Ethically Bound (closed)

((This thread is closed for Monique_Minx, Leopald, Fuckmeat and myself. Feel free to read along, but please no posting. Be aware that this could also be triggering for certain readers. Read with caution.))


The gun jammed.

Elisa stared at these words. They haunted her. This whole journal haunted her, but whenever a hard case landed on her desk she invariably found herself late at night, with this file open on her desk, while she lamented everything she did wrong.

Reaching into her desk drawer she pulled out a small bottle; it was cliché to admit, but it was a bottle of scotch. She poured a little into the coffee cup on her desk and then added a few drops of water, she gave it a minute and then took a sip, the burning heat down her throat seeming to relax the rest of her body.

I thought it would be over. Click. Boom. Nothing. Only all I got was the click and the nothing. That two bit peddler a block from work had fucked me over good and proper and cleaned me out of $2000.00 savings that I will never be able to explain to my husband. When he discovers our near empty joint savings account, perhaps he’ll be merciless and do it for me anyway for he will surely not look upon it favourably.

The well remembered words jumped at her. Burned themselves into her brain, Elisa could practically say them by heart...

I am convinced that it is me, perhaps my subconscious is trying to tell me to stay for our daughter; I still have that nagging fear that if I am gone then he shall turn on her in the most awful ways. Though he has never raised his voice to her, the things he has done to me cannot be denied, my own husband has trapped me. He’s a high flying lawyer, I’d have no chance at custody of our daughter and no chance of escape. We hardly need my salary against his but together we make a great deal of money. Except the money is not mine or ours but his and his alone.

My wages go directly into his account, the joint fund is my only available cash; usually he doesn’t stock it so high but it was necessary to allow him to leave on his business trip; the bills still need to be paid. He’s due back later today, told me about some girl he was bringing with him, a young woman who would make a good nanny for our daughter and give him a good outlet. I support it because if I don’t…

Elisa sighed, and closed her eyes. She didn't even have to read the next words to know what the were.

Why don’t I run?! Why didn’t I run?!

Yeah! Elisa wonders.. why didn't you? Why didn't you run and run so that I wouldn't be holding this leatherbound monster that haunts my dreams and calls to me, and when I am forced to answer it's siren call, here I am bemoaning this existence to ghosts. Of course the answer always hits her...

I could’ve taken our daughter, the $2000.00 and driven out of here! Gone to my sister’s, I haven’t seen her in over two years now…I still remember the day my husband threw her from the house and told her never to come back. I stood in frozen silence behind my husband, his anger was clear when he turned to me; slamming the front door and made it a night I would never forget.

Oh this is insanity. Elisa slammed the leather book and turned out her light, grabbing her coat to head out into the chilly night, she thought she could leave the words behind but again her mind's eye skimmed over the elegant script...

When our daughter has sleepovers with friends, I almost wish I could go with her or plead with her to stay home with Mummy. Those are the really bad nights, the nights where his voice taunts me, “No one can hear you scream Vanessa…”

"Auggh!!!" Elisa kicked the door and recieved some pretty hard stares from those still in the office. She could be heard. But these clients couldn't. Her actions, this case, still kept close to her heart. The eyes of the daughter, the words of the mother, the quiet of the nanny and the caress of the father. That family stayed with her, whispered to her, and made sure that as a social worker... she never forgot them.

Alena Svoboda [Svoboda means 'free' a surname historically given to Czech peasants once they had worked off an endebtedness to an aristocratic land-owner] age 20. 5 ft tall, green eyes, 32B tits, appearance as attached but minus nose-ring.

Alena had been working in a cafe in Prague when he found her. She had noticed the immaculately dressed foreigner, who had crossed to her cafe from his hotel every morning for a couple of weeks. He spent about half an hour sat in the August sunshine, drinking coffee and looking through the papers in his briefcase. His body language was closed, such that Alena had made no attempt to chat with him. Some customers just wanted peace and quiet and she tried to respect that. It was he who had spoken to her, calling her his 'espresso angel' in that soft American lilt of his. Her English was by no means perfect but she was well practised at small talk.

