Chapter 1

August 25, 2028, Tampa Bay, Florida

Daniel "Dan" Orsini downed another pint of the best microbrew along the coast, as he saw it, anyway, as he saw his twin brother Bruno "Dale" Orsini enter the bar in a much better mood than before. He didn't know what was going on, exactly, but something told him that he was about to learn. Something was up, and he resisted the urge to probe his brother for details, but luckily, he didn't take long to discover what was behind things. Dale wasn't holding anything back.

"Bro, what's new?" Dale asked him, Dan shaking his head.

"Dale, not much, to be frank. Just drinking my troubles away and watching the Governor bullshit us about the Slavery Act that she signed last New Year's. Still hard to believe. Slavery, back with a vengeance! All that it takes is a few bad debts and you no longer control your own fate! Then again, I've been expecting this for some time now. Damn corporations and banks! Nothing wrong with capitalism, don't get me wrong, and I'm no flaming Communist, but if we had just done a little more regulation back in the day, maybe reformed the bankruptcy laws a bit in the right direction, curbed the student loan mess a little more effectively, we wouldn't be in this clusterfuck!" Dan grumbled, disgusted with things.

"That may be, big brother, but sometimes, it helps less to blame and more to offer solutions. Society has declined, like it or not, but at least some good may yet come of it. It already has for me," Dale assured his very principled and responsible older twin, not so much dismissing his rant as thinking that Dan was overlooking the bright side consciously while protesting too much.

"How so?" Dan wanted to know.

"Remember my ex-wife, Kathy?" Dale grinned.

"Yeah, that bitch. Took you for every penny she could get, as I recall. Was a rotten, lousy wife, too. Couldn't hear the end of your grips back then. I think that you cheated on her and got caught on purpose so that she would cut you loose, but what a price she made you pay for your freedom. What could possibly be good about her?" Dan reminded his twin.

"Well, it seems that ever since remarrying that limp wrist Robbie and thus forfeiting alimony, something that she was very shocked to learn, by the way, since she had hoped to fleece me even then, things have gone downhill for her. Robbie bolted and all, sold his business, filed for Chapter 15, and well, you know what that meant," Dale explained.

"Yeah, slavery. So her second hubby wears the collar and barcode now. So what? What does that do for you? What's to keep her from seeking a renewal of alimony?" Dan smirked, drinking yet more beer and digging into his fried calamari with marinara sauce.

"Well, that's not all. His debts were also her debts, so she's a slave, too. No choice in the matter. And guess who just bought her?" Dale chuckled devilishly.

"You. You bought the Ice Queen. Wonders how she took that," Dan belly laughed now, truly amused.

"And since the Slavery Act automatically dissolves all marriages, Robbie is not my problem. I also bought Mom. Yep ... Mom. She's not bad for a woman of fifty, you know," Dale confessed.

"You own Kathy and our mother? Wow, you must really want to watch a catfight! You know how Mom feels about Kathy!" Dan smiled sadistically now, in spite of his personal scruples and reservations.

"You bet your ass I do! As it is, Mom already has Kathy tied up and gagged, administering a sound thrashing to her butt with a hairbrush. Kathy won't be able to sit down for weeks, I think. Well, between that and the anal cherry that she finally gave me. Poor girl didn't have any say this time. I asked nicely in the past. I wasn't asking this time around. And I wasn't gentle, either," Dale boasted.

"Are you planning to fuck Mom, too?" Dan wondered, truly fascinated now.

"Are you kidding me? I own her now! Of course, I'm planning to fuck her. In fact, she's the new lady of the house and she shares my bed. Don't worry, bro. I plan to share my good fortune with my dear brother. You're not in financial trouble yourself, are you?" Dale asked Dan.

"Who, me? Now you're joking, Dale. Since I broke it off with Celia, I've never been happier or richer. She doesn't drain me financially or spiritually anymore. And I frankly don't give a crap about her, either. Hell, for all I know, she could be a slave, too. Wouldn't that be a sight?" Dan scoffed before suddenly realizing what he had just said.

Celia ... a slave? Now, that could be fun! If she lived the way that she did, she probably was a slave by now, due to sheer debt. Celia didn't know how to balance a checkbook to save her life. She had an endless cycle of defaulted loans, overdraft fees, bounced checks, unpaid bills, and credit card balances that seemed impossible to reconcile. It was one of a number of reasons that Dan had flatly refused to consider marriage, the other being his wandering eye and dislike of what had happened to his brother. Then again, she had turned out to be less than faithful herself, even as she complained about his infidelity.

