Climbing the Ladder 5 - Reaching New Heights
Copyright© 2026 by Michael Loucks
Chapter 15: Keep Climbing
Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 15: Keep Climbing - Jonathan's business life is booming, but he's also suffering from yet another loss. While he's done his best to pick up the pieces of that sundered relationship, he can't help but feel responsible. However, where two close relationships have withered, another blooms. Violet has transitioned from a badly damaged girl to a vibrant woman. Will he continue to climb this ladder, or will there be another ladder to climb in his future? No matter what, the only direction he plans to go is up.
Caution: This Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Workplace
June 24, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
The rest of the morning was relatively quiet, and Sofía had her 'awake time' from about 11:00am to 2:00pm, which was perfect, as she was wide awake when my grandmother arrived.
"Come in, Grandma," I said. "I'll introduce you to everyone."
"Hi, Mom," my mom said to my grandmother.
"Hi, Linda. Perhaps we can speak after I meet everyone, especially Sofía."
"I'd like that," Mom said.
"This is a beautiful place, Jonathan!" my grandmother said. "You must be doing very, very well."
"I am, thank you," I replied.
I introduced Violet, Bianca, Deanna, and CeCi to my grandmother.
"All of you live here?" Grandma asked, sounding a bit taken aback.
"I don't," Violet said. "I have a house in Little Italy. The others do."
"I see," Grandma said evenly, clearly not liking what she'd heard.
I felt the quickest way to defuse any ill feelings was my baby daughter, so I picked her up and stepped over to my grandmother.
"Sofía, this is your great-grandmother," I said, handing my daughter to my grandma.
"Hi, little one!" Grandma said, taking Sofía into her arms. "She's beautiful, Jonathan!"
"She absolutely gets her looks from her mom!" I declared. "I can't imagine if she had to go through life looking like me!"
Everyone, including my grandmother, laughed. With my blessing, my mom and grandmother went up to the loft, taking Sofía with them.
"Your grandmother is decidedly not happy about all us girls," CeCi said quietly.
"No kidding," I replied. "But I think the pull of wanting to see her great-granddaughter will ultimately override her moral outrage. Of course, my grandfather's progeny are batting a thousand on out-of-wedlock births!"
"Your cousin?" Violet asked.
"I thought you knew," I replied. "Alec and Wendy conceived Lisa while they were dating in college."
"Maybe you said that at one point, but if you did, I don't remember. That has to really annoy your grandfather."
"I'm sure it does; you would think he would figure it out, but alas, that hasn't happened and isn't likely to happen."
CeCi nodded in agreement, then said, "I suspect it also annoys him in a way of which you aren't aware — having your children conceive out of wedlock is proof you can't manage your family, and is a disqualification for church leadership."
"I'd ask if you were joking, but I'm sure you aren't."
"I'm not. Does he see your uncle and aunt?"
"Grudgingly, which I think he justifies in his mind he can do because Uncle Alec married Aunt Wendy. He couldn't actually kick her out because she was in college, living on campus. He also continued paying her tuition, but I suspect that had to do with the wedding."
"Close-mindedness is a scourge," CeCi declared.
"It is," I agreed.
My mom and grandmother spent about thirty minutes upstairs, then came down with Sofía because my mom needed to leave for Ohio. Grandma handed Sofía to me while Mom went to get her things.
"I hope you'll allow me to visit Sofía again," Grandma said. "Though I don't know when I'll be able to do so."
"You're welcome to visit at any time. I hope you and Mom can find more time to talk."
"We'll see," Grandma said.
Mom came back with her bag, and I walked my mom and grandmother to the elevator.
"Jonathan," my mom said, "you can stop sending me the checks each month."
"I'll open an account in my fund in your name and deposit the money monthly."
"You don't have to do that."
"No, I don't, but I'm going to."
"Thanks."
I pressed the call button, then hugged my mom and said 'goodbye' to both women. Once the elevator arrived, they got in, and after the doors closed, I carried Sofía back into the apartment.
A few hours later, Violet and I left the apartment, and I dropped her at home before heading to Ichirō's house. He and Atsuko both greeted me and invited me in. We immediately went to the low table to eat, Japanese style.
"How are you, Jonathan?" Ichirō asked.
