he wondered if he had been wrong the whole time.

Three men came into the bar together and Mike noticed they were checking out the scene. He thought that they were probably in town for the weekend and looking to get laid. They went straight over to Michelle and sat down around her. Mike waited for the rejection that he had seen her perform flawlessly, so many times in the past. But it didn't come. One of the men put his hand on her bare thigh, another touched her back and the third leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. 

She got up and they led her out of the room. Mike followed on wobbly legs. The four went into an elevator and then up. He waited, seeing where it stopped, then sprinted to the nearest vacant one and punched the same floor. As the elevator moved upwards, he tried to think of any possible scenario that would allow this to be a horrible misunderstanding. An affair would have been horrible and probably ended his marriage, but three men?

When the elevator door opened, he thought he had lost them but saw a movement down the hall to his left. He ran as quietly as he could, looked down a second hallway and could see them about 20 feet away entering a room. He approached the door and listened for several minutes until he heard moaning and the unmistakable voice of his wife saying, "You're so big, please fuck me!" 

With his worst fears confirmed, Mike turned and walked to the elevator, then out into the night. Thoughts of fighting for his wife were completely dismissed. There was nothing to fight for.



True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 03



 Author's Note: Thanks again to the people who helped me on this. Their help was invaluable. Special thanks to Wetapap and my volunteer editor Angel Love. 

Mike drove for hours, finally stopping at a bar he used to frequent in the old days. He didn't recognize anyone there, but stayed anyway and drank until Midnight. On the way out, his cell phone rang. He saw their home number on the caller id. He smashed the phone to the ground as he got in his car, wondering where he was supposed to go.

Michelle was going out of her mind with worry. It had been a very bad night. With all three of the men together, they had decided it would be fun to humiliate her. It seemed almost like they were competing to outdo each other. When they were finished fucking her every way they could think of, they took her to the bathtub where they made her lay down and they pissed on her...another first. Sadly she wondered if there was anything left she hadn't been subjected to and again was afraid of the answer. 

She showered, had a couple of drinks at the bar for strength, then went home to face Mike's anger. She would have given anything if he would hold her like before, just for tonight. When she reached their house, she opened the garage door to find his car was gone. She rushed into the house to see if he left a message. 

He hadn't. It looked like nothing had been disturbed since she left that morning and she didn't know if she was more afraid that he had left her, or that something may have happened to him. She couldn't call her parents and had spurned most of her friends during the last few months, so again she leaned on Stacy. 

After talking with Michelle, Stacy dressed immediately and began driving over, very concerned. She knew that there were only two possibilities. Either something had happened to him, or he must have found out somehow. Knowing Mike, there was no other reason he wouldn't be home. 

She was waiting to turn left at a light when she saw Mike's car fly past. She floored it and followed. He was weaving badly and she wondered if he was hurt or drunk (or both). He finally stopped at a roadside motel and she pulled into a space away from him as she saw him enter the lobby. 

He soon came back out, went to a room on the first floor and let himself in. Seconds later she was banging on the door, ready to tear his head off for worrying them so much. When he opened the door, all those thoughts evaporated.

He looked terrible. His clothes were a mess, he smelled like beer and he had a wild look in his eyes like he was on the edge of a breakdown. He saw her and waved his hand dismissively, "Go away Stacy, I don't have anything to say to you." 

She braced herself; "Michelle is worried out of her mind. What the hell is going on?" 

He looked at her with contempt, "I don't think she's that upset. If she is, she can go back and fuck her three new friends." 

Stacy looked down in shame and couldn't meet his glare. 

She flinched as he began yelling, "You knew, you fucking bitch!" He tried to slam the door but she got her foot in the way. It hurt like hell but she wasn't going to let this go on. 

She pushed past him into the room. "You need to know what's really going on Michael, right now!" He didn't want to listen, but knew that nothing short of physically moving her was going to make her leave and he had never harmed a woman; it wasn't in his nature. He sighed as she continued. "Mike, are you in any shape to listen to me or do you need coffee." 

He responded mockingly. "I need about two days of sleep and a bottle of JD." 

Stacy started to get angry. "Well guess again, because that's not going to happen. When you find out the truth, it's going to be hard enough, don't make this worse." 

Mike looked at her skeptically, "Fine, go ahead and talk. I'm not stupid enough to get hammered and then get behind the wheel. I'd rather go to sleep but if you think there's something I should know about, then start talking ." 

"In a minute," Stacy muttered. "I need to let Mikki know you're OK." She used her cell and made a quick call. "Michelle, I found him, he's OK." 

Mike could hear the explosion of yelling from four feet away. "Let me talk to him...Is everything alright...Please tell him I'm sorry...." 

"Don't worry," Stacy tried to calm her. "He got mad, went to a bar and got shit-faced. You can't blame him. Things have been rough between you two and he doesn't know what to think." 

Mike was about to enter the conversation when a very angry gesture from Stacy abruptly shut him up. "No, I promise I won't." He heard her say. "He's sleeping it off at a motel, I'll make sure he gets his stupid ass home in the morning. You just take care of yourself. I love you too...bye."

"Alright, what's going on and why did you tell her that?" Mike demanded. 

"First you need coffee. Even if you don't feel as bad as you look, this is a long story, trust me, you want to be clear-headed. Go straighten yourself out, I'll run across to the breakfast place, get a couple and be right back." Mike went into the bathroom wondering if it was possible for things to be worse than he already thought.

When Stacy got back, they sat on the edge of the bed and she began. "OK, this is going to be very hard to hear, so you need to prepare yourself," she warned. 

"Harder than seeing my wife be a slut with three strangers?" he asked sarcastically. 

"Yes. Much harder," she said sadly. Stacy then laid out everything she knew about the situation including his accident, Michelle's decision, finding her on the couch and her behavior since that night. 

Mike was furious. "And that's supposed to make me feel better! She stupidly agreed to fuck every guy that asks because she doesn't want me to get hurt." His voice rose as each word was filled with more disdain than the last. 

"They threatened her with jail and put you in the hospital. I'd say that's serious." 

Mike had been suspicious for a month now; he wasn't going to back down. "Well she should know I'd rather die than see her like that. What's she accomplishing by using me as an excuse to act out all her slut fantasies?" 

Stacy seethed, "Don't you ever let me hear you say something like that about her again! She is dying on the inside. I hate what is happening to her, but she's doing it because she'd rather sacrifice herself than see anything happen to you. She's doing it even though she knows you probably won't be able to forgive her. She doesn't think she has any choice." Stacy looked down at the end, finding it hard to defend what Michelle was doing. She also knew she had to do her best before Mike gave up on his wife.

"Give me a break Stacy, do you really think this will ever be finished? She's a beautiful girl, she's servicing their clients, she's having a great time, why the hell would they let her go?"

He ignored Stacy's glare and continued angrily. "I saw her with them and heard her. It was a woman that I don't know and she looked like she loved every second of it." 

"She has to act like she's having the time of her life, or they'll give her back to that bastard. You don't know how much he hurt her. It was horrible..." She trailed off and looked down. Despite Michelle's unwavering belief that this would be over soon, Stacy agreed with Mike's assessment that they'd never let her go. She also harbored a darker fear that an accident like Mike's might be waiting for her friend someday. 

Mike still looked like he wasn't buying what she was saying. Stacy stepped back and took a deep breath. This was going to be harder than she thought. She knew how angry he would be, but she thought when he found out what Michelle had been through and that Ryan was responsible for his accident, Michael would be more sympathetic or at least angry enough at Ryan to step in. She had to try something different.

"Mike," she started slowly, "Do you remember the night you met her." He turned away from her. 

"Yes," he said quietly. 

"Did she ever tell you how it happened?" She saw his confused look and continued. "I mean, did she ever tell you why we were there?" 

Mike scratched his chin and thought for a second. "No, I never thought to ask. Why?" 

Stacy softly made him sit next to her and took his hand, "I think you should know, it might make a difference."

"She only slept with two other men before she met you. The second one she met six months out of college and she gave up her first real job to be with him. He seemed like this great guy, but after being with him for almost a year, she found out he was cheating on her. When she confronted him, he blamed her. He said she was lousy in bed so he had no choice." 

"It caused a big rift between Michelle and her folks because they warned her about him and she didn't listen. It took a long time to get over the hurt and she was humiliated by what he said."

"The night you met, we were out celebrating her getting a promotion at her old job. We went to this popular bar and walked right into him with his new girlfriend. He said something awful to her about Michelle and just laughed as they walked inside. It upset her so much that it ruined everything. We insisted on her coming with us to a second bar so she wouldn't be alone. We saw that a live band was playing, so thought it would be a lot of fun and would cheer her up."

"After we found a table, I noticed her staring at the stage. We could all tell by her attitude that she was smitten with you immediately. All of us were so happy to see her cheer up; we teased her about it hoping she'd get up the courage to talk to you. We were so happy when you came up to our table. It was easy to see you liked her too."

"After you went back to play, guys kept asking her to dance, but she turned them all down. I asked her if she was still upset but she said no. She didn't want you to think anything bad about her."

Mike was surprised. He had always assumed he won her over. Was that really why she sat by herself, so he wouldn't be disappointed? "I would never have guessed that. I was afraid there was someone else." 

"Well there wasn't. I've known her since High School and she had never acted that way around a guy before. Once you got up the nerve to ask her out, we made sure she'd say yes. We all knew she felt something special for you from the beginning." 

Stacy took another deep breath and continued. "Did you know why she waited so long to sleep with you?" 

Mike looked confused, "She said it was the way she was raised."

"It was," Stacy continued. "She wouldn't sleep with someone until she loved him, but she knew she loved you by the end of the first night." 

Mike thought back to that wonderful memory. "I guess I did too. So then why did she insist we wait so long?" 

"Because she was so hurt by what happened before. No matter how much we told her it was crazy, she was afraid that you'd be disappointed. She wanted to make sure you would accept her the way she was and that you wouldn't hurt her too."

Mike angrily snapped, "I would never hurt her." 

"Well, I think it probably would have hurt her to know you called her a whore!" 

Mike stopped for a moment, caught between anger and embarrassment. "The way she was acting...so out of control...it was like a different person." 

Stacy voice softened, "I can't imagine how hard this is for you to deal with, Mike. You have to believe me, I'm just trying to help before you say or do something you can't take back. No matter what you're thinking about her, I'm just asking you to give me a chance. Now what did she say about being so wild when you first slept together?" 

Mike was beginning to understand where Stacy was going. "She said you had shown her some pointers." 

"Yes and why do you suppose she asked me to do that?" 

He struggled to say the words, "Because she was afraid of letting me down. She knew I had a lot of experience with women and she was afraid she wouldn't measure up somehow."

Stacy put her hand on his arm. "Finally, the first thing you've said that sounds like the man my best friend loves. What happened after she followed my 'pointers'?" 

Mike looked away, "I can't describe it. I never felt like that with anyone before. When we were done, she cried for a minute. She told me it was because she was happy. I never even thought about it after that night, but I guess it makes sense now that I know the rest of it." 

Stacy pressed him, "Has anything from that night on given you the impression that she has 'slut fantasies' or would want any of this to be happening?"

Mike struggled to answer her. "No, she's never given me a reason to doubt anything." He wondered if it was possible that she was really an unwilling victim like Stacy claimed. "At the time, she wouldn't talk about it, any of it, I...I" 

"You what?" Stacy scolded lovingly. "It sounds like you did everything perfectly without even knowing why. You two are made for each other, we've all known it. What you've never understood was that she always felt like she was the lucky one, not you."

Mike struggled to process everything. "Even if what you are saying is true, why didn't she go to the police. Even if she felt like she couldn't put this on me while I was in the hospital, how could she keep me in the dark for this long?" 

Stacy thought Mike seemed to be softening a little and hoped it might give her a chance. "She knows that if she goes to the police, they probably won't believe her and it could put you both in danger. I told you what Tony did to her just because she didn't do a good enough job for them. I understand you can take care of yourself, but what do you think they might do to her if she tried to turn them in? How hard do you think it is on her knowing that if she tries to protect herself, something could happen to you?" 

"I wish she would have told you the truth, but she knew you might get so angry that you would just leave her with no way to deal with this nightmare. Worse than that, you might storm off after Ryan and wind up dead or in jail. We've both tried but haven't been able to dig up much on him. I don't know how he's pulling this off or why the others are going along with it, but they haven't made any mistakes. I swear to you, if I thought she would be safe, I'd go to the fucking police myself." She paused to let him absorb everything, hoping she had finally reached him.

"Mike, I'm not saying you need to agree with what she has done or even that you have to decide what to do about it tonight. I'm just begging you not to decide anything until you've had time to think about it. She's been through so much. She needs you right now. She's been hurt worse than I can imagine and I don't know if she can get through this without you." 

Mike finally looked up at her. "No matter what I decide, the one thing I know is that this ends now. If she wants to go back to them, I'm through."

"She can't walk away," Stacy sobbed, grateful that he seemed to finally to be willing to give ground. "We're not sure about who's involved, so if you went after Ryan how do you know they won't retaliate against her? Michelle thinks it was Tony that ran you off the road, but she doesn't have any proof. If you do the wrong thing, both of you could get hurt." 

