A Patriarch's Legacy

Premise & Trigger Warnings

This is the first of four chapters in a maledom, taboo, noncon dark novella.

Tags: Bull, father, slutwife, daughter, reluctance, taboo, harem, maledom, femswitch, malesub.

A young woman marries the son of a twice widowed, powerful business-and-political man, and bears him a child. In doing so, she becomes the final member of three young couples, that live under the patronage and protection, of this family patriarch. An extended family with dark secrets and shadowy ways, that the young woman adapts to as well as she can. Till one day the family patriarch invites the female half of the three young couples--the young woman who is his daughter-in-law, his step-and-adoptive daughter from his second marriage, and his natural daughter from his first marriage--for a one-on-three dinner at his mansion. And each of the three young women accept.

At dinner the patriarch shares with his "daughters" the news that he has decided to start bequeathing his vast estate now. He will not be leaving anything to any philanthropic causes, which leaves the family with a significant fortune. But at the same time he has decided to skip over his current living children, and leave his estate to his daughters' children, in a trust strictly managed by his agents instead. This trust for his "grandchildren" will get half his estate now, the final half when he dies. But the money will only be disbursed if all members of the three young couples act according to his desires. Desires which include the "palpable gratitude" of the young women. And the "yielding respect" of the young men, which the young women, as wives, are to enforce. Conditions which, to the young woman's shock, her two sisters-in-law seem ready to accept. But which she is far from certain she ever can.

This is DARK novella that includes strong MALEDOM, TABOO/INCEST, RELUCTANCE, SEXUALIZATION OF WOMEN, and CUCKOLDRY themes. Read at your own risk.

Chapter 1

When Dakota, now surnamed Conlan, married Brenden Conlan and gave him his first born, she did not imagine how more she would be marrying her in-laws, than she would be marrying her husband. Brenden was a handsome and very rich heir, that despite the privilege was a surprisingly kind and generous man. Perhaps not the brightest boyfriend she had ever had, she found out while they finished law school together, he definitely had been the most devoted she had ever had. And Dakota wondered how a young man like that, that likely could have had his pick of bride, would have picked her. Even though she was in no way vain or immodest, Dakota knew she was smart, beautiful, and the kind of woman that would make a devoted wife and mother. But she also knew Brenden could have that, and so much more. And yet she had the nagging suspicion that, with her as his bride, Brenden got a measure of approval from his family he lacked otherwise. A dynamic she did not fully understand, but that nevertheless explained it all.

That family included Brendan's younger sister, Blake. Blake, like Dakota, was smart and beautiful, though Dakota knew Blake was actually much more beautiful, and oozed sex appeal with every inhale and exhale of her body in a way she herself did not. Unlike herself, and like Brendan, Blake of course was a very wealthy heiress that had clearly grown up used to having whatever she wanted. Even if, sometimes, Dakota thought that Blake's eyes also silently spoke of the heavy burden of having had to pay for it all very dearly. Like Dakota herself, Blake was a recent wife and mother of one, having engaged herself with a fellow society scion and rising star in state politics, Lucas, whom she had met when he hired her as his campaign communications director. Groom who in the short few years that Dakota knew him, had come across to her as perhaps less kind, and certainly more ambitious, than her own husband.

Brenden's family also included Brenden's step, and later adopted, sister, Jordan. The daughter of Brenden's father previously single-mother second-wife. Like she did Blake, Dakota found Jordan very smart and beautiful, and that she exuded sex appeal with every shift of her body, and every twitch of her eyes and lips. Perhaps Jordan was a little less burdened by her privilege than Blake, probably because unlike Blake, Jordan's privilege had come later in life. Jordan had never met her biological father after all, and had only known what having a father was when Brenden and Blake's father, after marrying Jordan's mother, adopted her. Now, years later, like Dakota and Blake, Jordan was a recent wife and mother of one, having married a handsome and ambitious young man, Liam, she met while finishing business school. A groom, that Dakota thought, was more in the mold of Blake's Lucas, than her own Brenden's.

