Gold Digger

"Then, let's bring them in."

A few moments later, they were standing in the center of the room. I was sitting behind the desk, and Pat was lounging on the sofa. Even though it was still late morning, Pat and I had decided a small celebration of my inheritance was due. She was sipping a glass of wine from a bottle she retrieved from the wine fridge below the built in wet-bar, and I had a tumbler of scotch on ice. As they stood there, I could see the fear on their faces. That wasn't surprising. After all, their world had just imploded. Now, their fate was in the hands of someone who had every reason in the world to hate them. After staring at them while sipping my drink for a few moments, I finally spoke.

"Just so you are completely clear on your positions, I'm going to inform you of exactly where things stand for the moment. First off, I have given the file containing details of your crime to Ms. Carmichael. I have not told her what to do with it at this point, but I'm leaning heavily towards having her forward it to the authorities, as well as to every media outlet we can think of. Second, I am moving in here to the Master bedroom. Trudy, your former belongings are being moved into a locked storage room until I have a chance to go through them and decide what to do with them. Meghan, since my mother will now be moving in, she will be in the room you formerly occupied. Your former belongings will also be transferred to the storage room.

"As for your sleeping arrangements, Ms. Carmichael has informed me that legally, I need to give you 30-days to vacate this house. I would think that it wouldn't take that long, since you have nothing to take with you, and you have no funds to get a place to live. Seriously, how long does it really take to simply walk out and find a spot under a bridge to sleep? Regardless, you have 30-days. Good luck. Perhaps you can go stand on the side of the street offering blowjobs to passing cars for a few bucks every day. In any case, I will assign you two one of the smaller bedrooms to share until you leave. Since I'm not a total monster, I'll even give you each one set of clothes to wear, of course, it will be what I pick out to give you. Rest assured that it will be the cheapest and rattiest things I find.

"So. Here are your options: Meghan can go into town and find a corner to whore herself out on. You're young and pretty, so you should be able to get a cheap fleabag apartment to stay in. You can possibly get a minimum wage, part time job at a fast-food place. Of course, you would probably need to get a couple of those jobs and find an apartment with a roommate. You can apply for welfare, but you would probably need to have a couple of kids to get any real money from that. Yes, you can survive, but that's pretty much it. Who knows, in a couple of years, you might actually get enough saved to make yourself look decent enough to move up the chain and become a higher paid prostitute. Maybe you can turn those videos of you and your mom doing gang bangs into a real porn career. Ask all your friends from your sorority what they think after they see them. Of course, you won't be seeing them much since you won't be able to pay for your last year of college. Oh, and I will make sure that any job you manage to get all your co-workers and employers get the links to your online porn videos. That should make you really popular with your co-workers. Perhaps your boss will give you some extra 'performance bonuses' for doing 'extra duties'. Besides all that, when the charges against Trudy become public, I will make sure that there are several indications out there that suggest you were helping her set up my mom. Sure, there won't be any hard evidence, but the rumors will persist. You will become a pariah. Good luck with that.

"As for you, Trudy. I'll make it easy on you. I'll let the State give you room and board for the next several years. I'll even have a car come and pick you up and take you to the police station. Sure, it won't be comfortable, and I hear the food sucks, but at least it will be a roof over your head and food in your stomach. You should also become very familiar with the phrase 'Gay for the Stay'.

"Should you even attempt to contest the will, I will bury you. You, Trudy will be in prison. Once the judge or jury see the evidence on how you had my mother drugged and raped to destroy the marriage, you won't get a fucking dime. That is, once it actually gets to court. The only way that you will be able to pay for a lawyer is if they are willing to wait for a verdict. Once they see my legal team and we begin an avalanche of delays and motions to postpone things, I highly doubt that anyone will be willing to represent you. At least, no one that has any shot at succeeding. Meghan doesn't even stand a chance. She has no standing with the court. She isn't his biological child, and Dad never formally adopted her. Her suit would be thrown out at the first hearing.

