With Friends Like These Pt. 02

Once again, I want to thank Gamblinluck and CurrentParameter for all their support and inspiration. I will submit Part 3, which is the final part, of With Friends Like These as soon as this one is published. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this foray into a different genre.

Part 2

Late into the night, Cindy and Lisa were allowed to take me "home". As soon as we entered the front door, Cindy loudly and firmly commanded me to strip.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"You heard me. Slaves are naked when in the house. Now STRIP!"

I stared at her disbelievingly. This was Cindy! What the hell.... Then she and Lisa burst out laughing and came in for another hug.

"I'm sorry, Matt," she said between laughs. "I couldn't resist. Consider it payback for bringing those two sociopaths into my life. Come on, I'll show you to your room."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I pulled them both in tighter.

"Show me later. Right now, I have to know how you pulled this off."

They led me to the living room and Lisa ran to kitchen to grab a bottle of champagne and three glasses. When we were all settled, Cindy started to tell me about her life for the last eight months.

"It's really all thanks to you and Lisa. I'm so sorry I ran out on you all those months ago. Seeing you in that collar was just too much. I knew you would never do what they said. There was no reason to. $20 million is nothing to you. You would never risk getting enslaved for that. But more than anything, I knew you never could do that. It's not in you. You gave us all equal shares in the company. Hell, you gave us everything. You don't have it in you to steal, especially from us."

I was touched and felt a little guilty. I had believed Cindy had abandoned me almost a year ago. What she just said made me feel like shit for ever doubting her. She then continued her story.

"Anyway, right after Cassie returned to work, Jim and Cassie had a big meeting with the entire company and let everyone know how you were so sorry for everything you had done, were too embarrassed to be seen and would do everything you could to make it up to all of us. He really laid it on thick and almost the whole company bought it all. It wasn't until he said you had requested no contact from anyone in the company and had requested all communications go through them until you had served your sentence, that I started questioning things. That's when I really started to think things were fishy.

"I've known you since seventh grade. I may have been made to believe you were embarrassed, but there is no way you would cut yourself off from everyone. I knew you wouldn't cut me out. It also seemed weird that Jim was suddenly your confidant after he stormed out on you at the police station. I went up to him after the meeting and told him I wanted to see you. He was emphatic that you wouldn't see me. And then he handed me a thumb drive. He said you wanted to make it up to me, so you fixed the eye tracking problem we had been having for the next Morrigan game.

"Now all my flags were up. How would you even know there was a problem with the tracking? We discovered it after you were arrested. Besides that, I had already fixed the problem, it was a simple coding error that I saw immediately. None of it made sense. But I took the drive and went back to my office to see what you had done. I love looking at your code and thought it would make me feel like I still had a connection to you if I could see your work again.

"I was happy to see your fix was exactly what I had done, but then noticed some extra coding in there. That was strange because ever since you did the compression program, you were a stickler for removing redundant and unnecessary code from any project you worked on. Besides that, the code you added made no sense. It was nothing but garbage taking up memory, which I know you would never do. I was able to determine pretty quickly it was an encryption, but I had no idea what the key was.

"You know, you could have made it a little easier on me, asshole. I isolated the code and saw the inscription key was only eight characters long. I had already figured you were trying to send me a message, because who else would look closely enough to see this. And eight characters pretty much confirmed it was a date. But I had no idea what date. I tried everything. Your birthday, my birthday, our graduation date, the date we founded the company, shit, I even tried Cassie and Jim's birthdays. Nothing worked. I was going crazy trying to figure it out. It had to be a date that meant something to both of us, but not to anyone else who might stumble on the encryption. Still, nothing was coming to mind.

"Then I stepped back and tried to think about what your mind space must have been like when you wrote it. I knew you were still trying to come to terms with what had happened to you, and you were at about the lowest point you had ever been. I tried to remember any other time you were so beaten down and it hit me. Your mother's death. I remembered how depressed you were when she died and I remembered being the only person you would talk to during that time. I don't think we had ever been closer than we were then. I entered the date, and everything opened up."

She started laughing then.

"Dude, you write messages like you write code. Succinct and to the point. But when I read it, shit, I was so pissed. Even as short as it was, I got the message. Jim and Cassie were behind everything, and they were going to force me out as soon as the game was completed. I wanted to storm into their offices right away and confront them, but all I had was your message. I needed proof.

"So, I started walking around the accounting department. I used the excuse of seeing Cassie and begging her to let me come visit, but she was adamant you didn't want to see anyone. Fucking bitch told me that you seeing me would be just too hard for you. I left her office and wandered around the department, trying to appear like I was lost in my depression. That's when Lisa spotted me."

I looked over at Lisa and realized I hadn't really introduced myself to her yet.

"Lisa," I began, "I know we have met a few times, and I am sure from what I am hearing that you played a big part in rescuing me. I remember your interview a couple years ago and some conversations we had at the office, but I can't help but wonder why you helped me?"

