moment?” Neil asked.
“Which one?” She quickly answered then realised what a fool she was making of herself.
Uncontrollable laughter in the courtroom. Exactly what Neil wanted.
“He is not my boyfriend any more. He is someone from my past,” She said trying to correct her mistake but the damage was already done.
“And where is he now?” Neil asked.
“In Prison.” Laughter.
“ Your boyfriend is in prison for drug trafficking, attempted extortion, and other crimes. And it's not his first time in jail. And yet you claim you do not associate with any one that has committed crimes.”
Neil glanced at her lawyer, “he's probably going to break down and cry,” he thought.
“You have discussed this case with your boyfriend over the phone and also how rich my client is. Haven't you?” Neil pulled out some pieces of paper from his manila file and passed them to the judge.
“Objection! My Lord, intercepting and hacking my client's personal conversation is an intrusion of her Privacy,” the plaintiff's lawyer challenged.
The judge was in a dilemma. He knew intercept of her telephone conversations was unlawful but now she was a suspected criminal.
“Objection sustained,” the judge decided.
Neil pulled another piece of paper from his manila envelope and waited for the murmurs to die down. The whole court was now bewitched, watching his performance as if he was on stage at The Shakespeare's Globe performing Hamlet.
“Five million pounds,” he said shaking his head, “five million pounds is what you should milk out of that banker chap,” so to quote your boyfriend.
He paused for it to sink in. He knew that in cross examination, you had to quit when you hit the peak and he had just got to the climax.
“No more questions.”
And just like, Neil had managed to turn the tide.
He knew it wasn't over yet, but after this performance, his client was guaranteed bail. Then they would soldier on better once his client was on the outside.
The case was adjourned and DSK was given conditional bail after depositing a million pounds in sterling as surety.
He was to be put under house arrest until the case was solved.
After his release, he was driven by his lawyer to his £6 million penthouse in Chelsea with journalists in hot pursuit.
Once inside, they went to the living room and sat on the sofas.
DSK left Neil talking on his cell phone and went to the cellar. He picked out a bottle of expensive vintage wine, a Chateau Lafite de Rothschild, then went to the kitchen and picked up two wine glasses.
He then went to the living room and opened the bottle.
“Let's drink to your health,” Neil said jovially as they raised their glasses.
DSK took a long sip and put the glass back on the table.
“Look Neil, I really want to thank you. I don't know where to start.”
“Cut the crap and drink up. I am a lawyer and that is my job. Very nice wine by the way.”
“Whatever you say, but you have done a great job.”
They drank the next few glasses in silence.
“I am afraid she's going to divorce me.”
“I don't think so, she's a bit upset. That's all. Once all this is over, she will be fine. I don't think she will divorce you,” Neil tried to console.
The bottle was quickly drained and DSK brought another bottle.
He was beginning to cheer up and started talking freely.
“My career is over, my wife's leaving. My whole world's been turned upside down by this thing.”
“You can start all over again. Look at me, I have been divorced three times, my friends wrote me off ten years ago when I had just gone through my second divorce and was struggling with alcohol. But now, I have become a survivor.”
“But I love my wife so much and can't imagine what life will be if she divorces me,” DSK said.
“Yeah, right. You love her and go on screwing around,” Neil thought as he lifted the glass to his mouth and took a long sip.
“Maybe she won't divorce you. Don't worry about her for now. Let's first close this case for good and you will take it from there,” Neil advised.
“You think the judge will dismiss the case. By the way, I was surprised by how you gathered the facts about that woman. You are a genius.”
Neil sipped on the wine before responding.
“It's possible the judge will dismiss the case but that depends on how we perform on our next court appearance. And also on how prepared that lawyer will be or what information he will have. Today, they lost it completely because it's obvious the woman didn't tell her lawyer about her past. He is a smart lawyer but he is the type who thrives on preparation. We were lucky to take him by surprise.”
“Maybe she didn't think the information about her past was useful,” DSK commented.
