Deceptions

by Dana Mansfield

  “It is time,” he said and motioned towards the steps, “the Employer is ready to visit you.” When Jack looked back over in that direction, he saw a pair of black leather pants and boots-clad legs coming down the stairs. The person wore a white fuzzy sweater and her hair, which was pale red and thin, was styled perfectly and her makeup flawless.

  Jack thought he was hallucinating and then he thought he was having a stroke and slipping into a bizarre coma. But when he caught the first whiff of the perfume that had been so familiar for nearly two decades, he knew what he was seeing was his reality.

  The Employer was Crystal.

  * * *

  Chapter 31

  “Hello, Jack.” Crystal approached with a saunter; the sexuality she always exuded ran high but Jack saw through that. He had once past their hormonal high school days. He just saw the real Crystal, or at least the real Crystal he thought she was. Her beauty caught his eye but he’d fallen hard in love with her heart and soul. But at some point that love faltered and now, what tiny amount he still felt out of a connection with the children was so very gone.

  “What the hell is going on here, Crystal?” he growled in cliché, trying to manage the extreme anger that exploded within him. He struggled in his tight bondage.

  “Payback,” she said and reached out to touch his bearded face. Jack moved his head out of the way. “You’re filthy and you stink.”

  “No thanks to you,” he shot back. “You release us so Penny can get medical attention, I can get back to my children, and you can rot in fucking prison.”

  Crystal laughed. This did nothing but feed the fire within him.

  “Look at you, jackass!” Crystal said, continuing to laugh. “You are bound half naked to a fucking chair. You look and smell like an animal, like shit. Just as when this all started, you are in no fucking position to demand a damn thing. What you should be doing is thanking me.”

  “Thanking you? Thank you for what?”

  “For not having you or this bitch here killed right away. Your lives are very much controlled by me and I warn you, Jack, you better not piss me off anymore,” she explained and then slapped him hard. He didn’t feel the pain from the hit; he felt only anger. He couldn’t let it control him; he needed to keep an even keel on himself.

  “Crystal, please,” he said, softening his tone. “What you are doing is not right. You see that, no?” She rolled her eyes at him and turned to face William.

  “Chain her up,” she ordered and nodded to Penny. Jack could do nothing as James and Landon unlocked Penny and yanked her up to her damaged legs. She screamed from the force put on her knees and then screamed even louder when they yanked her arms up into a set of manacles that hung from the ceiling. When they let go of her, her feet didn’t even touch the floor. The pain must have been severe as her head flopped forward.

  “Bring her to,” William ordered Vivienne. “She needs to be awake for this. Give her something to keep her with us, if you have to.” Jack watched as Vivienne broke a small capsule and waved it beneath Penny’s nose. She came to with a start from the sharp smell and Jack’s stomach sank as he saw Ms. Mengele fill a syringe with red liquid. Amplifying her pain would of course keep her conscious. It wasn’t a large dose, just enough to keep her uncomfortable and awake. Penny whimpered which also just fueled Jack’s anger.

  “Crystal, why? Why are you doing this?” Jack asked, trying to draw Crystal’s attention away from Penny.

  “I told you. Payback.”

  “Payback for what?”

  “Payback for you deciding to quit show business,” she replied. This took Jack by surprise. He had not told anyone except for Tony, his business manager, and Emerson, the head of his record company.

  “How did you find out?” he asked.

  “I have my ways,” she said coyly.

  “She found out from Shane.” Everyone turned their attention towards Penny. Her voice was strong, stronger than it had been in the days preceding Crystal’s visit.

  “You keep your mouth shut,” Crystal warned Penny.

  “No, I’ve kept silent long enough, Crystal. I should have said something a long time ago. This whole situation could have been avoided. Because I didn’t, this is my fault.” The childlike voice was slowly creeping back.

  “Penny,” Jack said. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m sorry, Ivan,” she replied. Her breathing was getting worse and there was so much pain in her voice. “I should have said something when I found out but she was blackmailing me.”