Mike drifted into thought again. There had to be a way out of this. Something that would happen quickly, taking her out of danger. He shook his head, trying to shake the fatigue and frustration, trying to find something that everyone else had missed. He knew that Ryan had time to set this up, and had done it anticipating anything they might do...or had he? Slowly he brought his eyes up to meet Stacy's and he said, "I know what I have to do..."

~~~~~

Michelle had finally cried herself to sleep when she felt the bed shift. She opened her eyes and saw her husband looking at her with concern that she hadn't seen in a long time. He pulled her up and held her tightly until she was having trouble catching her breath. "Oh Mike, I'm so sorry I didn't come home." 

He stopped her with one finger on her lips. "No, I'm sorry for what I said. Stacy was right. I was being an ass. Please forgive me." 

Michelle felt an unbelievable sense of relief, cradled in his arms until she fell asleep. She hadn't felt that safe in a long time.

Mike never went to sleep. When Michelle drifted off, he held her for a while, thinking about the details of what they had put her through and felt his rage building. He eventually put her down softly and began making his plans on his laptop. He needed to work out every detail, every variable, so there was no chance for error. He wasn't sure what would happen between them, but he made a promise to protect her no matter what and he intended to keep it. He also had to deal with the men who had fucked up his life.

He stayed with her the rest of the weekend, then told her he had to go out of town for a couple days during the week. She was so happy to have him treating her warmly again that she didn't ask questions and told him she'd be waiting when he got back. 

When he got back Thursday, he opened the door calling for her. "In here, sweetheart," she responded.

He walked into the kitchen, only to find Michelle waiting for him wearing a silk robe, with candles lighting the table. He was caught off guard for a moment, then asked, "What's this for?"

"This is for you. I know that the way things have been lately has been hard on you, even though none of it is your fault." Mike winced, knowing what she really meant by that. "I wanted to give you a special night. The kind you deserve from me."

Mike looked at her in wonder. She had to be in a living hell over what was happening. "I admit that it's been frustrating, but you know that I love you, right?"

She smiled sadly, "I know that you love me more than I deserve. Now no more talking, come eat with me, please."

They sat at the table quietly, eating a wonderful meal. She asked about his trip, but found his answers strangely evasive. Michelle just chalked it up to her being too suspicious because of everything that had been happening. She tried to ignore it and enjoy his company as much as possible, knowing it would probably be the last time. 

When they were finished with dinner, she led him up the stairs. Although Mike had tried to prepare himself for what he might feel the first time he had to be intimate with her, he was still nervous. He knew that he still loved her, but she had been lying to him for almost two months. He also knew that no matter what her intentions were, the fact that she chose to cooperate with the blackmailers was a direct implication that she didn't think he could protect her. That hurt more than anything else.

Once in the bedroom, Michelle pulled him to her. She kissed him deeply, trying to find a way to let him know without words how much she loved him. She undressed him slowly, working her mouth down his chest until she reached his belt. She hurriedly unbuckled it and pulled down his pants, anxious to bring him pleasure. 

Mike gasped as he felt her mouth engulf his penis. She seemed more eager than usual, which seemed confusing under the circumstances, but he tried to shut out any doubts about her. Michelle worked her tongue around his cock, then began bobbing her head up and down, taking at least half of it into her mouth. 

He felt his knees buckle and sat down hard on the bed. Michelle followed, licking his shaft and even moving down to take his balls into her mouth, one at a time. Mike felt a jolt of electricity at the erotic manipulations. She ran her hand up his chest, as she took his cock into her mouth again. 

She used her free hand to stroke him as she sucked, making moaning sounds. His hips began moving, indicating he was almost to the point of no return, so she began moving her hand faster and sucked as hard as she could. Mike didn't have a chance to warn her as he came harder than he could remember. She swallowed fast, trying not to miss a drop as he unloaded blast after blast in her mouth. 




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 03



When she was sure he was finished, Michelle lovingly continued to lick the underside of his prick, knowing he'd be too sensitive anywhere else. Mike laid back, floored by how aggressively she had just performed. He tried to get her to move up so he could kiss her.

She made a noise indicating her refusal while she continued her oral ministrations. He gave up trying after a moment and closed his eyes; unable to fight the pleasure she was bringing him. He felt himself beginning to get hard again, then suddenly her mouth was gone. He opened his eyes to see her slowly removing the robe, to reveal matching silk panties with no top. 

She climbed onto the bed without removing her panties, dragging her breasts up his chest slowly. When she reached his face, she kissed him deeply. She paused, looking far more serious than the situation warranted, "Mike, I want you to understand, I love you more than anything." 

Mike wondered about how serious she was being. It was possible that she was just trying to make up for how things had been, but he sensed something more behind her cryptic responses. "I love you too Michelle." He gently pulled her head down to kiss her. As their tongues met, he felt her hand on his prick. She pulled the panties to the side and rubbed the tip against her pussy, trying to find the opening. 

With a loud moan, she sank down slowly until he was completely inside her. Mike could feel her shudder when their hips met. It began to register with him how important this was to her, although he wasn't sure why. She began riding him slowly, holding herself up by keeping her arms straight. As her tempo increased, she lowered herself until their chests met. Mike began to help, his hips rising to meet hers. 

They moved together faster until Michelle felt an orgasm building. "Yes Mike, faster please! I'm...Yes!!!" she cried as she felt like her insides were on fire. 

Mike quickly moved, spinning her underneath him. He pulled up her left leg and stayed as deep inside her as he could until she came down from her climax. Once she did, he took over. He began thrusting about half of his length into her as she started to sweat. He enjoyed the sensation of her pussy gripping him as he pulled further out each stroke until only the tip stayed inside her. He pulled all the way out and paused, causing Michelle to put her hands on his shoulders, trying to pull him back in. 

After teasing her for a few moments, he slowly entered her and slid until their hips met. He took one of her breasts in his mouth, using his hand to caress it as he teased the nipple with his teeth. Michelle dug her nails into his shoulders, feeling another orgasm approaching. "Please don't tease me Mike, I just want to feel you inside me."

He moved his mouth back up to hers, again searching for her tongue. He wrapped his hands behind her back and stayed against her as his hips continued to move in rhythm with hers. Finally, he couldn't hold off his own orgasm any longer. 

"Mikki, I'm cumming," he warned.

She nodded feverishly, "Please, I want to feel you cum inside me, baby."

Mike groaned and drove his hips into her several times before stopping, buried to the hilt. As he came, he squeezed her harder than he meant to, leaving several small bruises. Michelle arched off the bed and screamed as his reaction pushed her over the edge for the second time. 

They stayed locked together for several minutes. Neither of them wanted to spoil the mood, although their individual reasons for their concern couldn't have been more different. Mike couldn't get over how she acted; it was so much like the old Michelle, although a bit more zealous. He was considering what he'd been afraid to think about before, that her behavior might be a result of what she had been doing for Ryan, when Michelle finally spoke. 

"Mike," she started apprehensively, "I have something I have to tell you." He looked at her cautiously, noticing what appeared to be tears in her eyes. "Just before you had your accident, something happened at the office party after you left." She paused for a moment, trying to gather her courage.

"Wait Michelle," he interrupted, trying to think quickly. "I want to grab us a drink first. Can I get you some wine?" She nodded, grateful for a few seconds to collect herself.

Mike threw on his boxers and hurried down the stairs, cursing his luck. "I can't believe she decided to tell me now!" he thought. "What the hell am I supposed to do?" He thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and dialed quickly.

"Hello," said the voice at the other end.

"Stacy, it's Mike, we've got a problem. Michelle wants to tell me what's going on."

There was dead silence for a moment. "She decided to tell you now? Do you know why?"

He thought for a moment. "I don't know. She's been acting strange all night like this was supposed to be a celebration or..."

"Mike...Mike... are you there? What's going on?"

"Stacy," he said slowly, "I think she's planning on saying goodbye." He thought about how happy she had been the last few days and it hit him that she might have finally decided she couldn't live with herself going back to Ryan. 

"You don't think she'd hurt herself, do you?" Stacy asked, obviously concerned.

"I don't think that's it. Look, I need you to call back and talk to her. I don't know how I can put her off without letting her know that something's up. You have to find a way to talk her out of it. I'm not sure I can protect her without following the plan and everything will go to shit if she tells me. It will be even worse if she finds out I already know." He hung up the phone and went to the kitchen.

Mike was getting the wine a couple of minutes later when the phone rang. "Mikki," he yelled up the stairs, "Can you grab that?" He hoped that Stacy could find some way to get her to wait, there was far too much at stake to stop now.

In the bedroom, Michelle picked up the phone, "Hello." 

"Hey, it's me," Stacy said. "I wanted to let you know that I have an idea that might just work." She proceeded to explain what she was planning for the next day. Michelle told her that it was over; she was going to tell him and let Mike decide what to do next. Stacy begged her to wait another week. If Mike found out, there was no way of knowing what he might do and she might never get the chance to prove Ryan's involvement or her innocence. 

After a short argument, Michelle agreed to wait. Part of her was relieved to have a little more time with Mike, but she was afraid she wouldn't be able to go through this again. After a full weekend with her husband, she doubted her resolve even more. She decided she'd make the best of whatever time she had left with Mike, then worry about the rest when it happened. 

He waited for a few more minutes, then headed back upstairs. When he entered the room, he saw Michelle sitting on the bed looking out of the window. "Honey, here's the wine," he said, handing her a glass. He watched her expression and tentatively asked, "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

She didn't look at him as she answered. "No, it can wait. Could we just stay here in bed for a while?" 

Mike hated having to make her wait, knowing that she finally got up the courage to tell him. There was just no way to be sure he'd be able to do things his way if she knew what was going on. He climbed into bed and held her, trying to comfort Michelle, no longer feeling it necessary to pretend.

Michelle sat quietly, thinking about what almost happened and what triggered it.

After the last, brutal meeting, then finding Mike gone, Michelle found herself on the verge of collapse. The way he cared for her the rest of the weekend not only helped her recover emotionally, it made her realize that she couldn't be selfish any longer. She had to finally admit to herself that Mike could take care of himself now that he had recovered completely from his 'accident'. 

While he was out of town, she decided that she had to tell him the truth, even though she believed it would be the end for them. He hadn't done anything to deserve this and she couldn't lie to him any more. She planned a special dinner and a night of love making to leave him some positive memory of her. After they were finished, she planned on telling him, then going back to her parents to give him time to decide what to do. 

Things had gone better than she could have hoped. Dinner was wonderful, the sex afterwards was beautiful, and surprisingly, not tainted by the things that had been happening to her. She rolled over to look at Mike sleeping beside her. She cried quietly as she wondered how she'd ever get up the courage to do the right thing again. 

The next Monday, Ryan summoned her but it was work related and nothing else was mentioned. Thursday, he finally let her know he hadn't forgotten her. 

"So, have you enjoyed your little vacation?" 

"What do you want Ryan?" she said with some condescension. 

He glared at her, "Don't you ever disrespect me again. Do I need to ask Tony to talk to you about that attitude?" 

That caught her attention. "I'm sorry Ryan," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to upset you. I am busy getting things together for the audit and wasn't trying to be disrespectful. Please forgive me." 

"That's better. You have another meeting this weekend; I'll need you to work with Keith again. I understand he was very happy with you, so keep it up. He's very important to our plans. I'm waiting for confirmation because he's been out all week, but he set this up right after the last one, so I know he's looking forward to it." 

Michelle looked down at the floor. "All right, I'll be ready." 

She left his office deep in thought. "Not Keith!" Her 'meeting' with him a month ago was the worst of all. It started like the others, but he seemed to actually care about her. He took his time and talked to her like it was a real date. When he asked her to come to his room, she thought he looked uncertain. He definitely didn't behave like someone who knew what she had been ordered to do, or why she was obeying.

Once in his room, he was kind and tender. He treated her like a girlfriend, not the company whore. He took his time and tried to arouse her before worrying about himself. He was a good lover and came close to making her forget why she was there. When she closed the door behind her at the end of the night, she couldn't make it to the elevator before the tears overcame her. She never imagined herself enjoying any part of what was happening and it crushed her that a part of her actually liked Keith. 

She couldn't face Mike afterward, so called him with an excuse about Stacy getting dumped and needing to take care of her. When she arrived at Stacy's, they had talked for hours. Her friend finally convinced her that what happened was inevitable. After the horrible treatment she had endured, someone treating her with warmth and affection was going to make her feel good. 

After the last week feeling so close to Mike again, she couldn't bear the thought of going back to obeying Ryan. Especially with someone treating her like a lover. It made her feel despicable. Her eyes watered as she thought about facing her husband now. 

Stacy was disturbed by Michelle's version of the conversation. "This sounds like you're starting to identify with the people who are hurting you. You better keep your head clear. Keith is not a nice guy. He got to have sex with you as a reward for diverting business to Ryan. He's a piece of shit like the rest of them and he's just fucking with your head." 

Michelle thought before responding, "You might be right but I didn't get that feeling from him. It doesn't matter, I don't have any choice...unless I tell Mike." 

"Well, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. We have until Saturday to work something out." Stacy smiled quickly to herself trying to not let Michelle see. 

Friday came and there was no phone call from Ryan. Michelle was anxious all weekend but he never bothered her. When he called her into his office Monday, she asked what had happened. 

"No one knows," he said. "The son of a bitch hasn't been to work in over a week and didn't tell anyone where he was going. If he thinks he's going to screw me over, he's got another thing coming." 

Michelle went back to her office; grateful she had a little more time to try to find something to help her against Ryan. It would be easier to tell Mike if she could prove that she wasn't a willing participant. She didn't know if it would help him to forgive her, but she couldn't face the thought that he might not believe the truth. 

On Friday, Stacy was waiting anxiously for Michelle when she arrived at work. "Ok, tonight's the night."

Michelle wasn't sure about her friend's plan. "Are you sure you can trust him? What happens if you're wrong? Besides, I'm not sure I want you to do something like this for me."