"I'm doing OK. I'm very busy at work, and with school, and of course, Sofía keeps me busy as well. How are you two doing?"
"We're good; it's Keiko's parents who are struggling mightily with what happened to her."
"I have days like that," I replied. "But then I remember what Keiko said to me before she died and what she wrote in her letter to me that I found after the funeral. Seeing the two of you, as well as being with my friends, has helped tremendously."
"I would be remiss if I didn't make my usual plea for you to come to the dōjō. I honestly believe Shōtōkan would aid you in ways other than physical exercise."
"I can't make any promises, but certainly before mid-August, my schedule is simply too full to even think seriously about doing that."
"Just consider it, please."
We had an enjoyable time together, and I enjoyed the meal, as I always did. After eating, Ichirō and I spent time together and shared a pipe, though, as I usually did, I simply puffed without inhaling. Following that, we bowed, and I left the house to drive back to the Hancock Center.
"Your mom called," Bianca said when I walked into the condo. "She simply wanted you to know she made it home safely."
"Thanks," I replied. "Any excitement here while I was out?"
"Not unless you consider several dirty diapers 'exciting'!"
"Not hardly!" I replied with a grin.
"Jack called to say that everything is set for the Fourth of July party at the house. What would you say about inviting people here after the fireworks?"
"The concern there is that pretty much everyone has to go to work on Thursday morning, so I'm not sure how well that would work. Consider how long it will take to leave Grant Park and get here, and how soon most people would want to leave."
"Good point," Bianca acknowledged. "I forgot it was a Wednesday!"
"The mid-week holidays create all kinds of confusion, which I know you've seen at work."
"True. What are your thoughts on Deanna's suggestion about a cat?"
I shrugged, "I've never had a pet, so I'm not really well-versed in what they need."
"Cats are pretty self-sufficient. You give them food, water, and a litter box, and they sleep in the sun. Otherwise, they mostly just prowl around like little lions."
"Great," I chuckled. "I'll call Gunther Gebel-Williams for some tips on the care and feeding of a house cat!"
"That's the Ringling Brothers lion tamer, right?"
"Yes. I suppose I'm OK with it, assuming neither you nor CeCi objects. We know Violet's opinion!"
Bianca laughed, "She fits right in with the rest of us here at the Kane Chicago Loop Asylum! It's quite the change from the timid girl who could barely tolerate being around even small groups of people. You've done a tremendous amount to help her."
"She's done the truly hard work," I replied. "I simply supported her as best I could. Nancy was a big help, too. I'd love to see Doctor Lochner's face if she witnessed the 'new' Violet."
"I bet you anything she'd say Violet was acting the way she is because of the abuse, and it's not healthy, or whatever. From everything Violet said, there was no way to win with that psycho psychiatrist."
I chuckled, "Nice turn of phrase! I do agree, and I can pretty much guarantee she'd say Violet wasn't actually able to consent to sex."
"She's a moron; sorry I brought it up."
"It's OK. Knowing who the prudes and morons are is helpful in that we can avoid them like the plague."
"Any idea what your mom and grandma spoke about?"
"I have absolutely no clue. I'm fairly certain that's the first time they've spoken since my grandfather kicked my mom out of the house twenty-two years ago."
"Unreal. Can I ask a question about your mom? And your aunt, too?"
"What?"
"'Linda' and 'Wendy' aren't Biblical names. That totally surprises me, and I wondered why."
"If I understand correctly, when Mom and Aunt Wendy were born, Grandpa was a member of a Congregational church that was pretty mellow. It was about a year after Wendy was born that he and Grandma started going to a conservative bible church, and at some point, he met Robert Van Kampen and totally went off the deep end."
"When was your Aunt born?"
"1950, I think. Mom was born in 1946."
"Four years apart? With no birth control?"
"Don't ask me! They could have used rubbers, though I agree they probably didn't. But you know conception can be a hit or miss thing."
"Hit!" Bianca exclaimed with a silly smile.
CeCi arrived home from work a few minutes later, and as it was her night, she and I went up to my room. She showered to get rid of the smell of Italian food, and then we got into bed.
"Violet is what my grandma would call a real pistol!" CeCi declared.
