Chapter 46

Shannon seemed pleased with her new DSi. It was, of course, pink.

But now I had things to do. I kissed Shannon and Helen goodbye and shook Ross's hand. They were staying with us for a while, how long would depend on Shannon.

The newspapers were full of the story of the gang war in London's East End. A pub had been fire bombed and a family with well know links to the East End crime families had been slaughtered. The police were expecting early arrests.

"Is lot bullshit," said Karolina indignantly. "Police not clue got. All people witness Squires house tell different thing. Even man with wife, stand next side to side. Tell police different thing, like they not want us be caught." She threw the paper onto the coffee table. "Heap a'bullshit, use for arse wipe best thing."

Umber handed me the phone, "Commodore Weston, Master."

"Aggie, what can I do for you?"

"Tell me you were safely tucked up in bed all day yesterday."

"Of course I was. And I have four witnesses who'll swear to it."

"FOUR! God, I'm in the wrong business."

I laughed, "Don't let Angela hear you say that."

"Are you trying to get my husband to keep secrets from me Paul?" asked Angela.

"Who, meeee?" I laughed.

Julia held up a sheet of paper, with 'HAVE VIDEO YOU HERE ALL DAY' written on it.

"Why are you asking Aggie?"

"Haven't you seen the papers this morning?" Aggie asked.

"What the gangland drugs war or the pub firebombing?"

Aggie sighed, "Both, they've got your MO all over them."

"But Aggie," I said innocently, "I was here all day playing with my girls, I've even got the surveillance records to prove it."

"Good boy, I'm glad to hear that you weren't involved." Though his tone of voice said 'well done my son'.

"Listen, I'm going to France at the end of the week, we'll be away for a little over a month. Why don't you come over one evening before then, we'll have dinner and taste that Talisker again."

There was the briefest of pauses as Aggie and Angela silently conferred, "Sorry Paul, we're booked solidly for the next month at least. We'll put you in our diary for a fortnight after you get back. That's the best we can do I'm afraid."

"I'll look forward to it, Aggie. Now you two keep the country safe for us loafing millionaires to laze about in."

"Just a millionaire, Paul?" said Angela, "You want to have a word with your accountant. The Financial Times has been running a series of stories on a secretive billionaire who runs his empire from a north east London hotel."

"Well ten million here, a hundred million there, who can keep track of these things." I laughed.

"Well, you get back to keeping the taxman from your door and we poor workers will get on with keeping the country safe," said Aggie laughing. "Goodbye Paul."

"Goodbye Paul, and do make sure you keep a watertight alibi, you know that they're after you."

"I have a lot of people looking after me now Angela, I need to keep safe for them too. Goodbye."

I disconnected the phone and gave it back to Umber.

"Karolina!" I called.

"Here Boss." I turned, she was behind me waiting with Jo, Susan and Lynne.

I pulled out the mobile I had been using yesterday and gave it to her. "There is a picture on this of Old Ma Squires wearing a collar. I want it sent to Malcolm Squires in Cumbria, with a message, the message is 'they went too far.' The email or whatever must be totally anonymous though. Can you do that?"

The look she gave me should have caused a physical injury. "It piece piss Boss," she said and took the phone from me. I heard her muttering as she walked away "Can me do anonymous. Huh!"

Ela came over to me. "Boss, Karolina knows more about computer science, networking, cryptography and general programming and computer usage than all of my uni Professors put together. She is something special Boss. When this is all over, make her go to uni and take a course or two, they'll be begging her to teach in a month, and I'll take bets on that too. She thought for a moment, "And I'll bet a year's enslavement against a year's paid holiday that they ask her to teach." She stuck her hand out.

Ela was serious. We had managed to get her onto a PhD course at Kings College London, researching 'Virtual Organisations With Regard To National and International Law'. If she thought that Karolina knew more than the computer science faculty at Kings, and Ela wasn't really one to exaggerate someone's abilities, then Karolina was indeed something special. I would encourage her to go to university and take a course or two, just to see what happened.

We shook. "OK," I said, "a full year of enslavement against a full year of paid holiday, and I'll throw in your holiday expenses and spending money too. But they have to ask her to teach within one calendar month of the date of her first lesson or tutorial. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Ela said with a grin.