Stacy looked at her friend with some amusement. "You're not sure that you want me to get laid after the worlds longest dry spell with a decent guy who has liked me for over a year? Gee, it's a tough sacrifice, but I'm willing to jump on the grenade," she said with a smile.

Michelle couldn't suppress a laugh. "I just don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with, all right smart-ass?"

Stacy waited a moment, happy to share a laugh with her old friend. It was one of the few there had been in the last couple of months. Then she became more serious. "I trust Alan. He's a really nice guy. I wouldn't take any chances with you or Mike. You know that. We've been trying to get something solid on Ryan since this started and haven't gotten anywhere. We need help if we're ever going to nail that slimy son of a bitch."

Michelle agreed to let Stacy make the decision about what to tell Alan and when. Even though her friend was trying to be cavalier about deciding to try to seduce the young man from the IT Department, Michelle knew it was no small thing. She could only hope that Alan was worth it, Stacy had been an amazingly loyal friend and deserved someone to make her feel good for a change. 

As his car pulled up to the address Stacy had given him, Alan marveled at his good fortune. He had developed a crush on the beautiful brunette shortly after meeting her when he first started at the company. He did desktop support, so often had to go out to the different departments to recover files, install software, and troubleshoot problems. Any time a call came in to their department for help in Stacy's section of the building, his coworkers knew to give the call to Alan or he would make their life a living hell. 

Since the first time he laid eyes on her, Alan had tried everything he could think of to get Stacy to notice him, without any success. She was the type of woman who usually dated good-looking, confident men. The kind who would take a woman out for a wild night on the town and sweep her off her feet. Alan was shy and reserved, a little bit of a geek. Despite that, his personality won him a lot of friends and women always appreciated his thoughtfulness. 

Growing up, he had always treated women with the utmost respect because that's how he'd been raised. Unfortunately, he usually found himself passed over in favor of guys who were more exciting, only to listen to the girls later lament how badly they'd been treated. It was a vicious cycle, one he'd never fully broken out of. 

Although he did date through college and since graduation, he only had a few girlfriends he had slept with and none that had been truly serious. He was a little too much of a romantic, expecting the right situation to just fall in his lap instead of going out and finding it. Despite the knowledge that she'd never notice someone like him, Alan constantly fawned over Stacy hoping he could find a way to convince her to give him a chance. 

Thursday, he got a call to work on her computer and was blown away when she actually began flirting with him. She had always been nice, but never indicated she was interested in him at all. After a brief conversation that went much better than anything he could have hoped for, he took a huge risk (for him) and asked her out. She happily said yes and suggested dinner and a movie. About a minute after he got back to his office, a cheer went up from his coworkers that could be heard all the way down the hall. 

By Friday, his coworkers had begun hazing him, giving him gifts of condoms, sex toys and self-help books on dating. Although embarrassed, he took the teasing in stride knowing it was done by people who really were happy for him. Now that it had become such a big deal, he only hoped he wouldn't crash and burn on the first date. 

When Stacy answered the door, Alan felt a lump in his throat. She was gorgeous. Stacy was wearing a black skirt and a matching top with no straps. She had large breasts and the cleavage she was displaying caused him a great deal of discomfort. "Stacy," he stammered, "I can't take you to the movies dressed like that."

She smiled at the compliment. "Well, let's do dinner and see what we feel like afterwards."

They had a good dinner complete with excellent banter. Once Alan got over his initial intimidation, he found that he liked Stacy as much for her quick wit and strong opinions as he did for her looks. For her part, Stacy was surprised at what a great sense of humor he had. He scored big points when he insisted on pulling her chair out and opening doors for her. She grinned a secret smile, knowing he was going to get lucky no matter what, but she found herself looking forward to the end of the night more and more.

They went out for drinks when they finished at the restaurant. Stacy was able to coax him out on the dance floor after a couple of strong drinks and a shot. Although he was just average at ordinary dancing, Stacy was pleasantly surprised that he was very good at slow dancing. It was fun for her because she didn't have to deal with the pawing that most of the men she dated engaged in. Alan was a gentlemen, he seemed to enjoy dancing with her for the fun of it, not just to cop a feel.

After about an hour, she realized that she had lost track of time because she was having so much fun. She was getting ready to suggest they leave when the DJ started a Brian Setzer song. Suddenly she found herself being spun around the dance floor like a top. About a minute into the song, most of the people stopped dancing to watch the skilled couple. When it ended, he dipped her deeply, being careful not to accidentally cause her to pop out of her top. 

Stacy felt her cheeks blush as the crowd erupted in applause. "All right," she laughed, "Now I need some air."

When they made it outside, she couldn't help but ask in amazement, "Where did you learn how to dance like that?"

Alan beamed with pride. "There's a place by where I live that has swing dancing every weekend with a live band. They do lessons before the show starts, then have a couple of hours of music. It's one of my favorite things to do."

"Well, that sounds like an excellent idea for next time." She couldn't help but notice his pleased expression at her mention of a second date. "I've never met anyone I couldn't keep up with on the dance floor. I'm not sure I like it," she teased. "Why don't you take me home and we can discuss you giving me some lessons?"

On the way back to her place, Alan's nervousness returned. He started thinking about what he should do when they got back to her apartment. He didn't want to blow the date by being too forward, but he didn't want her to think he was a wimp either. 

Stacy was lost in her own thoughts. She had been looking forward to a night with nothing to worry about except herself, at least until the end when she needed to recruit Alan's help. After spending the evening with him, she had begun looking forward to the last part of the date much more than she had anticipated. Even though Alan wasn't her usual type of man to go out with, he had done everything right all night. Stacy couldn't remember the last date she had that was this much fun.




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 03



When they reached her door, she was about to ask him to come in when he surprised her by leaning in and kissing her softly. She felt her knees buckle as he pulled her tightly to him, letting his lips brush against hers without any hint of rushing. They continued to kiss as he moved his hands up and down her back, enjoying the feel of her bare skin above the top. When he felt her tongue graze his lips, he met it with his own, feeling his level of excitement build. 

She pulled away reluctantly, grabbing his hand as she turned the key to open her door. She wasn't going to give him the chance to leave. They only made it as far as the couch before resuming their embrace. This time, Alan kissed her lips briefly before moving to her cheek, leaving a trail of soft kisses until her reached her neck. He let his tongue run over the side of her neck, followed by a soft bite. When he blew softly against her skin, Stacy moaned, bringing her hands behind his neck. She pulled him hard against her, encouraging him to continue.

They stumbled toward her bedroom, trying to undress each other as they walked. When they made it to the bed, Stacy stepped away so she could watch Alan's expression. She was very proud of her body; she worked extremely hard to stay fit. She knew from the way that he was already looking at her that his reaction would be great for her ego.

As he watched her slip her top up over her head, Alan tried to catch his breath. Her breasts were large for her petite body (he would guess a 'D' cup), but still hung with virtually no sagging, slightly away from the center of her chest. She had beautiful brown areolas that were almost two inches across, with nipples that stood out predominantly. As she slipped out of her skirt, his eyes roamed lower, taking in every detail.

Her skin was a deep brown from the tanning bed. She had sexy, wide hips that tapered into an impossibly thin waist. As he watched in awe, she slipped off her black panties to reveal a thin strip of pubic hair leading down to the most beautiful pussy he could have imagined. 

Stacy smiled at his reaction. Because she often dated men with a lot of experience, she didn't see the kind of amazement Alan showed with his eyes. He was drinking in every detail of her body like it was a great work of art, the feeling was intoxicating for her. She leaned forward to kiss him and practically ripped his shirt off. She dropped to her knees, letting her tongue run down his chest to his navel. She slowly circled it several times to distract him while she undid his pants and began sliding them down. 

Stacy reached one hand behind Alan and pulled him against her as she drove her tongue into his navel. As she began slowly driving him crazy with this unexpected move, her other hand began softly stroking his raging hard-on. Alan desperately tried to focus on something other than the most beautiful woman he had ever been out with acting like a wanton slut. 

Stacy slid her mouth lower, running her tongue across the tip of his cock while continuing to stroke it with her right hand. She got her first look at him and was pleased that he was above average in length and quite wide. She had trouble getting her whole hand around it and couldn't wait to feel him inside her. The only problem was that she assumed Alan would be a little too turned on and wouldn't last. Stacy wanted their first time to be special for both of them and didn't want him feeling awkward if it was too short. She tried to get him to cum as fast as she could so then planned to encourage him to respond in kind. 

Her pussy was soaking wet and she was desperate to cum. She moved her free hand to her breast, where she teased the nipple as her mouth worked more of Alan's cock inside. When she made it past the midpoint of his shaft, she couldn't wait anymore and moved her hand from her breast to her pussy, which was soaking wet. She slid in two fingers and began pumping them quickly, letting the friction against her clit push her toward an orgasm.

Alan made a strangled noise as he could feel her lips cover the base of his cock. No woman had ever deep-throated him before and the feeling was incredible. He looked down and could see Stacy fingering herself as she began moving her mouth up and down, never pulling back more than halfway up his shaft. As he looked at the woman he had been fantasizing about for a year, on her knees, giving him the most amazing blowjob he could imagine he lost his control.

"Fuck, that feels so good. Stacy...I'm cumming." He gave up trying to be polite and grabbed her face with both hands, driving his cock into her mouth over and over. He could feel her tongue against the underside of his shaft as his fingers curled in her hair and he buried his prick as far as he could inside her mouth. When she felt the first blast of his sperm hit her throat, Stacy grabbed his ass with both hands and squeezed, holding on for dear life. Alan actually screamed out loud as his body shook uncontrollably. He leaned back against the bed as his knees almost gave out, but Stacy refused to let go of her firm grip. 

Stacy kept his cock embedded deep in her throat, swallowing hard to give him as much pleasure as she could. When he fell away from her, she couldn't hold on and his cock came out of her mouth with a loud pop. Despite her best efforts, she hadn't swallowed it all and some spilled to the corner of her mouth. 

As he fell back on the bed, she gave him the nastiest look she could muster as she ran her tongue around her lips to reach what she had missed. Alan looked at her in awe, shaking his head. "Holy shit, you are incredible!" 

Stacy smiled with pride, "So are you going to leave me hanging, or what?"

Alan leaned his head back for a moment, trying to gather his senses. "Or what," he replied, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her on top of him. He kissed her deeply, trying to imagine some non-verbal way to communicate how amazing she really was. He gave up and settled for running his hands down her body as she lay on top of him, passionately returning his kisses. He sat up, moving her back slightly. She thought for a moment that he was going to roll her to her back, but he had other plans.

He slid out from underneath her and gently pushed her chest down on the bed, her knees still on the floor. He got up and dashed for her dresser where he saw a small bottle of baby oil before. He moved back behind her, kneeled between her legs and poured some on her back. Then he began caressing her back with long, slow strokes. Alan loved giving massages and the idea of working on her back for a moment was too good to pass up. Besides, being able to stare at her amazing ass was definitely a bonus.

Stacy was in heaven. No man had ever tried this with her during sex. Not only was he very good with his hands and it felt wonderful, every strong touch sent a surge of electricity to her pussy. The anticipation was building as he moved further down her back toward her ass. When she finally felt him move his hands over her hips and to her legs, she moaned. Instead of moving his hands to her exposed pussy, she felt him maddeningly continue with the platonic massage. She was beginning to get frustrated when she realized that the warm sensation between her legs wasn't from her. 

She grabbed the blanket with both hands and squeezed as she felt Alan's hot breath against her sex. She tried to move back to force contact with him, but he kept his distance. She groaned in frustration and began grinding her crotch against the edge of the bed. At least it provided some relief for the fire between her legs. She couldn't see Alan's smile as he enjoyed having a small amount of power over this beauty. 

As his massage continued with no sign of escalating sexually, Stacy had managed to move herself a little closer to an orgasm. She could feel the tingling in her stomach begin as Alan's hands made it to her calves. Suddenly Stacy's eyes snapped open, she was jolted out of her sexual haze by something finally touching her aching pussy lips. She waited for a second for the touch to occur again, then finally felt it. The soft contact was almost as maddening as his refusal to touch her earlier. She ground her hips harder against the bed, feeling like she was losing her mind.

Alan flicked his tongue over her labia, just making the contact for a second. He could tell from her reaction that he was making her crazy, which was exactly what he wanted. He was almost ready to fuck and wanted it to be a complete surprise. He marveled at the way her juices tasted. He didn't know if it was natural or some kind of diet thing, but he could really get used to going down on this woman. 

He finally let his tongue stay in contact with her, tracing her outer lips, then slowly moving into her pussy. Stacy made a loud moan, and began begging him to push harder. He continued making small circles around her labia, then dragged his tongue up to her anus, inserting the tip just inside. Her moan turned into a scream as she tried reaching back to pull him against her. Alan stopped her, content to proceed at his own pace. 

When he was ready, he moved both hands around her thighs and pulled slightly as he stuck his tongue as deeply as he could into her pussy. "Yes...fuck yes!" she groaned at the intrusion. He began lapping a little more recklessly, letting his tongue wander over her clit before moving back between her lips. Her body was undulating as she tried to will herself to orgasm. 

She whined, "No!" as she felt him pull away, but was relieved when she felt the head of his prick slip into her opening. "Please Alan, fuck me now. Fuck me hard...please!" she begged. 

He pushed inside her, feeling better than he could have imagined at her responses. Once the head of his cock slipped inside her, he slowly pushed in a couple of inches. The friction against his shaft was amazing. He couldn't get any deeper without forcing himself, so he pulled back until only the tip remained in her, then pushed again, managing to get another inch deeper. 

He didn't expect to have to work so hard at getting inside her, especially with how wet she was. Her juices were literally running down her legs. It took a half-dozen thrusts to bury his prick all the way inside her and he felt like he was in heaven. After taking a moment to let her get used to him, he grabbed her hips firmly and began fucking her with abandon. She finally cried out that she was coming and he buried himself inside her, holding her close and running one hand out to squeeze a breast as she shook. 

