Mutually Beneficial Arrangements

Mutually Beneficial Arrangement

By William Malic

Prelude

Private Detective Sam Bittner was first introduced in Kidnapped.  After solving the high-profile case where scores of woman from super-rich families were kidnapped and a cross country search for their whereabouts propelled his already blossoming practice into a much sought after security and detective agency he again is call upon to solve another case involving one of society’s riches families.  This time he has a partner and wife.  He met Serena when she was one of the women he rescued.  The fell in love and now she is his partner in both business and life.  The next novel in the Series was Raped.  Again a high profile client engages the firm to investigate the alleged rape of a daughter of one of the richest men in America.  The partnership runs into a number of dead ends but perseverance and some undercover work by Serena eventually unravels the mystery in Estranged!  If you liked the previous novels you will enjoy this mystery.  Even if your have not read the first novels this one will stand alone.  However you may consider getting a copy of Kidnapped, Raped or Estranged! Available in e-book through your favorite distributor.

Enjoy,

William Malic

Chapter 1 -- Mutually Beneficial Arrangements

A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement is the polite term that popular culture has coined for the type of relationship I’m in.  Had one asked me if this was the sort of relationship I could see myself being involved in a few years ago, the answer would have been absolutely not.  I am a college student in suburban Pennsylvania. I grew up here, in an area called the Main Line. I am sure you are familiar with this nook of the country; you know it’s where the blood is as blue as the sky, and the wealth as abundant.  My family is composed of traditional Irish Catholic Republicans, a family in which sex and money are taboo topics that need not be discussed.  But one thing my background has provided me is an invaluable tool for success:  I was blessed to have been raised with class, sent to the best schools, and taught to be well-read, well-spoken, and well-traveled.  From the outside, a mutually beneficial, or sugar daddy, relationship seems immoral; maybe even the distant cousin of—dare I say it?—prostitution.

There’s even a social networking website that connects sugar daddies and their beneficiaries. This man told me about it: SeekingArrangement.com.  It presented me with an opportunity I never would have thought to consider: being in a relationship that was like a business arrangement?  Where was the romance in that?  I toyed with the idea for a few weeks, mulling over the possible repercussions.  The pros were evident:  This man was a successful professional in the media community who could provide me with excellent connections.  But there was the social stigma to consider.  And did I even like this guy?  I wasn’t sure.  So I agreed to meet him for dinner to discuss how this should go; if it were to happen.  I also had several questions I wanted answered.

So we had dinner, and I was surprised to find that he had questions for me.  . I was intrigued when many of our answers were similar.  He was a likable person, and by the end of the evening I found myself attracted to him.  I laid out my ground rules and he laid out his.  He was looking for this type of a relationship because his past girlfriends hadn’t understood that his work would always come first.  He valued their place in his life but ended up resenting them because of the stress and pressure they placed on his already hectic lifestyle.  Then, much as I could imagine him doing while standing at the head of a conference table in a boardroom, he presented what I’ll call his financial package.

He offered me a monthly allowance, guaranteed a steady stream of desirable gifts, and promised regular vacations.  He offered to send my friends and me on girls’ weekend getaways to spas and resorts.  Other trips, he said, could be working vacations for the both of us, some fun mixed with some hands-on learning for me.  And yet others could be just the two of us seeing the most amazing and beautiful places in the world.  We discussed places we had both been and would like to share with each other.  When he learned I had never been to London he was dying to have that experience with me.

My stipulations were that I wanted to wait until I knew him better before we had sex, and I needed distance between him and my family—they know I have a relationship with an older, well-established man, but they don’t know about the financial arrangement.  I never felt it was necessary.  For safety reasons in the beginning, I told my very best friend about him, and that was it.  I told her I was going out with an older man I had met while interviewing for a job and where I would be.  I also gave her his business card and cell number in case something should happen.  Also, our relationship could never interfere with my schoolwork.

We started out on a trial basis, but in the first month I was already swept off my feet.  He was very busy with work so we only saw each other in person a few times, but he put effort into the relationship nonetheless.

As for the allowance, he doesn’t just cut me a check.  He simply ensures that I need never worry about expenses.  I rent a $1,600 apartment in the city, for which he pays the rent in full.  I carry an AmEx Black card in both our names, and use it for things like shopping, spa trips, manicures, and tanning; the bill goes to him. The company car I drive costs him around $700 a month for the lease and the insurance.  I’ve even managed to build up a little nest egg over the past year —at his insistence —putting away around $12,000.  All in all, he probably spends in the ballpark of $5,000 a month on my lifestyle.

He didn’t hire me for an internship position, but because of him I have had several internships at well-known PR companies, and have plenty of networking opportunities, shoring up my future prospects for when I graduate this spring.  Besides career advancements, he’s given me a chance to live the type of life I never would have experienced on my own. We went to London and Paris last spring, where we saw the sights and shopped at stores like Chanel and Dior. How many other college students are wearing Christian Louboutins to class?

I’m well aware that this is the kind of relationship where there are no guarantees for your heart, but it’s helped me prepare for the future and thrive in the present.  And when our time together is through, I will part with a lifelong friend, a great career, and a killer wardrobe.