"Security!" I called,

The phone rang and Umber handed it to me. "Got it on video, Boss," said Elastic. "We're making a transcript now. Hope you lose though."

"Thanks Elastic, I love you too."

"Love you Boss, bye."

Elastic hung up.

I sat thinking about money. I had started off with a lottery win and a desire to keep hold of my money in a world where banks were failing almost daily. My move into construction and renovation had been aimed at preserving my money, not making more. But I had made more, lots more.

Somebody sat beside me and, without thinking I put my arm around their shoulders. My hand dropped onto a warm cloth covered breast and she put her hand on mine to hold me there.

Money didn't now mean the same as it did when I lived from payday to payday. I suspect that I personally spent less on myself now than I did before. I had so much, but my possessions were different now. I don't think I had an MP3 player, I think I had a mobile phone but it was a simple, cheap affair.

The woman beside me turned to lean against my side, she slumped down a little and thus gave me much easier to her chest. I started to fondle the breast under my hand; she kept her hand on mine but did nothing to stop me fondling her.

I, too, got myself more comfortable.

I would be having my regular meeting with Sasha tomorrow. She had been too busy to drop in recently and I missed her. The last time she gave me an update on my wealth, there were too many things going on to give a 'you are worth XYZ pounds' figure. My current liquidity was quite high, the council house schemes has seen to that, we were running over two hundred schemes now, and that's not counting those that Mandy has started since she took over the planning functions. Each of these schemes had given me an interest free loan of one hundred million pounds, I had put in ten million pounds in cash. The loan amount had been placed straight into a high interest account and was earning interest faster than I could count. The renovations were actually being paid for by the rents being paid by the council tenants.

My fingers found an opening in her blouse, I was sure that it had been buttoned when I first slid my hand across her breasts. I just slipped my hand inside and under her bra. My cold hand placed on her warm breast fired her nipple into life and I started to tease this stiff little column of flesh. Her areole hardened and crinkled too. I toyed with her breast and she seemed to enjoy my attentions.

So, I suppose I was worth a couple of billion at least. Then there was my equity in Kelly's hotel chain, she had eight London hotels now. Kelly really had turned those hotels round. She only bought failing businesses and she'd made every one profitable within three months. She'd made them profitable by ruthlessly getting rid of the dead wood and kicking the rest up their arse until they learned that the free ride was over. All of the former senior management were sacked without exception.

The pressure on the back of my hand from her bra was suddenly released, she had undone her bra. I looked down and saw her breasts open to me. I pinched the nipple I was currently fondling and then gently trailed my fingers across to her other breast.

My divorce was due to be heard next week. I know what Aggie had said about Janice's financial settlement; I was still concerned about what the court would give her. My anger at the way Janice filed for divorce and then left, flowed through me.

The woman gasped out loud, her head turned to the side and she raised her chest pressing her breast into my hand. I looked down and saw that I was cruelly pinching her nipple, she wasn't pulling away, or even telling me to be gently. No, she was just riding the pain and pressing her tit harder into my hand.

"I'm sorry I hurt you." I said quietly.

"No, do it again, harder. I nearly came then," Helen replied.

I gripped her nipple and squeezed, she gasped again and then her hips thrust back and forth and she orgasmed. She turned her head to me and leaned up for a kiss. We kissed long and deeply, I noticed that Shannon and Ross stood hand in hand watching us.

"Mummy Helen," said Shannon, "Daddy Ross and I were waiting for you. But," she gave a sigh, "I suppose you were busy letting Granddad do the sex thing."

Ross never said a word; he was having too much trouble trying not to laugh.

"I'm sorry Shannon. Yes I was letting Paul do the sex thing and I liked it very much."

"Oh, OK. Bye-bye Granddad," she said as the three of them left the room.

I returned to my ruminations, Janice would be set for life. I wasn't bothered by that, I was upset that, though I had loved and supported her for years, she dropped me as soon as she thought that she could get a meal ticket for life without me. That hurt, I hadn't really faced this yet, I needed to come to terms with my feelings about the way she ended our marriage.

I sat, head down, feeling sorry for myself; tears filled my eyes but didn't fall, they just blinded me. Why would she live with me for so long if she had so little regard for me?

I felt a head lay on my thigh, arms wrapping round my leg.