But perhaps the most important member of the Conlan clan was Douglas Conlan himself, family patriarch, Brenden and Blake's father, Jordan's step-and-adoptive father. Douglas was twice a widower, a bearer of marital bad luck that many found incredible, and a few even found a little suspicious. Even if both of Douglas's wives--like the daughters Blake and Jordan they each gave birth to--were drop dead gorgeous, sultry women when they were still alive. Regardless, from his youth to his now middle age, Douglas made very well for himself, building an empire in oil and gas with little more than chutzpah, sharp elbows, and a few greasy palms that he later parlayed into two terms in the Governor's mansion. Accumulating more money, more power, and more influence along the way than any other man in the state. Douglas Conlan was clearly a man in class by himself, a class much above his sons-in-law and even his son. And a man, Dakota was beginning to think, that had a taste, a palate, for fine women that more than matched.

And it was with this new family that Dakota found herself when she married Brenden. A family that seemed to harbor dark secrets, and shadowy ways. A family that for the sake of her husband and now child she strived to become a part of. Yet a family, that Dakota somehow felt, will cost her more of herself than she was prepared to give. A feeling that was heavy in her heart the day that her father-in-law Douglas Conlan's personal assistant, his bodyman, reached out to her to inform her that, together with her two sisters-in-law, she was invited to an evening for four--only four--at the Conlan mansion. An evening in which Douglas Conlan intended to share very important family news.

*****

Dakota did not know what to do with that invitation. As women, sisters by marriage, she had spent some time with Blake and Jordan without Brenden. Not much, but some. But she had never spent any time at all with Brenden's father without Brenden. Douglas Conlan was a very busy man after all. Brenden had even expressed he had felt short changed time with his father growing up. So the fact that she was invited to an evening with Douglas, some kind of dinner and reception, without the man's son, made her a little uneasy. Her sisters-in-law would be there of course, but they were Douglas' daughters. They surely were comfortable with him. She was not, and she did not want to cause embarrassment to her husband and young child in the process. And yet, after a day of agonizing, Dakota could not but come to the conclusion that there was no real option for her other than to attend. Especially after she had been offered what seemed like the ultimate admission into the family. And Dakota spent the intervening week preparing for it.

Douglas' bodyman had been specific it was a formal affair. That did not surprise Dakota, since Douglas Conlan did not seem to do anything that was not formal. That meant a cocktail dress, heels, hair, nails and makeup work were de rigueur. So though she felt a little uncomfortable doing what felt like dolling up for her husband's father, Dakota ended up spending an hour at the beauty salon before returning home to put on a little red cocktail dress and matching stiletto sandals that she knew Brenden loved to see on her. Brenden, kind Brenden, who could not help try to calm her as she got ready to attend her evening with his father and sisters.

"Dakota, Honey, take a deep breath. I know my father looks like a hard man. He IS a hard man. But he is also an excellent, and gracious host. He will take good of care of you. And even if he doesn't Blake and Jordan will." Brenden tried to reassure his wife.

"Brenden, you are always so sweet. But it is not for me that I fear. It is embarrassing you, or our Billy, that I fear. Your father's ways are mysterious to me. He seems so intense. I just do not want to say, or do, the wrong thing. I do not want to disappoint."

"You could never, ever disappoint me. And knowing my father, you could never disappoint him either. I suspect had I not met you first... he might have married you himself!" And though Dakota could see her kind Brenden meant everything he said lovingly and without malice, she also felt uneasy about it. Like there was a dark under-truth lurking in his words she really did not want to examine.

"Ok, I'll trust you on that. Promise me you will kiss Billy goodnight for me tonight. Tell him his Mommy loves him."

"It goes without saying. But, you have a ride to catch. I see my father's driver out in the curb already. Just remember, Blake, Jordan, and my father, they are all your family too now. I won't say good luck, because you do not need it." And Brenden lovingly reached over to Dakota, kissed her on the lips, then on one hand, and turning to look around to make sure there were no little witnesses, went to his knees to kiss her on a foot, and finish on her pelvis as well. A little routine he had picked up recently that Dakota found strange, a little kinky, but endearing, and she had let him have without question or comment, but a little smile.

And tottering on her thin high heels, Dakota was on her way.