They weren't very well-matched, but it still hurt him how she had issued him an ultimatum toward the end. This was right when the Thirteenth Amendment was revised and the "voluntary" slavery thing was legalized earlier in the year. She had wanted him to sign a contract becoming her slave, her legal property, and letting her do whatever she wanted to him, his finances (they'd be broke within the year, knowing her, and they'd both end up owned by someone else), his body, etc. She also told him that she was never unfaithful with men, that she preferred women and had been cheating on him with girls since they got together.

Celia told him that she only wanted him because he was rich and "had a good tongue", plus as she admitted, she liked to "degrade, dominate, and discipline men." She even said that she planned to eventually sell or give him to another woman who was into ladies as herself and that he would be locked into a chastity belt with his only sex life being oral service to her girlfriends and herself. If he didn't do this, they would be over.

"Drop dead, Celia. For one thing, I would never agree to be owned. For another, I'm not turning my cock over to you or someone else to control and deprive. For that matter, I don't trust you with my finances. We'd both be bankrupt if you handled our money. You're a financial train wreck. You're irresponsible and selfish, and by your own admission, you're a lesbian, so why do you even want me around? Think about it. And last, but not least, if you're going to dump me, eventually, anyway, and turn me over to your misandrist girlfriends, what incentive do I have to agree to this?" he talked a little over her head, but she got the basic gist and stormed out, tossing his stuff out into the front yard of their house.

Boy was Celia stunned when the police arrived and arrested her for disturbing the peace (she had been so loud and obnoxious that she had violated the neighborhood association's noise rules), trespassing (the house was in Dan's name, so it was legally his, not hers ... her credit was already too bad for a mortgage), domestic violence (she had scratched Dan's face in front of everyone, drawing blood), and resisting arrest (she was lucky that she didn't get assaulting an officer added, given that she had slapped the policewoman, though the lady cop did use her Tazer on her after that). Dan got his stuff back, got peroxide applied by the police officer, who became a regular fuckbuddy for a while, and was finally free of Celia, who presumably got plenty of pussy to eat in jail.

She had called him repeatedly when she got out, too, wanting to "apologize" and reconcile. She also clarified that "I'm bi, not gay. Look, it was a crazy idea, but it was Brandy's, not mine," referring to her girlfriend Brandy, who had dumped her the moment that she was stuck in the slammer. Celia only grudgingly apologized for dumping out the clothes and scratching his face, but she explained that she "was regretting what I had done already ... you were the best boyfriend ever, even if a serial cheater, and well, I guess I was a cheater, too, if you count girls."

"Yes, I do count girls. Contrary to myth, eating is cheating. I would have been okay with an open relationship, but you wanted a double standard and I couldn't go for that. Sorry, Celia, you're in no state for a boyfriend right now. You need to get help. Besides, you never loved me, just my tongue," Dan asserted, something that Celia never denied as she took the huff out of his sight.

She hadn't given up totally, believe it or not. She tried to break in several times, so much that he had a restraining order placed against Celia and she was arrested twice more for violating it. Even now, with her having seemingly left him alone after all this time, Dan didn't fully trust her not to try to get back with him. She had always loved how he pampered her and also how he ate her out, especially how he rimmed her. He was convinced that she was in love with his tongue, not with him.

Dale shook Dan out of his memories at last, saying, "Let me guess ... owning Celia? Wouldn't that be a karmic kick in the ass for her! Well, you should look into it. The worm has turned. She wanted to own you. You could own her instead. But what would you do with her, really? She's gay, isn't she?"

"Not really gay, but she leans that way. She likes guys, but mostly for things like rimming that some of her girlfriends refused to do. Well, I wouldn't mind owning her ass, but rimming is far from the only thing that I plan to do with it. Did you know that she once offered me anal if I agreed to be pegged, and then after she pegged me, which really hurt since she didn't lube me right, she backed out and told me that she never intended to give up her ass to me. It was all a ruse to get me to surrender the booty," Dan informed his brother.

"Oh, that's just cold. Well, bro, as long as your finances are in order, why not? Go for it. Buy Celia if you can find her and see the look on her face when she realizes that she has been literally owned by you," Dale encouraged him, "Kathy tried to dominate me, too, but boy did that backfire. I have to confess something else, too. Mom and I were lovers before this whole slavery thing went down ... in fact, that's who Kathy caught me with. Mom. She used that as leverage for alimony, but she failed to account for marital laws ending alimony once a divorcee remarries."

"Sucks to be her, especially once Mom has her at her mercy. Bet that Mom doesn't like Celia much, either," Dan chuckled.

"Yeah ... no, not at all. She thinks that Celia is a 'stone-cold, heartless bitch who used my son for money.' Her words, not mine. You should totally go for it. But you can probably afford at least one more slave. Any ideas who?" Dale asked his twin.

"A few, yes. My former boss, for one. You remember her, right? Cute little Middle Eastern number with the curly brown hair, olive skin, and grey eyes?" Dan grinned at the memory of Sarai, that Israeli minx.