  “You know the deal, Penny. You talk, I talk,” Crystal said in a warning voice.

  “I’m not afraid of you, not after this hell you’re putting Jack through. Jack deserves to know the truth.”

  “And you deserve what you’ve got coming to you,” Crystal barked and grabbed a billy club from the wall of torture instruments. She went behind Penny and brought the instrument down hard across her back near the surgical scars.

  “Crystal!” Jack yelled. She rounded on him and pressed the club against his throat.

  “I’m not playing around,” Crystal cautioned.

  “She’s sleeping with Shane,” Penny said despite what just happened, her voice strained. “Shane’s blackmailing Tony Harper. He’s been making Tony tell him about your financial situation. He must have told Shane about you deciding to retire.”

  “You fucking bitch!” Crystal screamed and came at Penny with the club again. This time, she hit Penny over and over until she screamed in pain. The pain did not stop Penny, however.

  “Crystal knew about my background and threatened to tell you.” Crystal made another hit across Penny’s back. “I didn’t want you to know. I’m sorry, Jack.” Another hit, another scream. “I knew she was unfaithful to you; I should have told you. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Silence pressed down upon Jack at these words. I knew she was unfaithful to you… Jack had no idea. Even through all their troubles, he never thought Crystal would sleep around on him. The emotional wind was knocked out of him.

  “You bitch!” Crystal screamed and slammed the club into Penny’s stomach. The actual wind was knocked out of Penny and she struggled to recover it.

  “He deserved to know,” Penny responded after a series of strangled breaths. Crystal threw the club down and grabbed the hunting knife from William’s belt. She sunk it into Penny’s side. The look on his wife’s face was pure mania and despite what he just learned, fear for Penny hit Jack hard as blood spread down the side of her gray t-shirt and scrawny leg.

  “Stop talking, Penny!” Jack yelled. “She will kill you.”

  “If I’m to die,” she responded, “you deserve to know the truth.” Crystal stabbed Penny one more time – this time in her right shoulder – before backing away from her and handing the knife to William. More blood seeped through the t-shirt. There was a sudden change in the atmosphere of the basement.

  “Get her down,” Vivienne said and William and James released her from the manacles and placed her on the exam table. The doctor cut the t-shirt from Penny; no thought was given to Penny’s modesty as Vivienne examined the two stab wounds.

  “How bad is it?” William said. His face showed he was not amused and although Jack was angry with his longtime best friend, he didn’t want to see her die.

  “Please help her,” he begged but no one acted as if they heard him. Angry, he snapped his head back to his wife-turned-monster. “All this because I wanted to spend more time with my children? Or is this because I wanted the divorce? You even agreed to it or was that a lie?”

  “That was no lie,” she replied testily. “I couldn’t care less if I stayed married to you. What I’m just trying to do is protect my financial interests. You stop working, the money stops rolling in. Even divorced, my alimony would shrink.”

  “This is about money?” Jack asked incredulously.

  “Of course it is,” Penny said from the exam table. Her voice was an odd combination of weakness and anger. “That’s all
she’s ever cared about.” Crystal’s face was angry and she turned on Penny again. She picked the club up and brought the implement down hard on Penny’s right knee even as Vivienne examined the stab wounds. Jack didn’t recognize this woman who had been his first love and the mother of his children. He had been blind in so many ways.

  “Beg me to stop,” Crystal said right in Jack’s face.

  “Go to hell,” he responded with just as much hate in his voice that Crystal had used.

  “That’s enough,” William said but couldn’t catch Crystal’s arm fast enough as she hit Penny’s other knee. Penny screamed and then became slack and silent.

  “She’s out again,” Vivienne said as she held gauze down on the wound to her shoulder. James also participated in the act of trying to slow down Penny’s bleeding by putting pressure on her side.

  “Vivienne, how bad is Penny?” William repeated his inquiry. Vivienne took a look at each stab wound. The only one that worried her was the one to Penny’s side.

