If you're under 18, then go on and git.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Research Question

Maybe y'all can help me out. Is there an anonymous employee fraud line for companies like Dodge and Bosch Tools? I'm researching for a story about-- well, here's the blurb:

Sonny Langley is loyal-- maybe too loyal. He spent over twenty years with Jared, a man he thought loved him. He stayed through infidelities, although to hear his ex tell it, those never actually occurred. Even though Sonny's stepson and his daughter both found messages to women from Jared...on more than one occasion. Even though Jared placed online personal ads then denied it despite browser history proof. 
Still, Sonny stayed; he stayed when his now-ex was arrested for something mortifying; he stayed when his now-ex was fired for stealing from a job. He stayed, and stayed, and stayed, until one day, a conflict caused by his stepson hurt Jared so badly, Sonny volunteered to set himself up as the 'bad' guy to salvage Jared's relationship with his stepson--- because Sonny couldn't stand to see Jared hurting.  With Jared sitting beside him, Sonny sent off a DM he hoped would spur conversation between Jared and Jared's son again. And Sonny vowed not to do anything to come between Jared and his son, while Jared continued to tell Sonny and Sonny's daughter that he wouldn't blame them if they never forgave Jared's son. It was a convoluted mess, but Sonny just wanted his husband to be happy.
Then Jared began criticizing Sonny, gaslighting him, and hurting Sonny with verbal daggers.
But Sonny stayed, wanting Jared to be able to repair his relationship with his son. 
It worked, but rather than thank him, Jared threw Sonny under the bus. He turned on Sonny one night, out of the blue, after reassuring Sonny that things were good. Jared dismissed what Sonny had done for him and turned it into Sonny being hateful, when all Sonny had ever done over the past decades, was put Jared first. All the sudden, Sonny was the horrible person, despite all that Jared had done. Heart shattered, Sonny left.
But the secrets he carried from over twenty years of dealing with his ex's family won't leave him alone. 
The papers he wrote so his stepson wouldn't flunk classes.
There's the STI one family member deliberately tried to share with other people, and the nephew with his own TMI STI. 
There's the crime he knows about his nephew's mother, the hit-and-run Sonny was told about by a drunken, angry person. 
The drugs and thefts committed by his former brother-in-law.
The admission of a murder by his ex father-in-law.
There are the thefts committed by his ex, who conveniently pretends he has no idea that he stole thousands of dollars from his customers. 
Jared's coming off like the saint, and Sonny's been portrayed as the sinner. Sonny might have been able to let it go, but his heart will never recover, and someone is sending him threats, someone who is aware that Sonny knows too much and wants to make sure he's never going to share those secrets. 

Sonny doesn't plan to, but pain is leaking out of him and he doesn't know how to get over all the betrayals. He doesn't think he can ever trust anyone again, but a slow-building friendship begins to give him hope. 

Guilt hinders that hope. The man he's falling for works for the corporation Jared stole from, and the complexities of honesty and revenge make everything difficult. 

Then there are the threats, and the fear for his life...and the life of the new man he's beginning to trust. 

This is more than a quirky erotic romance-- though that's in there, too. Morals, working out what is revenge, and what is just the right thing to do, learning to trust, not just himself but another person who could heal or annihilate his heart. 

So, what do y'all think? Any advice on how one would anonymously turn someone in? I've thought about emails etc, but that can all be traced. And I don't know if Sonny will do anything like that or not. Part of the fun will be working through those issues.

1 comment:

Brandi said...

Where I used to work (in telecom) there was a phone number & a website we could use if we wanted to remain anonymous. We actually had a department just for fraud in all its many forms.

Brandi

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