Climbing the Ladder 5 - Reaching New Heights
Copyright© 2026 by Michael Loucks
Chapter 42: Will You Do Something for Me?
Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 42: Will You Do Something for Me? - 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
August 22, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
I arrived at the condo just after 8:30pm, after a delayed flight from New York, which had finally taken off two hours after the scheduled time. Erin had arrived and was sitting with CeCi and Bianca. Unfortunately, Sofía had gone to bed shortly before I arrived. I greeted the girls, then went upstairs to change into comfortable clothes, returning downstairs five minutes later. I hadn't eaten, so I heated leftovers from the girls' dinner. Once they were warm, I went to sit with the girls to eat.
"How was New York besides the flight delay?" Bianca asked.
"Successful, so far as it goes. I did receive a bit of capital from Tara's mom's colleague, but BONY cannot recommend my fund until I have two years of audited results. That means it will be January before they can officially refer anyone to me. I made good contacts, and I'm positive something will come from those. Noel is working with Lehman to try to rebuild that relationship, which kind of cratered after the merger because most of the people Noel knew left. Changing topics, did you hear from the agency?"
"No. I wonder if she's changed her mind."
"It's possible," I replied. "The only real concern is her moralizing. If she simply kept that to herself, everything would be fine from my perspective."
"She's struggling with working in a 'den of iniquity'," CeCi observed. "Well, and the other thing she wants, but her brainwashing says she can't have."
"She's the Fundy who's here in the mornings, right?" Erin asked.
"Yes," CeCi replied. "She has a problem with how we live our lives in the 'Deluxe apartment in the sky'."
"She's given me evil looks," Erin said.
"Just ignore her," I counseled. "I do unless she moralizes or proselytizes. I've asked her not to."
"They can't help it," Erin observed. "They're carriers for a virus that they want to spread and infect everyone."
I chuckled, "That basically sums it up. Fortunately, there's a cure called critical thinking, which also creates immunity."
"You never went to church?" Erin asked.
"No. Everyone here is an atheist or agnostic, as are most of my friends. There are a few practicing Catholics, but they're not fanatical about it, and a few others who go to church occasionally."
I finished eating, and after I put the dishes in the dishwasher, I watched CNN Headline News to catch up on the news. Once I'd watched for twenty minutes, I excused myself so I could call Krissy Eubanks. My schedule was a complete mess, due to work, friends, and dates, but we agreed on a date for September 4th.
That taken care of, I asked Erin what she wanted to do, and unsurprisingly, she suggested we go to bed.
"This is our last regular time," she said. "Natasha will be back next week. Can I see you again?"
That reminded me I'd need to let Natasha know that I was busy on the 29th, but we could resume our trysts the following week.
"I think we can make that work," I said. "Let's speak when I come back from San Francisco."
"Mirrors?!" she gasped a second later as we walked into my bedroom.
"Yes."
"Cool!" she exclaimed. "I can watch while you fuck me!"
"Yes, you certainly can!"
August 23, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
Chelsea didn't say anything to me other than 'hello' on Thursday morning, though she did give Erin a look that conveyed disdain and disapproval. I let it go, hoping Chelsea would follow through on her declaration that she wanted to leave. As I'd said to Bianca, it wasn't my preferred option, but I didn't see Chelsea as able to keep her opinions to herself in the long term. The virus, as Erin had called it, effectively compelled Chelsea to moralize and try to convert us.
At work, I completed my usual routine and my portion of the analyst report, then conducted an interview for the second data analyst position. The candidate, Tim Owens, was working as a consultant assigned to Bell Labs in Lisle and had extensive Unix experience, which Bianca considered a critical skill.
I couldn't evaluate his technical skills, but he seemed to have the right personality, was intelligent, and communicated well. I let Bianca know I had no objections, and after Murray Matheson interviewed him, Murray gave the go-ahead to hire Tim if he was our choice. I signed the necessary hiring documents just before lunch and gave them to Bianca.
I left a few minutes later to meet Marlena Volkmer in the lobby of the building. She greeted me with the usual light hug and society kiss, then followed me to the elevators to the residential floors, pushing Vesper's stroller. We rode up together and found Chelsea feeding Sofía.
"This is Vesper Volkmer, and her mom, Marlena," I said to Chelsea. "Bianca spoke to you, correct?"
"Yes."
"OK. We'll be gone for about two hours, and should be back before Jessica arrives."
"Anything special I need to know, Ms. Volkmer?" Chelsea asked.
"She ate about thirty minutes ago, so she should just want to play. I brought a change of clothes and some toys, along with crackers and grapes if she wants a snack."
"OK. I'll take good care of her!"
"Thanks!"
Marlena and I left and caught a cab to the Ambassador East. We made our way to the Pump Room, where we were seated immediately, as Marlena had made reservations. The waiter took our drink orders, and when he brought the drinks, he took our food orders.
"Everything is set up at the bank," she said.
"Good. Your account at Spurgeon will be active first thing on Monday. Once I receive the confirmation from New Accounts, I'll submit the wire transfer request to Mike Kennedy at First Chicago. We should have the funds no later than Thursday morning."
