Art of Survival: Part One (A Stern Family Saga Book 5)

by Monique Orgeron

  I should have thought of that. Of course he would, the man is too smart.

  “Well Richard, I’m sorry we couldn’t do business. I hope things go well for you. But know this, I will not go down without a fight. I will make a name for myself in this state and I will guarantee my empire still stands for my son. It would’ve been so much more pleasurable to have you on my side.”

  I start to stand but Richard stops me.

  “I like pleasure, very much Catherine. I also like your balls to come here. If I invest, it will only be in you, not William. I hate that son of a bitch and I would love to take everything away from him. But I don’t think I would like hurting you.”

  He finishes his drink and studies me.

  “Alright Catherine, I’m willing to help you, and only you. I will train and teach you everything you will need to know. I will also make it very clear to your husband that this is the only way he is getting the help. You will repay my money and interest in two years, not three. While you’re doing it, I get you as mine”

  He stops, looking out through the windows and then he says, But Catherine, if you fail, you will become my wife.

  “What? That’s not, I can’t. You can’t, you’re married too.”

  “To a terrible wife and mother. She is my William; easily disposable. I want and need a woman like you.”

  Fuck, what do I do? I don’t want this. He’s shorten the time limit and now he’s demanding to own me. Trading one husband for another is just as bad. At least with William, I know what to expect. With Richard, I fear the unknown. He talks about his wife like she is nothing and she definitely would never have a chance of escaping him or gain some form of independence. I also know he would never accept Gabriel as his own. But I need him. Think!

  Standing, I lay my empty glass down. Reaching behind my back I unzip my dress and let it fall to the floor. Standing in nothing but my lingerie and heels, I tell him,

  “I will deliver everything I said I would. In three years’ time. You can enjoy me whenever you would like. You will train me like promised and in return, we will enjoy ourselves whenever possible. If I fail and only if I fail to deliver on our deal, then and only then, will I leave William and marry you. Deal?”

  He laughs at my proposal, but then studies me. “You drive a hard bargain darlin’. Deal. Three years Catherine, after that you will be only mine.”

  “Three years Richard and only if I fail. But I don’t plan on failing.”

  Right as he stands to walk over to me, a guard knocks on the door letting us know room service is here with our meals.

  I start laughing and say, “Seems their timing is off.”

  He looks at me with intense eyes and says, “Fuck supper, we’ll order breakfast.”

  He then briskly walks to me and throws me over his shoulder, causing me to let out a giggle. Who am I? When Richard throws me on the bed, I use my legs to push myself away from him. I’m scared for just a minute until I look at him and see him smile. It’s genuine, and makes his eyes almost look kind. For the next hour or so there is not a piece of my body that Richard has not feasted on. I have had three lovers now and they are all so different. Richard is unexpected in a good way. He likes it fast and hard, but fuck, does he guarantee to give pleasure. I came hard more than once. He’s also more light hearted in bed. For some reason he relaxes and becomes a normal man, instead of the feared leader he is. When we’re finished, he tells me jokes and all about his ranch and son, Dicky Jr. He’s very proud to have a son but after listening to him about his wife, I understand why he would want another. His biggest regret is that she’s his son’s mother. He says Dicky is a lot like her and it will take some doing to knock that shit out of him. He even allows me to talk about Gabriel and lights up in my description of him.

  “You’re perfect darlin’. I knew you would be. I wish my son would have a mother like you. Maybe one day he will.”

  “You gave me three years remember?”

  He laughs. “Oh darlin’, you don’t have to remind me. You knew what you were doing, dangling a carrot in front of me. Any man wouldn’t stand a chance. Now, if you would’ve kept your clothes on, this conversation would be very different.”

  “You will still honor it?”

  “Yes, I’m a man of my word. If I say I will kill someone, I will and if I say I will help, I will. Stupid morals. But I can’t say that I’m not hoping you will fail. But I won’t do anything to hurt you, not now.”

  He gets out of bed. “You hungry darlin’?”