*****

Dakota's ride on the back seat of one her father-in-law's luxury SUVs started as stressful as the earlier part of the day had been. But after taking a few deep breaths and looking out at the beautiful landscape of spruce and aspen garbed mountains and streams she began to feel more calm about it and found her peace. Nothing to worry about. Douglas Conlan was but an ordinary man like any other, and simply the father of her husband after all. That idea survived her arrival at the Conlan estate, palatial as it was. It even survived the fact that, with mathematical precision, her sisters-in-law rides arrived together with hers at the same time. A reminder that Douglas Conlan, or in this case, his butler, ran everything like a mission critical business. But it began to crumble a little bit again as Dakota watched Blake and Jordan step out of the SUV doors that their drivers held open for them. For even to Dakota, a fully heterosexual woman deeply in love with her husband, her two sisters-in-law looked the very vision of exquisite divine womanhood. A picture, that in some dark way, made her again nervous about what the true purpose of the soiree was. A moment of apprehension that was cut short when, with a smile, Blake moved to greet her two sisters by marriage.

"Hi, Jordan, Dakota, so glad to see you. And glad you could make it. It is not every day my father invites anybody for a big reveal." Said Blake, as she leaned over to double kiss both Dakota and Jordan in the cheeks."

"Glad to see you too. Any idea what the reveal is Sis?" Asked Jordan of Blake. To which the later replied.

"Not for a fact. But I have an idea. Sorry, not mine to share, in case I am wrong. But piece of advice, smiling and nodding your approval is always the right approach with my father." The last part of which Blake said while holding firm eye contact with Dakota, since Jordan did not need that piece of advice herself.

Dakota greeted her sisters-in-law back. But merely silently nodded back her understanding at Blake, following her advice too well. Blake seemed to take it at face value, as she then proceeded to intertwine her fingers with her two sisters, and lead Jordan on her right, Dakota on her left, towards the Conlan's mansion front door. A small group of strong silent men in dark suits, men in the employ of Douglas Conlan, surrounding them at a discrete distance as an honor escort. Or bodyguards. Or even prisoner guards. Dakota was not sure. Uneasy about it, as with almost everything to do with her father-in-law, Dakota turned to her sisters-in-law instead.

Strutting in thin high heels side by side with her sisters-in-law Dakota could not help continue to admire how seductive Blake and Jordan were. And at the same time, wonder how come all three of them were also so alike. Blake, as she strutted in white stiletto sandals and a blue cocktail dress that matched her dark blue eyes, was evidently the most petite of the three. Just a smidgen taller than average, her small breasts, nubile hips, and otherwise lithe figure moved with the grace of the committed amateur classical ballerina she had been. That her father had encouraged, perhaps even demanded, she be for many, many years. While her light, wheat blonde hair held up in an elegant stick bun, served to showcase her exquisite features, particularly her delicate thin long neck.

Jordan on the other hand, also strutting but in black pumps and a green cocktail dress that matched her deep emerald eyes, was the tallest. Despite her height, very delicately and femininely endowed and limbed, her svelte figure also moved with the grace of an artistic athlete. In her case the competitive solo figure skater Douglas Conlan had supported her being since she joined his family. While her mid, honey blonde hair, demurely arranged in a bride-like half-up half-down, drew attention to her own exquisite features, particularly her prominent sharp high cheek bones.

By comparison Dakota felt like an ugly duckling. Though she objectively did catalogue herself as halfway between Blake and Jordan, both in height and build. But amber eyed and a darker, caramel shade of blonde than her two sisters-in-law. It did occur to her, that though she did not feel the comfort in her skin that Blake and Jordan obviously did, she too had trained many years to master her body to the level of a finely tuned instrument. To become a high school and college medal-and-trophy winning rhythmic gymnast. "The ribbon Princess" they had called her at the end. It had cost her bruises, sprains and even a broken bone along the way. Injuries her sisters-in-law had shared that they too had suffered. Blake had even added she had sacrificed a couple of toe nails to her pointe shoes. And the thought that such punishing mastery of one's body was an unspoken requirement for a woman of the Conlan clan, gave Dakota the shivers that there was some dark, maybe not so innocent, purpose underneath it.