"So, that's where we stand at this point. Since I am a decent person, I will give you a chance to present your case."

They just stood there silently for a couple of minutes. They glanced at each other a couple of times, but other than that, they were basically motionless. Finally, Trudy spoke softly.

"Jeremy, I mean, Mr. Simpson. May we have a few moments in private to discuss this situation, please?"

I looked over at Pat. She just shrugged her shoulders. I couldn't see where it could hurt, so I gave the go-ahead. They trudged out of the room and sat on the couch in the livingroom to discuss their options.

Trudy:

Well, I was royally fucked. Meghan was too. I wasn't entirely sure who was going to worse off. Yes, I was going to be in prison, but Megs was going to become a prostitute living on the street. Yeah, sure, she might be able to get enough to have a cheap apartment and enough food to survive, but that was it. Then there was the probability that she would occasionally be arrested for solicitation. Even though he didn't mention that, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Jeremy would likely make sure that happened. There really was only one option. It would be bad, but I wasn't sure how bad. That was up to Jeremy.

"What are we going to do, mom?" Meghan asked through her tears.

"Whatever it takes. Think about it. Why did he just tell us all of that? He didn't need to say anything. He could have just contacted the police and had them come here and arrest me. Then he could have simply told you that you have 30-days to get out. What was his point in giving us that detailed description of our positions? Why hasn't he already contacted the police?"

"I don't know. Maybe to just rub our noses in it?"

"No doubt about that, but I believe there was another reason. I think that he really wanted to drive home just exactly how bad our position is. I think that he wants something from us, and he is using this as a way to force us to accept an alternative."

"An alternative? Fuck yes! Anything would be better than what awaits us right now."

"Oh, baby. I seriously doubt that. He really hates us. He is really going to punish us for what we did. It's going to be bad, very, very bad."

"How bad could it possibly be? Short of flat out killing us, I don't think that the alternative would be worse."

"Think about it. What was the common denominator in everything? Sex. He kept mentioning you becoming a prostitute. Then he mentioned me having to engage in lesbian sex all through prison. It's all about sex."

"So, if we just offer to have sex with him, he will let us off?"

"I seriously doubt that it will be that easy. I'm pretty sure that there will be a lot more to it than just having sex. I think it's going to be really, really bad, but at least we will probably still be living here. We will lose a lot, but we will be in a nice home and eat decent food. We will be cared for with doctor's visits, dental care, and a lot more that we won't have otherwise. The question is just how much are we willing to take to keep from being thrown out into the street or going to prison until I'm released as an old woman with no money and no prospects."

"How bad do you think it will be, mom?"

"Oh sweetie. Before you were born, I saw a lot of stuff. Even after you were born, I had to do things just to survive. Since he has his lawyer here watching this, I'm sure that he would never truly harm us. I think that there will be quite a bit of pain for us, but there will not be any injuries or actual harm to us. He won't risk any permanent scaring or disfigurement. I'm sure that there will be sex. LOTS of sex. Probably with multiple people. We can most likely count on being severely punished. That may include paddles, whips, canes, and floggers. Yes, it will hurt like hell, but he won't risk actually breaking the skin. I can almost guarantee that we will both be fucked on every hole, yes anal included. We will also most likely be required to have sex with other women as well."

"You mean?"

"Yes, dear. When we go back in there, I am going to offer him everything. We will essentially be his willing sex slaves."

"But that's illegal."

"Not exactly, dear. I'm quite sure that Patricia will have a nice little contract written up for it. We will also most likely need to give a statement -- either on video, notarized, or both -- swearing that we are not being coerced into signing it."

"But we are being coerced."

"No, we are not. We have options. Granted, none of them are good, but we do have options. He may also have a different way that it is proposed. Either way, there will be enough plausible deniability that he will be in the clear. Now, do you agree? It will probably take both of us agreeing for this to work."

"I guess we don't have much choice, do we?"

"You can't look at it that way, Meg. We have choices, but this is the best out of all the bad options."