Lisa blushed and said, "I knew you couldn't have done what they said. You're right, you did sit in on my interview, and you were the nicest person I had ever met. I was fresh out of school and had no experience. Your wife, sorry ex-wife, and Mr. Robinson had made it clear that I had no chance at the job, but you told them to give me a chance. I remember your words clearly. You told them, 'Hey, none of us knew what we were doing when we started this, but we've made it work. We don't need another stodgy accountant that's set in their ways. We need fresh eager talent.' Then you looked at me and asked me if I was excited about the job possibility. I told you working for the company would be my dream job. You gave a stern look to both of them and hired me on the spot. Someone who took a chance on someone like me could never do what you were accused of. If you were being railroaded, I had to help.

"When you were sentenced for embezzlement, I wouldn't believe it. You cared too much for the company to do that. You cared too much for the people working there to do that to them. Every time you visited the accounting department, you made sure to talk to all of us, check in to see if we needed anything, you showed all of us how much you cared for the people working under you. I couldn't match the person I saw at the company with the person everyone said you were.

"I started digging around the old financial reports, and all the other stuff they said proved you were guilty. It seemed to show everything they were saying, but for some reason it didn't look right to me. I couldn't figure it out, but something just seemed off.

"Seeing Cindy wander around the office, I could tell she wasn't buying it either. That afternoon, I went to her office. I was scared shitless. I knew if I went to her with my suspicions, and she didn't believe me, I was throwing away my career. But I owed it to you. I walked in and shut the door. I started to tell her what I suspected, and she stopped me immediately. I almost pissed my pants then. I thought she was going to fire me right then and there, but she said we needed to talk somewhere else and asked to meet me at a bar outside of town that night. When we met there, we exchanged notes. I told her that something seemed off in the reports, but I couldn't figure it out. When she told me about the message you sent her, and that Mrs. Peterson and Mr. Robinson were the guilty parties, everything started to click."

The two women kept going back and forth, picking up the story whenever the other one took a break. And it was quite a story. While they knew what had happened, they still needed to prove it. Cindy had Lisa start making copies of every financial document she could get her hands on. Lisa basically moved in with Cindy as they would scour each document, file, memo, anything they could think of to find proof that Cassie and Jim had set me up. Cindy was trying to buy as much time as she could for Lisa have a breakthrough. She slowed production on the graphics for the game to a standstill, knowing as soon as it was done, she was out. Unfortunately, Cassie caught Lisa looking into a file she shouldn't have been looking at and fired her on the spot. Cindy saw the writing on the wall after that and decided to throw them off balance.

She went to both and asked them to buy her out of her shares. She told them it was too hard to keep working there as there were too many reminders of me at the company. She told them she wanted to make a new start. Cassie and Jim were more than happy to let her go, and did give her a nice buy-out package. The only thing Cassie asked was chance to download some of the graphic programs she had developed to play with and tweak for future projects she may take on. They were fine with that. So, nobody was alarmed when she spent her last two days camped out in the server room.

What they didn't know was that Cindy was downloading every financial record from the start of the company to that day. They had unknowingly given her access to everything she needed to burn their asses. She sold her house and bought the one in which I was sitting in a private sale, so they could try to disappear while they worked to free me. She and Lisa spent the next two months, living off Cindy's savings and going over all the data, but it seemed those assholes had covered their tracks too well. All the transactions were done from my computer, using my logins. They were starting to lose hope. They knew I was innocent, they knew Cassie and Jim were guilty, but they just couldn't prove it.

"Then Lisa made a comment, and everything fell in place," Cindy continued. "It happened to be my birthday, and we were sharing some drinks while going through transaction records for the millionth time. Lisa pointed out that the shitheads had even made one of the transactions on my birthday."

I smiled when I heard that. I knew what was coming.

"I can tell by your smile; you've already figured it out. We never went into the office on my birthday. Ever since you hit it big with the compression program, you have made sure to have some big surprise on my birthday just for me. You were always insistent that we leave our phones home and were unreachable for the entire day. That year you had taken me to a casino, and we spent the entire day there. As we started to check dates of the other transactions, we found more and more timestamps for times we knew you were out of the office. I called your old secretary, Janice, who they let go right after your conviction, by the way, and she had your entire schedule on her home computer. She always backed it up there because often times you had appointments after hours or needed to make a change when she had already left the office.

"With your schedule in hand, we were able to show every single transaction was made at a time when you were scheduled to be out of your office. We had everything we needed to prove you were innocent, but still didn't have any evidence it was Jim and Cassie. But we decided we would show it to Det. Baker anyway. Even if we couldn't nail Jim and Cassie, we still wanted to get you free. Luckily, Janice came through for us again. She had been wondering why we had asked for your schedule and asked us if we were trying to prove your innocence. That woman is loyal as hell to you, Matt. We told her what we knew and how her copy of your schedule proved you were innocent, but we still had no way to prove Jim and Cassie were behind it. She just started laughing then.