My ladies had shown me that not all women were like Janice. I was realistic enough to realise that I had been gifted with the cream of the crop when I picked my ladies. Not all slaves were as good as they were either.

A slight body settled against my chest and pulled my arms around her. Another girls lips gently kissed the back of my neck, the owners breath warming and exciting, inflaming my senses.

If Janice was given ten million pounds she would have it for less than five years, and that was an optimistic estimate. It wouldn't surprise me if she was broke in two or three years. Five years was the outside limit. Then she would be back for more; how would I stop her leaching off me forever? Could I stop her leaching off me forever? Maybe Sasha would know the answer to those questions.

A body settled on my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pulled me to her breasts and made gentle sounds, calming me, reassuring me, loving me.

My self pity turned to anger now. I had done my best for Janice; for years I had supported her, working twelve and fourteen hour days while she sat at home and did nothing. Yes, she'd raised our kids. Our kids, well one of them was, I didn't know who fathered the other two. She raised them while I was in the RN, away for weeks, months at a time. The fidelity roles had swapped for us, I had been faithful all the time while I was in the navy, and Janice had been the one to stray.

The ladies gathered around me could sense the difference in me. A hand wiped my eyes and I was able to see Karolina sitting on my lap.

"Is gooder be angry. Sorry for self not like you. Now you want talk Helen, or me get Ela give you smack round ear, tell you not be silly bugger no more."

"How about I kiss you instead?"

"That do better." She parted her lips and welcomed my tongue into her mouth. The arms around my legs loosened and I felt fingers at my jeans, undoing my belt and flies. The one who kissed my neck now started to bite and lick at me. I concentrated on Karolina, slipping my hand up her blouse to cup a braless breast.

Hands slipped between us, unbuttoned Karolina's blouse, then slipped it off her shoulders. The same hands unbuttoned my shirt and the girl behind me pulled it off me.

We were laid side by side on the sofa, me on my side facing Karolina who had been placed on her back. Lynne parted Karolina's legs and kissed her way to Karolina's vulva. She pressed her mouth against Karolina's sex, burying her nose in the wet slit. Karolina arched her body, pressing down on Lynne's mouth trying to get firmer contact between the teasing tongue and her clit. Julia knelt beside us and started sucking on Karolina's free nipple, she licked and nipped at the hard bud while she pressed and pulled at the breasts with both hands.

Jo came to the end of the sofa and she, too, knelt. She pulled Karolina's arms above her head, stretching her slim body, almost flattening Karolina's small breasts into nothingness. Holding Karolina's arms tightly, Jo leant forward and started to kiss her, pushing her tongue into the unresisting mouth below her.

I lay alongside Karolina watching her being worked upon by her three lovers, I was harder than I had ever been. I watched as they brought her almost to her peak and then ease off, bringing her close to her peak again and again. She struggled to get her arms free, to use her own fingers to achieve the release that they were denying her, but Jo's grip was too tight and Karolina wasn't really trying to break free, she didn't have enough energy for that. Her sweat dripped off her as, first, Lynne would ease off her sucking and drag her fingernails down Karolina's wet body, each touch firing newer, richer sensations throughout her exhausted body. Then Jo would pull back and she too would drag her fingernails along Karolina's sides, brushing her breasts but never giving her enough to provide that needed little touch for climax. Julia took her turn releasing the nipple she was sucking and scoring red lines across both breasts as she to tormented her lover.

Finally someone nipped or licked or sucked just a little too firmly and Karolina exploded into her orgasm. Her body arched and stiffened as she twitched and jerked through her orgasm. Lynne received a face full of ejaculate but wiped her eyes and continued sucking the tormented and engorged clit in her mouth.

Julia pulled back from Karolina's nipples, afraid that she might hurt her friend, but she attacked both hard buds with her fingers and thumbs pulling and twisting mercilessly on the trapped flesh.

Jo held and steadied Karolina's head and waited for her to come down from her peak. Karolina's orgasm ended almost as fast as it started. Karolina dropped back down onto the sofa and lay twitching and panting. Jo tilted her head back and kissed her deeply again. Julia, too, started to bite and suck on her nipples again. All to soon Karolina was thrusting her hips down at Lynne, her chest heaving with the effort she was expending trying to hit her peak again. It happened soon this time. I lay my hand on her belly as the muscles rolled and spasmed, I felt the deep waves run through her body.