Changing Places with Yourself

Chapter 26

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ATTENTION THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER MAY INCLUDE TRIGGER WORDS TO ANOTHER DEALING WITH BEING A VICTIM OF s****l ASSAULT.  PLEASE DON'T READ IF THIS MAY CAUSE YOU MENTAL STRESS.  THE HEROINE HAS A UNIQUE WAY OF DEFENDING HERSELF.

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I still had work to do and a PA who was yet to be trained.  I missed Dante, on days like today when both companies needed my attention he was good at keeping me focused.  Joyce tried, but it was just too much given her already full workload the handle.  Plus, there was a fact that she was retiring as well now that Grandpa was semi-retired.  Sean was looking lost when I came back into my office so I sat beside his desk to go over the emails that I got while with Grandpa.  Don't get me wrong Sean is great when it comes to work that’s related to the Novell Industries since he's been with the company for over 25 years in various departments.  However, when it comes to Gillows, he's completely clueless just because it's a diametrically different type of company.  After we got through all the new emails, I went to my desk.  I had made up my mind and sent an IM to Mr. Javcir, asking him to have HR post a listing for a new position – available to anyone who wanted to move to Ohio and serve as my Executive PA.  It has to be someone who knows the company inside and out.  He sent back a message saying he would have them post it in the morning on the job board.  We talked back and forth for a bit about the holiday party before signing off for the night.  I packed up my laptops for each company and Sean came in to say goodnight and left.  I swung by Grandpa’s office and sure enough, they all were still there.  It seems Joyce converted the ultrasound pictures from the hospital to digital and they all were looking at them on the big screen.  “These ladies should probably get back to the estate to rest for a bit before dinner. I’m sure Ms. Tina is making something extra special for them tonight.  You all need to leave before she calls and reams you for being late.” I joke with them, kind of.  Ms. Tina has been cooking for the family since before Evan was born and can get a bit cantankerous if people come to her table late.  Otherwise, she was the sweetest lady you could ever hope to meet and she cooks like a dream.  They all agreed and started packing up to leave the office.  I told Amanda if she wanted to go with them I would send a car to pick her up when she was ready to leave.  Since tomorrow is the morning she always makes perfect for the boys, I know she wasn’t going to be sleeping over.  She thanked me with a hug as we all headed to the elevators.

I met with Claude first thing the next morning to go over the divorce paperwork. He explained we were invoking the cheating clause since 7 had been caught with Amy. I signed the documents and he sent a junior member to deliver them to Evan that day in prison. Claude stop me as I began to leave saying, he needed me to do a video conference with Samuel.  “Hello, Mrs. Novell.” Sam started.  “Becky, please call me Becky, otherwise I feel so old.” I corrected him, “What's wrong?”  “It seems that your aunt has gotten herself pregnant in jail.  One of the people we had watching her said she did it on purpose.  She believes her child can lay claim to the Gillows Company now that you have it back.” he advised me.  “Wow, is she that stupid that she thinks her child, who has no blood relation to Mom’s side of the family, can inherit a company, which had been sold and that I paid out of my own pocket to get back into the family?” I asked incredulously.  “It appears someone has given her jailhouse law advice and she believed them.” he spelled it out.  “How far along is she?” I inquire.  “Just shy of 5 months,” he responded back.  “Okay, here's what we're going to do.  Let her keep believing that she has a chance until there is absolutely no way any doctor will give her an abortion.  Her Christmas present this year will be to know the truth about her situation.  As well as me informing her that I will be taking custody of the child once it's born because she serving a life sentence after it was proven she was the one who hired the driver who killed my parents in the Greek Islands.” I tell him, “Let her stew on that for the New Year.” Sam laughed, “It will be done and I'll start the paperwork to obtain custody. Will you be raising the baby yourself?”  “I’m not sure yet I think I know a wonderful couple who might want to adopt a newborn.  Do we know what she's having yet?” I probed. “A girl,” he answered.

I turned to Claude, “That would make three granddaughters and counting.” He immediately knew which son I was thinking of and nodded as he wrote instructions out to June.  Sam told me they would continue to watch my aunt in prison and try to figure out which guard got her pregnant so they could get his “Relinquishment of Rights” on file once the baby was born.  When the video call ended was Sam Claude showed me the paper he had been writing on.