"Excellent! I think everything is on autopilot at this point."
I nodded, "As long as interest rates stay about 8%, you won't need to make any changes at all. If they drop below 8%, we'll revisit your strategy."
"What are the chances of that?"
"Slim to none for the foreseeable future, by which I mean two years. That's something I monitor closely, so I'll see it coming long before it happens, and we'll change strategies as appropriate."
"I'm curious."
"High-grade municipal bonds would be tax-exempt and return better than Prime, with only slightly higher risk. The same is true for certain high-grade corporate bonds. But we can worry about that when it happens. How are things going otherwise?"
"I finished decorating my condo, so that's good. Speaking of that, would you mind giving me a tour when I get Vesper from the nanny?"
"I don't mind at all," I replied.
"I noticed the artwork, at least what I could see. When did you start collecting?"
"About a year ago. Except for a few mass-produced copies of famous Japanese woodblock prints, it's all new and upcoming artists from the School of the Art Institute. The interior design was done by a student as well."
"That's a nice way to establish a collection without breaking the bank," Marlena observed.
"If you're interested, you could stop by Ateljé D on South Wabash, the gallery run by my friend Deanna Haight. She always has about a dozen student pieces on display, sometimes more, and can arrange for you to see other work at the School of the Art Institute."
"I think I'll stop by," she said.
We were interrupted by the waiter bringing our food, then made small talk while we ate.
When we finished lunch, we took a cab back to the Hancock Center. As we entered the building, I remembered that the Nuclear Family paintings were on display, and that might present a serious problem.
"How was Vesper?" Marlena asked.
"She was an angel," Chelsea replied.
To resolve the potential problem of the paintings, I used a ruse of using the bathroom, which worked perfectly, as Marlena also needed to use the facilities. When she went into the powder room, I went upstairs, put the paintings into the storage closet, replacing them with tamer pieces, then went to my bathroom to empty my bladder. I was back downstairs just as Marlena came out of the bathroom.
"Let's start in the Japanese room," I said.
I gave her the tour, including the gallery room, and we ended downstairs, where Chelsea was watching Vesper. Marlena thanked Chelsea and collected Vesper, then I escorted them to the lobby so they could catch a cab back to Marlena's condo.
"I enjoyed our lunch," she said.
"Me, too. I'll call once the funds are transferred."
"Great!"
She got into her cab, and I went to my office. Julie called about ten minutes later to let me know Noel, who had been out for the morning, was in, so I went to speak to him about BONY. He was pleased, though it was clearly a long-term play. He did relay some news — another client, François LeFleur, a Canadian ex-pat living in New York, had also filed suit against Spurgeon.
"What are you doing with their funds?" I asked.
"Per our outside counsel, I moved everything into Treasuries pending redemption notices."
"Who is the outside counsel, if I may ask?"
"Kirkland & Ellis. At some point, there will be depositions, and given your involvement, you'll probably be deposed. Don't worry about that now, though. It's at least a month away, as I've said."
"Are we able to consolidate the cases?"
"If we were staying in court, we'd try that; arbitration is on a per-client basis."
"How is the arbitrator chosen?"
"That wasn't covered in any of your classes?"
"No. The Series 30 class only briefly mentioned it, and there was only a single question on the test, and it was about alternative dispute resolutions to going to Federal Court."
"I suppose that's not surprising, given that the enforceability of arbitration clauses was up in the air until earlier this year. In any event, it's either a sole arbitrator or a panel of three. The money involved here is enough that it will be a panel of three.
"NASD will provide both parties with a list of potential arbitrators along with each candidate's disclosure statement. Both sides review the list and strike any who are unacceptable, then rank the remaining names in order of preference. A panel is chosen by comparing the rankings. That ensures the deck isn't stacked by either side, and NASD approval ensures the case doesn't turn on a misunderstanding of securities law.
"The panel conducts a preliminary meeting to see if mediation could work, which, in this case, I don't believe is likely. At that point, both sides make their discovery requests, and once it's all delivered and all depositions are completed, there's a hearing. It's not quite as formal as a court hearing, but it's structured and has some similarities.
"Once the hearing is complete, the panel will deliberate and issue a written ruling that resolves the dispute and assigns arbitration fees. That happens within thirty days. At that point, the losing party has thirty days to make payment on any award, with the broker risking suspension for failing to do so."
"How would an appeal work?" I asked.
"Generally speaking, there isn't one. NASD has no appeals process. As for the Federal Court, the Federal Arbitration Act effectively limits appeals to malfeasance by the arbitrator or panel or to situations in which they exceed their authority. The losing party has ninety days to file a motion to vacate. Generally, a Federal Court won't change any findings of fact, but they could vacate the ruling if it violates well-established public policy or if it was made with manifest disregard of the law."
"So it's, in effect, a one-shot deal unless the arbitrator violates the law or commits an ethical violation."
"Yes. The intent is to streamline the process and save time and money for both sides."
"Thank you for the explanation."
"I read your report on the Emir and bin Laden. Good work. Murray and I are flying to Bahrain on September 3rd. We'll be back on the 9th. Dismissed."
