Alienation of Affection

The next month was completely different. From the moment that I knew ahead of time that she was going back to Rome I had a problem. Maybe it was because this was the sixth time she would be away and therefore a bit of an anniversary, perhaps it was memories of that dreadful three day absence or could it be that I instinctively knew that location had some special significance. As I lay alone in bed while she was away, I was almost back to square one.

Carol walked in the door on the Sunday afternoon with a big smile on her face and even before I could kiss her, she said that she had two nice surprises for me. She said that Dom had waited until they were away to tell her the good news. The first item was that she had been awarded an unexpected £1000 bonus and the second that we had the use of a luxury villa for a week, starting the following weekend. The villa was owned by the company and usually reserved for directors but Dom had spotted a free week and somehow managed to put it at our disposal. Needless to say, that night and the days after we talked a lot about the holiday and what she might have got up to while away was never mentioned.

It was a luxury villa in the true sense of the word. Located on a cliff top with a panoramic view of the sea, the outside area was equipped with both a small infinity pool and a six seater Jacuzzi. Inside there was a large living area with several Roman style couches scattered around, each with an accompanying long low table. Also, mounted on the wall was a massive slim line TV screen. There were two equal sized bedrooms but while one held a huge king size bed, the other had bunk beds and a folding cot.

Hindered by over excited kids we still managed to unpack and get sorted comparatively quickly. An hour later, with Carol and the boys in the Jacuzzi, I was trying to sort out the barbecue. Everything was fine except that I couldn't find the expected tools, so I loudly bemoaned that fact. "In the kitchen, cupboard to the right of the sink, second shelf down," she shouted back, without even having to think.

"You certainly know your way around," I told her.

"I should do, this is the third time that I've stayed here," my wife explained, without any sign of embarrassment. "Dom and I always come here when he has business in Rome; this is where we spent last weekend."

With that statement the whole holiday soured in my mouth. I said nothing more but after we had eaten and with my wife busy with the kids, I wandered into the master bedroom and stood gazing at that extravagantly large bed, my mind filled with obscene images of what I knew must taken place upon it. Hell, I could even imagine that the smell of sex still lingered in the atmosphere of the room.

Early next morning, still very depressed, I got up and went out to explore. I quickly found there was another mirror image villa back to back with the one we were occupying. Tentatively trying the door I found it unlocked and stepped inside. The layout was identical but the view was of landscape rather than sea and it lacked the outside facilities. I presumed that they were shared. While checking out the main bedroom, I saw something sparkling, caught in the thick pile of a bedside rug, and investigation showed it to be a diamond earring. It belong to Carol, I knew that because I had purchased the rather expensive set to celebrate our second wedding anniversary.

After eating breakfast while still seated at the table but with the boys away playing with their toys, I slid the earring across to my wife and told her where I found it. She gazed at it for a full minute without speaking but then said, "I suppose that I better tell you, last time I was here I did a threesome with Dom and another man."

I of course wanted to know details and was told that he was a client of Dom's called Armand, who she described as 'a man in his fifties, badly balding and with the start of a pot belly'. "It was a bit of a flop as a threesome," Carol elaborated, "Armand had trouble getting it up, he was probably feeling a bit overawed, so the next night Dom disappeared leaving me to sleep with Armand by himself. I didn't get much out of it but he thought all his birthdays had come at once. That £1000 wasn't really a bonus; it was my commission for clinching the sale."

There was nothing for me to say. I just sat gazing at her in disbelief and I think disgust. This non response causing my wife to shrug her shoulders and say guilelessly, "We still need every penny we can get, right?"

Right from the start I knew that the iniquitous bargain that we struck with Dominic was open ended but I think that at least part of me believed that, in six months or a year, when Carol's salary had repaired our finances, she would quit her job and we would return to normal married life. Now I was having to gradually resign myself to the fact that I would be sharing my wife's body with another man for the foreseeable future.