"Fine. God, this is gonna suck."

'That's not all that's gonna suck.' I thought as we stood up to go face our uncertain future. I stopped Meghan just before we entered the office.

"OK Meghan. Now, our position sucks, but we aren't without a couple of negotiating points here. I don't think that Jeremy really knows it, but I am a skilled negotiator. We are fucked, but at least we should be able to get something out of it. Now, we need to at least look confident. If we walk in there already looking defeated, it's over before it begins. Remember that any concessions we can get are better than the alternative. Back straight, shoulders back, and we walk in there with confidence." OK, so that was a bunch of bullshit, but I still had one card to play. Actually, it was a single card, and it wasn't exactly a winning card. Still, it was a card, and Jeremy gave it to me.

"Well, Jeremy. It seems that you have the power to fuck us over really well. Too well, in fact. Your plan pretty much completely destroys our lives. The only problem that you will have is that when someone loses literally everything, they will have nothing left to lose. If we have nothing to lose, what's to stop us from retaliating at that point? Sure, there would be nothing we could illegally do, but what about illegally? We would both be consorting with the scum of society. Exactly how hard do you think it would be for Meg to get a gun, or perhaps using her body to convince some young boy to wait for a chance and kill you or your mother? Suppose that one night, someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of your office building. Perhaps it might be a drive-by shooting as you came out of a building. What would Megan really have to lose? Sure, she would go to prison if they ever caught her, but she might just get away with it too.

"As for me, I would already be in prison until I'm old and grey. I would be looking at getting out with no money, no prospects, and living in homeless shelters for the rest of my life. I might actually prefer staying in prison. Maybe I will make a couple of friends in there that have friends in low places on the outside. Maybe I could trade some favors to get someone to cause you to wreck your car on the freeway, or worse. Again, what would I really have to lose at that point?

Jeremy had a sparkle in his eye as I was talking. He grinned. "So, you really think that I'm just going to let everything go because you might retaliate? That was pretty weak."

"No. I know that you hold most of the cards here. You are going to -- literally -- screw us over. I only mentioned that to you so we could come to an alternate solution. A solution where you get your pound of flesh, but we are left in a position that is not so dire as to us needing to contemplate such drastic action. Yes, we understand the position we are in, and you are going to get your vengeance, but wouldn't it be better for you to temper your revenge slightly to ensure that the prey doesn't lash out in desperation?"

"Interesting point. Of course, that does assume that I would not be very carefully monitoring your behavior, and the chances of success on your part would be very slim."

"Slim, but not zero."

"OK. I'll accept that for now. So, what do you propose? This should be interesting, at least."

"Come, come, now Jeremy. This is a negotiation. You can't really expect to have a serious negotiation without the proper parties in the room, can you?" I think I actually took him by surprise.

Laughing, he responded. "OK. Didn't see that coming. You are acting much differently than I expected."

"Indeed. You forget that I worked for your father for a couple years before I seduced him. I'm actually a very astute businesswoman. I helped your father negotiate multimillion dollar deals while you were gone."

"Fine. Who do you propose needs to be here, then?"

"Well aside from those already in attendance, your mother." His eyes raised at that. "Your PA, and Ms. Carmichael should have her most trusted and discrete paralegal here as well. Technically, Meghan and I should also have legal representation as well, but that probably isn't necessary. Whatever final agreement is reached will most likely not hold up in court. For this matter, we will trust Ms. Carmichael to protect our interests as well. Although I realize she dislikes us a great deal, she has always been trustworthy and honest."

Jeremy laughed and shook his head in disbelief. Pat looked surprised, then shrugged as she reached for her phone to call her office and get an assistant headed this way. As she was doing that, Jeremy called his PA and had her come back over.

"Perhaps a drink while we are waiting?" I asked. After approval, I had Meghan take orders and serve the drinks.