I left his office feeling better than I had, as it appeared the AUM was water under the bridge. That said, it did not mean I could let my guard down, nor stop my preparations for a day that might, or might not, come. I returned to my office and worked until Ellie arrived at her usual time.
We had our usual session, and when it finished, I headed up to the condo to relax for a bit before my dinner with Thomas Hart. I met him at Smith & Wollensky at 7:00pm as we had agreed.
"I want to thank you again for your help with Kayleigh," Thomas Hart said once we had our drinks and had placed our orders. "Whatever it is you said to her finally broke through. She really was undervaluing herself."
I nodded, "I agree. I have no objection to a woman who wants to stay home and raise a family, but you can have a family and a career."
"Very enlightened! She said you're seeing each other again next week before she leaves for Stanford."
"We are," I replied. "She's a wonderful young woman, though we both agree the distance would create insurmountable problems. That said, I don't foresee being in a long-term, committed relationship in the near future."
"I'm not surprised, given what's happened in your life. And remember, I don't have any specific outcome in mind, nor will any specific outcome affect our relationship."
I chuckled, "I think calling you 'Grandfather' would be a change!"
Tom laughed, "OK, you got me on that one! You're a quick wit! I did want to ask if there was any additional fallout from the situation in Ohio?"
"No. I haven't heard anything from Bev's parents since the funeral, but then again, I wouldn't expect to. There's a chance I'll see them when I visit my mom, but my relationship with them was strained when I was trying to help Bev and not acceding to their wishes."
"Changing topics, how are things going at work? I saw that several lawsuits were filed against Spurgeon Capital. Does that affect you personally?"
"No. They weren't my clients, though I'll likely have to give depositions because I wrote the analysis that led Noel Spurgeon to liquidate the fund."
"You should have your own attorney for the depositions."
"You think there's some kind of risk?" I asked as the waiter brought our salads.
"There's always risk," Tom said once the waiter had departed. "What you just admitted to me means they could name you personally in an amended complaint once they discover you wrote the analysis."
"Confidential?"
"Yes."
"Noel Spurgeon intends to enforce the arbitration clause."
"That does change things a bit. In Federal Court, they'll often name as many individuals as possible in their amended complaint. Do you know if anyone else was named in the original complaint?"
"According to Noel Spurgeon, Carl Taylor, who was the fund manager. That was in addition to the firm and Noel Spurgeon personally."
"They don't know you wrote the analysis, do they?"
"Not to my knowledge, but obviously, they'll find out."
"Yes, they will, and that document will certainly be entered into evidence."
"It's fairly damning because it lays things out in a very unflattering manner."
"Then I have no doubt that you'll be called to give a deposition and likely testify. You need to consider that anything you say under oath could result in the SEC or the US Attorney bringing charges. That is unlikely, given what you've said so far, but it is something about which you need to be concerned.
"I'd like your permission to review the complaints and advise you on the potential risks. I would need a copy of the analyst document, which you can provide to me as your personal counsel, regardless of any documents or agreements you may have signed. Then once your in-house and outside counsel speak to you, you can decide if you want me or one of my associates with you during your deposition or at the arbitration hearing."
"My concern would be Noel Spurgeon's reaction."
"You don't need to reveal that you've sought outside counsel unless you decide it's necessary to have representation at a deposition. If I were Spurgeon's outside counsel, I'd actually advise you to seek the opinion of an attorney before you gave a deposition. Remember, they represent Spurgeon Capital's interests, not yours, except to the extent they coincide."
I considered what he'd said, and I couldn't find a flaw in his analysis. One thing was certain — if push came to shove, Noel's order of precedence would be Noel himself, then Spurgeon, then Murray Matheson. I was no higher than fourth on that particular league table, and might be lower. I completely trusted Tom not to betray any confidences, and his advice so far had been spot on.
"That makes sense," I replied. "I'll get you a copy of the analysis I performed for the two funds."
"Only one is the subject of the lawsuits, correct?"
"Correct. I'm managing the Arrow Fund on behalf of Noel Spurgeon. That fund is likely to show a gain for the year, despite having suffered significant losses before I was assigned to manage it. The other fund was liquidated because the losses were such that no recovery was possible, and the futures positions were either out of the money or destined to lose even more if they weren't closed out."
"All of that is in the analysis document you prepared?"
"And then some."
"All my questions now are expressly covered by privilege. Nothing you say will be revealed to anyone without your express permission."
"OK," I agreed.
We paused our conversation as the waiter brought our main courses and verified we didn't need anything immediately.
"What was your involvement with the liquidated fund before liquidation?" Tom asked once we began eating.
"None, other than producing daily analyst reports. I'll get you one or two of those from earlier this year. Fundamentally, we provide analysis and probabilities, but never make specific recommendations. Examples include predicting interest rates and commodity prices. Each trading desk makes its own decisions based on that analysis."
"Did any other desks, besides the two we're discussing, lose money?"
"No. There are a few that are underperforming, but that means they have positive returns, but are not beating the 8% hurdle."
"How many is that?"
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