Chapter 5

After walking home and getting horses they rode out to the farm and villa east of the city. There was close to a thousand acres and a large villa on the hill overlooking Rome and the sea off in the distance. The home was opulent and there was a good-sized barn and fences around the property.

Marco said, “It was built of the finest materials. The man that built it also has a farm in Spain. His goal was to bring in his horses and start breeding them here. He fell on hard times and is now struggling to keep one farm producing. He is a desperate man and few if any can afford the size of this house and land. You would be doing him a favor if you were to buy it and you could get a great property at a great price.”

“How much does he want?”

“He has probably spent 1.5 million Denarii. He owes a few tradesmen some money and is asking a million to get out of the property.”

“I will need a list of all debts owed because they should be paid for their work plus interest on the debt. I don’t know how to keep others from coming back later claiming that they are owed.”

“All that have filed for a lien are entitled unless they are disputed. The man has already agreed to all except one and that man withdrew his lien when the man produced a receipt for his payment. There is 225,000d owed on the property.”

“Offer the man 500,000d and I will assume the debts, taxes and interest. How long will it take for you to reach the man and get an answer?”

Marco laughed. “He is here in debtor’s prison. His farm manager is running the farm in Spain and sending money when he can but until the man is cleared of his debt, he will be stuck here.”

“I should offer less since he has hurt so many people, but the property is nice. If he declines the offer, we can look for something else.”

They rode back to the city with very little being said as they were both thinking and planning about the things they must do. As they came to the point where they went in separate directions, Marco said, “It was great to meet you Tom. My brother told me good things about you. You seem to have a good heart and are a fair man. I will be by in the morning after I talk to the owner of the Villa. I will go there now. If he agrees, I will write it up and have him sign off.”

“I look forward to working with you and your brother more, Marco. You have both been a big help to me.”

The two guards rode up beside Tom as they continued home. “That was a big place. You will need some more people to help out.”

“We will get what we need. We have a lot of work to do but it is a labor of love. If you don’t like being a soldier or a guard, you should do something else when you are free. I love farming, trading, and exploring so it isn’t too much work.”

“I do like soldiering and being a part of your guard. I feel like I’m a part of something special. I touch my collar and feel it is not hard and rigid but comfortable and valuable. I feel like that is my job. I am comfortable being me, working hard to learn and be the best I can be and am valued for what I know and can contribute.”

“You are.”

“We all can’t thank you enough for sending out a ship to find our families. It is beyond our thoughts to know that we could be reunited with our families and free one day. I hope that Razin can find at least half of them. We all gave him directions to where we lived but with us being gone for months already it is hard to tell what may have happened to them.”

“We can only hope for the best.”

They were home late but Tom forced himself to train with the men to make them better and him to get back into fighting shape. He was met in the bath by Mary and she washed him as they talked about their days. Mary said as she rode up and down on his cock. “I have been going out looking at jewelers. I have found one or two that do well with what they have but nothing like what we have in our bags. I have also met a few women in the shops. I was invited to a party this weekend.”

“Is it just you or are you allowed to bring a plus one?”

“I wouldn’t go or cum without you. It will be a dinner party but there were hints that the party might evolve into something more later. I think that we may be the youngest ones there. Most of the wealthy are much older unless they are children of the wealthy. Trust fund kids.”

“Based on our story, we aren’t much different, Princess.”

She whispered, “Fuck me my prince.”

They were in bed early after dinner and were up early with the sun. Marco was soon at the door with the paperwork to buy the villa and five men that were owed debts on the work. Marco said, “I’m sorry to show up so early but three of these men were going to be here anyways to talk about building. These are the five with liens on the property.”

Introductions were made all around. It took some time to sign off on the transfer of land and debts. Marco was given the money for the man in jail. He was off to complete the transactions and the five men waited to be paid. Tom said, “I have the amounts that you are each owed. I know it has been a while for you to wait for payment. I didn’t even see the property until yesterday, so I don’t want you to look unfavorably on me as part of the villa. I do need builders to work on things for me. I did see the work out there and it all looks like it is high quality. I’m not going to hold you hostage for your payments so let me get that and then we can discuss what I will need.”

The men were paid with interest even though Tom wasn’t required to pay any. Before they started talking one man asked, “Why did you pay us all extra?”

“Well, I try to be fair. I could have probably offered a dollar and to cover the debts and the man would have taken it to get out of jail. However, I try to treat others how I would want to be treated. The property is worth a lot. I punished him some, but he will still arrive home with a lot of money. You men were promised payment and then had to make other arrangements to cover the debt until I came along. I don’t like what he did to you so some of what I saved on the property I passed on to you. I still come out ahead. You have some compensation for the delayed payment and the man who screwed up can get on with his life in Spain.”

A few nodded their understanding. Business doesn’t always go as planned so they need to adapt and adjust to fix the problems. Tom said, “I have the farm, I have this house, I have a warehouse down by the docks and I have the large plot of land directly next door. I don’t like any of them the way they are and want to make changes. I also don’t have years to wait and watch while the work is done. I want as many men working as can work together without slowing things down and getting in the way. I will need the best architects. The hardest workers and the best builders to manage the jobs.”

“That will cost some money, but I guess we can trust you until you prove us otherwise.”