Alan thought about how long she had been in that position and didn't want her too sore, so pulled out and urged her up onto the bed. Stacy moved up slowly, falling flat onto the bed blissfully. Alan slid up behind her and entered her with one long thrust. He had noticed the way her pussy curved while going down on her and couldn't wait to fuck her like this. She laid flat and he had his chest against her back as his prick slid into her, this time much easier. 

She sighed and tilted her hips slightly, allowing him unfettered access. He began moving quickly, his pelvis hitting her harder and harder. She moaned loudly as the rough sex was having the desired effect for both of them. He tried alternating his stroke and moving to different angles, but Stacy seemed to be responding the most to quick, hard thrusts. That was doing a lot for him too.

Stacy was desperate to cum again. The first time was amazing, but hadn't satisfied her. Now she was so close to another orgasm that she could scream. Alan was thrusting hard and fast, which was quickly getting her where she wanted. He was thick and fairly long, it felt like his cock was made just for her pussy. Every thrust caused a small ripple through her body as she inched closer and closer to release. She felt him lean close and heard him whisper that he couldn't hold out any longer. 

"I'm there too, come for me baby, do it now." Alan moved his hands underneath her chest, putting her in a crushing bear hug as he thrust deeply one more time until he was completely inside her. She felt him shake as he came harder than before and the sensation triggered her own orgasm. She came so hard that she could have sworn she blacked out for a second. 

When she regained her senses, she joked, "Alright, breathing becoming an issue." He apologized as he rolled off her quickly. They laid side-by-side, enjoying soft caresses while they recovered. Stacy marveled at the irony in the events of the evening. She was now kicking herself for being so superficial that she never gave this amazing man a chance before. 

She laid there quietly for several minutes, enjoying his closeness. Now that she was here, she had no idea how to take the next step. What she originally thought of as a way to help Michelle had now become something entirely different. She no longer wanted to manipulate Alan into helping, and felt guilty for deciding to do it in the first place. She knew that she had no choice, so she got a couple of beers and asked him to come back to the living room to talk.

When he was settled in, she tentatively began speaking. "Alan, I need to talk to you about something really important. But first, I need you to promise me that no matter what, you'll never tell anyone." After he assured her that he would never betray her confidence, she continued. "I need your help."

She tried to lay out the details, except for Mike's plans as quickly as possible. She watched him closely, looking for any sign of a negative reaction. When she finished, she sat still, hoping that she hadn't been wrong about him.

Alan didn't say anything for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he stood and began pacing. "You're sure she's telling you the truth about all of this?"

"Yes, there is no question that it happened just like she said. We've been able to come up with a few things, but nothing that could get her out of this safely or prove what she's saying so Ryan would have to pay for what he's done. Please Alan, we need your help." 

Alan regarded her warily, "So you went out with me as a way to get me to cooperate?"

Stacy looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "Yes. I've known you for a long time and was sure we could trust you. Since I knew you liked me, I thought you'd want to help. Especially if we..." she stopped, realizing there was no way to justify her actions. She finally understood that what seemed like a good idea had in fact hurt this sensitive man.

She looked up and saw him turning away, wiping a tear from his eye. She forgot about her own discomfort and moved quickly to him. "Alan, I had a wonderful time. You are an amazing man and I'm sorry that I didn't give you a chance a long time ago. This was the best night I've had in as long as I can remember. I didn't mean to hurt you, but my friend is in terrible trouble and I had to find a way to help her. Please believe me," she said as she made him look her in the eye, "I'm sorry, it was wrong."

Alan looked at her for a moment, trying to decide something. "You were wrong to trick me," he began. "You should have just asked me to help. Now what happens with us? If I say I don't want to help, are you through with me?" The pain in his voice was evident and made Stacy feel terrible.

"No," she cried. "I didn't know it would be like this. Please don't be angry with me, I promise I'll make it up to you if you'll just give me another chance. I was telling you the truth when I said I wanted to go out again. I was wrong to not be honest with you." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "All I can say is I'm sorry." She kissed him as tears continued falling down her face.

As he listened to her, Alan thought about what an awful situation she was in. Michelle had always been very nice to him and everyone else he knew. The idea of something like that happening to her made him feel physically ill. Stacy had done what she thought she had to in order to help her friend. Now the question was, how would he know if she was being honest about her feelings for him? He remembered how often he dreamed of one chance with this beauty and knew that this was it. If he was wrong, it would hurt. If she was telling the truth...

"All right Stacy, I'll help you." He felt encouraged by how relieved she looked. "I want you to understand. It's with no strings attached. I don't want you to feel like you need to do anything with me, I'm not a charity case."

She smiled, wiping her face with the sleeve of her robe. "I can promise that you won't ever have any doubt about whether I really want to go out with you." She hugged him and kissed his cheek tenderly.

Alan sighed, feeling relieved. "I would have helped if you had just asked. My only condition is no more lies, all right?"

"I promise I won't lie about anything," she said gratefully. She moved her lips to his, trying to show him how sincere she was. 

Alan pushed her away for a moment. "Did you know about Sarah?" he asked. When he saw her confused reaction, he smiled. "No wonder you two haven't nailed that prick yet. You need to learn how to do your research. Didn't you know that my Godmother is Ryan's secretary? That's how I got the job there in the first place." 

Stacy's mouth fell open in shock. "How the hell would I have known that? Do you think she would help us?"

"She would do just about anything for me. She is a good person and will be furious about this. I guarantee she'll do anything you ask."

Stacy sat back, overwhelmed at the turn of events. She thought about how relieved Michelle would be that they had made not one, but two allies tonight. Then she decided to worry about that tomorrow. She had something more important to take care of tonight.

"Alan, will you still take me dancing next week?" she asked hopefully.

He smiled, "I think that can be arranged. It would be nice to not have to go stag for once."

Stacy smiled back, feeling relieved. "Then I think I need to take you back to my room and make sure you accept my full apology." 

Alan grinned, happy to accept this bribe. As they walked toward her bedroom, Stacy pondered the irony of the situation. At the beginning of the date, Alan was nervous about everything. Now she felt desperate to find a way to make amends with a man she had never even thought about dating before. "It wasn't just ironic," she thought, "it's poetic justice." 

The next day, Stacy called Michelle to let her know the good news. It was perfect timing because Mike had gone out of town again the day before. Michelle was depressed because she had been given weeks of peace from her tormentors and wasn't able to share it with him. As she hung up the phone, she began to believe that they just might find a way to turn this on Ryan. 

After she hung up with Michelle, Stacy made a second phone call. If it was possible, Mike was even happier to hear the news than his wife had been. If he wasn't able to pull this off, Alan could help provide the key to freeing Michelle.

There was no celebrating for her when Mike got back Sunday night. He was quiet and she knew there was something wrong. She felt like he was carrying some kind of burden. He wouldn't talk about it, but they didn't make love and he stayed on his laptop until after she had fallen asleep.

Something was going on when she arrived at work Monday morning. Some people were hurrying to meetings, some seemed upset and all the department heads were in a hush-hush meeting. She went to her office and asked Stacy what was going on. 

"I'm not sure but it's major. I saw Ryan earlier and he looked really pissed." 

Around 10:00, Ryan called for her. No one below the department heads had been informed about the nature of the problem. Michelle wondered what could be causing this kind of uproar. 

"Son of a bitch!" she heard him yell as she walked in. "Well everything's fucked up now! Your meetings with the three managers from the West Division was a complete waste of time." 




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 04



 Author's Note: I wish to thank the everyone that helped me with this story. Special thanks to my volunteer editor Angel Love. This chapter has some violence and no sex. 

*

Michelle thought that she must be imagining things, Ryan couldn't have just said what she thought he did.

"Dead?" she heard herself repeat distantly. 

"Yeah, the idiots went for a joy ride, drunk off their asses, and wound up wrapped around a tree about 100' down a ravine. Now what the hell do I do? Do you have any idea how hard it is to set up these meetings? I can't just put an ad in the paper. If you want to get out of this anytime soon, you better come up with a way to help fix this." 

Michelle was at a loss, was Ryan really asking for her help in finding ways to degrade her? It was insane. He must be really desperate. 

Unfortunately for Ryan, the news just kept getting worse. Keith still hadn't come back to work and when his superiors went through his files, they found a very questionable deal with Ryan without any reasonable explanation. They cancelled it, making things even tougher on Ryan's department. 

After leaving, Michelle met Stacy in her office where they talked about her wildly successful date with Alan. The fact that Ryan's secretary was his Godmother was an unbelievable stroke of luck. Alan had insisted on talking to her by himself, promising that he would come by as soon as he had something to tell them. 

Before she went back to work, Stacy told Michelle some of the details of her wild night with him, smiling broadly. Michelle noticed the look in her friend's eye, indicating her liaison had become far more than the recruiting mission it started out as. Michelle envied her friend's newfound happiness, hoping it lasted longer than her usual relationships. 

"Just think about how much fun you missed out on because you wouldn't listen to me about what a great guy he was. You've always been too stubborn."

"Yeah, yeah," Stacy mumbled, "this from the queen of wise choices." She stopped cold as she realized the way that sounded. "Michelle, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..." 

"It's Ok," Michelle interrupted. "I know what you meant." She turned away to let Stacy know she wanted to be alone. She didn't want her friend to see how much the inadvertent remark hurt.

As she walked slowly from the room, Stacy wondered if she'd ever be able to have a conversation with her friend without worrying about saying the wrong thing.

They made it through the rest of the day without saying much to each other. Stacy tried apologizing again, but Michelle assured her it wasn't necessary. Tuesday brought better news when Alan stopped by to see them. Once they were in Michelle's office, he excitedly filled them in on his progress.

"Well, I have good news and better news," he stopped, suddenly feeling a little awkward about talking to Michelle for the first time since he found out the truth. 

Michelle could tell he was nervous and tried to put him at ease. "It's okay Alan," she said, touching his hand, "what going on?"

He relaxed a little, "First, I talked to Sarah. It took a while to convince her, but she is willing to help. Her only condition is that she wants to talk to Michelle first. I can promise you that she won't say anything to Ryan. She saw you coming out of his office a couple of those times," he paused, looking sadly at Michelle, "She believes you. She was so angry, I asked her to take a day off of work so that she wouldn't give anything away."

"Next," he continued, with a proud smile, "We now have a little friend helping us." He paused, enjoying the girls' confused looks. "I went into Ryan's office while he was at lunch to install some software and I made a few special upgrades. From now on, there's a file only I know about that is backing up everything he does. I'll be able to check out anything he reads or sends. I will even be able to track what sites he visits and if he does any online chats."

"Finally, I went to my friend Karen, who knows more about tech gadgets than I ever will. She gave me one of the best surveillance cameras out there. It's a fake smoke detector and will show the whole office and it records sound as well. It's wired to a recorder I set up in the empty office next door. I ran that cable and an extension chord through the ceiling. It's scary, but the whole thing only took 20 minutes to set up. I've already checked it out and you can see and hear everything he says and does in the entire room. Karen even came up with a bug I could put into Ryan's phone. It's not as reliable as the camera, but should do the job if he talks with anyone."

Stacy and Michelle sat stunned at how much he had done in such a short time. Michelle put her head in her hands and began to cry. Alan looked in alarm at Stacy, wondering if he had done something wrong.

"Michelle, this is a good thing," Stacy said softly. "We can finally get the bastard and you'll be safe."

"I know," Michelle replied. "I didn't know we could do something like this. All the things I did with them..." her voice trailed off as her sobs became uncontrollable. 

Stacy was about to move from her chair, but Alan beat her to it. He took Michelle's hand, "A lot of people don't know about all these things. You didn't have access to his office and the one being rehabbed next door. If you had tried this and been caught, something really bad might have happened. This isn't the time to blame yourself, you need to focus on keeping it together until we get something solid on him, Ok?"

Stacy flushed with pride as she watched him comfort her friend. Michelle raised her head, "But you don't understand, I've let them do such horrible things." Alan interrupted her by gently wiping a tear away with his thumb.

"Now you get a chance to pay him back," he said firmly, staring into her eyes. "When you tell your husband, you'll be able to prove you didn't have a choice." He noticed an alarmed look in Stacy's eyes and he quickly changed the subject. "I'll keep an eye on things and let you know if I find out anything, all right?" 

Michelle nodded gratefully and hugged him before he left. Stacy walked him out of the office. When they were out of earshot, he turned and asked, "What was that about, why did you give me that look."

"Well, I didn't want her to worry about Mike right now," she stammered. 

Alan looked at her very hard, "Stacy, you promised me no more lies. If you're not telling me something, we're going to have a big problem. I'm sticking my neck way out for you on nothing but your word."

"I can't Alan," she begged quietly, "It's not my secret to tell." He began to look angry, so she thought quickly. "I need to make a phone call. If you'll just give me a little time, I promise I'll tell you everything. There are some things I just can't say unless I have permission...please." 

He seemed to think for a moment, then spoke. "I want you to talk to me before the end of the day or there won't be anything for us to talk about. Do you understand?" 

Stacy nodded, then pulled him into a hug and kissed him. "That's for being so brilliant and trying to help my friend. If I can get permission to tell you everything, I'll give you something much better afterwards." Alan smiled despite his annoyance. She was positively adorable.

"...You have to let me tell him," Stacy demanded. "He has already done more than Michelle and I were able to in almost two months. He's taking a huge chance with his career and even putting himself in danger because I asked him to." She paused, "Mike, he's really special and I like him. Please don't ask me to push him away. I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone for any reason, but please, just let me tell Alan."

Mike thought for a long time. Stacy had done so much to help him and to keep Michelle safe. He didn't want her to be hurt over this. Plus this guy was taking unbelievable chances to help them. "Can you promise that he can be trusted? We're talking about me risking everything on some guy I've never even met."

"I'm sure you can trust him. He's already doing some really hairy stuff to help us. I won't tell him everything, I promise. Just let me be honest with him so I don't lose him."

Mike finally agreed, hoping this wasn't getting even more out of control than it already was.