  “I am.”

  “Good, come on.” He pulls me out of bed and throws me over his shoulder again like a caveman. With both of us naked he strolls to the door, knocks once and yells through the door for his guards to order everything on the breakfast menu. He has me laughing again as he swings me around and walks us straight to the shower, where we have a little more fun.

  When we’re done, I run out the bathroom with Richard chasing me. I haven’t had this much fun in I don’t know when. We find a table set up with our food waiting. During breakfast we begin discussing plans and how he’s going to tell William what is going to happen. With my breakfast finished. I look around the room, waiting for him to finish. The man can eat. I spot his cowboy hat sitting by his boots.

  “Wow, is that your hat?”

  He looks over and says, “Yeah that’s one of the fancy ones. I much prefer the ones I work my land with, but they’re dirty and old.”

  He sees me eyeing it. “I’ve never seen one in person before.”

  Chuckling he says, “Oh darlin’, let me put it on for you. I’ll show you what it’s like to fuck a real cowboy.”

  And he did. At first it was comical and a bit ridiculous, making me laugh but then he delivered. Now, I know why some women like their cowboys.

  By that afternoon, he followed me home. He came in and told William that he would help but only if I was solely in charge of all the underground gambling. Richard left out all the parts about our deal but told William that I was to be made available when he wanted and that was non-negotiable. William was pissed beyond belief. I was terrified of what would happen once Richard would leave. But then William agreed. That however, did not mean he was okay with it.

  When Richard left, he made sure to show dominance over William and his interest for me. He kissed my hand and pulled me in closer, whispering in my ear. He told me, how much he wanted to kill William and that he should be kissing my feet for saving his life.

  I knew though the minute he walked out the door there would be no high praise or appreciation. William would want to put me in my place and he did.

  William closes the door on Richard and stays with his hand on the door handle and head leaning on the door. The silence is a warning. I start to back away slowly, trying to make it to my room.

  With each step I know it’s coming. Then I hear him scream out my name, “Catherine!”

  Without a second thought, I turn and run as fast as I can up the stairs, hoping to make it to my bedroom door to lock him out. But he catches me before I can slam it. He throws me down to the floor and slams the door behind him. I start crawling backwards, but not fast enough, he grabs my foot, stopping any chance of escape I may have had.

  “You thought you could undermine me with Richard?!” SLAP!

  “You’re his whore now, is that it?!” SLAP!

  “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  He quickly backs away allowing me a chance to stand. I don’t know why or how but I fought back.

  I scream at him, “You did this!”

  He turns and looks at me ready to strike but I swear he will listen to me. “You married a whore to make her into a fine lady just to turn her back into your whore to pimp out!”

  He grabs me by my hair so fast I never had a chance. “What will our son think of his whore mother?!”

  “You should ask yourself, what would our son think of you whoring his mother out!”

  He throws me back, but the bed breaks my
fall.

  “You did this William, all of it! What did you think he would want? You knew! You sent me over there to fuck him! What are you truly pissed about, huh?! Is it that he doesn’t want to do business with you or is it that he wants to keep fucking me?!”

  “You, fucking bitch!” He rams into me, throwing me halfway across the room. No more slaps. He sits on top of me as he hits me now with his closed fists.

  Then suddenly his fist misses and pounds into the floor with the same velocity. He missed on purpose as his head falls into my neck as his trembling body hovers over mine. Gritting through his teeth, he tells me,

  “You did this Catherine. You ruined me. Do you know that? I never wanted to love you, fuck, all I ever want now is to hate you. I can’t though, don’t you see? I’m fucking ruined!”

  I hear his words and his heavy breathing but then I feel him move, forcing me to spread my legs. I try pushing him off. Fighting with everything I have but it’s not enough. The more I try, the more he causes pain.

  He enters me hard. Fucking me like a man drowning. Needing me to save him. He never lifts his face from my neck until I feel the tears. His tears. He starts kissing my neck and shoulder then moves to my lips. At first, I’m biting him, then I feel it. His need. His sorrow.