"She knew how protective you were of your software, so she had been secretly filming anyone who entered your office when you were not there with her phone. It wasn't unusual for people to grab things from your office, it was like Grand Central Station at the time. Hell, I went in there to grab a file or leave you a note all the time. But, every night, she would download the clips and save them to her home computer. As she put it, 'If ever someone stole something from you on her watch, she wanted to be able to nail the son of a bitch'. We took the list of transaction dates and times over to her house, and for every one of them, she had a clip of either Cassie or Jim entering your office. Now we had all we needed.

"We took the information to Det. Baker. She started an investigation immediately. She was even able to get more evidence. She contacted the casino and got a ton of video of us gambling the whole day. During the time of that transaction, we are both clearly shown throwing the dice at the craps table. Then this morning she told us they were picking Jim and Cassie up at the office and were going to pull you out of the house. We hightailed it down to the precinct and now we're here."

I pulled both women in close and hugged them for dear life. My oldest friend and my newest one, both had risked and sacrificed so much for me. They never doubted me, they never gave up on trying to save me, how could I ever repay them. For now, I could only offer them my thanks. And that I did. I kept thanking them both, over and over. Finally, Cindy said it was late and we should get some rest. They walked me to the guest room and said goodnight. I was a little surprised to see them both enter the other room. I never knew Cindy liked girls. Good for her.

===========

I laid down on the bed and tried to get to sleep. Unfortunately, two things kept me awake. The first was simply the fact that my mind wouldn't shut down. My brain kept going over how much my life had changed in just a few hours. In two weeks, I would be free. I would have my life back. Jim and Cassie were going to get what they deserved. The second thing keeping me awake were the noises coming from the other room. From the sounds of it, Cindy didn't just like girls, she LIKED girls. After spending eight months watching Cassie and Jim, and not being able to get any relief myself, the sounds of Cindy and Lisa were driving me crazy.

I resisted the urge, ok, overpowering urge, to jerk off. It just didn't seem right to masturbate to Cindy. She was my oldest friend, after all. But I couldn't deny I was looking at her differently. I had never really acknowledged how cute she was. Her glasses highlighting her big brown eyes, her long brunette hair always up in a ponytail, and seeing her today in her tight top and jeans, I had never noticed how nice her breasts and ass were. She was the typical hot geek girl. I realized I had been blinded by Cassie for so long, I never took the time to appreciate what was right in front of me. And Lisa was a little hottie. Blond, blue-eyed, with that girl next door look, she clicked the right buttons for me. Imagining the two of them together was enough to keep me awake.

That's why I was so surprised to hear a soft knock on my door. Telling them to come in, the two came and sat on the end of my bed. Even in the dark I could tell they were blushing fiercely. They kept looking at each other and then to me. Back and forth. Finally, Cindy broke the silence.

"Matt, can we talk to you for a minute?"

I told them of course.

"Ok, we were planning to wait to bring this up, but we've been talking, and we can't wait any longer. As I'm sure you heard just now, Lisa and I are kinda an item. We'd been working so closely, spending all this time together trying to prove your innocence, well, things just started to happen. She's a wonderful girl and we just fit, you know."

"Cindy, it's ok," I tried to reassure her. "I'm happy for both of you. After everything you two have done for me, I just want you both to be happy."

"That's the thing," Cindy responded. "We are happy, really happy, but we're kinda missing something. Don't speak. I'll never work up the nerve to finish if you interrupt me." I just nodded. "Anyway, here's the thing. We love each other, but... Shit. Matt, we're both in love with you too."

It took everything I had not say something. They were in love with me? Where did this come from? Cindy started to explain.

"Matt, I've been in love with you since high school. I was so happy when we decided to go to the same college. I had tried to work up the courage to tell you, but then Jim introduced you to Cassie. It hurt, but I could see how happy you were, so I was happy for you. And she did seem like a great person back then. Neither of us knew what a bitch she was, and by the time we figured it out, it was too late. I have never been so conflicted as I was on your wedding day. I was so happy for the two of you, but so sad that I had sat on my ass and missed my chance.

"After the first night Lisa and I got together, I burst into tears. I felt like I had used her and taken advantage of her. I confessed to her how much I was in love with you, and well, she surprised me. I'll let her tell you the next part."

Lisa looked at Cindy shocked. It was obvious that she had expected Cindy to tell everything. But she took a deep breath and made her own confession.