"God, she was gorgeous, yes! She was also seriously into you, but you couldn't see it!" Dale asserted.

"Sure she was. I thought that she was into you, brother," Dan retorted.

"Uh ... hello, if she likes me, of course, she likes you! We're twins, or did you forget?" Dale pointed out.

"I just thought it was your magnetic personality, not your looks," Dan explained.

"Our personalities are not that different, not really. Unique, sure, everyone is that. But similar enough and you should have seen how she looked at your ass when she didn't think that you were watching her. Trust me, she perved on both of us," Dale assured his brother, who was sometimes blind as to just how attractive he really was ... hell, Dale wanted to fuck him, given a chance ... but so far, Dan claimed to be straight.

"Oh, were you looking at my ass, too?" Dan caught on to what Dale had been saying.

"Maybe ... I am bi, you know," Dale grinned.

"Well, at this point, I wouldn't rule out a little brotherly love, you know. If we're going to be screwing Mom, why not each other?" Dan admitted to himself that it was a bit flattering and, now that he was being honest, Dale was cute.

"In any case, Celia and Sarai are a good start on the harem. Still, I also miss Rosario, you know," Dan continued.

"Oh, God, yes! She's what ... forty-four these days? Still young enough and still very much a babe in that awesome Latina way. I still can't believe that she used to babysit us ... and that she seduced both of us when we came of age. Izzy and Carly are of age, too, now. Imagine fucking all three of them!" Dale beamed at that prospect.

"If she'd go with that. Even so, I'd be happy with Rosario, daughters or not," Dan observed.

"Well, I could try for the daughters and you could have Rosario ... and then when they're ready, arrange a little swap. How well-off are you, anyway?" Dale wondered.

"To be honest, and don't advertise this, because if it got around, you know our family, cousins that I've seen in years would come out of the woodwork, but I'm actually set for life, more or less. I don't have to work another day if I don't wish to. When others liquidated, I bought them out at desperation prices because they were trying to escape the slavers' auction. Not that it saved many of them. I now own three branches of my own realty firm," Dan admitted, "and I'm advertising on TV, radio, and internet."

"Yeah, saw those ads with Mom. She was very proud to see you there. You're a local mogul, I guess. And I'm the most popular damn lawyer in town. I tell you, ever since the new law, much as we disliked it, business has been booming," Dale smiled.

"I bet. Some really desperate folks out there, trying to escape the collar and barcode. I don't blame them for that, just for being that irresponsible with money in the first place. Of course, they are sometimes just unlucky, too, so that's always the sort to really stir my emotions a bit. You know, compassion, empathy, that sort of mushy stuff," Dan admitted.

"Well, bro, if you care about someone right now, the best thing to do is buy her. A master like you is a helluva lot better than the wrong owner, I assure you. If they're going to be owned chattel, might as well be owned by the best, that is you and me," Dale smiled as he ordered another round.

"I'll drink to that," Dan answered with a chuckle.

The bartender then turned to both of them and asked them, "So ... hypothetically, if I were to have listened in on your conversation and wanted in, what would I have to do? You know, to belong to one of you guys."

Dan looked the barkeep over and was impressed by what he saw. Short strawberry-blonde hair, bifocals that made her look very smart, green eyes, wet lips with a strong hint of red gloss to them, freckles, and alabaster skin. God, she was gorgeous in a nerdy way ... he had just assumed that she had no interest in men. That was what he got for stereotypes he realized and kicked himself for largely ignoring her as "off-limits."

"Well, tell us more about yourself," Dale told her, and he wasn't asking.

"I'm Kerry, by the way. Kerry Kincaid. Yeah, that's me, Boston Irish, good Catholic girl gone bad, with all the guilt and a toddler to show for it," Kerry confessed.

"What happened?" Dan asked.

"It was while I was in the Army. Yeah, I was lucky to get out of that with an honorable discharge. I got knocked up by my supervisor, First Sergeant Willard Rand. Fraternization. Very bad. I had no excuse. He was older, married, and apparently a well-connected motherfucker. He tried to marry me off, too, once I told him, or get me to have an abortion. I was still at least partly a good Catholic girl, so abortion was out of the question.

"Still, he pulled strings and got me out without a black mark on my record. I was good at my job, too. Top file clerk in the Judge Advocate General's office. I decided to get this job and ask him to sign away his parental rights and duties in exchange for no pursuit of child support. That way, I could find a new father for my little Stephanie. Well, I never counted on how hard it would be to make it without child support, and because I had let Rand off the hook, they denied me food stamps.

"So, now, I have bills crushing me and I'm working two jobs, plus I have to pay for sitters. Forget about dating and finding a new Daddy for Steph. That ain't gonna happen at this rate," Kerry bit her lip as she thought of her prospects.