1)      Draw up adoption paperwork for Allen Stovard

2)      Make sure to find out if there are any red flags in his partner’s life.

3)      Have everything ready by Christmas as a surprise for them.

I gave him my approval and told him he was reading my mind, which is scary.  I asked him if Dad was pushing to get the boy’s birth certificates corrected and since he was I suggested holding off I'm putting Allen's last name on the adoption paperwork until after everything else was settled.  I needed to find out, subtly, if Alan wanted to be a baby daddy first, but I was pretty sure he did.

Four days later I was contacted by the head of Gillows HR to say they found someone who wanted to work for me in Ohio.  I did a video interview with him and WOW!  He was hot, like young Matt Damon hot.  He's been working with a company for 10 years, he started in the mail room at 16 with his dad.  Although his dad has been happy to stay in the mail room he wanted to better himself.  Knowing he couldn’t get into management he took secretarial classes at school and his current boss had retired.   Unfortunately, the position wasn't being filled the duties were going to be absorbed by four of their managers, thus leaving William looking for a new position.  He said he could start for me on Monday if need be.  He was willing to bunk at a motel 6 in till he could find a place.  I told him about the Lexar building and sent him a link to look up the floor plans.  He mentioned he was single so it would just be him to move.  After the interview I had HR send him a formal offer of the position as an Executive PA to the President of Gillows letter, along with the instructions on relocation allocation and moving guidelines.  He accepted immediately and was told he could go home to start packing.  I had Dylan and Steve get a complete file on his background for me by Friday, which I read that night.  William Aldridge, 26, single, heterosexual, his complete work history, and school transcripts.   He speaks French fluently. That could come in handy since I’m considering expanding into Quebec the Providence in Canada where French is still the native tongue.   Some would wonder why I chose Quebec since I don’t speak much French.  It originally had something to do with my previous life and an ex-boyfriend that lived in that area.  A cheating ex-boyfriend and I was just curious to see if he's in this dimension.  Maybe, just maybe I wanted a little payback since my self-esteem was at rock bottom when I met him.  I let so many of his insults slide, there was the time when he said he wouldn't do oral because my fat flap I had repulsed him.  Instead of telling him to go to hell and never contact me again, I took it the insult, the body shaming, all of it.  I just was desperate because I thought I would never find someone who would want to be with someone as fat as me.  Now I look incredible, oh, and I know it.  I still look older than my age at this point, which if things are the same here as they were there by the time I'm in my mid-twenties people will think I'm younger than my age.  Let’s face it at almost 50 years old, no one believes that I was over 35.  I’ve had a few people actually demanded to see my driver's license because they didn't believe me.  I guess I feel like I wasted 5 years of my life on a cheating bastard.  So, yeah I wanted a little bit of revenge if he's in this dimension.   With my luck, he's not and if he is he's probably not working or living where he was when I knew him.  He might even be a younger version of himself like I am, which means since he was 6 years younger than me he's still in school and well not worth trying to exact any kind of retribution on.  It’s not that I would do anything, I’m just curious.  I had my guys look into if he was around after I gave them all the information that I had and could remember.  They came back with he wasn't in any database they could find.  C'est la vie.  The company however he used to work for is in existence and I had the idea of maybe branching out from textiles only, adding various paper products to what the company offers.  My family could keep everyone employed just in boxes of tissue alone.