  “It’s the deepest. I can stop the bleeding and close the wounds but I’ll have to watch her closely for signs that one of her organs may have been nicked,” she explained.

  “Just patch her up,” Crystal said and dropped the billy club again. “If she dies, she dies. Do not go out of your way to save her.”

  “Who are you?” Jack asked his wife. She ignored him and walked up the stairs.

  . . .

  Jack sat slumped back in the heavy chair. Two hours had passed since Vivienne completed her work on Penny, covered her in the blanket from the cell, and disappeared upstairs. Jack was numb. He didn’t even know how to describe his world anymore. His wife betrayed him and so had his best friend. It was all just too much to comprehend.

  A whimper from the exam table drew Jack’s attention.

  “Penny?” Jack called to her. After a couple moments, Penny spoke.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, turning her head towards him. Her words were slow and she was even paler from the loss of blood. “You deserved to know about Shane and Crystal.” Jack felt anger rise towards Penny.

  “You should have told me,” he said, not hiding his anger. “Penny, if you would have told me this… this… this would not have happened.”

  “I know,” she sobbed. “I knew this was my fault; I just didn’t know it. I’m so sorry, so sorry,” she cried. “Please forgive me. Please, please forgive me.”

  “How long have you known?”

  Penny wept harder at this question.

  “Five years.”

  “Five years? What the hell, Penny? I cannot believe this. You knew she was sleeping around with your own fiancé yet you could not tell me? Not only did you stay with a man who abused you but you stayed with someone who was not even faithful? And not to tell me? I trusted you, Penny. And you knew we were having problems. I just… I cannot forgive you.” Jack let his voice falter. He felt so betrayed. Penny sobbed harder but Jack didn’t care. His head pounded; he just wanted to make sense of all this. “Why did you not tell me?” he asked. “Why did you not tell me?!” His screaming at Penny did not make the situation any better and Penny just cried harder.

  He ran the new information over and over in his head. The Employer was Crystal who was mad because he was retiring and was afraid of not getting enough money from Jack in the divorce. Shane, his old business manager, was blackmailing Tony, his new business manager, and that’s how Crystal found out about the retirement. Crystal and Shane had been carrying out an affair for at least five years. Penny knew about this but kept the information from him because she was being blackmailed by Crystal. If Jack had known, this horror would never have happened. Jack would have ended the marriage so much sooner. He couldn’t handle infidelity.

  And then he realized he was no better than Crystal. But his indiscretion happened years after Crystal started hers. The one person he trusted wholly betrayed him and he was almost as angry at Penny as he was with Crystal.

  “Syn suka,” he muttered and shook his head. His world that had not made sense a few hours earlier was now nothing but carnage and he had no idea how to get out of it.

  Another hour passed. Jack spoke no words to Penny and she eventually stopped crying. Their hell continued on a whole new level.

  Crystal, looking smug, and the others returned.

  “Lover’s quarrel?” she asked.

  “Fuck you,” he replied and refused to look at her.

  “I always wondered if there was something between you and her,” she said. Jack smelled the perfume she’d worn since high school. It made him sick to his stomach. “A man and a woman just can’t be best friends without there being some fucking involved. How long have you been screwing the help?”

  “It was only that weekend at the cabin,” Jack replied. “And I regret what happened.” The words were cruel and Jack heard Penny suck in her breath. He tried very hard not to care.

  “Wow,” Crystal said. “That was harsh, especially after Penny spilled her guts about that weekend after being tortured trying to protect you. You really are an ass, Jack. You’ve surprised me. Penny kept my infidelity to herself and let Shane beat the shit out of her to keep her own terrible secret away from you and in the span of a few minutes, you just threw her away. Damn.” Crystal’s words bore into him and ultimately, they indeed stung.

  Crystal walked over to Penny. Jack had no choice but to follow her with his gaze.