  “I love you Catherine, please. God, I love you.”

  I don’t know why but I let him kiss me, and I surrender my body for his pleasure. I’m sick, that’s all I keep thinking. When he’s released himself, he still won’t let me up. William lays his head on my chest.

  “I need you Catherine. I’ve always needed you. I don’t know why you torture me like this.”

  God help me, my hands wiggle free from his hold and I wrap them around him. At this moment I feel his desperation for me and somewhere in my heart that one thought of the possible love we could have had, shines. But more than anything, I feel sorry for him. He’s nothing but a lost little boy.

  “Catherine, I love you. You can’t leave me. You can’t.”

  I don’t answer him, I just continue to hold him.

  “Why won’t you love me?”

  This is where I’ve had enough. I move and push him off me, standing the best I can. Turning around to face my devil, I tell him,

  “You never required love, remember? Our marriage arrangement.”

  He’s shocked, looking like he wants to come after me again. “You’re going to throw that bullshit in my face? I’m asking now!”

  “You’re too late, William.”

  He stands and comes toward me, but I’m not backing down. Not anymore. Let him do his best.

  “You try and leave me Catherine, I swear I will fucking kill you! I will kill you and your son will never know anything about you.”

  I can’t help but let out a laugh. “I’m not the stupid sixteen-year-old girl anymore, William. You don’t have to threaten to kill me. I’m not leaving. Where the fuck would I go? You made me, I’m yours. Your Catherine Stern. You killed me already. You killed Katie! You killed her and any chance you had at her love. She loved you, she did, as much as it kills me to say. That young girl was scared of you, but she loved you. Stay out of my way William. Your Catherine, the one you love, will continue to ruin you. I knew what I was getting with you, what you’re capable of. You just have no idea what Catherine is capable of, but I’ll show you.”

  I don’t know how or where I get the strength, but I let it all out. I tell him all of it, “I am living up to our arrangement. The one you wanted. The one where you said you didn’t want or require love. But you’re failing on your end. What happened to always protecting me? What about, I would never have to worry about anything? You made promises that you can’t deliver anymore. I am only doing what needs to be done for our son, William. For Gabriel! You want to blame someone for how we are? Then blame yourself. You did this, remember that!”

  From then on, I knew I would fight back and I had no choice but to make my deal with Richard work. Our livelihood was in jeopardy. So, if William couldn’t keep his end of the bargain, then I would for us. For Gabriel.

  17

  Catherine

  Last night, I slept alone again. I’m trying hard not to be mad at Theo but when I saw Jeffery packing his clothes, I began to fume. Yes, I understand why but I still have the right to be pissed that he wouldn’t even hear me out or try to understand from my point of view.

  Still laying down I start drifting back to my memories of Richard and our time together. I owe him, not only for the loan but so much more. He played a major part in my being who I am today. For the first month of our new relationship, he came every weekend to see me. At first, I thought it was a bit much, but I took advantage and used the time to learn as much as I could from him. William was still fuming. But Richard laid down the law. William was furious but with no choice he agreed. In order to establish my standing with our clients, it was important for them to have William’s approval to deal with me.

  The first weekend, both men escorted me to the club where we held our largest clientele. I learned we had more than one club we had set up like this but if I could get these men to follow my lead then the rest would fall into place. I had seen this club before, in the front it looks like a regular bar but in the back, it was an illegal underground casino. Tables were everywhere, including tv’s and phones for all betting; horse track, football, boxing and anything else people wanted to bet on. Further to the back was another door leading to another poker table. This one was for all the big whales to play in private, away from the noise.