~~~~~~

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Alan said in disbelief. 

Stacy didn't hesitate. "That's the truth, I swear. Now do you understand why I couldn't tell you."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just never thought..." he trailed off as he wondered what the hell he had gotten involved in. "Well, I guess if it was my wife I'd think about it, but damn that's just crazy. Can he really pull it off?"

Stacy looked unsure, "I don't know. It's already so screwed up, I'm really worried about him. This whole thing is such a nightmare," she said shaking her head. She put her leg over his and pulled herself into his lap, leaning her head into his shoulder. "I really need you tonight, all right. Please make love to me." 

Alan picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, where they made love, then held each other for hours. Neither could fall asleep, disturbed by what had already happened, but even more by the thought of what was coming.

~~~~~~

Wednesday, Sarah finally had the chance to talk to Michelle. The older woman promised to do anything she could to help and that no one would ever find out what she knew, no matter what. Michelle felt a little better after talking with her, even though it was incredibly embarrassing to have another person know about her secret. 

That night, Mike told Michelle that he needed to go out of town again and begged her indulgence for a little while longer. He was going to leave Thursday and wouldn't return until Sunday afternoon. She was concerned about his going away again, but considering what she had put him through, how could she complain?

Friday went without incident until the end of the day. Ryan popped by her office unannounced and ordered her to go out with him and the guys to blow off steam. She thought frantically about what to do, but couldn't think of any way out of it. She had been firm about deciding to refuse Ryan no matter what, but wasn't prepared for this. 

If Michelle refused, they probably would never get the chance to find evidence against Ryan. Mike was out of town, so she couldn't be sure she'd be safe. Alan had done something that could ruin his career to help. As she thought about how much was riding on what happened, Michelle reluctantly agreed to go, hoping once Ryan left the office, she and Stacy could think of something. 

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked her friend. "Do we give up everything now? All the things that bastard made me do and he'll just be able to walk away. "

Stacy was about to say something when Alan ran into the office, breathing heavily. "You can't go. It's a trap!"

"What are you talking about?" Michelle asked.

"Sarah warned me that something was wrong, so I went to the office and pulled today's tape. He was making plans with John and Paul. He said they were going to take you to Tony's."

Michelle felt her knees give out as she fell back against her desk. "Why, I haven't done anything wrong?" Even as she said it, she knew the answer. Ryan was a sadistic pig and wanted to take out his frustration over what had been going on. Once she went along with them, it would be too late for her to say no.

"But he wants me to go in an hour, what can I do? Is there anything from the tape that we can use?"

Alan shook his head. "It sounds bad since we know what's going on, but he could just say that you agreed to go. If they find out about the camera now, I'm screwed because there's nothing to warrant what I've done besides your word."

Stacy racked her brain frantically. Mike would kill her if she let Michelle go with them. "I don't care what the consequences are. You can't go. Remember how bad Tony hurt you last time, and that was by himself."

Michelle paced as she tried to come up with some way to get out of this without putting herself in danger or ruining their chance to get Ryan. They were so close. She couldn't give up now. Then it hit her. "Guys, give me a second, I have to make a call."

Jim was in the middle of a sales meeting with a client when his secretary knocked on the door. "Beth, I asked not to be disturbed."

"Yes sir, but it's your daughter. She says it's an emergency."

He excused himself and picked up the phone. After a brief conversation, he became very agitated. "I don't understand," he said. There was a flurry of conversation on the other end, then he said, "Don't worry, I'll be there."

He turned back to the client. "Dave, I'm sorry but I have to leave right now." He turned and hurried from the room, not even giving the man a chance to ask what was wrong. 

As he sped along the highway toward Michelle's work, Jim tried making sense of the conversation on the phone. "Dad, you have to help me, right now. There are some men that are going to hurt me unless you can get here before I have to go with them." When he told her he didn't understand, she became painfully specific. "It's the people who caused Mike's accident. They've been making me do things." As she paused, trying to find a way to continue, Jim briefly thought about asking exactly what she meant, but was afraid of the answer. "They threatened to kill him if I didn't do what they told me to." 

"I just found out they want me to come with them somewhere and they're planning to hurt me. I can't go to the police and Mike's out of town. If you don't get here before 5:00, I have to go with them. Please help me." He could feel his heart breaking at the sound of his daughter's pain. 

"There isn't time to explain," she continued, "But you have to come up with a reason why I have to go with you. If they don't believe it, Mike and I are both in danger."

Jim saw the exit he had to take and realized he only had a few minutes to come up with some kind of excuse for something he couldn't even begin to fathom. Even though he wanted to use the baseball bat he always kept behind his seat, he kept telling himself he had to trust his daughter that this situation was dangerous. He couldn't imagine how something like this could have happened, but tried to clear his head. He looked at his watch and saw that it was already 5:00. She was his little girl, if anything happened to her... 

He forced himself to stop thinking like that as he swerved, narrowly avoiding an accident. He swore to himself that whoever was responsible would wish that all he was doing was using a bat on them.

Michelle left the office slowly, trying to think of some way to stall. As she walked out the door, Ryan pulled up in front of her in his Mercedes. She looked in to see John and Paul sitting in the back seat. She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle when she was startled by the screeching of tires. She looked up to see her dad's car slide to a stop just a few feet away from her. 

"What the hell?" Ryan yelled as he got out of the front seat.

Jim quickly pulled himself out of his car. "Michelle, thank goodness I caught you, Stacy said you left."

Michelle tried to appear surprised instead of showing the incredible relief she actually felt. "Dad, what's wrong?" she asked. She hadn't had time to explain everything to him, so she could only hope that he understood enough about the situation to come up with an excuse that Ryan would have to accept without suspecting anything.

"It's your Mom," he said, running up to her. "She's at the hospital and they think she's had a heart attack. I just got the call while I was on my way home. When Stacy couldn't find you, I was so worried that you were gone. I had to come find you." He hugged Michelle and took a second to assess the situation. He expected to see mobsters or thugs, but instead saw three well-dressed businessmen in a fancy car. He knew Michelle would never have said the things she did unless she was serious, so he wanted to get her out of there as fast as possible. "We have to go now."

As they turned to walk away, Michelle heard Ryan mutter in frustration. When they got in the car, Jim put it in reverse and pulled quickly away. 

During the trip to her house, Michelle checked the rearview mirror constantly, making sure Ryan wasn't following them. She couldn't believe the level of paranoia that she felt. This situation had obviously pushed her past her breaking point. When they got to her house, they went inside where Michelle made them both some tea. Then she did the second hardest thing she could imagine, telling her father everything.

When she finished, he held her as she cried. He wanted to go home and get his gun, but she begged him not to. "Now that Alan is helping, we really believe we can prove I'm innocent and send his ass to jail," she said bitterly. 

"You mean you'd be willing to go along with them for a while longer? You can't be that worried about this embezzlement nonsense, Michelle. There's no way for him to frame you for something like that. It wouldn't hold up in court."

"No, I won't let him touch me," she said, avoiding his eyes. "He just caught me by surprise today. They haven't tried anything in weeks, so I thought there was still time to get evidence against him before I had to tell Mike. Forget about the blackmail, if I can't prove my story, Ryan's going to get away with everything. The worst thing he'd have to face is getting fired." Michelle paused, "If I can't prove they were threatening Mike's life, how can I ever face him?"

"Michelle," he scolded softly, "he's your husband. You don't have to go through this to prove something to him."

"Yes I do," she said firmly. "I should have told him the day Ryan made a pass at me. Everything that happened after that is my fault for keeping it from him. Now I'm in so much trouble that I need to at least be able to convince him that I didn't do this for myself. I don't expect him to forgive me, but if I can prove they forced me, maybe he won't hate me afterwards." Her father just shook his head, wondering how any man could deal with what Mike would be hit with.

Later, Jim took her back to work and picked up her car. She followed him back to her parent's house where she spent the rest of the weekend. Sunday, Michelle and both her parents went to her house where they waited for Mike to get back. When he came home in the afternoon, Michelle and Mary worked on lunch for everyone while Mike went downstairs for his workout. 

When Jim made his way down the stairs later, he could hear Mike hitting the heavy bag hard. They had anchored it at both ends so he could work his kickboxing practice along with punching. Mike hadn't seriously worked on his martial arts in years, but had used it to rehab from the accident. Once he found out about what happened to Michelle, he had been working at an insane pace that he couldn't hope to sustain. It didn't matter because he knew he had to be ready, for Michelle's sake. Right now he was giving the bag an incredible workout. 

"Easy Mike, you're going to break something." 

Mike never looked back at him but muttered under his breath, "I don't care." 

That comment didn't go unnoticed by his father. "What's that supposed to mean," he said suspiciously. 

Mike paused to catch his breath and leaned his head against the bag. "It means that if you hadn't been there Friday, what would have happened would have been all my fault."

Jim was caught off guard. "How did you find out?"

"Stacy called me while Michelle was calling you. She kept me updated until you picked her up. That son of a bitch did something out of his normal routine and surprised me. I'm sure he was planning something really bad. If you hadn't been there..." He started hitting the bag again, trying to find some way to vent his frustration.




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 04



Jim tried to measure his words. "You mean you've known all along and let her go through this alone?"

After taking another break from hitting the bag, Mike took a deep breath and started telling him everything that had happened since he followed Michelle to the hotel room. When he finished, Jim paused to take it all in. He was impressed with Mike's plan. It was incredibly well thought out and daring. 

"Was the trip successful?" 

Mike looked up and smiled for the first time all day, "Completely."

Monday at work, Ryan tried to reach Michelle, but her secretary informed him that she was at the hospital with her mother. "Fucking luck," he thought.

The party Friday night would have been one to remember. There were two video cameras to record everything, the four men and a hooker Tony had picked up. They wound up using her all night, but it wasn't anything like it should have been. For several weeks now, it seemed like Michelle always had a good reason for not being available and it was beginning to concern him. He wasn't sure if it was bad luck or if she was doing it on purpose. This was a really bad time for her to be getting out of control, he was already dealing with a bad situation that was getting worse. 

He decided to call Bill to ask what he should do. The relationship between the two men had been steadily declining since things started going badly with the plan. Ryan was in so far over his head with this situation that he had no idea what to do next.

"What now, Ryan?" Bill asked wearily. He was getting sick of the whining. Now that it looked like Ryan wasn't going to get his promotion, it certainly wasn't worth the headache. 

We need to stay together now, Bill. Things are really getting out of control on my end. I need your help." He heard deep breathing for a moment while Bill was thinking.

"Listen, your promotion is probably shot, you already know that. From what you said, you were going to push her as far as you could last weekend. You're lucky that you didn't blow the whole thing. You're not a pimp. This isn't some messed up junkie streetwalker. You have to be careful with her if you're going to keep her under your thumb. I think I can persuade her to keep cooperating. Have John and Paul meet me with her at the same place as the first time this Saturday and we'll make sure she learns her place."

He smiled as he hung up the phone. He was ready for another piece of the housewife and wanted to see if there was a possibility of taking over her training. She could be very valuable to him with the way he conducted business. Instead of banging her at the office and taking all kinds of chances with her, Ryan should have been dialing down the brutality. The asshole had no idea how to handle people, especially women.

If Bill stepped in and offered to get Ryan off of her back, Michelle might just be willing to agree to an arrangement that was less stressful on her and her marriage. Bill envisioned a night once a month or even less for her services. She might even look at it like he was helping her. The police do the 'good cop, bad cop' thing all the time, Bill thought it might work here. 

Although he usually worked with escorts to help with businessmen, they were notoriously unreliable. He'd never have to worry about someone like Michelle getting strung out on drugs or trying to work her own angle for money. If he could get her to go along with him, she'd be ideal. Besides she was amazingly hot and hadn't lost that air of innocence. He'd been with her twice and the second time was a remarkable improvement. If she continued getting better like that, she had serious potential.

If she wouldn't go along, Bill decided he was out. Ryan had nothing on him, so he could walk away clean. He knew the signs of a good situation going bad and this one had the potential to be catastrophic. If everything went to shit, he'd just take his money and disappear, but he didn't think it would come to that. He never let Ryan have anything concrete that could implicate him. As always, he would walk away like a ghost.

When Ryan hung up, he felt a little better. If things didn't work with Michelle after this weekend, he decided to cut her loose and give her the transfer she wanted. He figured she would be so grateful, that he wouldn't have anything to fear, plus he always had the pictures for insurance. Things were going to heat up because of the mess with Keith, but if Ryan could weather the storm, he would still be better off than when he fucked up at the party. In addition he got to fuck the woman he'd been lusting after for two years. Now he just had to work out the details for this weekend. Maybe he could still salvage this disaster.

Alan watched the tape of Ryan hanging up the phone and smiled. "Got you, fucker!" He hit the stop button and basked in his moment of victory. He immediately dialed the phone. "Mike, it's Alan. We've got something."