Alena had been coaxed into talking about her life, how she was smart but couldn't go to college because her family had no money. The cafe was owned by her uncle and she worked there from sun up to sun down, hustling tips and saving for her education. Despite her tight budget, she dressed nicely in vest tops and short skirts, smiling brightly at anyone who might toss her a few extra coins. Her figure was taut and slender, honed by the long hours she spent on her feet. She had never caught him admiring her however, if it wasn't for his wedding ring she might wonder if she wasn't his type at all. Wedding rings didn't usually stop guys from leering at her or trying to touch her somehow. Alena assumed from his quiet mannerisms that the American lawyer was physically weak, for his build was slender and his job a white collar one. His manner was polite, deferential... the epitome of non-threatening. He always tipped her a few Euros and she watched out for him, determined to serve him herself.

On the second Thursday she saw him in the morning as usual and he asked her another one of his harmless questions, 'Tell me, have you ever had a holiday?' Alena shrugged and thought.

"I have family in Milevsko, to the south. They have a farm and we have visited them there, it is good to get out of the city sometimes."

"But never abroad, never to the coast?" He scrutinised her expression and Alena blushed reflexively. If he had examined her body like that she would have slapped him.

"No, never. Never been to the sea or on a plane."

The rest of his morning ritual passed as usual but he came back that evening, strolling along the sidewalk as Alena finally closed down the late opening cafe, dragging all the streetside tables and chairs into the building. For the first time he stood over her, instead of Alena approaching his preferred chair with his espresso. She had to admit that he had a presence and he towered over her five foot frame. He smelled faintly of expensive cologne and the aromas of a good restaurant clung to his coat. Alena's gaze hardened though and she folded her arms across her chest. She was suddenly convinced that he was going to proposition her, offer her money for sex. It was a blow because she had liked him.

"Will you take a coffee with me?"

She pulled out a table and chair, firing up the coffee machine reluctantly. They sat their with a couple of coffees, one lone table outside a closed cafe on a street that was now deserted because of the late hour. Alena swallowed hard, hoping he wouldn't get unpleasant when she told him where to stick his sleazy offer.

"I have a daughter and she needs a nanny, because my wife works..."

It was about the last thing she expected to hear but Alena sat and listened as he offered her a plane ticket to the USA and a job in his home. The wages he offered were huge in comparison to the Euros she made at the cafe and Alena's outgoings would be virtually non-existent. In just a couple of years she could put away the money and then come home to attend college. The only catch was that she needed to leave with him on Saturday morning. Alena found herself accepting and he pushed a wad of Euros into her hand, telling her to do whatever she needed to do to prepare for Saturday. The money would allow her to spend Friday obtaining her passport and she would need to talk to her family. He talked about his home near the coast and even showed her a few pictures on his Blackberry; the house, his wife and daughter, the beach. Idyllic didn't begin to describe it.

Alena went home and called her uncle to quit her job. He would have to open the cafe himself at 7am. Her family were dubious but it wasn't as though she was some east Eurpoean peasant who nobody would miss. She was an EU citizen and Prague was one of Europe's major cities. If she didn't like it, she had enough savings in her bank account that she could just come home. They wanted to meet her new employer but Alena realised she had no way of contacting him, must have been an oversight on his part. Alena played it down to er family though, making out that it was reluctance on her part rather than a total inability to introduce them.

Then she called her boyfriend, who was even less enthused about her plans. He came over and they cuddled together in her bedroom. Alena tried to talk him around.

"You're going to college Tomas but I have nothing here. I didn't get a scholarship and this is a way out for me. I can send money so you can visit maybe, come to America. And they have to let me have time to visit my family. This doesn't have to split us up, it'll just be a challenge."