Pat and Meghan had the wine that was already opened. Jeremy and I had the scotch. As we waited, I asked and received permission for Meghan to have a notepad and pen so she could take notes. Our position was weak in the extreme, but I figured that we could win a couple of concessions at least. The key was going to be giving him enough to satisfy his vengeance without it being too brutal on us. The other part was negotiating something where we had enough to look forward to and coming out the other side able to survive. The tricky part was getting him to see that giving us something was in his benefit and he would be getting much more than his money's worth from it.

It was about half an hour before everyone was there and ready. I didn't miss the look of absolute hatred on Margaret's face. She was going to be the wildcard in this. I wasn't sure how much pull she was going to have in these negotiations.

"OK, Trudy. This was your idea, so the floor is yours." Jeremy stated.

"Very well. I believe that our positions are pretty clear to all of you, but I will briefly review them. Obviously, I am looking at several years in prison, only to be released as an old woman, broke and homeless. Meghan is looking at being kicked out onto the street with no money and only the clothes on her back. She will be friendless, homeless, and a pariah in the community with no options to improve her fate. In other words, our lives will be completely destroyed. That being said, it is too much for us. Although your hatred of us means that seeing us like that will make you happy, there is a downside for you. The fact is that you hate us, and you want your vengeance on us. We hurt you badly without a care in the world about doing it. You want your pound of flesh, and there isn't a damned thing we can do to prevent it.

"The downside is that we will have nothing left to lose. We will be able to retaliate viciously with impunity. It wouldn't matter to us if we were caught, because we would have nothing to lose. Actuality, given our situations, an argument could be made that we would be better off if we were prosecuted. Simply put, with nothing left to lose, we would have no reason not to retaliate. Granted, our chances for success would be small, but there would still be a chance. Furthermore, our retaliation would be as extreme as we could possibly it. Does anyone here disagree with any of that?"

When everyone had acknowledged that my points were valid, Jeremy spoke up.

"OK. I'm sure that you have some sort of proposition for me that addresses all of the issues. What do you propose?"

"We propose that we remain here as your indentured servants. We get room and board and a small stipend that we can't collect until the end of the term. With the charges I'm facing, I estimate that I would get approximately 10 to 15 years in prison. With time off for good behavior and credits that I could earn, I would most likely be let out in 7 to 8 years. I propose that the term of our service be 10-years of faithful service. We will faithfully perform all chores around the house, including housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, serving, laundry, running errands for you, and any other chores that are withing our capabilities. At the end of the ten-year term, you pay each of us $100,000.

"That gives you your pound of flesh from us by us working as your low-paid employees. We lose all the privilege that we have enjoyed over the last several years. We lose all our designer clothes and shoes, as well as all our jewelry. Our spa days are over, as well as we will be losing all of our friends. We will also not have access to any money, so we could not purchase anything for ourselves. You gain two low paid employees that will do all the work around the house for you. You also get two servers for any parties that you have. That frees you up for other things without having to deal with the mundane issues of housekeeping, cooking, laundry, and making sure that guests are taken care of.

"What keeps us from any retaliation is that we would be looking forward to enough funds at the end of 10-years to be able to rebuild some sort of life for ourselves. It would be nowhere near what this is, but it would at least let us have something. Also, at the end of the term, you would hand all copies of that report to us so we can destroy it."

OK. Yes, I soft balled it. Did I really think that they would accept that? Hell no, but you never begin negotiations giving the farm away.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Margaret exploded. "Do you have any idea what those animals you hired did to me? SIX HOURS! FOR SIX FUCKING HOURS, THEY RAPED ME! Six hours of them constantly using all three orifices. You then used those videos to destroy my reputation, destroy my self-esteem, turn my husband against me, and deny me what I deserved in the divorce. Now, to make up for that, you simply want to wash a few dishes and a few loads of clothes? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"It's a lot more than that.." I began.

"Oh, you bet your ass, it's going to be a LOT more than that. Speaking of asses, I did notice that you never mentioned having a uniform. Since you don't actually own clothes, you will, at the very least, be working naked!" She demanded.