Revenge
By Karen Singer
Chapter 33 – Part 1
of 2
All you had to do sometimes to get
what you want, is to be firm about it…and stay firm about it. That’s the way Ruth saw it. She had gotten more perturbed by the minute
talking with Richard Feinbaum. The man
was only interested in what he
wanted, and not willing to look at what she
wanted. It was her case! Lawyers!
All they wanted was to make money.
And by the looks of that company, they made tons!
She wasn’t sure about this Mel
person that the two lawyers had mentioned.
And the part that concerned her the most was the word “kinky” that
Richard Feinbaum had thrown out. And the
way he had said it, evidently she was notoriously kinky. She couldn’t even imagine what that
meant. But in the end, she had finally
agreed to at least meet with the woman – after Harry Feinbaum and probably his
patsy son too had their little talk with her to get her completely onto their
side.
Well, if they called and said the
woman would meet her, then she would at least give her a try. She would at least talk with her. If she didn’t like what she saw, she would
take her business elsewhere. She was
certain that the legal fees surrounding ten million dollars would be enough to
catch the eye of lots of decent qualified attorneys – probably anywhere.
The part that Ruth was just as much
concerned with now, was all her materials she had put together. Harry Feinbaum had insisted that they remain
in his company’s safe. Well, she had all
her originals on her computer at home if she needed them.
One way or another, she was going
to get what she wanted!
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§§§§§§§§§§ ---
“But it’s pink!”
“So?”
“So it’s pink!’
“There’s nothing at all wrong with
the color pink!” Diane told him. “Lots
of men wear pink shirts all the time.
I’ve seen it myself!”
Steve shook his head. “And how about this one? Look at all this design stuff going straight
down the button line. How the hell am I
going to hide that, even with a jacket on?”
“Wear a tie,” Diane suggested. “It’ll cover it right up. You’d probably look good in a tie
anyway. The jackets you wear look nice
on you. The new jacket we got you looks
really…sharp.”
Steve looked at her. He would have said thanks, but he was too
perturbed by everything going on. Not
perturbed, just plain angry! “Maybe a
tie will work,” he finally conceded.
“Maybe!”
Diane shook her head. “It’s your choice Steve. I told you what they want.”
“What you want too!” Steve was
quick to point out.
“Well, yeah,” she admitted with a
small smile. “I’m afraid I do have
my…dominant side sometimes.”
“So I noticed.”
But it was the other side of her
that she was thinking about then. The
submissive side of her that was so unfilled.
“I guess this other shirt isn’t too
bad,” he said as he looked at it. “At
least all the lace designs will be hidden by my jacket. And since it buttons down the front like the
others, it won’t be too noticeable. I’m
just worried about the material being so different.”
“You can wear a tie with it too if
it worries you,” Diane suggested. “With
any of them in fact. Maybe nobody will
notice anything else.”
“I don’t have a tie that will go
with a pink shirt!”
“We’ll find you one then,” Diane
replied stubbornly.
“I am going to be sooo broke!”
“Hey, at least I didn’t make you
buy me my dinner. I paid for that
myself!”
Steve only looked at her
angrily. “What else do we need to
get? I’m embarrassed as hell just
shopping for this junk.”
Diane smiled. “Doesn’t bother me in the least.”
“No. Of course not. You’re a woman.”
“At least you noticed,” Diane
replied. “Since we’re here, let’s see
what kind of pants they have. And after
that, I can’t wait to take you shoe shopping.”
---
§§§§§§§§§§ ---
Wednesday morning, Steve took a
good look at himself in the mirror. A
very critical look! He and Diane had
spent another small fortune last night.
Money he really couldn’t afford to spend just then. He now had three new shirts – blouses
actually. But they were shirts. Just women’s button down shirts. He had two pairs of women’s slacks that Diane
had “insisted” he could make work, even though neither of them had any back
pockets and the cut of them was simply all wrong. And since the shoe store had a buy one get
one free sale going on, he now had a pair of black women’s loafers and a pair
of brown “booties” as Diane had called them that she had felt certain he could
make “work” as well. She had felt certain. Somehow he didn’t think so. Especially in the case of those dumb booties. He also had a new sport jacket he was wearing
just then and a number of ties to go over all his new women’s shirts. He’d rather think of them as shirts than
blouses, even though he didn’t know if there was a difference or not.
He studied his image in the
mirror. Yeah, no doubt the tie looked
pretty good with the jacket. But what
would everyone say since he was wearing it?
He never wore ties to work. He
didn’t used to wear jackets either. But
he did now. He didn’t have much of a
choice. It was either that or take the
chance of someone noticing his bra straps under his shirt. Not a good idea! And now his tie hid the feminine decoration
that went all down the button-line of the shirt he was wearing. Not to mention it hid more of the softer
material of the shirt itself. So his tie
was mandatory as well – not to mention the tie clip to make sure the tie stayed
in place. But the tie did nothing to
hide the slightly odd shaped collar of the shirt. Hopefully, it wasn’t too bad. Hopefully.
But overall, as he studied his
image, he thought he looked…pretty darn good.