~~~~~

"...But the one thing he made me promise was to not tell Michelle. The rest has to be a surprise." As Alan filled Stacy in on what he had told Mike, she felt relieved to no longer be in the middle of everything. Her admiration for her new boyfriend (she smiled as she found herself using the word boyfriend about him) continued to grow. He had taken everything that had been thrown at him in stride. Now he was even taking charge. She had felt overloaded for weeks trying to protect and comfort her friend, then having to lie to her as she helped Mike. She kissed Alan gently on the lips, just to let him know how amazing he was.

Wednesday, Ryan told Michelle there was to be another meeting this weekend, this time with Bill. He warned her that there better not be any excuses this time, or the consequences would be harsh. She looked him in the eye and agreed, knowing that she'd die first.

"Don't worry, it's been taken care of," Stacy told her when she got back to her office. 

Michelle was stunned, "I don't understand, how?"

"Sarah and I are going to play a little game of phone tag with the bastards and everything will get screwed up at the last minute. Just act like you are expecting everything to happen the way he told you. Don't worry, none of it will look like your fault, so Ryan can't be angry. When Monday comes, he'll be so pissed that he'll be making phone calls and having meetings. Then we'll have him, I promise. No matter what, you can tell Mike the first thing next week and we'll all back you. It will be over." 

Michelle hugged her friend and could only hope she was right. As they embraced, Stacy felt a rush at being able to tell her enough to relieve her fears. Stacy also felt incredible anxiety about the end of Mike's plan, knowing what was involved, but by now believed with all her heart that he could pull it off.

That night, Jim and Mary came over. They all started watching a movie upstairs. Mike told them to keep enjoying it. He had to go to the basement to do his workout. He gave Mikki a kiss on the forehead and said he'd come back up in a few hours when he was done. He made sure to tell her he loved her, just in case.

Jim gave him a curt nod, letting Mike know it was OK to go. Not only would he make sure Michelle was OK, Jim would keep anyone from going downstairs until Mike got back. When he reached the basement, Mike got the bag he had packed earlier in the day and snuck out the door, heading for the city. 

Stacy had found the address for him the previous week. After the close call Friday, it took all his self control to wait, but the plan had to be followed. When he arrived, he put on the padded sparring shirt, wrapped his hands and slipped on the brass knuckles. He couldn't afford to break a finger or leave any blood, creating too many questions. This was the only part of this he was going to allow himself to enjoy.

He walked in the bar and slipped quietly upstairs, no one noticing the shadowy figure. He didn't stand out, which is exactly how he planned it when he scouted the bar the first time. He knocked quietly on the door. He heard rustling from inside and a gruff voice say, "Who is it?" 

Mike couldn't help but smile as he waited for Tony's surprise. The door opened and Mike saw a man who stood 6" taller and outweighed him by 75 pounds. 

Looking suspiciously at Mike, he asked, "Who the fuck are you?" 

"We haven't met, I'm Michelle's husband," Mike answered as he punched the startled security guard in the nose, smashing it completely. Tony stumbled back into the room surprised, but recovered quickly. Mike knew that Tony was a street fighter and wouldn't give up easily. 

"You got me with a cheap shot but one's all you get," he sputtered, blood flowing from his nose. Tony moved in and tried to land a wild hook but Mike stepped away easily. 

Mike snarled, "I hope you enjoyed your date with Michelle, because it's the last one you're going to have." He tried a jab followed by a right cross but Tony's size advantage made him miss badly. 

Tony tried to distract Mike by making him angry. "Oh, every time I fuck your wife in the ass I have a good time. You should have seen the party we had ready for her last Friday. Trust me, after I'm done with you, we'll make sure she gets a second chance." 

He moved in and tried to crowd the smaller man, which would give him the clear advantage. It turned out to be a serious mistake. At the last second Mike spun and gave him a side-kick to the face, dislocating his jaw. 

"Aawww!" he groaned in pain as he fell to the floor. 

For the first time he could remember, Tony was worried about losing a fight. Mike was quick and hitting harder than he could believe. He got back to his feet in time to catch a fast left-right in the ribs, then Mike backed away. Tony had lost the will to fight. It was obvious he was outclassed and he couldn't breathe through the broken nose. Blood covered his whole face and was soaked into his shirt. He felt a little dizzy and realized that there was no way he could win.

"All right, I give up," he said miserably. 

"Wrong answer bitch!" Mike moved in again, hitting with an uppercut that snapped a rib loudly. 

Tony staggered back with tears in his eyes and begged, "Please, I give." 

Mike paused, "I'm sorry, I guess I should have explained when I got here. This isn't the kind of dance we both walk away from." 

Tony looked at him in shock. Could he have heard right? It wasn't possible. Then his small mind got around the disappearance of Keith and the death of the three managers and it hit him. 

"You're going to kill all of us." 

"Yep," Mike said with a detached voice that sent chills through the injured man. He thought about the sadistic pictures of Tony hurting Michelle that Alan found of on Ryan's hard drive. Then he moved in again and began hitting as hard and fast as he could.

...He snuck out of the apartment 10 minutes later exhausted, trying to make sure he wasn't seen. He picked up the bag he left in the hallway and slipped a video into it. It was plain other than the name 'Michelle' written in magic marker on the back. As he turned to leave, he breathed a sigh of relief and said grimly to himself, "Five down, four to go."

When he arrived home, there was no fanfare. He snuck in the backdoor and immediately went downstairs, hoping there hadn't been any unexpected complications. He hid the video behind his workbench where Michelle couldn't find it. The bag and his bloodstained clothes were gone, burned in a metal garbage can he passed on the way home. He rinsed the blood from his arms and face, so he could go upstairs to kiss his wife. As he walked up the stairs, he wished more than anything that he could tell her Tony wouldn't bother her again.

Thursday night, Mike announced he had to leave again on Friday. He promised it was the last trip for work. Michelle tried not to show him how scared she was but asked him not to go. He told her sadly that it was important, but suggested she spend the weekend with her parents. He knew if she went to their house, there was no way Ryan or the others could bother her. 

~~~~~~~ 

When Ryan arrived at work Monday, he asked Sarah to summon both John and Paul. 

She gave him a strange look and said, "I can't sir."

"Why, what's going on?" he said with obvious annoyance.

"Sir, the police called earlier." She saw Ryan pale slightly. "John's wife reported him missing yesterday. He and Paul left together Friday and no one's seen either of them since."

Ryan turned without saying a word to her and hurried into his office to call Bill. There was supposed to be another meeting with Bill, John and Paul Saturday. He never heard from anyone after work on Friday, so didn't know what had happened. Maybe Bill would know what happened to the others.

When Ryan finally got through to Bill's secretary, she informed him that no one had heard from him since work on Friday. Ryan hung up the phone and fell into his chair. With Keith, John, Bill and Paul missing, and the accident earlier, there was no way this was a coincidence. He looked at the spot where he first fucked Michelle and realized that he needed to do something fast. Michelle sat in her office trying to absorb the news. She wondered how something could have happened to both of them. Stacy told her that she didn't know anything except she and Sarah had left false messages for both of them Friday. Michelle could play innocent and say she went where she was supposed to go and waited. She was stirred by Stacy's voice telling her that Ryan wanted to see her. 

"Well, this should be interesting," she thought.

She went to his office and was greeted by a very distressed Ryan. "I want to know what's going on. Did you meet with them Saturday?" he demanded. 

She tried to be as convincing as possible. "I waited at the bar all night and no one ever showed. It was a complete waste of time." 

Ryan didn't like her tone, it sounded like she wasn't afraid of him anymore. 

"What's going on? I can't reach anyone, don't think I don't know you're trying to pull something."

Michelle was floored as she realized Ryan actually thought she was behind everything going wrong. She thought quickly about what she should say, then decided it would be too risky to pretend to know something she didn't. "I don't know what you're talking about, but remember, bad things always happen to bad people." 

Ryan considered her for a moment. He couldn't tell what her game was, but had no doubt that she was involved somehow. He was already planning on cutting her loose if things didn't go well, and they couldn't have gone much worse. "Fine, if you want out of this once and for all, come by my place tonight. I'll give you the pictures and erase the account information. Then we can walk away and you can go back to your life. I'm not going to be here much longer anyway. The head office is already asking questions around the deals I set up. Now that they've fallen through, I'm screwed. You can have my damn job for all I care. Now get out." 

Michelle was ecstatic as she realized he was afraid of her and thought everything that happened was her doing. She was almost free!

"...And are you going to tell him?" Stacey said with her hands on her hips. 

She looked down at the floor, "Yes, I was alone with Ryan once, and that's how all this started. Do you think I'd actually let him put me in that position now? I just don't know how I'm going to be able to do it. If he won't come with me to Ryan's, I don't know what I'll do."

"He will go with you, trust him. No matter what, he'd never let anything happen to you."

The two embraced and Michelle told Stacy how grateful she was for all her help. Stacy smiled, thinking, 'You don't know the half of it.' As she watched Michelle leave, Stacy immediately picked up the phone and began dialing.

When she arrived home, she found Mike working in front of his laptop again. She took a deep breath, trying to think of some way to make this easier for him.

"Mike," she began unsteadily, "I need to talk to you." He stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. 

"Something happened the day of your accident..." Despite her resolve, she began to tear up and couldn't continue. 

"Mikki, I just wanted to know you were ready to be honest with me. I already know everything. Stacy called to let me know you were finally coming home to tell me."

She sat back down in shock. "You knew? When?" 

"The night you met the three businessmen in the hotel. I followed you there because I thought you were having an affair. When I saw you go into the room with them, I went out..." he suddenly felt embarrassed. "I went to a bar and got drunk. Stacy saw me driving and followed me to the motel. She told me everything." 

Michelle didn't know whether to be thrilled she didn't have to explain this horrible mess, or incredibly angry that he let her believe he didn't know. She ran shaking fingers through her hair as tears appeared in her eyes. 

"How could you pretend you didn't know?" 

He stared pointedly into her eyes. "How could you look me in the eye and lie to me about it?"

She couldn't think of anything to say to possibly defend herself. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know what to do. I would do anything to take it back." She stopped talking as the futility of defending her actions overwhelmed her.

Mike felt for her pain, but couldn't help her right now. "We'll worry about that later. Right now we have to go to Ryan's. It's time to finish this." They drove in silence all the way. She had no idea what to say to him. All along she was preparing speeches and thinking of how to answer accusations. To find him already knowing everything was too much to deal with. 

Mike was lost in his own thoughts. Michelle hadn't figured it out yet but it had to be because of the shock. It was far too obvious to miss. He hoped she wouldn't see it until they arrived at Ryan's. He needed to focus everything on that son of a bitch to make this work. Sadly, he also knew it would be better for the plan if she found out along with Ryan. He hated having to play with her like this after all she'd been through.

Ryan was sitting on his couch drinking when he heard the doorbell ring. When he answered the door, he got the shock of his life. He had a little going away party planned for Michelle, but when her husband showed up too, he was stunned. 

"Uh...Mike, what are you doing here." 

"Save it Ryan, it's time to end this," he said as he pushed his way past him into the house. 

Ryan caught up with him in the living room. "Listen, I don't know what she's told you but..." 

Mike interrupted him, grabbing him by the collar with both hands and pulling his face close. "Ryan, I don't think you understand. Does the phrase 'Eight down and one to go' mean anything to you?" Ryan's face lost all it's color. Mike couldn't see her, but Michelle's face was a mirror of Ryan's.

"You...you are the one responsible for Paul, John and the others?" 

"Don't forget Tony, Keith and your three manager friends." 

He looked confused, "Tony, I didn't know. How?" 

Mike smiled maniacally, "Actually, it's kind of a funny story now that you mention it. You see I went to see him at his place. While we were talking, I thought about the time you had him rape my wife and I beat him to death with my bare hands." 

Ryan's head spun. This couldn't be happening. Everything had unraveled and he was terrified. He scrambled back quickly and hit a button behind him on the wall. 

"You better leave me alone. The police will be here in minutes!" 

Mike wasn't moved, "Let them come. I've done too much to walk away from this. I just have one more loose end to tie up." Mike was sure he heard sobbing from behind him. He tried to shut it out to focus everything on the task at hand.

Ryan's fear overcame him. Tony was a monster, if this guy killed him, there was no hope. "What do you want from me?" 




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 04



"Well, let's start with any photos or videos you have of my wife." 

"Sure," he said, trying to sound helpful. "I already had them out. I was going to give them back and we were going to be done with this whole mess." 

Mike snarled, "I'm sure." 

"No really, I know the whole thing was wrong. It just got out of control. Bill was the one in charge. The other guys..."

"Oh, you mean like Keith?" 

Mike then pulled a small camcorder from his pocket. He hit play and held it up so Ryan could see the view screen. On it was an emaciated Keith. He was pale, thin and begging for his life. It appeared he was locked in some sort of cellar with a metal grate keeping him from escaping. The light of the camera showed his surroundings to be something out of a nightmare. No windows, stone floor, one blanket, a bucket of water and little else except some papers on the floor. They were too far away to make out. 

He was pleading, "I didn't know, I swear I would have never done it if I had known. When he showed me the picture, I thought she was beautiful and I just wanted to meet her. Please..." 

Michelle was sick to her stomach. She hated violence and this was far beyond that. She couldn't believe Mike was capable of this kind of abject cruelty. The image of Mike torturing then killing him, it was too terrible to think about. Moreover, her worst fear had been realized. Mike had thrown his life away because of what she had done. The guilt was too much to bear. 

Ryan had gone far beyond fear for his life. If this crazy fucker had done that to Keith, what would he do to the man who set it up? He was willing to do anything to be spared. 

"Please, anything you want. I'll give you everything I have. I'll go away anywhere you want. Don't kill me!" 

Michelle hadn't had time to absorb everything she had seen and heard but she didn't want Mike to go any further than he already had. Maybe there was still some way he could walk away from this. 

"Mike please. You can't do this!" Michelle begged. 

"It's too late, it's already done," he replied without any apparent emotion. 

"But if you go through with it, you won't be the man I married. I'll never be able to look at you the same again." 

"It doesn't matter," he dead panned, "This is what I have to do. Your feelings don't have anything to do with it." 

She looked at him with such pain, he wondered if he could keep this up. 

"This was my decision to make and I'm willing to live with the consequences. I guess you could say it's my turn to sacrifice," he said ruefully. 

She barely acknowledged his words as she thought about how much she had lost already. He watched sadly as the only woman he had ever loved, turned and slowly walked out the door, to wait for the police. 

Mike wished there was another way but the plan had worked until now, so he couldn't risk altering it. He turned his attention back to Ryan. 

"OK scumbag, you're the type of guy who likes deals, so I've got one for you. You go get every ounce of evidence you have about what the nine of you did to my wife, bring it here and if I think it's convincing enough, I'll let you call the cops back and confess. You can turn yourself in and take your chances with them. If they arrive before I'm convinced, I'm going to make what I did to Tony look like a fairy tale."

Ryan felt a spark of hope. Yes! He could get a good lawyer and fight this. He might be able to win this in court. Plus he could take this cocky son of a bitch down. 

He rushed to his computer and printed out the files he had been ready to delete. When he came back, he handed the info to Mike. 

Mike quickly looked it over and decided to play the last card. He picked up the phone and dialed 911. It picked up on the second ring. 

"911 operator, please state the nature of your emergency." 

"Yes Ma'am, I have someone here who wants to say something to you." He held the phone by Ryan's head and made a threatening gesture. Ryan knew he had no other choice. 

"This is Ryan Stilling, I want to make a confession..."

The police held Mike for three days. He could have gotten a lawyer and forced them to file charges or let him go but it wasn't part of the plan. He had to let them hit him with everything and not falter so they had no choice but to look elsewhere. All he could do was to wait for his 'surprise' for them and hope it would be enough.

He hadn't heard anything about Michelle while being held, which he took as a good sign. He was afraid she might tell the cops what she knew, but she had maintained he didn't know anything about her ordeal until they went to Ryan's. She had told them she left the room before his confrontation with Ryan, so didn't know what they talked about. His biggest regret was the look she gave him before leaving the living room. He wished he had been able to warn her about Keith.

