Guilty

Creative and daring, but it missed the emotional tenor after they found him in his new home. Think the Tim stuff was a weird distraction. Fine have him f$ck her once, send the photo and then fade to black once he got released. Tim was a stupid misdirect. As was the whole premise that her f$cking Tim once when she was lonely, hurting and vulnerable was so how the main course. Compared to the rest of the hellish situation and him being cut off at the knees, that was a molehill on a mountain. She had filed, severed him from her and her daughter's life, and she screwed Tim once. Big deal. At least comparatively speaking. But the emotions portrayed the MC are just odd later on the story. He woukd have PTSD from his experiences and his abandonment. I coukd se forgiving the daughter. She is 16 and believed what society and her mother and grandparents were telling her. Thr parents? Screw them. They had 40 some years to know the man he was. As he said they could have said they are under a lot of pressure and can't help much now. But Megan? Sure she comes off as massively contrite and willing to do any penance. And in reality he probably IS better of with her in the end. But getting yo that stage woukd be hellishly rough due to his trauma and the nasty divorce. Understanding what she wrnt through and he went through woukd need to be mediated by a counselor. The emotional pitch should have been 10 times higher to reflect real life imho. I stead it wad just kind of limp and bedraggled. And thr reconciliation by her stalking was just to fast and too simple. Seriously he didn't even communicate with her about his time in jail for 5 months. How he looked over and over to commit suicide but had no recourse. How thr lawyer wad a joke. How they all railroaded him. Claiming he had a weapon - his pliers and wrench. There is now ay they get back together without her clearly communicating what she was told, felt, and why she did what she did. There is a bit of that but it is terse. But there is also no way they reconcile without him fully venting his spleen about the betrayal of trust and the abandonment of their love. One could make the counter argument that they got swept up in the media and social frenzy but their actions were no different than watching a large mob force him to crucify him without lifting thrn lifting a finger. I am not saying (for some people) that reconciliation would not be possible, but not so easy and not without considerable counseling. And he needs major therapy. NOT just watching waves. Karen was a saint. And while Megan was not evil, she did not remotely even try to question him. He was immediately guilty in her eyes and those of the others. Cannot see the relationship with the parents ever be the same. Cannot see any desire to be anywhere with the friends. So the daughter. Sure. Hard but not unreasonable. Megan? Maybe. But only if a lot more emotional fireworks, lengthy time gap, and serious counseling and therapy. Thr parents? Not much probably. Some platitudes but a strained relationship until they die. Maybe some facade for them. For the friends. Nothing.

For me this is four stars, but if the distraction had been removed at an appropriate time and the emotional falllout had been remotely realistic, then even if a reconciliation (not a RAAC, everyone suffered (except Tim)), this would have been a stellar 5 stars. Too bad. A missed opportunity from a talent writer.

The raac loses 3 stars. Look...a well written reconciliation is fine, but not a far fetched raac.

Bizarre...

Five stars for the original concept of the story. One star for the unbelievable RAAC at the end. No possible way to EVER get back with his ex-wife or family. They are truly despicable people.

A little difficult to like a story where everybody is a piece of shit. Well, Karen excepted.

Considering how obvious it was that he actually was there as a plumber, it wouldn’t just be lawsuits against the media. He would have a case against the police for wrongful arrest, and against the prosecutors for malicious prosecution. By the time his lawyers were done, the residents of that county would be looking at increased taxes for twenty years to cover the payments.

/

I would have stayed in the town, and used my money to make everyone’s life HELL!!! Tim would be tortured until he went insane, and then left crippled in front of the hospital. His so called family and friends would be manipulated into losing jobs, homes, and all support. I want them slowly starving under a bridge! The idiot police lose their jobs, and possibly go to prison. Back a candidate to run against the prosecutor in the next election. The pretty news anchor who sneered at him, is now begging to do ANYTHING to keep her job since he bought the local television station.

You decided that I’m evil, so I’m going to be evil to you. Just not the way you falsely accused me.

/

ZK

Yeah, I can't swallow this. If something like this happened to ANYONE I cared about, not to mentioned loved- esp my spouse- I would at the VERY least hear them out completely. Sadly for this MC, the past will taint his future. How can it not?

Ok, I know the police can be really incompetent and biased against an innocent person but checking his phone logs, the time he received the call for the plumbing Emergency, and the time of the last job that he had been on that day, should have clued in the Police to the accuracy and veracity of his claim that he was just the plumber. That in itself should’ve given him more credibility and the police should’ve done further investigation. He should never have been left rotting in jail for many months.

So, I had an uncle once that was arrested for this kind of crime and pretty much just like the people in this story, including his own parents and children, they more or less disowned him. The difference, I guess, is that he was guilty so no one felt bad about it. However, in this case - I don't know. It's complicated. I'd imagine if I was in Megan's shoes here - she's horrified by what everyone is saying her husband has done, everyone in her community is taunting her and treating her like a criminal, her daughter is being bullied at school, etc. It has to be traumatizing and the natural response would be exactly like the one she had and the one my family had - cut all ties as soon as possible. However, in Megan's case - she finds out later it was all a lie and everyone ELSE gets to go back to their lives as normal, except for her and Curt and their daughter. That's pretty brutal. In this way, I think her feeling of powerlessness at that point would be identical the feeling Curt had in prison. Sure, there are differences in the circumstances, but that feeling of loss would be almost the same. Personally I think this is a good theme and a good story, the only problem I have with it is the same problem I have with a lot of this guys stories - he can't write dialog to save his life. I'm guessing he might be a foreign language speaker or something based on the way he constructs his sentences to convey concise meaning, but without any of the accoutrements that people normally put in their phrasing which give it personality, subtleness, hidden context, etc. Still, a good story 5/5

This author has no idea how to write about suffering and grief. Years and years of incarceration while being innocent isn't just forgotten easily. And no human can ever just forgive and forget that easily. I'm not against reconciliation but this is just plain lazy writing

Well this was a fuckin joke. First why not also sue the state/county for the false arrest? Also he never should have let them in the house. It's perplexing how people keep those in their lives who betray them.

Well it's been stated that this writer is part of Literotica's simp-pack. So I guess that explains the unrealistic and pathetic ending.

Sure it's his wife, love can't be turned on and off like a switch, but to still love her that deeply with all the abandonment, and the divorce and living life .. and to feel jealous for her wow, author you're one sick guy. No guy would ever I mean ever love her again or to even take her back, you're sick author get help

Dear author why do your stories all have a wimpy cuck husband? Do you secretly like this type of wimpy MC husband? Seriously, the family disown him without any plausible clause, let's no go into his wife and daughter, the daughter i can understand, but no way in hell he takes back or is still in love with his wife, sigh.. with his character, he deserves to be cucked again and dear author if you're a married man and your behavior is such as portrayed in this wimpy cuck husband, I worry about you.. watch out for your wife

Wow so many commenters who live by Hammurabic law. "Eye for an eye", burn all who hurt me!

Anyways good story. Really felt for the accused. The betrayal was by his family believing him capable of such a thing, but the authorities and the media and the public all jumped to conclusions and bludgeoned them with that over and over. Regardless her sleeping once with the asshole predator "friend" is a minor footnote to a bigger tragedy. Why shouldn't he find happiness again? This is not the usual loving wives / cheating scenario. But whatever, you do you!