“The kids are fine. They’ve been having a ball sitting way up high in the cab of this big rental truck I’m driving and playing travel games. Wherever we stop, they think having a swimming pool and a room where they don’t have to make their beds and pick up after themselves is, as they said this evening, “awesome.” So don’t worry about them, Peggy.”
“I miss them,” Peggy sobbed.
“And they’ll miss you too,” Kyle said smoothly, “in spite of the coldness you’ve shown them over the past year…but some things just have to be.”
“I’ll fight you for them,” Peggy said defiantly. “You can’t keep my children away from me!”
“Well, that brings us to the next thing on the list,” Kyle said in a hard tone. He took a deep breath. Peggy could hear it over the phone.
“I’m going to tell you this one time, Peggy…and one time only. I’m filing for a no-fault divorce. I’m proposing you get half of what we’ve accumulated together except that you get nothing that derives from the trust fund my father left to me. Essentially that means the house, the cars, our checking and savings accounts…and the debts too…all that we split 50-50. That’s a pretty good deal Peggy. I could probably ask for more. Now here’s the thing.
“If you contest the divorce action in any way, I…will…personally…see that every picture taken by the private investigator down there in Orlando gets delivered to your parents, to your brothers and sisters, to every single person we know, and to every business where you apply for a new job. Do you understand, Peggy?”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. This was blackmail. He knew it because Brad had spelled it out for him and then withdrawn from a discussion on what Kyle would do with the inadmissible evidence of Peggy’s adultery. That Kyle was doing it for his children wouldn’t make any difference if he was hauled into court on the charge.
Yeah, Kyle knew it was blackmail, but he no longer had any respect for his wife…she certainly had none for him…and he didn’t feel he owed her even the smallest of courtesies or consideration. He would use the pornographic images to get what he wanted and needed from her. He would live with what he was doing, legal or not.
Peggy cried until the corners of her eyes were raw from dabbing at them with a tissue.
“God, you’re a cruel man,” she hissed at last. “I never knew you could do such a thing.”
“I didn’t know you could do such a thing as fuck another man for such a petty reason, Peggy,” he shot back. “Cruel? Well, I learned that from the master…or I guess I should say the mistress. That’s just one more thing I have to thank you for huh?” He waited for a reply but there was only the sound of crying.
“Anyway…listen,” he said. “As far as visitation goes, here’s what it’s going to be, Peggy. I have no intention of keeping the kids apart from you any longer than absolutely necessary. I won’t do that to them. What I will do is demand that you get to the doctor as fast as you can and get tested for every sexually transmitted disease in the books, Peggy.