Carol ended up in Berlin one of the next two months but I've forgotten which. I regard this as a limbo period during which I had a constant underlying feeling of dissatisfaction with the way my marriage was deteriorating but I was not desperately unhappy. Nor were there any notable discussions. One time when she was busy packing for a new trip I did complain that her frequent away times were ruining the marriage but her unsympathetic response was, "I don't see what you've got to grumble about. You're getting far more sex now that you did before I started fucking Dom. I go out of my way to make sure that you don't miss out. When I get home from being away, I always let you stick it in me no matter how much Dom has worn me out."

I couldn't contradict her on the sex because Carol did seem intent on shagging me to death but during our private time, there seemed to be more and more raw sex but less and less making love. Another occasion, when she was about to leave, faced with her now obvious eagerness to be with her lover, I found myself asking about his appeal. My wife's face positively lit up as she told me, "He's exciting. He makes me feel alive. Dom enjoys taking risks, like doing things with me in places where we might easily get caught. He's fucked me a couple of times in lifts and once in a cable car. That was in daylight and anybody on top of the mountain with a pair of binoculars could have seen everything."

"Do you like doing that, it doesn't sound like you?"

"It makes me feel very uncomfortable but I find it very hard not to do anything that he wants," she said simply.

"Anything?"

"Only within reason. For example Dom wanted me to pretend that I'd gone off the pill so that you'd have to start wearing condoms. I couldn't do that to you so I really put my foot down on that."

During the earlier of my wife's away times with Dom, apart from some vaginal tenderness, he had always returned her in approaching pristine condition but after her last couple of trips I had noticed bruises on her breasts and elsewhere, very swollen nipples and even an unmistakable hickey. I had let this go without remark but then something happened that was beyond the pale.

The day after she had returned from her ninth European destination, I had wandered into the bedroom to find Carol naked, in the middle of getting changed. She was standing with her back to me and I was shocked to see a series of parallel, vivid red stripes across her round buttocks. In one place it even looked as if the skin had been broken. Sensing my presence behind her, she quickly whipped round, attempting to conceal the damage from me, but it was too late. "How the fuck did that happen?" I shouted.

"It isn't as bad it looks," she said quickly, "Let me put some clothes on and I'll explain."

Reluctantly I waited and when she was dressed, preceding her words with a kind of awkward laugh, Carol said, "It's just a game that Dom likes to play. I have to pretend to have been a naughty girl and then he punishes me with a spanking. Up to now he's always used his hand but last time he tried with a cane and it just got a bit out of control. Don't worry, he promised never to do it that way again."

"What kind of things do you confess?"

My wife seemed even more embarrassed as she said, "There are some things that Dom doesn't want me to do with you any more. I do them anyway but then he makes me suffer for it."

That was the first time that I thought that I might be better out of the marriage.

One day mid month, Carol asked if I minded her going out for the evening with some girls from the office. I quickly gave my permission and she arrived home late but in a happy, buoyant mood. That had been repeated two times since but on this occasion, for some reason, I was very suspicious. After she set out, a call to my parents quickly brought them round for emergency baby sitting dut, leaving me to drive off in my car. I was not at all surprised to find my wife's distinctive vehicle parked in front of Dominic's house.

I confronted Carol the moment that she entered the house but she was unapologetic, shouting back, "You don't like me screwing him at work so I don't but I can't get through the month without going with him. You've no idea how much I want him. It's not love, I could never love him as much as I loved you because he's not really a lovable person, but there are times when I go crazy with the need to feel him inside me. I don't understand it myself but he's got this strange kind of hold over me."

I was shocked by her sentiments but more shocked by the fact that she had referred to her love for me in the past tense. Next morning I contacted an up and coming lawyer named Colin, who was a friend of a friend, and the following day I took time off to visit his office.

Over a period of more than two hours, I told him everything that I described above, (which is part of the reason that I remember the details do well). I also had to answer a large number of his probing questions. When he had all the information that he needed, Colin asked me what I hoped to achieve. I said that I would be seeking a divorce but more importantly, I wanted to know if there was any way to legally get back at Dominic.