Chapter 2 -- Business

Sam Bittner reread the prepared statement he had received in a plain envelope; no return address.  The letter was well written and professionally presented, almost as if it was a press release issued to announce a new promotional campaign for a marketing firm.  After all, the author was studying for a career in public relations.  She had a knack for presentation. He had heard of the area she originated from and personally knew, or knew of, many of the older families calling this exclusive section of southeast Pennsylvania home..  Sam ran among some pretty lofty circles and was not at all intimidated by the wealthy.  He made a good living, but than they were paying for the best and Sam was the best.  They also paid for anonymity.  Whatever was on this the writers mind it must have been something no other security firm could offer or dared investigate.  An attached note did identify the family name and included a plea to remain anonymous, most like indicating her surname was not the same as her ancestry.  It also included a entreaty to look into the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of a particular person.  Sam didn’t like surprises.  He ordered a through review of the family linage and a background check on the deceased.

The extension rang and Mary, his assistant, informed him of Serena’s arrival.  Serena had been sent on an errand and Sam was in his private office; his man-office as he called it.  They would meet in the conference room.  No one was allowed in his office, except Mary and with reluctance his wife Serena.  The private entrance to the conference room allowed him to slip in before Mary and Serena entered the well-appointed official office.  Good, we are all here, Sam greeted the pair.  The conference room had a small alcove which was more intimate than the large meeting room table.  It offered a pleasant view of a garden area maintained for its soothing ambience.  Everything at Security Services, LL was purposefully designed to impart the sense of a well healed business.  No expense was spared.  Sam’s clients would expect nothing less.  They also enjoyed the presence of beautiful people.  Mary was one of his best.  Before we start can we have Ginny get anything for either of you?

Mary looked at Serena with a strange questioning look.  Normally Mary was the one setting up for a meeting, gracing the room with her beauty and then slipping out so the business of the day could begin.  Mary had been his assistant since Sam first began his business as an independent private investigator.  After a recent case the firm had hired Ginny to temporarily replace Mary who had been on sabbatical while working on a personal case of her own.  Ginny was the daughter of a prominent client who had hired Sam’s firm.  The case involved finding Ginny after she disappeared and assumed a new identity.  Once he found the woman, Sam became embroiled in a messy incident where there was a serious accusation of sexual assault trumped up by the wayward socialite.  Though cleared of any wrong doing, Sam still sustained a sort of excommunication from a certain county in upstate New York where he was no longer permitted to visit.  Still he managed to work a deal where Ginny was ordered by the court to become a ward under Sam and Serena’s supervision until such time when she would be released from parole for her part in the ruse.  Sam had hoped the troubled girl’s association with his firm would give her the opportunity to overcome the mental anguish she had suffered from being the child of an overpowering tyrant of a father.

Refusing to reconcile with her father, Ginny remained estranged.  The burden of her inordinate hate continued to weigh heavily on her father’s heart.  His health continued to deteriorate, but he was determined to cheat the devil out of his claim on his soul.  Even near death the old man was an albatross around Ginny’s sleek and sensual neck.  As long as he remained upright she would not be able to rid herself of the choking sensation she felt every time she thought of him.  She also was denied access to her inheritance.

Ginny believed she deserved, even earned, the stipend for her long suffering at the hands of the tyrant.  It clouded her thinking to the point that venomous bile rose from deep in her gut.  She was a good actor however, and in the public forum retained her composure.  A beautiful vail of thin gossamer shrouded her inner Arachnid like nature.  Spinning a web of deceit was only one of her many talents.  Venomous, surreptitious, and superior in intellect Ginny was a formidable force with malevolent intentions.

Mary smiled and gracefully declined the offer.  Serena only raised her eyebrows.  Sam however paged the cute blond they all called Ginny, though it was not her given name.  We would like a full set up of refreshment in the conference room, he spoke into the phone.  Ginny arrived within minutes and hurriedly began seeing to her bosses demands.  As always, Ginny was immediately the center of attention.  She was gorgeous and her designer outfits always accented her natural beauty to the max.  She is something, isn’t she, Sam offered.  She’d do just about anything I’d ask her to do.  Sam paused evaluating the other women’s reactions.  I wouldn’t trade her for anything.

Ginny had worked as a barmaid and was adept at providing provisions for clients with a flare of sophisticated style and a sexually charged deportment.  Either sex enjoyed her presence but men were her most avid supporters.  Sam beamed with excitement as Ginny catered to the trio.  Serena stifled her inner discontent with her husband’s apparent fascination with every movement Ginny made.  Mary remained stoic.

You are the best, Sam announced.  Thank you that will be all.  Ginny had finished her chore and was dismissed.  Sam returned his gaze to his two associates, but not before enjoying the retreat of the blond till she had disappeared beyond the door.  She does something for the place, doesn’t she? he chuckled.

Just so all she does is serve refreshments, Serena let out a noxious snarl.  Sam ignored the comment.

I think we are being unfair to Ginny, Mary offered quietly.  She is quite capable of being more than just eye candy.  I have been meaning to say something before but I bit my tongue.  This isn’t right Sam.  We hired her to be my assistant but every time I want to give her something meaningful to do you seem to circumvent it and give her nothing but these mundane and if you don’t mind me saying demeaning tasks.

Sam lowered his eyes, do I sense a little jealousy.

Of course not, Mary bristled, what do I have to be jealous about.  I mean, you are using the girl.  That’s not being jealous.  If anything I am trying to be supportive and looking out for her.

She does think you mother her, Sam squinted.  Mary started, looking to Serena for support.  You have mothered her ever since you came back to the office.  She was your replacement, remember.  If you had not come to your senses and come back to work, she would be you right now.

I don’t think that is fair, Mary’s eyes glistened.  I have always served you well.  Sure there were times when I thought it was a little sexist the way you had me prance around like a show piece for the clients, but I never took offence.

That’s because we all know you to well, Serena interjected directing her attention to Sam.  "If I hadn’t fallen in love with you I would have thought you were a cad.  Actually you are, but you are