As long as he ignored the fact that he was wearing a women’s shirt under
his jacket, a new matching bra and panty set, a garter belt, and stockings
attached to the garter belt as well. The
shirt he was wearing he considered to be the lesser of all the evils the darn
witches had thrown at him. And in truth,
it wasn’t much less at all. Hating his
entire life, he fearfully went to work.
---
§§§§§§§§§§ ---
Mr. Carter noticed it immediately,
shortly after Steve got to work. “Steve,
you’re looking good today,” he said as he happened to run into Steve early that
morning. “New jacket? And I like your tie.”
“Uh…thanks Mr. Carter,” Steve
replied, somewhat happy for the compliment, and even happier that his boss
didn’t notice what kind of shirt he had on under his jacket.
Mr. Carter didn’t mention it of
course, but he was sure that the tie was another move on Steve’s part as a sign
that the guy was looking for a promotion.
Well, he had already done his part for that. He had already submitted Steve’s name. It was time now for Steve, and as far as he
was concerned, Steve deserved a promotion.
A small one anyway. But even
small ones could lead to bigger things in the future.
As he walked back to his own
office, Carter thought about the nice tie and jacket that Steve was wearing. But even more, he was thinking about the
collar of the shirt Steve was wearing under his jacket. It had looked…different. Perhaps a bit more feminine. But then, that’s the way the styles seemed to
be going lately, and he knew that Steve had always prided himself in trying to
keep up with the latest men’s fashions.
But as far as Carter was concerned, for himself, he’s stay with the old
stuff he was more comfortable with. He
supposed he might be getting old.
Ten minutes after Steve got back to
his desk, he got a text message from Carla, asking him to photograph
“everything” feminine that he was wearing and send the pictures to all four of
the witches. Wishing he still had his
gun, and wishing even more that he could use it, he took a break and went into
one of the stalls in the men’s room to do just that. Witches!
Who would ever believe? But he
believed. He knew what they were capable
of doing for a fact! And he was still
over-awed by their power.
---
§§§§§§§§§§ ---
You don’t say no to Harry
Feinbaum. That was the old adage in the
business. What Harry Feinbaum wanted, he
got. To a point. But Mel had said no to him once. So had her father. Neither of them wanted to work directly for
him. And both of them had wound up
instead with a very lucrative partnership with Harry’s company doing contracts
and mergers between huge corporations.
Not that Mel really needed the
extra money. She didn’t. Despite the way she lived, she was one of the
richest women in the state. Actually,
since her fortune was now growing faster, she was edging up the list of the
richest women in the country. She just
didn’t believe in living that way. She
believed in working and earning what she got.
She believed in…respect. Earned
respect! It was just parts of her life
that tore much of that respect away.
Parts she would never conceive of doing without anymore.
It was the middle of Wednesday
morning by the time she “got around” to striding down the hallway toward
Harry’s office. The business suit she
was wearing was a new one. Very
conservative, but still elegant. Her
stupid heels though were new and hurt.
Not that it mattered that much.
They matched the deep mahogany tones of her suit.
As she proceeded down the hallway,
she saw Dick Feinbaum come out of his office and turn towards her. Dick was a fine looking man. Very fine!
They had somewhat grown up together.
She had even dated him back in High School. But he was married now and had a real nice
family. She was married too, just no
family. Dick was more family oriented
than she was. But she had everything she
needed or wanted at that point in her life.
“Dick,” she said pleasantly to him
as she got close.
“Mel,” Dick returned politely. “Dad’s waiting for us.”
Mel didn’t miss
the fact that Dick was going to be in the meeting as well.
The door to Harry
Feinbaum’s office was open, waiting for them to arrive. They walked in and Harry immediately stood up
from behind his desk. “Mel,” he greeted
her. “Good to see you again. How are things?”
“Good,” Mel
replied. “Very good. And you and your wife?”
“Couldn’t be
better,” Harry replied. “And your
husband?”
Mel smiled
broadly. “Trust me, couldn’t be
better. Now what’s this big deal that
Dick mentioned over the phone? Who’s
buying who now?”
Harry gestured
toward the large seating area in his office by the window. “Let’s sit.
It’s no merger. It’s nothing like
this company has ever handled before, and it’s nothing we’re going to get
involved in this time. At least not that
directly. We’ll partner in the back
instead.”
“And you want me
to take it?” Mel asked skeptically as she headed for the seating area and sat
down on the sofa.
“We’re…hoping,”
Dick replied as he took one of the single chairs across from her. “We had a client bring us some…materials she
had collected. Mostly recordings and all
the transcripts she made of them, detailing what’s been going on inside the
company she works for.”
“Sounds like
something for the FBI, not us,” Mel pointed out.
Harry
nodded. “It is actually. But the problem is her list of demands.”
Mel’s eyebrows
went up. “Demands?”
Harry nodded, but
it was Dick who answered. “I talked to
her until I was blue in the face yesterday, but she wants to pursue this case
as a sexual discrimination case.”
“Sexual
discrimination!”