  Upon entering, Richard whispered in my ear and told me to watch carefully. He claimed, in order to succeed, I needed to know everything, down to the employees, the money being exchanged and the men’s mannerisms. He said if I learned it all, it would be hard for anyone to get one over on me. He made a point to tell me that’s where William was fucking up. Bedsides the drugs, William allowed himself to take debts he couldn’t cover because he himself, was losing. See the thing is, when someone’s playing, and they need more money, we back them. We put forth our own money, covering their bets. William was covering way too many and not adjusting our cut from the tables. He could and did kill the men who stuck us, but it still left us vulnerable. On top of all of that, William started playing himself and he was on tilt. Meaning he was losing badly and kept on playing. We ourselves, owed money. These people might have followed my husband, but money remains the root to all evil. Their patience was running thin. The more I learned, the more I understood how much trouble we were actually in. But I kept my head held high and walked in like I owned the place, which I did.

  Richard took a seat and William walked me around the room, letting everyone know from now on, I would be the one they were dealing with. He made it seem like I was the little lady, bored with being a stay at home mom. They laughed and ignored me until Richard asked me for permission to start playing and asked me for the amount of chips he wanted. The other men then took notice. If the leader of Texas was asking me for permission, then they had no option but to see me as the head of the operation at least with this aspect of our business. The rest came later.

  Throughout the night, I watched like Richard recommended. I saw money being exchanged for the chips. Thousands upon thousands going from one to another. I watched the employees and saw they were working for tips. A lot of tips. Then I walked around the room and saw it was plain, nothing you would expect for the people of this status. When I left the poker room, I continued walking around, noticing everything I hadn’t before. Things needed to be changed. More income was necessary and the only way to bring it in was to get bigger whales. Another word I learned. A whale is a person we entice to spend their money with us. They are filthy rich men that want in to the biggest games. I had to find a way to get more of them. As ideas flew through my mind, I became excited. For the first time, I had a goal and a purpose. I needed to make this work. Me, not William. And I’ll be damned, I did just that.

  First thing I did was have Richard te
ach me how to play all the games. If I was going to be able to run the show, I needed to learn the ins and outs, the odds and strategies. I also had to learn the mathematics of it all. I needed to learn how to calculate the proper percentages of cuts to take.

  Next, I had the establishment we operated solely, totally renovated. I had new girls, my girls, brought in to be servers and had specific costumes made for them. I hired the best dealers I could find from around the country. With the renovations, I had a bar installed in the back rooms where only the finest liquor was to be served. After, I took the remaining money I had left, and paid the debts my husband had accumulated. The ones I couldn’t pay off, I made deals to extend the due dates. Lastly, I went in search for big whales. I enticed them with a monthly poker game with a higher buy in. You want them to play, you had to have money on the table to do so. I raised the stakes. The standard buy in on a big table, was ten thousand just to sit. But, once a month, the special whales would buy a seat for one hundred thousand. With this kind of money on the table I had to raise my cut. The dealers knew the math, I made sure of it personally. The higher the bets, the higher my cut.

  William laughed at me and said it would never work but it did. I grew fast and cleared more money than William ever had. The thing William didn’t understand, was after watching these high society types of people, was they wanted what everyone else had. Just like in our world. If one was spending money, showing off his wealth, the others would follow. No one wanted to be considered frugal. I even made sure they tipped my employees properly. None of my girls were for hire, but if you wanted to flirt and feel special, it cost you. If you didn’t pay for the special attention, I knew and made a point to bring attention to it, in a coy way of course. Men hated me messing with them in front of their peers. Especially from a beautiful woman like me. I was at the club three nights a week, making sure everything went smoothly and I was there for every special whale table. I made it a priority to never miss a one. I would make sure I was dressed to the nines and showed off just the right amount of skin. I worked the room just like my girls did. I used my beauty, making sure they spent all their money in my club. I was even convinced to play a couple of times. Poker is a very powerful and seductive game. I just made sure that while I played, I was more seductive than the hands being dealt. It gave me the edge to bluff my way through to winning quite a few large hands. Funny how poker resembles my life somewhat. I bluffed my way through a lot in my life to get where I am, just like you do in cards. But, poker wasn’t my game and I knew enough to know you don’t play your own games. So, I did what I had to do, stayed off the tables and made sure everything ran perfectly. One of the biggest problems was keeping William out.