"Shit. Ok, when Cindy was lying in my arms apologizing for 'using me', I did the dumbest thing I have ever done. I started to laugh. I saw immediately how she misread the laugh and thought I was making fun of her. I blurted out my deepest secret then. I told her I loved you too. It's the truth. Ever since the interview, you had been so kind to me. You gave me my dream job. You always had a something nice to say to everyone at the company, and took time to talk to us no matter how busy you were. You seemed like the perfect man. I was so jealous of Mrs. Peterson. It was apparent to me early on that she wasn't in love with you. Anytime her secretary would tell her you were on hold for her, she would just roll her eyes and make you wait before she returned to her office with a big sigh. You always brought her coffee and did all these nice gestures for her, and she never seemed grateful for any of it.

"I kept thinking to myself, what a stupid bitch. She didn't realize how lucky she was to have you. I kept dreaming I was the one you were married to. I would show you how appreciative I was to be with you. I admit, I was starting to get a little stalkerish. Every time you would come down to accounting, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on my work for the next twenty minutes.

"When you were convicted, I wouldn't believe any of the shit they were saying about you. I knew you were innocent. That's why I started looking at the files. That's why I went to Cindy that day. I couldn't let the man I loved, even though it was from afar, be railroaded. When she showed me the message you hid, and showed it was that bitch and her brother who did it, I didn't care what happened to me. I needed to set things right."

She dropped her head, with some tears crawling down her cheeks. I was about to sit up to hug her, when Cindy motioned me to stay still. She hugged Lisa and took up the talking.

"But here's the rub, Matt. I love you, Lisa loves you, but we also love each other. We both laughed after we told each other about our feelings for you, and then we started kissing again. We made love so many times that night and we couldn't deny the connection. After I left the company, we really didn't leave the house for two months. We spent the day pouring over all the records, and then the nights, well, the nights were when we couldn't keep our hands, or our tongues, off each other.

"As the days passed, each of us started sharing little fantasies we had about you. What we would do to you if either of us ever had a chance, what we would want you to do to us, things like that. Shit, this is embarrassing, but it really turned us on. I mean, it REALLY turned us on. We started getting more comfortable talking about these fantasies, and they progressed from us being with you individually, to us doing those things as a threesome. If the original fantasies turned us on, the ones with the three of us drove us over the edge.

"About a week ago, when it looked like we might actually be able to set you free, we were struck with the reality that there was a small chance of us living those fantasies. We sat down for a long talk to try and figure out if they were just silly fantasies, or something we actually wanted to try to make a reality. I don't want you to think we haven't thought this through, we have. We realized that we were head over heels in love with each other and with you, and the thought of the three of us being together would be a dream come true.

"Look, I'm babbling right now. To cut to the chase, we love you. Could you, in any sort of reality, see yourself loving us too?"

Looking at the two of them, sitting on the end of my bed with expressions of hope and fear, I realized I did have feelings for them. Here were two women, who risked everything, sacrificed so much, just to set me free. I then questioned how these feelings compared to those I had had for Cassie in the beginning, before I knew what a cunt she was. I felt ashamed when I came to realization what I had felt for Cassie all those years wasn't love. It was infatuation, lust, and let's be honest, horniness. The thoughts going through my head must have been reflected on my face, because I saw both Cindy and Lisa start to appear nervous and disappointed. Quickly, I tried to alleviate their concerns.

"Wait, both of you. Whatever you think you just saw on my face, wasn't what you thought it was. I was just coming to realization I have been an idiot for almost a decade. I admit, I was stupidly blinded by Cassie. I thought she was everything I ever wanted in a woman, before I even KNEW what I wanted. Cindy, you have been by my side for as long as I can remember. You have been the best friend I ever had, and I am so sorry for not seeing how perfect you are for me sooner. I had often thought about asking you out in high school, but I never had the courage. I thought you only saw me as a friend. You were really my only friend, and I didn't want to risk that. But I should have taken the risk. I should have seen the beautiful, caring person you were.

"Lisa, I knew you were special the first time I saw you at your interview. Do you know why I was so adamant we hire you?"

Lisa just shook her head.

"It was two things. First, when I asked you if you really wanted to work for the company, your answer was so different than every other candidate. You told us that you had studied our rise in college, and that you saw I was a good person that looked after those who worked for me. You promised us that if we hired you, you would stop at nothing to make sure we were as successful as possible. But then you said what you really hoped to do is to make mine, Cindy's, Cassie's, and Jim's life easier. You wanted to take care of as many distractions as you could in order for us to be able to concentrate on our own areas and not have to worry about the day to day running of a company. Every other person we had interviewed talked about how the job would be great for their careers, provided a great incentive package, things like that. Not you. You wanted to be a part of what you saw as family working together. No matter how big or small a part, you wanted to join us because of us.

"The second thing was your personality. You were so energetic, fun, and to be honest, you made me feel like I had when we first started the company. Full of dreams and a desire to put it all out there to make them happen. I saw so much of me in you. I think that may be a part of what attracted Cindy to you too.