"TELL me about it," I chuckled. "Sadly, she lost about eight years of her life due to the abuse by her parents."
"While true, without that, you might never have met her. The universe is a very strange place, but their horrific behavior is what led Violet to you."
"My head will start hurting if I try and work THAT out. Did you have a preference for tonight?"
CeCi smiled, "What I usually want — slow, gentle, sensual lovemaking. If you need to sleep, once is fine, but twice would be perfect."
"Your wish is my command!"
June 25, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
On Monday afternoon, Tony came into my office.
"I have three things for you," he said. "First, what do you think about yesterday's Cubs game?"
"I'd say hitting two game-tying home runs in the ninth and tenth innings gets Ryne Sandberg into the Hall of Fame! Miracle of miracles, the Cubs won, too!"
"Next, did you see the article on the Soviet military accident reported in the Deseret News on Saturday?"
"Deseret News is Salt Lake City, right?"
"Yes. That was the Mormons' name for a proposed massive US state in territory that had been acquired from Mexico the previous year as the Mexican Cession."
"I missed that one in history class in High School! How bad was the accident?"
"Several hundred fatalities. A fire at a munitions facility at the Severomorsk Naval Base, about 900 miles north of Moscow. No nuclear weapons, so far as anyone can tell."
"OK, that's not going to move the US markets. What's the last thing?"
"A Supreme Court ruling that was released this morning. In a 6–0 ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., they upheld an EPA regulation that had been changed."
"6–0? I asked, interrupting Tony.
"I know it's strange, but Justices Marshall and Rehnquist did not participate in the decision because of illness; Justice O'Connor recused herself due to a financial interest in one of the parties."
"Interesting. Sorry to have interrupted."
"It's OK; 6–0 is strange. As I was about to say, the Reagan Administration loosened the rules around how to define sources of pollution in a pro-business way. The Natural Resources Defense Council sued, and the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the courts have to defer to agency interpretations of laws, statutes, and regulations, so long as they're reasonable and consistent with other agency interpretations."
"That's a big win for Reagan in rolling back regulations," I replied. "If that applies across the board, it means some of the challenges against the SEC and CFTC are going to be rejected."
"That's my take," Tony agreed.
"I think that's probably a good thing because it means we can basically count on the regulations being upheld by the courts, which ensures stability. So long as I know what the regulations are, I can work with them. If every interpretation of every word of an SEC regulation could be challenged in court, we'd never know what the actual rules are. And can you imagine how that would affect the IRS?"
"A worse nightmare than it already is!" Tony exclaimed. "Though, in this case, is it stability? The regulation changed."
"Well, the Administrative Procedure Act calls for notice and comment before the rules are made official and binding, so yes, I'd say it is stability. It's not like they could blindside us. If the Supreme Court had ruled the other way, some judge somewhere could reinterpret the law and the rules, and chaos would ensue.
"Of course, I'm speaking from our perspective; I'm sure plenty of regulated industries aren't happy this limits their ability to challenge agency rule-making. That said, this won't move the markets because it, in effect, says that the status quo reigns and that the APA ensures we know about changes in advance."
"That's my analysis," Tony agreed. "You got that without reading the decision?"
"I know how the sausage is made, so to speak, so from what you said, yes. I'm sure it's more nuanced, but if the default position is for the courts to trust regulatory agencies to know what they're doing, then they're taking effectively the same position we are — what the SEC and CFTC say the law means is what it generally means. That's a good thing."
"Aren't you supposed to hate regulations?"
"In our industry, about 80% of them are about reporting and record-keeping; the other 20% are about not cheating our clients and not manipulating the markets. I'm down with all of those things because they help create and maintain an orderly market. Now, if you want to talk about the IRS or zoning, then I'm happy to pick up my pitchfork and my torch and help you storm the castle!"
Tony laughed, "Nice."
"Write a short note for tomorrow, and see if you can get someone in Legal to summarize the opinion in words the average Suit can understand."
"So, words of one syllable?" Tony asked.
I laughed, "Safe to say inside these walls. Accurate, too!"
"Present company excepted, of course!"
"I'm offended you would even consider that I'm a Suit!" I declared.
"Well, if the $1000 custom-tailored suit fits..."
"Get out of here!" I ordered with a grin.