Dick nodded. “Believe it or not. The problem is that she’s recorded
conversations detailing some very illegal activities going on inside her
company, particularly in regard to governmental contracts…”
“And that’s not
the worst of it,” Harry added. “She’s
got recordings of…I guess we can call them henchmen, detailing things they’ve
done to politicians and other major players, including a few that sound like
murder. And it’s all material that now
that we’ve seen it, and know about, we could be libel in the end for having
that knowledge and not doing anything with it.”
“And you’re still
trying to pawn this thing off on me?”
“The woman won’t
see reason!” Dick replied. “She wants
this to proceed as a sexual discrimination case and nothing less. If we won’t help her, and you won’t help her,
then she’s going to go looking for someone else who will.”
“What she wants,”
Harry told her, “really amounts to blackmail, not any kind of legal proceeding.
Mel smiled. “Harry, I’m surprised at you. You should know that the heart of every
sexual discrimination case, is blackmail.”
“Will you at least look at the
case? Talk to this woman? She’s too determined with what she
wants. Yes, some of it I can see, although
to be honest, no judge anywhere is going to award any of it. But there’s also a few things in her list of
demands that I can’t for the life of me understand.”
“One thing in particular,” Dick
added.
Harry nodded. “Yeah, one thing in particular. Her number two item.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid Mel, that that one may be more up
your alley than mine.”
That got Mel’s attention. “What is it?”
“I’d rather let you see it, along
with everything else. I just suggest you
keep it all under a very strong lock and key.
In fact, I’ll have a currier deliver all the materials to you later
today. Maybe you can meet with her and
talk some sense into her.”
“I have to see what I’m dealing
with first.”
“Someone…adamant!” Dick
replied. “You’re dealing with someone
adamant. Too adamant.”
Mel nodded. “Call her.
Give her my number. Send her in.”
“Most likely Mel, she won’t come
until after she gets off of work,” Dick told her. “She seems to be very concerned with her
company finding out what she’s doing.”
“I can see that,” Mel replied. “Especially if you’re talking possible murder
implications. Tell her to give me a
call. I’ll warn Andrea to expect it.”
---
§§§§§§§§§§ ---
Ruth got the call late in the
morning from Richard Feinbaum. She took
the number for the new attorney and recorded it on her phone. Then she went and found somewhere more
private where she could talk. She phoned
the new number and got through to the attorney’s secretary…she supposed. But the woman seemed to be expecting her
call. A minute later, an appointment
with the new attorney was set up for as soon as Ruth could get to her office
after work that evening. Ruth got some
vague directions, and realized immediately that she’d have to call her husband
once again to pick up her kids. He
wasn’t going to like that, but at least he was still backing her all the way in
this quest of hers. For that, she was
fully grateful. Her husband really was a
gem.
---
§§§§§§§§§§ ---
A tie? Mike noticed it from all the way down at the
other end of the room. He didn’t miss of
course the fact that Steve had begun showing up to work in a jacket every day
now. But now a tie as well? It wasn’t a good sign as far as he was
concerned. Not when he was out to get
himself a promotion. Obviously, Steve
wanted that promotion as well.
Still wondering just that, Mike
made the trek to Steve cubicle at the other end of the room. “Steve!” he said as he got to Steve’s desk.
“Mike!” Steve replied, turning
quickly in his seat. He wasn’t happy at
all to see Mike there. Mike’s presence
immediately made him all too aware of the woman’s shirt he was wearing under
his jacket, and he was all too worried that Mike might notice.
“What’s up with you lately?”
But with a question like that,
Steve wasn’t sure what Mike was referring to.
Had he heard about the club Friday night? “Um…what do you mean?”
“A tie?” Mike asked. “A damn tie as well as the jacket?”
Steve breathed a bit easier. “So? I
want to wear a tie. What’s your
problem?”
“I want that promotion too!” Mike
told him. “And I’m working hard to get
it.”
Steve hadn’t even thought about any
kind of promotion – which would certainly be nice. Not to mention how much he needed the extra
money lately. “Uh…whatever it takes,”
Steve replied, a grin actually coming to his face.
“Well tie or not, I’m working my
ass off to get it,” Mike told him. “So
don’t go planning on just a stupid tie to do all the work for you!”
“Oh,” Steve replied, a sly grin now
on his face. “Trust me, I’m not. But I’ve been working my butt off too, and I
really need that promotion.”
“Yeah, to pay for all the new
clothes you buy all the time. Another
new jacket?” Mike asked. “And that
shirt, no doubt the latest fashion as well.
Damn, the collar looks different.
Latest fashion no doubt.”
“Uh…maybe…sort of…something like
that,” Steve replied nervously.
“Well, I just want you to know that
all your new clothes aren’t going to get you that raise. I earned it! I deserve it!”
He walked out angrily and headed back to his own desk. Damn Steve.
Trying to use something so callus as what clothes he wears to get the
promotion. But as far as Mike was
concerned, it wasn’t the clothes you wear that mattered. It was the job you did! Unless of course you were talking about
getting a woman. But in that case, he’d
never buy himself a shirt with a collar that could look that…feminine.
---
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