"The two of you have done more for me than I ever could have hoped for. I'm seeing now, I never really knew what love was. Like I said, I was an idiot. What Cassie and I had wasn't love. It was a sick co-dependence that I will be ashamed of for the rest of my life. I've loved Cindy for most of my life, I was just too stupid to see it. I trust her judgement, and Lord knows I've shown that I can't trust mine.

"Ok, time for me to embarrass myself. I did hear the two of you earlier. I admit, it turned me on something fierce. I was mad at myself for thinking of the two of you that way. You had done so much for me, and here I was thinking all these lewd thoughts about you. But I also saw you both for the first time then. It was like the blinders Cassie had put on me had finally fallen away. I realized how attracted I was to both of you, not just physically, though that was definitely a part of it, but how much I was attracted to both of you as a person. How much I wanted to be with both you because of who you were... And because of how you looked, too."

They both smiled and giggled when they heard that.

"What I am saying is that if you two would really have me, let me share what you have... Shit, I deserve to be re-enslaved if I was stupid enough to reject that."

They both broke into tears and leapt up the bed to hug me from both sides. They both started to kiss me all over my face, telling me how happy they were that I was back in their lives and that I wanted what they wanted. Each of them gave me a passionate kiss, and I almost drowned in the emotions that flowed through me. These weren't the kisses Cassie and I had. Those had been kisses of lust. These were kisses of love. And they were wonderful.

I broke away from them, and steeling myself for what may have been both the stupidest, at that moment, and the best, over time, request I would ever make, I looked them both in the eyes.

"Can I ask one favor for tonight?"

Both leaned away from me and Cindy said, "Anything."

"I would like nothing more right now, than to make love to both of you. But for tonight, can we just hold each other. I know what I want, but I think for tonight what I NEED is human contact and to feel safe. Would that be ok with both of you?"

Their tears and smiles told me all I needed to know. They each curled up next to me, pressing their bodies against me to maximize as much contact as possible, and buried their heads in each of my shoulders. Almost simultaneously, they both said, "Whatever you need. We're here for you."

We slowly drifted off to sleep, holding each other and telling each other how happy we were. For the first time that I could remember in a very long time, I had dreams instead of nightmares.

=============

Awakening the next morning, it seemed like none of us had moved at all. They were both still nestled in beside me, holding on for dear life. Upon feeling me stir, they both looked up at me with those beautiful eyes.

"Good morning," I said, feeling happier than I had ever felt.

"Good morning," they replied in sync. God, they were beautiful. How had I never seen it before. But before I could start thinking about that, they each kissed me deeply, then leaned over me to kiss each other. That was all it took.

We had wanted to just have human contact the night before, now we wanted more. Alternating kisses around, no one being ignored, they both slid closer to me. Wrapping their legs around each of mine, the kisses became more urgent. I felt their hands move down to the top of my boxers, and realized my hands had migrated to firmly but gently start massaging each of their butts. Cindy took a deep breath when Lisa and I had a turn at kissing, and stated simply, "We have too much clothing on."

What followed was a whirlwind of clothing being discarded, sheets being thrown to the floor, and our hands and mouths trying to touch every part of each other at the same time. I remembered seeing a documentary years ago about snakes mating in what is called a mating ball. That's what we were like, moving around each other, kissing, licking, sucking, touching, stroking, trying to discover everything we could about each other. I remembered that the documentary stated it was usually a group of males surrounding the female, and this was the opposite. I had two beautiful women writhing over me. Then I questioned "Why the hell am I thinking about snakes at a time like this?" Pushing Animal Kingdom out of my mind for good, I let myself succumb to the amazing pleasure I was feeling and, judging by the moans coming from the ladies, giving as well.

What I was feeling was so different from any sexual encounter I had ever experienced. There was an emotional connection in our love making I had never felt before. This wasn't just trying to satisfy a sexual need, like I now realized had been what most of my experiences were with Cassie, this was a bonding that not only touched all the senses, but was connection of our souls. It was as if we had always been meant to be with each other. The love I felt for them, and they felt for me, took the physical sensation to heights I never believed existed. All any of us wanted to do was to give to the other two. Share our feelings. Become one with the beauty of our love.

When we finally fell back to the bed, exhausted, drained, and having had more orgasms than seemed humanly possible between three people, we lay there panting, trying to catch our breaths. "Jesus Fuck! That was intense," I gasped out between breaths. "God, I love both of you."

Lisa started giggling and said, "Fuck our fantasies, that was so much better."

Cindy started blushing. "I know I'm going to regret asking this. Which of us did you fuck first? I can't even remember."

I had to laugh. "I don't have any fucking idea."

They joined in with my laughing and we started to realize we were all in a definite need of a shower. Running naked, we went to the bathroom and had what was probably one of the longest showers in recorded history. We couldn't keep our hands off each other. Fingers, tongues, breasts, asses, my cock, their pussies, all were being put to the best of uses. The fact no one slipped and broke something in the shower is a miracle. We eventually ended our second marathon sex session and went to the kitchen to replenish our bodies.