  “I actually feel sorry for you, Penny,” she said to her former friend. “You once told me how worthless you felt after everything you’ve been through and I didn’t really understand. But after what Jack just did, I do and you must feel so much like shit. I love it,” Crystal admitted and giggled. It was sick, just sick. She turned to Jack but stayed next to Penny who turned her head away from everyone. She wasn’t crying but Jack saw she was shaking. He ignored her.

  “Jack, understand this. Once she found out about Shane and me, she made the choice to allow the abuse to continue. She was a whore, selling her soul and body to Shane to keep me from telling you her most private secret. A secret you have wanted to know for a very long time. That’s how much she loves you. This isn’t just a strong friendship. No, it’s much more than that and by you kicking aside that weekend after even you admitted it was special, you backstabbed her. You’ve hurt her.”

  “Shut up,” Penny begged, turning her head to look at Crystal. “Please.” Crystal slapped Penny twice.

  “I’ve known her secret for a very long time, Jack, but I promised not to tell you even though I knew you wanted to know very badly. I tucked that information away. I had a feeling it might come in handy one day and it certainly did. When she confronted me about my relationship with Shane, I knew I had nothing to fear. I told her if she said anything, I would tell you what she wanted you never to find out. That’s all it took. She kept quiet, she spread her legs for Shane and his perverted activities, and she took each beating without complaint. That’s how much she didn’t want you to know her little secret.”

  “Just shut up, Crystal,” he said. “You have hurt us enough. Why continue?” He was surprised he was coming to Penny’s defense considering how she hurt him by staying silent. Jack didn’t want to know the secret now. He thought he wanted nothing to do with her.

  “Because where’s the fun in not telling you? I’ve hated Penny for a long time and she deserves all this pain you’ve just caused and I’m about to cause.” Penny was slowly shaking her head with a scared look in her eyes. This did bother Jack. She wasn’t keeping the information from him to hurt him; she was preserving it to keep herself from being hurt. But still, she didn’t tell him about Shane and Crystal.

  “Please don’t tell him, Crystal,” Penny begged and tried to sit up but was too weak. “Please, please, please don’t tell Jack. I… I beg of you.”

  “You’ve always wanted to know about those dark secrets she kept about the time before you met her,” Crystal said to Jack.

  “Please, no,” Penny pleaded with
tears running down her face. “Don’t tell him!” Crystal turned and faced Penny.

  “You don’t want Jack to know?”

  “Please don’t tell him. Please.” Crystal took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “Jack hurt you by denouncing that weekend, didn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Penny said reluctantly. Crystal reached out and with odd gentleness, stroked Penny’s cheek as if she was a child.

  “You let yourself be beaten to keep your secret away from Jack. You slept with a perverted man who you knew didn’t give a shit about you and was sleeping with someone else. Didn’t you?” Penny didn’t answer and Crystal slapped her. “Answer me!”

  “Yes, I did those things,” she responded, sobbing.

  “I watched as William and his employees worked on you the last few weeks. I know that Jack has not seen the other video, the one about Beck. He did see you be raped by Landon. Does he know why you were raped?”

  “No,” Penny cried, “he doesn’t know.” Crystal’s smile was sickening and she sat on Jack’s lap. He tried to lean as far away from her as possible.

  “I’m going to keep my promise to Penny and not tell you her deep, dark secret, Jack. Nor will I tell you about the agreement,” she said and fingered his chest with her manicured nails.

  “Thank you,” Penny hiccupped. The sickening, evil smile returned to Crystal’s face.

  “I said I wasn’t going to tell him,” she corrected and then turned to William. “Set up the laptop. Show him the video. Let Jack find out what exactly happened. Show him what a whore she is and why.”

  “No!” screamed Penny but William was already setting up a small table in front of Jack and Crystal. She continued to sit on his lap and Jack wanted her off of him. He wanted her as far away from him as possible.

  William retrieved the same laptop that Jack watched the other videos on and set it on the table. As it revved up, Penny began begging.