The scholarship was a sore point between them. Alena's grades were consistently higher then Tomas' and so she had helped him study for his exams. In the first bloom of love, Alena had spent too much time on his studies and not enough pushing herself to do better at her own. It had been a shock to both of them when he had attained the scholarship and she had not. Sitting around working in a cafe while he went to college would be very hard for her... too hard.

"You better be right." He grumbled, pulling her into his lap and cupping her ass.

Alena kissed him but her heart had already left the country. She hadn't expected their relationship to survive his college, now that she knew she was leaving too... well they were pretty much done. There would be a few phonecalls and letters but after a couple of months he would be seeing someone else. She didn't blame him but it was still sad. Tomas cut into her thoughts by pulling her top open and teasing her nipples with his lips and tongue. Alena inhaled sharply, moaning.

"I'm not supposed to do this in my parents' house." She protested in an urgent whisper.

"You better keep quiet then." He replied, before pulling down her jean skirt and burying his face between her legs. Alena capitulated and reached down for the crotch of his jeans. She had a contraceptive implant beneath the skin of her forearm that would last another two years unless it was removed. She wanted to have sex with him, it didn't seem to matter that she was mentally dumping Tomas, saying goodbye.


On Saturday morning she was waiting outside the cafe as he had told her to be. He roared up in an expensive hire car and stowed Alena's tatty but huge backpack in the trunk. They set off for the airport together and she was so excited. She wore a black vest top and a short denim skirt. It was standard smart/casual for the cafe but she felt cheap and slutty beside the American lawyer in his sombre suit. All her bras had padding and uplift too, making her B cup breasts look like a C. Alena decided she could change at some point en route, though her knee high black boots were definitely the smartest footwear she owned.

"This is just surreal, it's a dream!" She announced happily.

Her new employer merely smiled.

Vanessa was twenty nine and at the height of her career, she now owned her own veterinary clinic and ran the place. She had a corporate lawyer for a husband who was very easy on the eyes and their not long ago adopted daughter Rose whom she affectionately called Rosie. Rose was eight and they’d only had her four years but already Vanessa felt as though she’d given birth to Rose herself. Sadly, she was barren and unable to have children, she truly wished Rose had been hers and not only for the benefit of being a biological mother.

It had began six months after Rose had arrived. She was barely five years old and never saw her newly adopted parents fight before that night. Vanessa knew it had been a long time coming though, deep down she saw the looks her husband gave her and how he silently blamed her for their inability to conceive. It hurt her so much to see pure hate in his eyes but that would soon be the least thing he could do that would hurt her.

“When are you actually going to get off your fat ass and cook for me, Vanessa?!” He’d yelled at her when she brought the Chinese take out to the dining room table, she’d been flat out at work recently and exhausted because of it.

She’d been a little shocked by his outburst but quickly bit back in a hushed tone, “Keep your fucking voice down. Rose is in the living room!”

“Don’t tell me what to keep down!” He lifted one of the plastic containers and threw it at the white walls, brown sauce splashing over the paint.

She’d flinched away and it would prove to be a mistake when he got a good grip on her lengthy, loose brown hair and jerked her backwards. He knocked everything off the table and threw her down on it, screaming at her about the ‘fucking stove not five feet away’ and how he shouldn’t have to put up with this. How his salary was bigger and she made nothing because she had just started her first job, she should be grateful to him and he should have a clean house and a good meal to come home to.

Vanessa had simply stared up at him in shock, he was literally reaching for a reason to be angry at her and she couldn’t understand why he’d chosen now to blow his cork or why he was being so violent with her. Then for the first time in their marriage, in their relationship; he struck her. Smacked her clean across the face until she writhed beneath his grip and a solid red mark appeared across her cheek. She gripped her face; too stunned to even yelp though it stung like hell fire. Her eyes welled up more out of emotional hurt than actual pain, she couldn’t believe it and he dragged her off the table, letting her sag to her knees on the floor before he walked over to the kitchen door.