We didn't leave the house, except for one meeting with the D. A., for the next two weeks. Aside from that one excursion, we never had clothes on either. We spent our days and nights exploring every inch of each other's bodies, talking and learning about each other, cuddled up and holding each other, and basically connecting in every way possible. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. Learning what each partner liked and disliked, hearing about our histories, anything to bring us closer together. Most of our food was delivered, and we would play a game with each other to see who had to answer the door and pay. None of us were allowed to get dressed to accept the delivery. I cannot remember ever having a more happy, relaxing, exhausting two weeks in my life.

There were some bad moments as Cindy and Lisa told me about what Jim and Cassie had been doing to the company. It sounded like they were destroying our reputation in the gaming community, treating the employees like shit, and basically trying to milk as much money from the company in as short a time as they could. Pushing out quick games that were full of bugs, one of which I learned was almost unplayable. It appeared their one goal was to make as much as they could in the short term, then just let the company die. I made it my mission to repair the damage and bring the respect back to the company.

The day before the Cassie and Jim's trial, and I guess my hearing for release, we decided we needed to take a break from our frantic lovemaking, and recharge ourselves for the day to follow. We were never far from each other and spent it just basking in each other's company. Then Lisa got serious.

"You know, we, or really you Matt, have a big decision to make."

Cindy and I sat up from where we were sitting on the couch and looked at her.

Lisa took a breath and continued. "In the next few days there is a very strong possibility that Cassie and Jim are going to be enslaved for a long, long time. And odds are that they are going to be awarded to you. Have you given any thoughts to what you're going to do with them?"

Shit! I hadn't given it any thought. I had been so in the moment with the women I now knew I loved, I had not given any thought to what I would do with those fuckers. I was happy with Cindy and Lisa. I was going to get my company back and make right all the wrongs Cassie and Jim had done to our employees and our customers. I didn't want to think about Jim and Cassie. But the reality was there, I was going to have to make a decision about what to do with them. Lisa saw the look on my face and nodded.

"I kinda figured you hadn't. What you need is some time to really think about what you want to do with them..."

I interrupted her quickly, "What the three of US want to do with them, you mean."

They both smiled, and Lisa continued. "I may have an idea on how we could get that time to think."

She handed me a brochure, and Cindy leaned up against me to read it. Lisa snuggled in on my other side with a big, slightly mischievous, smile. As Cindy and I reviewed the brochure, we got the same smile as well.

=============

We arrived at the courthouse, me decked out in a new suit Cindy had purchased right after I had been rescued from the house, and Cindy and Lisa in tailored fit pantsuits that had me thinking very lewd thoughts. Ms. Douglas met us outside the courtroom and told me I would be sitting at the prosecutor's desk, and Cindy and Lisa would be called in as witnesses. She let us know that Cassie and Jim had refused the plea deal, then laughed that she hadn't offered much of a deal anyway. I hugged both Cindy and Lisa and was about to head into the courtroom, when I saw someone I had to talk to. Excusing myself from the three women, I headed over to a small group of people who were standing outside the witness room. Walking up to a shorter woman in her late forties, I immediately turned her around and embraced her.

"Janice, thank you so much for everything you did. I'm so sorry for what they did to you."

My assistant since the founding of the company looked up at me with tears in her eyes hugged me back. "Mr. Peterson, I'm sorry I never checked my records against the dates. I'm sorry you had to endure them for eight months. I'm just so happy everything is going to be made right."

I spent the next few minutes letting her know that I had no ill feelings towards her at all, and none of this was her fault. Right as Ms. Douglas came to tell me we had to go into court, I left Janice with one comment.

"When this is over, will you come back to the company as my assistant again? I'm really going to need people I can trust. And there will be a large salary increase for you."

Smiling, she replied, "Of course", and I entered the courtroom with Ms. Douglas.

I was shocked when I entered. Sitting in the pews were almost every current employee of the company. And they all smiled at me. Someone started to clap for me, and soon the entire courtroom was applauding. The bailiff quickly told everyone to return to their seats or he would clear the courtroom. I thanked the assembled group and took my seat next to Ms. Douglas. The lawyer for Jim and Cassie was seated across from us; he did not look very happy. I guess jury selection had not gone as well as he hoped. Jim and Cassie were escorted in, dressed in orange jumpsuits. I have to admit, I enjoyed seeing them look so shitty.

Jim looked like he had been put through the wringer. He also seemed to be walking a little funny, and sat very carefully into his seat, almost as if it hurt to sit down. Cassie, however, was a complete mess. It was obvious that she had tried to do something with her hair, but it still hung limply across her shoulders. She had always been so particular with her hair and make-up; I almost didn't recognize her without her morning pampering. I smiled as I watched her gingerly sit as well. I guess their mouths had upset the guards. I could remember seeing other prisoners getting strapped for mouthing off when I was awaiting trial.