That evening, after class, I brought Violet to the condo to spend the night, as was our new pattern. Violet and I sat down on the sectional sofa, and I held Sofía for about ten minutes before Violet and I went up to my room.
"I invited Deanna to Hawaiߴi," I said as we got into bed. "She accepted."
"Of course she did!" Violet exclaimed. "That's on my list of places you have to take me once we make our relationship public."
"How long is this list?" I asked.
"Six places so far, though I'm sure I'll add others! Hawaiߴi, obviously, plus Paris, London, Sydney, Tokyo, and Tahiti."
"An eclectic mix of places, and all places I'd like to go. Did you have a timeframe?"
"I think it depends on what happens with your career. It really would be better if we were no longer at Spurgeon, but I know that's in the future."
"And not guaranteed," I replied. "For now, Spurgeon Capital meets all my needs and is the perfect place to hone my skills. Fundamentally, as things stand, Spurgeon could sink any attempt to go on my own, either through legal process or by blackballing me. So, unless something changes significantly, it's not really an option because the risk is too great for the potential reward."
"What about the rumors about Mr. Spurgeon and teenage girls?" Violet asked.
"I hope he's not as foolish as the rumors suggest because he and Spurgeon Capital would be in a world of hurt. The laws that cover that kind of thing were recently significantly strengthened, and punishments were severely increased. I doubt he'd be able to plead to 'contributing to the delinquency of a minor', or even make some kind of probation deal for 'statutory rape'. It's all criminal sexual assault now, that is, it's treated no differently from actual rape."
"That makes no sense to me! Not if the girls consent! I get the whole 'statutory' thing, sure, but how can it be actual rape if both people consent?"
"By the government declaring, by statute, that certain classes of people aren't able to consent. Right or wrong, that's the law."
"Have you ever violated it?"
"Once. I was nineteen, and she was sixteen, which mostly wouldn't be prosecuted, but it was technically against the law."
"That's just dumb!" Violet declared. "I mean, seriously, a three-year age difference? Give me a break!"
"Again, I agree, but that's what the law says. That said, in Ohio, it would have been legal."
"Making it even dumber in Illinois! Changing subjects, did you decide what to do about Saint Martin?"
"I discussed it with Deanna, and she suggested a group of Art School Girls, including her and CeCi."
"Of course she did!" Violet declared, laughing. "And I bet Deanna wants to join the Mile-High Club!"
"You'd win that bet!"
"Someday, you and I will do that, but obviously only after we make our relationship public."
"You're OK with that?"
"The Art School Girls are no threat at all! Well, Deanna, but she's different. So is CeCi, who is madly in love with you but is so set on becoming a director in Hollywood that she knows it could never go anywhere."
"Very perceptive, Ms. Clemmons."
"I perceive an empty spot that needs filling! Think you could manage?"
I could, and I did.
June 26, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
"Reagan has to be pissed!" I declared late on Tuesday morning.
Tony, Jerry, and Scott were in my office following the Fed's announcement of another round of tightening — 50 bips — which we estimated would take the Prime Rate to 13.0% with just over four months until the election.
"I'll say," Jerry concurred. "Reagan's political strategists have said that no other single issue is potentially more threatening to the President's re-election campaign than rising interest rates."
"They're not wrong," Tony observed.
"OK, gents," I said. "Peer into your crystal balls. When the economy slows to molasses levels because credit has dried up, how quickly does Volcker cut?"
"It'll take a few months to see the effects," Scott replied. "So, September, probably, but you know Reagan will be all over Volcker like flies on shit and screaming from the rafters that Volcker is falling victim to his own fears of the future, not actual data. I have to say that as I read the data, Reagan is probably right. The fundamentals called for easing, not tightening, and we only predicted tightening because Volcker is such an inflation hawk."
"Except for one important fundamental," Jerry countered. "The federal budget deficit is sucking $170 billion from the markets this year. And as of now, Reagan hasn't articulated his budget plans for his second term. As we all know, excess government spending requires a concomitant expansion of the money supply — inflation. And that's why we predicted the round of tightening."
"Write that up for tomorrow," I said. "See if you can get a consensus on when the cuts will happen, if at all."
"Do you think Volcker might be trying to stick it to Reagan?" Tony asked.
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