“Well, she found out the hard way because there's no such thing as useless information.” Neil responded as his BlackBerry buzzed. He ignored it and carried on his conversation.
“It's always important to tell your lawyer everything. Even the vaguest details because sometimes, it's those vague details that can add up to build or break a case.” he said then lifted his glass and drank some more wine.
After that comment, they drank in silence.
DSK tried to reflect on the lawyer’s advice, “it's important to tell your lawyer everything.” “Was he asking me indirectly to tell him all my escapades? Weren't my sex life and escapades completely embarrassing and disgusting?” And he wondered if he should perhaps tell Neil everything.
His sexual addiction, his dark fantasies, his visits to prostitutes, the swinging parties, his monthly payments to a city escort agency and his visits to a dominatrix.
He had picked up all these bad habits when he had joined Global Capital Bank twenty five years ago. Global Capital, just like other banks had a policy of entertaining executives and clients at popular strip clubs in town. It was innocent fun, they would go watch half-dressed girls or half naked girls dancing, they would get some lap dances too and sometimes they went to The Playboy club in Mayfair before the government shut it down.
Then he started frequenting strip clubs every day after work which was harmless fun, so he thought. Temptation followed and he started paying for sex with a dominatrix. Then an escort agency, which introduced him to fantasy role play.
The escort agency would send him a woman dressed as a nun for the first week, then a woman dressed as a nurse the second week, one dressed as Police officer, one dressed as a soldier, a surgeon and even once a woman dressed in an African tribal costume. The best session he had though was when they sent him one dressed as an Immigration Officer. She had come to his penthouse dressed in a fake UK Border Agency uniform, complete with a fake badge, water pistol, handcuffs and rubber stamp. She had then handcuffed him to the bedpost and pulled off his trousers and underwear. She had then teasingly slapped and pinched his snow white buttocks until they turned pinkish at which point she had stamped the words “Visa Denied” on his buttocks. After putting the rubber stamp away, she had unlocked the handcuffs and released his hand from the bedpost then proceeded to give him the best sex of his life. These role plays enabled him to play out all his imaginations and desires to the core and also helped him to release the tension brought by his stressful and demanding job. It went on for quite a time but came to an end when it got mixed up badly.
It was the weekend he was staying at the luxurious Grand Hyde Hotel. It was a Friday morning and the escort agency was supposed to send him a woman at exactly 11 am for a role play and he had requested that she be dressed as a hotel maid because of all roles, he hadn't touched that.
By 10:45 am, he was already prepared having watched a lot of “educational videos” on the hotel television. He had also taken the legendary blue pill an hour earlier, just like the instructions on the packaging explained.
At exactly 11 am, there was
a knock on the door and he had rushed and opened it. There she was! Dressed in a hotel maid's uniform exactly as he requested.
He ushered her in and locked the door.
“Let's just be quick, I have an important business lunch,” he had jumped on her.
And when she said no, he had thought it was role play and she was acting out a part which even made it more fun.
Thirty minutes later, the sex was finished. she was scared and telling him not to kill her and promising she won't say a thing.
He was so confused and fed up of her acting and just let her out of his room.
She ran out crying and still he was puzzled.
Then another knock on the door and he went to answer it.
There was a twenty something elegant and beautiful woman. She removed her trench coat to reveal a trendy hotel maid's uniform although the skirt was rather too short, even for DSK's standards.
“Sorry I am late. I was stuck in traffic. My name's Tenisha and I am from the agency,” she had said with a sweet smile.
“But there was someone from the agency just a few minutes ago, it must be some sort of mistake ” he said in confusion and panic.
“It can't be, the agency can never make such a mistake. Besides, I am the only one working at this hotel today. The other girls are booked at other hotels and private homes.” the girl responded.
It was then that the penny had dropped and he felt like a rug had been pulled out from under his feet.
It had all been a bloody mistake!
The Ethical Banker Page 7