~~~~~

"Dad, can you come pick me up? I'm at the police station." Michelle was exhausted. The police had questioned her for hours. She thought that Mike was going to kill Ryan too and was glad that he had at least let the police take him. Although it made her sick beyond reason to see the direction this had taken, she wouldn't betray him. 

It wasn't that she was angry for what he had done. She was grateful it was over. There was no way she would shed a tear for those monsters. Even though they got what they deserved, this was a side of Mike she had never seen or even imagined. To be capable of that kind of hatred and violence, it frightened her. 

Especially when she thought about Keith. Mike had every right to be angry with them and her, but Keith hadn't known what was going on and had even been kind to her. It seemed that he was treated far more severely than anyone else, even Tony. 

"Tony," just thinking his name made her shudder. How is it possible that Mike could have taken him down with his bare hands? Just as she had been afraid she having to cooperate with this madness was destroying everything good about her, she feared Mike's actions had done the same to him. He plotted, planned and carried out a crime beyond her wildest imagination. What was left of the man she fell in love with?

When her father arrived to pick her up, she ran to his arms, where she stayed for several minutes. He finally ushered her into the car. She told him a small part of what was going on but begged him not to press her further for now. Jim didn't tell her what he knew because he was concerned with putting her under even more stress. 

The next day, they drove to her house. She wanted to pick up some things to take back to her parents house, where she was staying until she decided what to do. As they were packing, she broke down often thinking about her life and what she had done to it.

When they arrived back at Jim and Mary's house, Michelle went straight to her room. She was staring sadly out the window when she heard the front doorbell ring.

Her dad's voice carried up the stairs, "Michelle, there's someone here to see you." 

She figured it was Stacy and walked down the stairs. She wondered how to possibly say thank you for all that her friend had done to help her throughout this mess.

Michelle reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Stacy talking with a man. Michelle couldn't tell who it was because his back was to her. Stacy looked up at her with a curious expression. The man got to his feet and turned.

"Keith?" was the last thought Michelle had as the shock overcame her and everything went black.

"...Michelle, can you hear me?" Stacy's voice cut through the fog. 

Michelle realized she somehow had wound up on the couch. She slowly opened her eyes to see her father and Stacy looking at her with concern on their faces. There was a cold rag on her forehead and she could feel the drops of water falling down the side of her face.

"What happened?" she asked. 

Stacy moved closer and took her hand. "You scared the hell out of us, that's what happened. I'm sorry, I should have come upstairs and warned you."

Michelle sat up suddenly, remembering the last image before she passed out. "Did I see Keith?"

The answer came from the other side of the room. "Yes Michelle, I'm here."

She turned toward the voice and saw the man she thought her husband had killed in cold blood. Words failed her as she tried to ask a dozen questions at once.

He looked infinitely better than he had on the video Mike had shown to Ryan. His tan was back and he looked fit. The only difference she noticed in him from their 'meeting' was the circles under his eyes. She thought he looked much older than before and appeared sad.

Michelle finally found her voice. "How is this possible? I thought you were dead?"

Keith smiled and replied, "Evidently Ryan thought so too. That was the whole point."

Stacy softly spoke. "Keith wanted to come here to see you. He wants to apologize and to help explain the things Mike did. Do you want to talk to him?"

Michelle nodded affirmatively but still found it difficult to focus. She had been in shock since the confrontation at Ryan's house. 

Keith came to the couch and knelt beside her. "Michelle, first I need to ask you to please forgive me. When Ryan proposed the meeting with you..." he paused as he realized the confession was being made right next to her father. 

With some difficulty, he resumed. "I agreed because I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. He told me you were unhappy with your marriage and liked to fool around with clients. I wanted to meet you so badly, I told him I'd consider their lousy proposal. I thought of it as a date, I never assumed we would..." Again he faltered, unable to say it in front of Jim. 

He indicated Keith should continue. "I never had any idea that they were making you do that. I swear to you that if I had known, I would not have gone along with it and I would have contacted the police immediately."

Michelle seemed to come out of her haze a little. "I never thought you were like the others. I told Stacy that I didn't think you knew."

Keith seemed relieved. "I'm glad you feel that way. It's important to me that you know the truth." 

"When Mike grabbed me, I was scared out of my mind. He was so angry I really thought he was going to kill me. Instead, he took me to a park where he talked to me for over an hour. Once he told me everything I was so appalled with what I'd been involved in, I said I'd do anything to help. Anyway, he told me if I didn't cooperate I'd be facing charges along with the others."

"He took me to his friend's place in the woods for a couple of weeks. I hid out there, I skipped a lot of meals and stayed in out of the sun. It made my 'video appearance' more convincing. After we made the tape, I went to a resort I stayed at once. I took the last two weeks to get myself back to normal. Stacy called me a couple of times to keep me up to date on what was going on. She used a pay phone so that there wouldn't be anything connecting me with any of you. That plan of your husband's was good. He's really quite a guy."

Michelle smiled, nodding her agreement. "I guess he's full of surprises, although I still don't understand why he let me believe he didn't know."

"Because he was protecting you," Stacy added. "He knew how dangerous things were going to get and couldn't take the chance that you would make any mistakes around Ryan or the others. If you didn't know, you were safer. Plus, you're reaction helped convince Ryan that it was either confess or face something really terrible."

Michelle still wasn't sure. "OK but why was it so important for him to think Keith died so horribly? What about the others?"

"None of us knew what it would take to make Ryan confess." Jim chimed in. "Mike felt from the beginning that he needed an ace in the hole to make sure he could scare that bastard badly enough. More importantly, Keith was the insurance to get you both out of this mess, no matter what happened."

"Why?" Michelle asked perplexed.

Keith spoke up. "Because I could protect both of you depending on how things worked out. The only way to get Ryan to confess, was for Mike to reveal everything and then he'd be looking at jail. We both are hoping that when I turn myself in today for my part in your assault that it will destroy Ryan's credibility. If his account of the confession doesn't hold up and the police can't find any corroborating evidence, they'll have to let your husband go."

"If Mike had failed," he paused to let Michelle absorb his implication, "I would have gone to the police to demand they take you into protective custody. I promised Mike that if something happened to him, I would make sure you were safe."

Michelle looked at him with amazement. "Mike thought he might die?"

Jim brushed the hair from her face lovingly. "He knew there were no guarantees he could pull this all off. You didn't know for sure who ran him off the road. There were no guarantees that someone wouldn't come after him. He needed Keith to be ready to step forward if something bad happened. It was the only way he could be sure you'd be safe. Mike promised Keith on video that you and Stacy would back him that he didn't know about the blackmail. Keith was going to lose his job but that was already a forgone conclusion when Stacy tipped his company off about the suspicious deal he made with Ryan."

Keith tentatively took her hand. "Michelle, you need to know that Mike didn't kill the three men in the accident either." Noting her surprised look, he continued. "He was planning to blackmail them. Stacy tricked them into being together where he could get to them at the same time. One of the men recognized him from a picture in your office. They panicked and drove away. Mike had to chase them or risk everything being ruined. They were speeding and just drove off the road. He let Ryan assume he was responsible but it wasn't his fault." 