Colin smiled and said, "I know of the perfect law but you might be fifty years too late. It's an action called 'Alienation of affection' and falls within the tort category of litigation. The trouble is that it has been repealed in all but five American states. The UK I'm not sure, it has certainly lapsed but there is a good possibility that it is still on the statute book. The beauty of this one is that in the case of co-workers you can also sue the employer for allowing it to happen."

"That sounds almost too good to be true. What's the snag?"

"You've got no proof," Colin told me, valiantly trying but failing to keep the grin off his face.

"What about everything I've just told you?" I asked, completely deflated.

"He can deny it, claim falling in love or irresistible mutual attraction. What you need to prove is that your boss cold bloodedly operated a campaign to steal your previously loving wife away from you. If you can get him to admit that on tape you're home and dry. To succeed in this action, your wife must have left home, preferably to live with him and you must also show that it was a happy marriage before all this started. Try to avoid talk about that stupid agreement and if they bring it up in court we'll deny it. I doubt if they will believed. "

At the end of our meeting Colin sent me to another office in the same building. There I met a retired police offer who, I had been told, handled all the investigative work. Having been informed of my needs, he quickly and efficiently fitted me with what he called 'a wire', a recording device with a miniature microphone taped to my chest. Actually, playing safe, I left his office with two of the gadgets. It didn't take much practice before, flushed with confidence, I rang Dom asking to see him.

Back in my boss's office, as I seated myself in the chair, again playing the role of supplicant, I couldn't help think of the previous occasion when I sat in that position. "What can I do for you this time," Dominic asked with that same confident demeanour.

"I want you to stop having sex with my wife," I said softly.

He gave a contemptuous laugh. "No chance, in fact you're lucky to still have her living with you. I only have to snap my fingers and she'll come running, in fact if it wasn't for your kids she'd be with me already. You've lost her to a better man Doug and you might as well accept it."

"I don't understand how this happened," I mumbled and this was sufficient send Dom off on an ego trip, during which he bragged about his cleverness and irresistible seduction technique. His words couldn't have been better suited to my purpose if I had scripted them myself.

"It happened because I made it happen," Dominic said smugly, "I fancied her from the first moment I saw her, any man would, but it wasn't until last Xmas that I realised she was seducible. My trouble was that I didn't know quite how to put that knowledge to good use until I had the idea of offering her a job. That was a stroke of brilliance, if I say so myself. From then it was easy but I didn't rush it, instead I worked stage by stage. Taking her abroad with me was the key because I had every opportunity to get into her mind and soon she was like putty in my hands. That woman is a sexual volcano and you didn't know, I'd bet good money that you've never realised how submissive she is."

I shook my head in apparent helplessness and this served to provoke him into further triumphant taunting, "One other thing that I found hard to credit, how long have you been with her? Ten fucking years and in all that time you never once got your cock in her ass. What a waste. Jesus! It took me less than three months to crack that particular cherry. Face it Doug, she just too much woman for you. She loves it that way now, can't get enough of it."

"I thought we were friends."

"Maybe we were but you know what they say, 'Everything's fair in love and war'. At first it was just a matter of getting my leg over but once I'd had a taste, I decided that I wanted her for myself and from that moment on Doug, you were toast. A woman like Carol needs a real man and unfortunately you don't qualify. You're a decent enough guy and pretty good at your job but between the sheets I reckon you must be a bit of a muppet."

Despite the need for evidence, I jumped to my feet unable to stand the condescension but Dom almost raced me to the door. Once there he stuck out his hand saying, "No hard feelings but you have to face it, the better man won." I declined to shake it.

Filled with elation at the ease with which I had accomplished my mission, I left work and sped to take my spoils to Colin. He was delighted, stating that Dom's unknowing words were more than sufficient to win our case. He said that he would get a transcript made from the tape and have copies included when writs were issued against both Dominic and the company head office. Before I left he reiterated that he wouldn't act until I let him know that my wife had abandoned the marital home.