“My father once told me that when it comes to construction there are three variables. Speed of completion, quality, and low price. You can pick any two but not all three. I have picked speed of completion and quality. I won’t be gouged on price. I said that I treat people fairly, but I didn’t give the man anywhere near what his house was worth. He got what he deserved, and I bet he was happy with what he got. If he would have been an ass, I would have screwed him into next week. If you men work hard and give me the highest quality work, you will be paid a fair price for the work. We may put some bonuses in place if the job comes in ahead of schedule, but any extra wages would come from you.”

The guy that seemed like the spokesman for the group, Linus, said, “That makes a lot of sense. I will have to use that the next time a customer is complaining about not getting all three because they always do. I have a few architects that I can refer you to. They have designed many of the famous buildings around town. I will let them know that you are a fair man. Not greedy but not gullible either. I think I speak for all of us when I say that it will take all our crews and many more to accomplish what you are asking. We will work together to divide up the work, come up with prices and find the other men needed to complete the job, and collect the bonuses.”

“It may sound funny, but I hope that you do. It will make my life easier to have the building part behind me.”

The builders all seemed in a hurry to get going and Tom was promised that they would be in touch very soon.”

There was nothing else pressing for the day so he and Mary along with a couple guards rode out to the villa and looked around. There was no furniture, but the construction looked complete. They checked out the barn and fencing and looked out across the land for streams, rivers, wooded space and cleared land. Tom was making a mental map on how to break it up and what to put where. They ended the tour back at the house standing on the back porch or veranda or whatever you call the huge tiled patio that overlooked Rome in the distance. Their hands on the railing, Mary said, “This is a place we could learn to call home.” They kissed before riding back to town.

The training with a knife started and a few were scraped up, but still alive. The men were doing very well and when Tom asked Durr about it, he said, “Tom, our job is to protect you. Right now, you can kick all our asses and maybe two or three at a time. The time you spend training us is just the teaching session. The men that are left here at the house train on what you have taught for hours each day. I would be foolish to think that any one of us could take you, but we are all getting better.”

Before Tom went in to clean up, he said, “Who is the best fighter among you?” He was expecting them to say David, but they pointed to a smaller man. His name was Safwan. He pointed to the man, “Come fight with me Safwan.”

He did well, blocking most of Tom’s punches and kicks. He was a force that Tom had to work hard to protect himself against. In the end, Tom did take him down, but he lasted almost five minutes and both men were sweating and breathing hard from the workout. Smiling, Tom helped the man up and patted him on the shoulders. “You are learning and practicing well. I’m proud of you. Do you know of any man in Rome or Judea that could beat you in a fight?”

“Only you, Sir. This fighting style feels so right but no one else uses it. I am practicing hard every day. I want to be the one to protect the man that sent a ship across the sea to save my family. I don’t want to be the soldier that would have to hide behind that man in battle.” He was very sincere with his words and Tom just nodded and squeezed his shoulder.

“I hope we can find all of your families. War is a cruel thing. Men fight for honor, freedom and riches but the women and children left behind are the courageous and heroic people that have to carry on when their man is lost or killed.” He put his fist to his chest.

Durr said, “Spoken as a man that has seen the blood spilled needlessly for his country. We are proud to serve you Tom.”

They broke for bath time and dinner. Maria did a good job and dinner was as good as could be expected.

It was soon after breakfast the next day when Linus showed up with two men that were architects. Tom invited Mary in to talk about what they wanted for each location. They discussed the building methods of the time and the difference between the time and costs of one method over another. Tom felt comfortable with what the men said, and the men were impressed with the knowledge that Tom had about construction.

The building at the wharf was large and the bottom level would be all warehouse. The second level would include an office and work area for Tom and a restaurant and small lobby for a hotel. The top floor would be rooms for the hotel.

The villa at the farm would get ten family sized homes for the workers and their families. They would be nice homes but much smaller than the villa.

For the home they were in now, the kitchen would be remodeled and enlarged. There would be a small basement and tunnel dug to the building next door.

The building next door would be designed as a mall. The bottom level would be a showroom that had stalls or areas for different goods and services. There would be a butcher but higher end meats, make-up, liquor, wine, there would be odds and ends but for the wealthy to buy, not the commoners. There would be a basement for storage and privacy.

The second floor would have higher end goods and services that would cater to those that could afford it; a jewelry store was slated for that level. Each level up would be a higher level of economic status. A manager or worker could save to buy something on the first floor but could probably never afford something on the second.

The third floor would use many of the products on the first floor to be available in a restaurant or a spa. The top floor would be a private lounge or club. There was also some space set aside for Tom and Mary to use as needed.

Tom said, “I want places in each of my homes and buildings for security. Hidden doors, rooms passages. We will be dealing in high end goods that will need to be stored safely. I will want drains in the basements. If I need to keep something cold, I can have ice hauled in and when it melts, the water will drain.”

One man asked, “The finishing on the building next door is going to cost a lot. What types of things do you have to sell that will help you get your money back?”

He called Maria in. She walked in and the men did a double take. “This is my slave Maria. The collar she wears would be something that a man could buy for his wife or use it to mark his slave.”

“If he used it to mark his slave what would his wife think?”

Tom whispered in Mary’s ear and she got up and took Maria with her. Tom changed the subject and started to talk about costs, timelines and labor needed to get the job done. They were taking a lot of notes with ink pen and parchment but stopped dead when Mary walked in wearing an emerald green toga with an emerald necklace surrounded by diamond. She handed the man three pieces of thick bonded paper with a watermark. “You may find this better for taking notes.”