Vanessa could hear him as she drooped there, trying to process what the fuck was going on, “Rose sweetie, why don’t you take your colouring books up to your room ok? Mummy and daddy need to have a grown up talk.”

“Okay daddy!” She said happily and gathered up her books, Vanessa heard her bounding up the stairs; she must have thought they were going to work this out which was certainly what Vanessa thought as she struggled to get up.

His foot connected with her chest and sent her sprawling backwards before she got halfway up, “Don’t even fucking think about it!” He spat at her as she wheezed and clutched her chest, her lungs having expelled her air with the force of his kick.

He listened intently as Vanessa tried to breathe, he heard Rose’s door click shut and his nose wrinkled in disgust at the woman on the floor. Their daughter had a tendency to eavesdrop and it was her fault, Vanessa was supposed to be her mother but then he shouldn’t be surprised she couldn’t manage that much. He grabbed her hair again and the screaming truly began.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

A tired hand came down hard on the alarm and the brunette female sagged back on the pillows with a groan. The bedroom door creaked, “Rose. You better be getting ready for school, young lady!” She croaked out and eased herself up, amazed at how her body felt particularly painless if not very tired due to the restless amount of sleep she’d had.

“I am! I am!” The eight and a half year old called as she ran down the hallway and back to her bedroom.

“Sure you are.” Vanessa muttered and stood up, lifting her shift and examining her abdomen. The marks were now quite gone and she breathed out with a smile, she was finally completely healed of all her husband’s torture.

“Well…almost.” She sighed and turned in the full length mirror, lifting her shirt to reveal the scar across her back; caused by a night where he’d been vicious and uncaring with a whip, it would remain with her forever.

He was due back from his trip today and her little holiday would be over. She’d manage to dispose of the useless chunk of metal she’d spent all that money on but the bills still sat on the table unpaid and he’d want to know why. Vanessa had already gotten a lie set up of spending it at a day spa but she knew he wouldn’t believe she’d wasted all $2000.00 on that. Still, it was better than to tell him he’d driven her to suicide.

“Mummy? Mum? Mum? Mummy!” Rose whined at the door, stomping her foot to get her mother’s attention.

“What?!” Vanessa’s head snapped sideways, slightly annoyed.

“Can we have Macdonald’s for breakfast? Pleeeeease?” Rose had that adorable little girl look plastered on her face, a small pout in her lip as though she’d burst into tears if Vanessa said no.

Vanessa groaned and rolled her eyes, she had fifty dollars left of the money her husband had left them and she half smiled at Rose, “Yes, alright but you’ve got fifteen minutes to get ready for school. So chop, chop! Daddy will be home today and I can’t be late to pick him up from the airport.”

“Yayyyyy!” Rose squealed in a high pitch and ran into the room, giving her mother a tight squeeze before running out with screams of thanks.

Vanessa chuckled and pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly before pulling her wardrobe apart and dressing in some casual jeans and an all business, pale blue blouse. She brushed her long hair and crucified herself in the mirror.

“Go get ‘em baby.” She said rather forlornly before grabbing her purse and keys, taking Rose’s hand and heading out the door.

Sometime later, she was at the airport terminal just in time to see people getting off the plane and she stood fidgeting and looking for him nervously with downcast eyes which flitted up occasionally. She was terrified she’d miss him somehow and he’d be pissed that she’d not noticed his arrival. He was bringing that woman home with him, their would-be nanny, Vanessa felt a stab of guilt for all he’d discussed about this woman with her and all she had agreed to but she could suffer her husband no longer. Not alone. Not anymore.

He was escalating and fast; Vanessa couldn’t go to work without pain killers anymore. She had a permanent blush fixed to her face for all the humiliating aspects he had her carry out there too. He made sure she didn’t feel safe anywhere, that she was never without his presence and Vanessa was too damn scared to defy him. She’d even found ways of becoming turned on by things he did, it was her only way to remain sane and survive it though he would torment her with that fact alone.

He came into view and her guts twisted. This was it.