We all stood as the judge walked in. I was surprised when four other judges came in and took seats at the bench as well. The presiding judge, Judge Adam Lawerence, looked over some notes and conferred briefly the other judges. Satisfied, he asked Ms. Douglas to rise.

"Ms. Douglas, it seems you have made a rather unusual request to try three different cases concurrently. For the benefit of all present, can you please explain your reasoning for this?"

Ms. Douglas smiled and presented her argument.

"Your Honor, if it pleases the court, the State has requested to present the cases against Ms. Robinson, formally Mrs. Peterson, and Mr. Robinson concurrently as they are both accused of the same crimes against the same parties. We have also requested to hold the reversal of conviction hearing for Mr. Peterson concurrently as the evidence in all cases is the same. To avoid wasting the court's time, and wasting the tax payer's money, we are asking to present all cases at the same time. Mr. Peterson's release, if granted, may also affect the sentencing decisions, again, dependent on the outcome of the first two cases. By presenting the evidence a single time, the court can rectify what I believe to be a grave miscarriage of justice.

"I would also like to submit there is precedent for this action. The State of California vs. Wilson and Sharma vs. Greenberg both allowed criminal cases to be tried concurrently with reversal of wrongful enslavement cases. Thank you."

I expected the defense attorney to try and object, but he seemed to know he had no grounds to do so. Judge Lawrence appeared to agree.

"Thank you, Ms. Douglas. The court recognizes your intent and appreciates your desire to cut back on wasting the court's time. The court grants the petition, and all three cases will be held concurrently." He then turned to the jury. "Members of the jury. There will be three cases heard in this courtroom; however, you are only deciding the outcome of two, the cases against Mr. Robinson and Ms. Robinson. You will notice that there are five judges present at the bench. The four judges to either side of me, and myself will be deciding the case pertaining to the release of Mr. Peterson. Texas law requires a tribunal of five judges to determine whether an enslaved individual can have their enslavement reversed. I will be the presiding judge over all three cases. The decision on Mr. Peterson's release will have no bearing on the cases against Mr. Robinson nor Ms. Robinson. As such, the decision on those two cases will have no bearing on the tribunal's decision regarding Mr. Peterson."

Then Judge Lawerence asked me to stand, which I did immediately.

"Mr. Peterson, it is my understanding you wish to have a retrial to reverse your earlier conviction. I am required to ensure you are aware that if you are not released, or even if your sentence is only reduced, you will be placed for public auction and sold to the highest bidder to serve the remainder of your term. Are you aware of the consequences and do you wish to proceed with the retrial?"

This was it. I was taking a gamble, but I knew Cindy would never let me be sold to anyone else if everything went to shit. Taking a deep breath, I answered.

"Your honor, since the charges were first levied against me, I have proclaimed my innocence. I have not wavered from that proclamation at any time since then. I understand the consequences and will accept any decision set by this court. I wish to proceed."

The judge nodded and asked the prosecution to make their opening statements.

=================

Ms. Douglas was amazing. Her opening statement should be used as an example in law schools across the country. Watching the jury as she laid out the conspiracy to enslave me and take everything they could away from me, I almost had to laugh. The looks they kept giving Cassie and Jim were so full of disgust, it was a wonder the defense did not try to change their plea immediately. I felt a little sorry for the defense attorney. He really had nothing to work with, and I could see he was frustrated with Jim and Cassie's insistence to continue with their not guilty plea. I wondered if my attorney had felt the same way when I was being tried almost a year ago.

The trial did not go any better for them after the opening statements. Ms. Douglas called witness after witness to explain the evidence we presented. Cindy spent time going over the hidden message I had entered in the code, explaining how it started the whole process of trying to prove my innocence. Lisa was incredible as she explained the extremely complicated financial maneuvering Cassie had set up. She was able to put it in such easy to understand terminology everyone was able to follow. Her personality won over the jury immediately and they hung on her every word. When Janice took the stand, explaining how she had video logs of Jim and Cassie entering my office during the times of the transactions, the defense attorney was quick to try to get all evidence thrown out due to them not knowing they were being filmed. The judge overruled him immediately, as Ms. Douglas pointed out only one party needed to be aware filming was occurring. Det. Baker's footage of us at the casino sealed the deal.

The case proceeded quickly after that. Once the prosecution rested, the defense had no real case. The attorney asked for a fifteen-minute recess to confer with his clients, but when he returned it was clear they would not change their plea. He first brought Jim to the stand, but his arrogance did nothing to help their case. They switched tactics when Cassie started to testify. She turned on the water works and tried to play to the jury that she had been manipulated by her stepbrother, I had been emotionally abusive, and she was merely a pawn in a power struggle between me and Jim. I don't think a single person in the courtroom, spectator, jury member or judge, bought a word of it. By the time closing arguments were heard, the three sitting at the defense table looked totally defeated.