Michelle couldn't say anything as she realized that for the second time in three days, everything she believed had been turned upside down.

~~~~~

The police thought they had Mike dead to rights based on the circumstantial evidence plus Ryan's statement, until Keith showed up at the station alive and well. They were shocked when he told them he was just back from a vacation he took to make his decision about turning himself in for his part in the blackmailing of Michelle. The video camera Ryan claimed to have seen had disappeared before the police arrived, so they had to assume Ryan had been lying.

Keith brought the pictures that Ryan had sent him of Michelle. He claimed that he was told she was willing, but after meeting with her had figured out the truth. He told the police he called her office yesterday to offer to help, but her secretary told him about the developments and he decided to turn himself in. With Ryan's confession and the evidence Mike got at the house, Ryan didn't have a prayer. He was looking at life for conspiracy, assault, rape, facilitating rape, etc...

Because Mike hadn't left any evidence at Tony's, there was nothing to tie him to the death. His alibi was rock-solid, his wife and her parents said they were together at his house all night. Besides, Mike sure didn't look like he could be the one responsible for the pummeling the brute had sustained. Tony was a complete lowlife and there could have been dozens of people who would want to see him dead. 

There was absolutely nothing tying Mike to the accident and he was out of town at the time. What they didn't know was that he had flown to his friend Dave's house where Keith had been. He and Dave had taken turns driving sixteen hours to reach the managers. Even though it didn't go as planned, there was no way to for the police to link him to the deaths. 

All in all, the cops knew there was a good chance that he was involved somehow but there was no way to prove any of it. When he had the chance to take out the person who started everything, he did exactly what he should have, called the police and let them handle it. Mike had pulled it off, they had to let him go.

He sadly headed out of the police station, exhausted and depressed. Now that this was over, he had to deal with the reality of the pain that was inflicted on his wife and how her decision hurt him too. He didn't know what he would do if their marriage was over but he kept his promise to protect her and that's all he could do. 

He saw Stacy waving to him from her car across the street. There was a man with her he assumed was Alan. Mike thought about how strange it was that they had taken so many chances, but never had the chance to meet. 

As she gave him a giant hug and cried on his shoulder, he whispered, "I owe you everything. If you ever need anything, you call me and I promise I'll be there." 

She smiled, "I'll remember that." She introduced Alan and the two men shook hands vigorously. Mike looked over the younger man and smiled. 

"So you're the one trying to keep Stacy busy. All I can say is good luck." Alan looked mildly embarrassed, but Stacy pinched Mike hard on the arm. They got in the car and drove off. 

Mike suddenly got serious again, "Alan, did you get all that stuff out of Ryan's office? If anyone finds it, you are going to be in serious trouble."

Alan tried to reassure him, "I took out everything before anyone knew about Ryan being arrested. I kept the tapes in case you need them for anything."

Mike shook his head, "We've got enough on him, I'm sure. The tapes wouldn't be admissible anyway, it would just tip the cops off. You're safer if they never know that you were involved at all. If they ever find a way to nail me, they'll be looking for accomplices and I couldn't stand either of you getting in trouble over this." The car got quiet again as all three realized that this would never be completely over.

Mike felt like he was in slow motion as they rounded the corner to his street. He saw Jim's car in front of the house and wondered if her parents were picking up Mikki's stuff. They pulled into the driveway and he got out. 

As he got to the door, Jim stepped out and gave him a huge hug picking him off of the ground. "You gave my little girl her life back. Thank you." 

Mike was about to tell him that he was afraid he had lost her, when he heard a noise and looked over Jim's shoulder. 

There she was, just like the first time he saw her. The beautiful woman he couldn't hope to win, so far out of his league. She looked just like that first night when she entered his room. She was even wearing his shirt and had her hair in a pony tail like he loved so much.

Mike felt his stomach in knots like when they first met. What was going on? Was she waiting for him or did he just arrive at the wrong time? 

"Michelle?" he tentatively began. 

She ran to him and hugged him as hard as she could. "Mike, I'm so sorry baby, I love you." 

He looked around in shock, not knowing how this was possible. 

"Dad, Stacy and Keith told me everything. You were willing to sacrifice everything, to save me. I don't know what to say." 

Mike spoke up, "I thought I'd lost you. The way you looked at me that night at Ryan's..."

Michelle felt herself flush. The one thing that kept her going through this was him. She knew he had been hurt terribly by her not having faith in him to protect them and by the things she had been forced to do. She couldn't say anything to make it up to him but she would do anything to try.

They kissed urgently, trying to drive the recent horrors from their memories. He heard someone clear their throat and broke the kiss, realizing that everyone was standing around waiting for them. They went into the house to celebrate the homecoming a little more privately. Two hours later, the others went home, leaving the couple to deal with what remained.

Michelle was anxious to make love to him like the week before. She tried to pull him up the stairs, but he ushered her to the couch instead. He sat and pulled her next to him. "Mikki, I know how terrible this has been for you, but we can't just pick up where we left off. I did the things I had to in order to protect you. I couldn't let you suffer, especially when you chose this to protect me. But you have to see that this changes everything."




True Meaning Of Sacrifice Ch. 04



As they held each other, Mike could feel her trembling. As her sobs became more pronounced he turned her on the couch to face him. 

"Mikki, are you OK?"

She couldn't look him in the eyes. "I don't understand how you can even look at me after everything I did."

Mike took a deep breath as the conversation he had been dreading for weeks began. "Mikki, I know you didn't want this. I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to take a long time to get over the fact that you chose this for us instead of trusting me. But I know that you did because you thought you didn't have a choice."

She raised her eyes to meet his, "I would do anything to be able to take it back. I kept thinking I could find a way out. I was so stupid. The way you reacted, I never would have imagined it." 

Mike felt himself flush angrily. "Do you mean that you thought I wasn't the kind of man who could handle it?"

Michelle sat up quickly, "No! I didn't mean it that way, I swear. I was so scared, I just didn't know what to do. You were going to be in the hospital for weeks. I promise you I never would have listened to Ryan's threats if you weren't already hurt. They had me convinced that they were so dangerous that neither of us was safe. Once you were better, I wanted to tell you but I was afraid you'd hate me. Please believe me."

Her voice was so sorrowful that Mike drove away his own dark thoughts to comfort her. He stroked her hair and held her to his chest while they talked.

"It's alright, I do. If we're going to try to make this work, the first thing is that you have to see someone. You've been through way too much to try and deal with this on your own. Once we're both sure you're ready, we'll work on us. Is that something you're willing to do?"

Michelle looked away again, "I'll do anything to make this pain go away. I just wish you didn't have to feel it too."

"Mikki, this happened to both of us, we'll face it together. I didn't go through all of this just to lose you now. You need to understand though, no matter why you did it, you lied to me. Even if I can get past the things that happened, I don't know how I'm going to learn to trust you again. I promise that I'll try, but we need to take things slowly. It's going to take a lot of healing for both of us."

They sat in silence for a long time. Michelle knew he was right and it was going to take a long time to make things better. Something was gnawing at the back of her mind, but she couldn't put her finger on what. Finally she realized the one question that hadn't been addressed. Almost dreading the answer, she looked back at her husband.

"Mike, what happened to John, Paul and Bill?"

He smiled slightly and stared into her eyes. "Don't worry about them. Stacy and an old friend helped me out with that one. They're being well cared for until they're ready to see the police..."

~~~~~~~

Three months later, two doctors entered the West Wing of Merci Hospital. Anyone seeing them would have only noticed colleagues in quiet consultation. They came to the security desk and were granted admittance. At the end of the hall, they met a third doctor who greeted them with a smile. 

"Pete, it's great to see you again. Who's your friend?"

"Jeff, I'd like you to me Michael. He's not a 'real' doctor," he laughed as he teased the third man. "He's a lab rat researching a paper on the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. He'd like to see the patient in #114."

The psychiatrist looked grimly, "Yes, he's a difficult case. There were three of them who were exposed. They have had round the clock surveillance since they were brought in. Two have been moved to a minimum security facility to continue their recovery, but #114 still hasn't stopped having psychotic episodes. He seems to be getting better, but we just don't know if or when he'll be ready to be moved." 

Mike spoke up, "Could I talk to him?"

Steve shrugged his shoulders, "You can talk but I can't promise he'll understand."

When they arrived at the room, Mike entered, taking in all the details quickly. It was little more than a padded cell. The man was in a corner wearing a straight jacket to keep him from causing himself harm. The man seemed lucid but it was difficult to be sure.

"Bill, how are you doing today?" 

The patient tilted his head and gave the doctor a strange look. "Don't I know you?"

"Well," Mike began, "We did meet once. I was at the bar the night you and your friends had your breakdowns. It was quite a show. Do you remember what happened?"

Bill closed his eyes a moment, then spoke, "We were supposed to meet that bitch. She didn't show so we sat at the bar drinking. Then everything went blank."

Mike didn't show any emotion as he listened. "Well, from what I understand, you and your friends are in quite a bit of trouble. When you have recovered, there are some police officers that are anxious to talk to you."

That comment obviously registered. Bill looked afraid, "Why would they want to talk to me? I'm just a businessman."

"From what I've heard, you are being modest. Let me tell you the story as I understand it."

When Bill didn't object, Mike continued, "There were nine men who decided to take advantage of a young woman. One of them was unaware of the situation but the other eight took a great deal of pleasure from her pain. Now four of those men are dead."

As he paused, Bill's eyes widened in fear. "You...You are her husband!"

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I was finished. The man who set it up is in jail looking at about 50 years with good behavior. He's turned over evidence and testimony that will make sure you, John and Paul will be right behind him."

"Please, don't hurt me. I just went along with Ryan. I'm sorry," he whined pathetically.

Ignoring his pleas, Mike grabbed him with both hands and pulled his face close. "Guess what? The four that died got off lucky." 

"What do you mean?" Bill whispered as tears began rolling down his face.

"The husband has a friend who is doing 15 years for an 'indiscretion'." Mike smiled to himself as he thought of his friend who helped him start his very first band. He was a good guy, but was hopelessly into drugs. He was selling all sorts of things, but the police went after him hard because he had sold several batches of LSD that had been tainted during their processing. After several people had terrible reactions to the drugs he had sold, the police tracked him down. Luckily he hid the remaining stock before he was busted. Luckily for him because the police couldn't nail him for any additional charges. Lucky for Michael because they were exactly what he needed to deal with the remaining conspirators. 

"It seems that the young woman has reached a settlement with her company and yours worth about four million dollars to cover her pain and suffering. It turns out her husband is a very vengeful sort of person. He has set up a very large trust in his friend's name. Would you like to guess what it's for?"

Bill's face had lost all color and he appeared to be on the edge of fainting. "Please, I'm begging you, don't..."

"Well it seems that you can get almost anything done in prison for very little money, it's quite economical." Mike chuckled at his own joke. "It's insurance for you and the others. As long as you all stay alive, a portion of the money is paid out every month to some really nasty people my friend is acquainted with. There's some to cover each one of you, so it's in their best interest to keep you protected."

"Why would you do that?" Bill asked fearfully.

"Because you need to remember what you did for the rest of your long, pathetic life. There won't be an easy way out for any of you." 

Mike turned and began to walk out. Suddenly he spun back around, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The payment is contingent on all four of you being treated with the same compassion and respect you showed to my wife. They'll be taking special care of you every single day of your long life." 

Bill fell back into the wall with a loud thump as the implication became clear. He tried to continue to beg but it just came out as incoherent rambling.

As Mike closed the door behind him he heard an agonized scream and smiled. 

"Sounds like he doesn't care for your particular sense of humor," Mike heard behind him. 

He turned and saw the man who helped him get into the hospital. Pete wasn't just Michelle's doctor, he was married to her lifelong friend Peg and was someone Mike felt he could trust with part of the secret. "Well, I guess you shouldn't have brought me if you were worried about him getting upset," he said sarcastically.

Now it was Pete's turn to smile, "I'm not worried about that prick, trust me. I still think you were too easy on him. If it was me, I would have sedated him and had some fun with amputation."

"Ouch," Mike said, his hand reflexively moving to his crotch. "You are scary."

As the two began walking toward the exit, the talk turned more serious. "What's going on with you and Michelle. Pam and I haven't heard anything from you two in weeks." His voice took a concerned tone. "How are you doing?"

Mike knew what he was tentatively trying to ask. "We have our good days and our bad days. She's still seeing the trauma specialist, I don't think she's going to be herself for a long time." He got quiet and looked down as they walked. 

Pete kept after him, "Yeah, but what about you?" 

Mike looked at him thoughtfully. "Good question. I feel a little better right now," he said, glancing back over his shoulder. He tried to be honest, "This thing has been really hard to deal with. Part of me is still angry about her not telling me. Part of me is miserable about what she's been through and just wants to hold her. I miss the old Mikki, she is so dark and hurt right now that everything we do is complicated."

"Have you seen the therapist I recommended?" Pete asked.

"We saw William once, he's a good guy. There just isn't much of a point right now. While Michelle is still in this kind of condition, we can't do anything constructive about us."

"So what, you guys aren't a couple?"

"Like I said, it's complicated. We are together and take care of each other. We've been intimate a few times and it's been good, but there are times when I can't reach her and it's frustrating. Sometimes I need my space and I'm sure that's hard for her. We suddenly have all these boundaries and walk around trying not to upset each other."

Pete looked at him sympathetically, "So you think it might not work out."

"I hope it can, but that's as far as I can go for now. The money helps." Noticing the perplexed look from his friend, he quickly continued. "She can get all the professional help she needs and we'll eventually get counseling for both of us. She'll never be able to get another job like the last one. With the scandal and the lawsuit, no company will hire her for any type of job managing people. If we were struggling financially, I can't imagine how we'd make it."

Mike smiled, "Did Peg tell you we're going to Italy next week?"

"And you're not taking us?" Pete whined jealously.

"Sorry, I swear we are all going to do something when things are better, but this is the conspirator road trip. Mikki and I are going to spend a week on the coast, with nothing but the beach and each other. We're going to try to forget about everything and just be together. Alan and Stacy are meeting us at the end of the week and we're all going to spend a few days in Rome before we head to Paris."

"Ok, I was jealous before, now I just hate you."

As they got in Pete's car, Mike gave him a wink. "I'll tell you a secret if you promise not to say anything to Peg." 

"You know I'm too scared of you to piss you off Mike," he joked.

"Alan's going to propose at the top of the Eiffel Tower."

"No shit? After three months, that's fast."

"He knows what he wants. I think he picked that spot because if she says no he's planning to jump." The men shared a laugh. "I think he's planning on a long engagement, but he's so nervous that he doesn't want to get ahead of himself. He's so crazy about her that he just can't make himself wait. I told him how Michelle turned me down the first time, just to mess with him."

Pete shook his head, "You really are a bastard."

~~~~~~~~~~~ Michelle paced nervously, Mike told her that he would be home a half-hour ago. Why he had to go through with this was beyond her. He had already risked so much, she couldn't understand why he wouldn't just let it go. If Bill ever got out of the mental hospital, he'd spend most of his life in jail. Even though the police hadn't bothered them in over a month, she knew they still were suspicious. She couldn't wait to get on the plane, both so they could have a week alone together and so she could finally stop looking over her shoulder.

She heard the car in the driveway and went to the window. Mike seemed to be smiling as he said goodbye to Pete, so she breathed a little easier. She thought about scolding him for not calling, but was so happy that everything was alright that she couldn't feel anything but relieved.

Mike opened the door and saw her standing there, an obvious look of worry on her face. "I left my cell phone at home," he said with some embarrassment. "I'm sorry, we should have stopped and called." 

Michelle didn't say anything, but threw herself into his arms. Mike was annoyed with himself for upsetting her. He gently moved her away and tilted her face toward his. "I'm sorry," he said slowly, making sure she understood he was sincere. "I didn't mean to worry you." He kissed her softly, teasing her lips with his own. "It's over now, I promise."

She nodded, feeling lost in his embrace. Michelle always loved the way he held her, but it seemed so much better the last few months. She let her thoughts drift as he slowly stroked her arms and moved his lips to her neck. Mike felt her surrender completely to him as his kissing became more passionate. He picked her up, feeling her head snuggle against his chest and headed toward their bedroom.

As Mike began carrying her up the stairs, he thought, "Today's a good day."