I returned home filled with sadness at the knowledge that I was almost certainly going to end my marriage. I did wait until there were no distractions but then without preamble, I told Carol that I would no longer put up with her cheating on me. I said that what she did at the office was cheating but I had overlooked that, however I wouldn't tolerate her lying to me, just to snatch a few extra hours with a man who was now very obviously her lover.

"You are just being silly," Carol said lightly, obviously having misread the seriousness in my voice. "I only sneak out for the evening in the middle of the month, to see me through to when I go away with him again. What's the harm?"

"If you don't know then I can't tell you," I said quietly.

"OK, if it means so much to I will stay away from his house but I might start screwing him again at work. I have my needs," Carol said petulantly.

"That's no longer good enough; I want you to stop seeing him completely. In fact I want you to hand in your resignation tomorrow so that you have no contact with Dom at all. I'm fed up with sharing you with another man, especially as we aren't desperate anymore."

"This isn't about money. I love my job and I love having sex with Dom, I love having sex with you too but Dom takes me places that you never can and I don't mean going abroad," Carol shot back angrily. "I'm not giving him up no matter what you say."

"This isn't what I expected when you took the job," I said helplessly.

"I didn't expect it either but things happen. I never imagined that I would develop feelings for him."

"Are you saying that you love him?"

"Possibly not true love but I am besotted, I can't get enough of him," Carol admitted.

"Then I want a divorce," I told her. I thought that my announcement would have the effect of a nuclear weapon but it turned out more like a damp squib.

Carol studied me for a moment and then said softly, "That's actually a bit of a relief. Dom has been pushing for me to leave you for the last couple of months and I was tempted but I'm still very fond of you and I didn't want to hurt you like that."

"I will be seeking custody of the boys but I won't try to stop you seeing them. You can visit any time you like as long as you come alone," I told her in a more conciliatory tone of voice.

My soon to be ex wife gave me a wan smile before saying, "I regret the loss of what we had but, even if Dom was no longer on the scene, I don't think we could ever get back to how we were a year ago."

"Why do you say that," I asked, (I think that part of me still hoped that reconciliation was possible).

"I've changed and I don't think I'm a nice person any more," Carol said sadly, "For instance, when Dom had you had in his office last week to give you a bollocking about that computer balls-up, what you didn't know was that I under the desk with his cock in my mouth. I daren't make a sound otherwise I could easily have had an orgasm just from the kinkiness of the situation. At the time it seemed like a big laugh but afterwards I felt ashamed. I realised then that I was developing a split personality but that probably goes with the territory for trying to keep two very different men happy."

"Maybe you want to go to him now?" I suggested and Carol quickly nodded to accept my offer, saying only that she wanted to grab a few things to take with her.

It was only a few minutes before she was back, carrying two small holdalls but as I moved to shepherd her towards the door, Carol hesitated and said, "There's no rush, can't we have a last glass of wine together?"

Over the next twenty minutes or so we had a fairly friendly discussion, touching on the kids and happier times but mainly talking about what went wrong. Towards the end my wife admitted that she sometimes wished that we had let the house go, laughing ironically as she added, "It's stupid, I threw away my marriage trying to save the house and I end up not even living in it."

Finally, standing by the door before she exited, we spontaneously threw our arms around each other for a prolonged embrace. Then she was gone. As her rear lights disappeared from sight, I felt a slight twinge of guilt that I hadn't warned her about the impending storm

My first task at work the following day was to ring Colin to tell him to set the wheels in motion.

On my return home from work the following day, the baby sitter informed me that my wife had been there, removing stuff from the house. Looking round I found very little missing from its usual place but up in the bedroom, checking in Carol's side of the wardrobe, I was faced with a row of empty hangers. It was in that moment, with a feeling of sadness, that I admitted for the first time that our relationship was really over.