The judge excused the jury to deliberate, and the five judges went to Judge Lawrence's chambers to decide my fate. The court audience were just starting to exit when the bailiff stated court was about to resume. It had only been five minutes since the judges left, when everyone quickly returned to their seats. The five judges returned and we all sat. Judge Lawrence asked me to stand and pronounced my judgement.

"Mr. Peterson, the five judges of this tribunal have conferred. We are ready to announce our decision. Ms. Douglas stated at the beginning of this trial that a 'grave miscarriage of justice' had occurred, resulting in you being sentenced to eight years of slavery. The judges of this tribunal do not feel that Ms. Douglas' statements were strong enough. What has happened to you goes beyond a miscarriage of justice. You were convicted of a crime you did not commit. Worse, this conviction was at the hand of two individuals to which you had shown nothing but kindness, love, and compassion. The evidence heard in this case shows a man who had the system used against them to the harshest extremes. In the case of Mr. Matt Peterson's request for reversal of his conviction, it is the ruling of this tribunal that your original conviction is to be reversed immediately, you are hereby released from your enslavement, and all criminal activity is to be expunged from your record. Please accept the court's sincere apology for what you have endured. Case dismissed."

The second his gavel hit its base, the courtroom erupted in cheers. I quickly shook Ms. Douglas' hand and leaned over the railing to hug Cindy and Linda, who had stayed in the courtroom after testifying. We were all crying and laughing when we heard the judge start banging his gavel loudly. Everyone turned to the bench where only Judge Lawerence sat, the other judges having already departed.

"I have just been informed the jury has reached a decision," he said with a smile.

I quickly looked to Ms. Douglas, worried that the jury had been deliberating for less than thirty minutes. She smiled and told me that is good for us. The jury filed in, and the judge asked them if they had reached a verdict. The foreman stated they had and handed a slip of paper to the bailiff, which Judge Lawrence reviewed and handed back. He asked Jim and Cassie to stand, and we all listened as they were found guilty on each and every charge.

The judge stated there would be no need for a recess, as he was ready to move to sentencing immediately. And what a sentence they were given. Due to the nature and number charges, they were each sentenced to enslavement until their sixty-fifth birthday. In addition, fines and penalties were levied against them with various amounts being awarded to Janice, Lisa and the company. Separate amounts of damages were awarded to both Cindy and I, in addition to all shares in the company held by them being returned to me. I now had 100% ownership in my company. By the time all fines and damages were awarded, there would be little to no money left for them for their slave estates. They would be released on their sixty-fifth birthday with only the amount they had earned in Social Security. While I rejoiced in everything we heard as he passed sentence, his final statement was the most fulfilling. Ownership of Cassie and Jim was being awarded to me. I would be able to pick them up in three days after they had been processed.

The courtroom erupted in applause again. Cassie and Jim looked horrified, not believing everything they had worked for had just gone up in smoke. As they were being led from the courtroom, Cassie looked back at me pleadingly. I just gave her my most malicious smile and mouthed, 'See you soon'.

Everyone from the company crowded around Cindy, Lisa and me. All gave me brief congratulations and told me they couldn't wait to see me back in the office. The last of our employees to talk to us was Brad Micheals, the company lawyer who had to recuse himself from representing me eight months ago. While he seemed happy that I had been freed and justice had been served, there was a definite sadness hanging over him.

"Mr. Peterson," he began, "congratulations on the reversal of your conviction. I am truly happy that the world knows of your innocence." He then handed me an envelope.

"What's this, Brad?"

He looked thoroughly depressed. "This is my letter of resignation. Eight months ago, I turned my back on you. You had been the best boss I ever had and had stood by me through thick and thin. When you needed me most, I chose the company over you. I knew you could never do what they accused you of, but I still put the company first. I will live with that regret for the rest of my life. I want to thank you for all the opportunities you have given me and hope you can find happiness on the other side of these horrific events."

Before he could turn away, I tore the envelope into as many pieces as I could.

"Brad, I don't accept your resignation. You did exactly what you were hired to do. You protected the company. I never should have put you in the position where you had to choose between me and the company, and for that I am sorry. From everything Cindy and Lisa have told me, one of the main reasons we still have a company is because of the hard work you have done to minimize the damage those two were causing. I'm going to need you more than ever as we try to rebuild everything. You have nothing to apologize for."

Brad finally smiled. A true smile. I pulled him aside for a few minutes and asked him to set some things up for me. His smile just got bigger, and he said it may take a day or two to finalize everything, but he would start to work on it immediately. He told me he could get the most important part done by tomorrow morning. I shook his hand and told him we would meet at the office in the morning.

Returning to Cindy and Lisa, we hugged and kissed and just let ourselves enjoy how our fortunes had turned so quickly. I pulled away slightly, after a final kiss to each of them, and said, "Now the fun part starts."