This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy): LE DOSSIER VALMY (Thriller) : chapitre 27 (Troisième partie)

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy), a French guy.

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Chapter 27: And ouch!

At the end of 2007, it is time to take stock. Between two holiday feasts, I calmly evaluate the situation. Companies are dormant and we are not risking much. They died from an operational point of view but outside the labor courts, we won all the procedures. And most importantly, if my opponents have lost their case, I am convinced that they will lose the ones I have prepared for them.

Starting with the computer intrusion, the organized gang scam and, after the trip to Quebec, the forgery and use of forgery. In short, I just have to wait and win to get back my funds. It would be time for the Justice move because my banks in Luxembourg are starting to get excited for me to refund the 300,000 Euros for which I am guarantor.

In early 2008, my reconversion is well under way. The courts (tribunaux de grande instance) of Normandy give me work. On January 18, 2008, I return to Paris, proud to announce the good news to Julie. We will finally be able to breathe, to rest, and even to think about work on the house. I have the first mission in my own name and I know very well that the first is just the antechamber of the 30 files to be received this year.

I arrive at Julie in Paris a little late and the children are already in bed. She's reading on the couch. I sit near her. She asks me how we can make a website. So first of all, I'm not the most specialist in this field, but also, I do not quite see where she is coming from, especially since she tells me about a site selling expensive fabrics ... She who does not know nothing in computer and even less in expensive fabrics, her request surprises me but I do not see where she is coming from. Wisely, I explain to her. I will even look for some computer books in the office.

I feel that something is wrong but hey, we all have the right to have moods or projects. And there, very calmly, she tells me that she must confess something to me. Really?

• I have no desire for you anymore. And it's been true for months.

I understand. Normal. That she is less in love than 13 years ago, I can easily see that. Especially after the three years of the VALMY file. It uses inevitably. I still ask:

• But you have desire for someone else?

• Yes...

Ah yes, this is indeed more annoying. Stupidly, I try to find out who ... Without success of course. She tells me:

• But we both get along very well, I do not want to lose you. We only have to share the house and that way the children will be happy ...

She leaves me speechless. It is true that we get along well. I measure that our couple is really dead without having gone through the abject episode where we throw the dinner plates in each other face ... The children? Yes, it is true that there are three children in the middle of all this ... Our last one is barely 5 years old. The only time I could start to take care of them, it explodes me in the face.

This damn VALMY file, I'll have to throw it up to the last drop. I listen patiently. In fact, I know that night that I'm going to give her her freedom. I owe her that. It's stupid, I love her. But that's life. And we are going to sleep apart in a very formal way.

The next day, I watch her. Nothing is rational. She who has lived without a cell phone, she has had one for two weeks and I have not seen anything coming. I even went to get it with her. But here it's not to keep in touch with me. No. There are hundreds of SMS to each other ... I have never seen Julie like that. She is in love. The big love. And I did not see it coming, too concerned about my VALMY file ...

Maybe I did not want to see it too? One thing is certain, I will not fight. I want her to live her big love story. I owe her that. And I will have to start accepting that I'm starting from scratch. It will be necessary to admit that it is not a failure but a chance.

My company was exploded and my family too. My new job looks promising. So I have to know how to move forward. And that's what I'm going to do by telling myself that I have only to follow from a distance the ongoing law suits to hope one day recover what I was taken ... and focus on my new activity .

Denis will still intervene. Staying at Julie is not possible, I do not see myself sleeping in the office while she struts with the other guy ... Denis found me a studio on the golf of Saint-Gatien, near Deauville. It's sublime as a bachelor, he tells me! Hard times, I have already experienced. In Poland, Germany, Amiens, Quebec, too, we had to go to the reserves to resist. Get up and face the music. My arrival at the Golf will be one of those unsustainable moments.

We are early February. Outside, it's cold and I arrive on the golf around 8PM. It's dark. I have under my arm the little box that Denis has prepared for me. A coffee maker, coffee, two cups, two plates ... the basic package. I have a sleeping bag in the car. I push the door and the squalid gushes me in the mouth. As the only furniture, there is only this old rotten and shabby couch. It's dark. Really dark. It's cold too. 4 degrees in the room. Tears come spontaneously. It's just another nightmare ... I want to go back to Paris, hug Julie and the children in my arms, tell them that I love them and that I suffer. I, I, I ...

In this cruel moment, I call Julie. It is a reflex and it is also the only one to whom I can speak of my misfortunes. The conversation will be very brief. Her words are unambiguous: I have to assume the situation and to leave her out of it. She will not come back. I do not know that my "competitor" has already taken my place in our bed.

That's right. I take a hit. And I wonder how to organize, especially with children. I light a candle. There is no Internet, no furniture ... nothing but mold and a large glass roof overlooking the golf course overlooking Le Havre. I do not see how to bring my children here ... I'm lost. This suffering, I cannot share it with anyone and I am completely lost. And then the kids, they do not know me. I do not know them either. What do you do with kids when you are a single dad? Everything is jostling in my head.

I do not even hate anybody. I'm simply lost. I am in depression especially. And I am far from realizing it. But like any depressed person, confronted with new things, I try somehow to rationalize ...

The survival instinct again ...

Continue to Chapter 28

Introduction
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12
Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18
Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22 - Chapter 23 - Chapter 24
Chapter 25 - Chapter 26