Gwen called me to tell me William had contacted her about getting an apartment in my building and I had already given her the heads up he might be calling.  So, she was just letting me know that he did reach out and wanted to get a 2 bedroom unit on the 37th floor.  He told me he was going to be driving in on Saturday and would arrive later in the evening.  I gave instructions for several of my guards to ask their brothers to help him move his things once he arrived.  He was set to start work on Monday at 10 am.  I had a second desk moved in with a data link up directly to Gillows Company's mainframe to make his job easier.  No one from the home office had seen me since last holiday party, so he was in for a shock.  Sunday came and I went to get the girls, instead of sending a car.  Amanda actually joined us for lunch and I did a BBQ, which the girls appetites rivaled my guards.  Afterward, we started brainstorming, I was going to have to handle 4 parties this year, 2 in Kansas for Novell and Gillows and 2 in Ohio for Novell and Stovard.  From what I heard last year's party here sucked, so this year they had to be amazing.  Joyce had tried but without Grandpa there no one really felt it.  This year the three of them would be at three of the parties while I had to attend all four.  So getting the dates right was paramount for that to happen.  My employees were used to having theirs on Sunday night and given Monday off to recover, but their employees were used to having it on Saturday night and working the next Monday.  That plan wasn't feasible, therefore, whichever group ends up on Sunday well I have Monday off as paid time, just like I do at home with my company.  Amanda like the pictures from my parties and she was very impressed.  I contacted Chef Annie via email asking her which date she was available on the weekends in December.  I would have William finalize the dates so she could do both parties either on the same weekend or alternating a week to give her time.  This year Christmas will fall on a Friday and since I always give my employees the week after Christmas off so they can spend time with their families while the kids are off from school I suggested that it'd be the same for each company.  Yes, this was paid time off and yes, it came out of my pocket.  My Grandpa Gillows used to say, “Happy workers mean productive workers.”  Amanda loved the idea and was willing to actually foot the entire bill for the party out of her divorce settlement if I would give their employees at Stovard the same week off that I give my own.  I told her she didn’t need to pay for the party because it would come out of a budget that I had set up with Tony already for this year.  Regardless, all the employees from all three companies were going to get that week off.  Dante is taking point over at the Stovard company because Adam is useless having never planned a party on his own.  I put Dante in charge of getting the caterer for both companies since he had helped Joyce try to do one the year before.  I'll have to see Adam because he will have final approval on the menu, given that he is CEO.  Happily, that won’t be for a few weeks, in the meantime, I have a new PA to train.  Monday morning will come way too early, I still hate getting up with the sun.  If I could get away with doing everything after dark I’d be beyond happy.  Understand that when your body wants to stay up until 4 a.m. and your workday starts at 7:30 you can run into major issues with trying to wake up.  Not to mention the need for a nap, which if indulged means falling asleep at the right time at night is going to be even harder.  When I was this age my family used to choke that I was one cranky bear if I didn't get my 18 hours of sleep a day.  Somewhere in my late 30s, I found I could get by on 4 to 5 hours a night and by mid-40s that number dropped to 2.  Several times I would pull an all-nighter and work fine the next day staying up over 36 hours before having to fall asleep, which is why has long as my head has a soft place to lay I can sleep pretty much anywhere.  Even the driver seat of a Chevy cavalier at a rest stop on a 21-hour drive just see my ex-boyfriend from Canada.  Tonight was another all-nighter thanks to Allison and Andrea.  I can’t hold it against them either because if I had been held prisoner that long with only one person for social interaction I would be going stir crazy to talk to another person especially one my own age or close to it.  They love spending time with Mom, Dad, and Grandpa, but it's not the same as talking to someone closer to their own age.  And this a time for them to catch-up, after Amanda finally left, the three of us continue to talk about the holiday parties, trying to make them fun for everyone over the next couple of hours.  After that, we watched a few Rom Coms that they had missed and laughed about how unrealistic they were. 

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 At about 1 a.m. they wanted to have some girl talk and they asked me what my scariest encounter with a guy ever was.  I knew this was a way for them to talk about what happened and that they wanted to open up about the time that they were kidnapped.  Andrea was held for way over a month before Allison was grabbed.  And one of them had let it slip that Albert would show up making demands and threatening the baby if they didn’t follow through.  I held them both in my arms as they cried on each shoulder letting the pain go a tear in the time.  I was glad we were in a common area so that might guards could know what was happening.  I wanted to go to that jail and castrate Albert right then and there when they started telling me what he had done.  They couldn't fight back as I had in high school at Donovan because of Andrea’s baby.  I told them if they ever get in a situation like that again and fighting back is an option to bite down as hard as they can and don't let go.  I pulled up the video of what Donovan did to me in the locker room that day when he attacked me.  He was a cocky SOB, who thought his strength could overpower my mind.  After he told me what it was going to happen and forced me to my knees in front of him, he pulled out (truthfully) the smallest d**k I have ever seen.  It took everything in me not to laugh as his four-inch (tops) long thing was stuck in my face and him telling me to suck it.  I knew security was watching on the cameras I put in the locker room whenever I swam and had already sent someone to help and I just had to stall.  When I tried to balk at obeying his orders he grabbed me by the back of my head and pushed me closer to it.  He demanded I open my mouth and when I refused he hit me hard in the cheek with his fists.  At this point, I was pissed off. No way was this baby d**k asshole getting out of this without some severe pain.  So, I turn my head slightly acting like I was going to comply and bit down so hard on the side of his member, while at the same time I grabbed his left ball sack and started pulling like I was trying to rip it off his body.  He screamed out like a girl, which caused some of the football players to rush in and help.  Troy showed up wearing nothing but a towel as well as several others.  Those gathering around looked on in horror as I spit blood and tissue out of my mouth from biting him, and Donovan was clutching his twig and berries laying on the floor writhing in pain.  “That's what you get for trying to r**e me, you ass.” I spit out more blood.  One of the coaches got mad at me because their team needed him.  Troy stopped the coach from striking me but lost his towel in the process during the struggle.  OMG!  He was hung like a horse – long and thick.  All I could think of was, “Come to Mama”.  Despite the trauma of what it just happened, I couldn’t stop myself from admiring the perfection of his form.  No wonder girls at the school salivate over him, too bad for them he was gay.