"How is my brother treating you?" Blake asked Dakota, perhaps deliberately interrupting her thoughts.

"He is very kind. Too kind even. I could not ask for more."

"Yes he is. The tragedy of that is that because of it Douglas always seemed to find him too soft." Added Jordan, who at times called her stepfather Dad, and at times called him Douglas. In fact, Blake called her father Douglas at times too. And the choice of the women seemed to be dictated by whether they talked about him as a father, or as a man.

"Well, Sister. I can call you Sister, since we are sisters now. Douglas is a very different man. Also very generous, but very demanding as well. He is a bit of a... benevolent dictator. If you get to know him. Firm... but fair. I know he likes you. And I have the feeling he thinks marrying you is the best thing Brenden ever did." Further added Blake, perhaps sensing, like her brother had, that Dakota needed some reassurance. Except, that like Blake brother's words earlier, they were not entirely reassuring. Dakota simply nodded again, as they finally made it to the front porch of Douglas' Conlan's house and the patriarch's butler welcomed the young women in.

"Blake, Jordan, Dakota, welcome to your home and thanks for coming! Ladies, you are all a vision of beauty as always! Please come in and let me escort you to the dining room, where Governor Conlan would be joining you shortly." Said the older, graceful man, perfectly polished like vase of fine porcelain, at the same time that much of the escort of strong silent men in dark suits, that had followed the young women all those yards, stood to the side and held their hands standing to attention like a black-tie platoon. It had been several years since Douglas Conlan had ended his second term as governor of the state. But many still called him Governor out of respect. And the security contractors that followed the patriarch everywhere were a replacement for the uniformed and plain clothes state troopers that used to guard him while he was in office. A need that, Dakota dreaded to think, came from the large number of sworn enemies, some of them deadly, Douglas Conlan seemed to have accumulated first in business, and then politics.

Inside was sumptuous, in a paradoxically austere way, as she remembered. The house had a Western, Spanish colonial really, style. Like the house that a Spanish or Mexican governor of these lands centuries ago would have lived in. The colors were various shade of stucco and terracotta. The furniture heavy wood. The fixtures, like railings, ceiling lamps, and sconces, wrought iron. Perhaps, Dakota thought, though the Conlans had come from a different part of the old continent, under duress, and much more recently, Douglas Conlan fancied himself a conquistador. And this house was reflection of that. A conquistador who took what he wanted by trading mirrors, or wielding gunpowder and steel if need be, from others. And walking side by side with his sisters-in-law, who now held each other with interlaced arms, not just fingers, she began to feel like part of the spoils of such a man.

"Dear ladies, here you are. Governor Conlan will be in shortly." Finally said Douglas Conlan's butler, before he took his leave from the mansion's large dining room, closing a set of doors behind him. Dakota felt like the idea was to make them feel like they were on their own. But somehow, Dakota could sense there were still unseen and unheard strong silent men in the shadows, watching and listening.

"Blake, Jordan, sorry for being so forward, but it really amazes how you could have grown up like this. Used to this. Living like this. It is all so foreign to me." Said Dakota to her sisters-in-law, as they helped themselves to glasses of fine sparkling Sonoma wine that waited for them in a pewter tray.

"Dakota, pardon my French, but we shit like everybody else." Said Blake back to Dakota. "No need to get your panties all in a bunch. In fact, I think our father is planning to give us something, of great value, tonight. So there, I said it. And something of great value coming from Douglas Conlan can change the lives of your son, and his son, and his son, for many generations to come. So whatever strings there may be attached, it is worth it." She further added.

Dakota, unlike Blake apparently and probably Jordan, was not so sure the price of largesse was always worth it. She did not marry her husband because she was a gold digger. In fact she married him in spite of his wealth, which she was weary of, because he was so loving. But in their three years as husband and wife she had learned he was not just a splinter from the old tree, and Conlan values, expectations and compromises were different. Foreign to her. But something she had agreed to accommodate for the sake of marital harmony.

Just then Jordan actually moved to grab Dakota's left hand, and lifted it to look at her ring finger, and show it back to Dakota herself. Then she quoted Dakota's own words to her from three years ago "I take you, Brenden Conlan, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until parted by death." To which Dakota replied.