Geek on the Side!

Vanessa witnesses a victory

"So he found out, huh?" Mother asked as she sipped her wine, a smile on her face. "Well, honey, that's the end of that. Let me guess; he's out with his secretary? Probably celebrating his upcoming divorce?"

I nodded.

"Heh, what an idiot," she said, sipping more of her wine. "He'd always been quick on the draw, if you catch my drift. Hell, when we first met, he proposed to me! Did he tell you that story?"

I nodded.

"I suppose I should come clean," she said, chuckling as she stirred her wine. "I was twenty seven when we met. On that day, shortly after our very first meeting, we had sex for the first time. He gave me a job as his secretary, and every evening we'd screw each other's brains out. He was way more handsome back then; he could actually get me excited in those days!"

Ew.

"But the thing was, I was married when we met," she continued. "I told you, right? Total loser husband, witch of a mother in law, and..."

She stopped to look at her wine, her smile disappearing for a moment, replaced by a look of disappointment and anger.

"Anyway, Enrico represented an escape to me," she continued. "An escape from a horrible home life. I'll be the first to admit my then husband was a thousand times the man Enrico ever was; he was loyal, he was dedicated, and he was far better in the bedroom. But the man was also unambitious! He was perfectly OK with working a simple nine to five and keeping his company teeny tiny! What WAS that!? And he STILL expected me to provide him with kids! How the hell did he expect to raise children on such a pittance!?"

I nodded.

"Ugh, the man was a loser and a bore!" She said as she slammed her wine glass on the table. Then she got up. "Enrico ought to be back in around five minutes; I'd better go get the portfolio."

She went upstairs; I sat alone on the dining room table. Precisely five minutes later, Father... I mean, Enrico came in, with Tasha in his arm, a smile on his face. Behind him was his lawyer, whose name I never recall, but who practically embodied every negative lawyer stereotype imaginable.

"Ah, look," he said, smiling at me. "The girl I was tricked into thinking she was my daughter! I'm glad you're here; you're about to witness me DESTROY your whore of a mother!"

"Really?" Mother said as she came back to the kitchen, a portfolio in her hands. "Well come on, let's see it. Let's see what you've got!"

"I have RIGHT here, in my hands, PROOF that Vanessa ISN'T my daughter!" He said, smiling triumphantly. "This is PROOF of infidelity, which means our marriage is OVER, and you get NOTHING!"

"What else you got?" She asked, smiling.

"Thanks to this, both you AND your slutty daughter are OUT of my will!" He said, grinning. "You lose, I WIN!!!"

"What else you got?" She asked again.

"What?" He asked, sneering. "Isn't that enough? I WON, woman! You've LOST!"

She chuckled, took out her phone, and dialed a number. "Frank? Lilly. He finally pulled the trigger, can you believe it? Yeah! Remember what I told you!"

"What was that?" Enrico asked.

"That was Frank, my lawyer," she said, smiling. "He's just getting ready to completely destroy you."

"With what?" He chuckled. "I'm the one with-"

"With these," she said as she opened up the portfolio, showing pictures of Enrico and Tasha having sex in his office, and in her home, and at a motel, and at ANOTHER motel, and in her car, and apparently behind the bushes at home. Gross.

"W-w-well, that's nothing!" Said Enrico, waving the lab results. "THIS is all I need to-"

"Actually, Enrico," the lawyer said, sighing. "These pictures have time stamps on them; your wife can still make a case for your infidelity."

"But the DNA test!" Enrico protested.

"Say, why take a DNA test NOW instead of, say, fifteen years ago?" Mother asked, as she took out another paper. It was a printed copy of various text messages between Enrico and Tasha, which proved that Enrico cooked up the whole plan as a way for him to get rid of Mother so he could marry Tasha. "Ahhh, because of your political aspirations, right? Say, what chance would you have of getting elected if the press were to get a hold of these? Or maybe these?"

Mother took out a few credit card statements, with charges to hotel stays and escort services circled in red ink. They were barely a month old. Then Mother produced more bills, and more, until there were at least three year's worth of charges.

"Ah! And here's something your board of directors would be VERY interested in discovering!" She said as she produced yet another bill, this one charged under my father's company. It was a collection of Vangelico purchases; thousand dollar rings, fifty thousand dollar earrings... the exact kind Tasha was wearing in this moment.

"God dammit, man," said Enrico's lawyer. "She's got enough to not only get a favorable divorce AND end your political career, but to throw you in jail as well! You didn't tell me about ANY of this!"

"The weekend on the fifth of March," said Tasha, tearing up as she held one of the credit card bills. "You told me you were joining an associate for lunch, but this says that you... you were with an escort..."

"WE SHARE A CREDIT CARD!" Enrico roared. "Those charges were from HER! You can't-"

"Actually, all it'd take is one quick call to these pricey hotels," said Mother. "These aren't like the seedy, hourly motels that you take your girlfriend to; they're hotels who VALUE their image, and thus have nothing to hide. All we need is one quick confirmation that you booked these rooms at these days, and boom, it's over for you."

"You stupid son of a bitch," said Enrico's lawyer, glaring at him as he turned around. "You're done."

"No I'm not!" Enrico yelled. "I'm not done! I'm... Tasha!"

"To hell with you," she said as she took off her earrings and tossed them to his face. "You cheated on me with hookers! It's over, asshole! I QUIT!!!"

"This is nothing!!!" He roared as he took all the papers and pictures and ripped them apart. "There! Now what do you have!?"

"Well, Frank has several copies of all these," she said as she poured herself some wine. "And so does my friend Raul, and I sent copies to members of your Board of Directors this afternoon, so..."

"No," he said, gulping. "I'm..."

"Finished," she said, smiling. "And, uh, did you know that Donald Jones said that I have a head for business?"

"What?" He gasped. Donald Jones is in his Board.

"Yup," Mother said, sipping on wine. "In fact, your whole board loves me. We've always talked that, if anything were to ever happen that would get you kicked off the board, that I could take your place."

"No..."

"But another thing I can do is convince them to let you stay," she said. "You can stay President of your company, bringing home that bacon to your lovely wife, and I can tell Frank not to take any action... for now."

"What's the condition?" Enrico asked, tears in his eyes.

"You stay married to me," she said, grinning. "And put me back on your will, leaving me EVERYTHING when you, inevitably, pass on. You can screw all the whores you want, sure. You can have sex with all the secretaries you please! BUT the bacon is coming home to ME! When you have to appear in public, you're doing it with ME! No one is gonna confuse any other woman but myself as being Mrs. Enrico Russo, got it!?"

"Yes, Lilly," he said, falling to his knees. "But Vanessa... I will NEVER treat her as a daughter again!"

"You don't have to," she said, before turning to me. "Vanessa, honey? Your role is done. You can go back to Kansas. Just don't come back here anymore, OK?"

And just like that, I got disowned.