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The video had cut off before his towel dropped because it would have been wrong to show Troy's nether regions to anyone who didn't watch it live.  Donovan's junk, on the other hand, was not an issue because of the jurors, judge, bailiffs, court reporters, lawyers, and several new stations seeing it when the video played at his trial.  Hell, someone on his own legal team actually leaked it on to YouTube with our faces blurred out, guess they wanted to show how to fight back because it was labeled, “Don't be a Victim! F.I.G.H.T B.A.C.K!”  Evan had been there lurking in the background watching when it happened, but he kept his mouth shut and to this day as far as I know none of his family knows that I was attacked like that.  Andrea asked me about the trial and how hard it was to face my attacker.  Both of them were going to be testifying against Albert.  Stewart’s boyfriend had already turned State’s witness and been given immunity. I answered her, “What you both have to remember is he's already going to jail for a long time, no matter what.  He can never get his hands on either one of you or hurt you ever again. Between the money he has to payback for all the years he stole from Asher, Allen, and Tony coupled with the divorce settlement Amanda’s amazing lawyer was able to get, he’s basically penniless.  He couldn’t even afford a real lawyer he had to get a public defender when the IRS came for him, because my guys found his secret offshore accounts and Uncle Sam took most of that money as p*****t for all the years of tax evasion, Amanda and the boys got the rest.  ‘Poor’ Albert just pleading guilty rather than go to trial.  Donovan, on the other hand, was an arrogant SOB.  He thought his good looks would get him freedom, but he’s wrong and he ended up getting 15 years without the possibility of parole because other girls came forward to press charges of date r**e against him.”

I went on to say, “Given what had happened I doubt it very much that Albert would try to go to trial he's too much of a coward to face his victims.” They agreed.  By now it was almost 3 in the morning both of the girls were yawning and I helped them into my master bedroom so they could get some sleep.  I, on the other hand, was still wired after talking about everything and reliving it a bit.  So, I went up to the pool to swim a few laps.  By around 4:15 I got out went down to one of these secondary rooms to take a shower, I looked at the clock and realized I had to be up in less than 2 hours to be ready to train a brand new employee. So, I just went into the kitchen grab some with lots of caffeine (not coffee) and went back to my home office to try to make up a list of things that needed to be done this week.

Steve sent me a text telling me that I really should try to sleep even just a power nap, but I told him that if I fell asleep now I wouldn't wake up in time to go to work. So, he said he copied the information that we obtained from the girls and was giving it over to Claude first thing in the morning.  That way he could pass it to the DA and see if they wanted to go ahead and add it to the charges they already had on the list for Albert.  I told Steve he should go to bed and he told me that as long as I was up he was up.  I laughed and said, “So if I decided to pull another all-nighter tonight, would you stay up as well?”  And he snapped back, “No, I would come in and put you in a sleeper hold until you were unconscious so we both could get some sleep.” I looked at my camera that I knew he was watching me on in the corner and flip him the bird, to which I get a text back “ROTHLMAO!!!!”   At this point, I just went back to making my list for the day and ignore him.