Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Abundio
Over the weeks immediately following Miranda’s “departure”, Abundio worked in the office, taking over daily operations, while Armando kept him apprised of the search for a suitable candidate. Once he had several appropriate finalists, he set up appointments for Abundio to meet with each one.
The appointments were then scheduled so that Abundio could spend an hour with each applicant, as he referred to them, and then have enough time between them to make notes. Also, to ensure they would not meet each other in passing.
The first three women were attractive. While not having the brains of a yucca plant, their physical attributes far outweighed their intellectual ones.
The fourth and final candidate was twenty-eight and a manager at a local hotel. Jacinta had graduated from university with a business degree but found the glass ceiling so far unshatterable.
She didn’t have any family, either.
And while she wouldn’t win first place in a beauty pageant, she was far from homely.
She was, however, a literal genius. Her university scores placed her near the top of her class.
In fact, Abundio preferred her rounded curves and quick wit to the vapid, buxom beauties he’d already met.
After inviting her to stay for a long dinner and discussing his proposal with her in more detail, he made her an offer and gave her a week to think it over.
She took three days before agreeing.
This was the only thing that could divert Abundio’s attention, which was currently split between working, his quest to locate Jake and Carl Peterson, and finding out more information about Ray Dorland.
But in Abundio’s opinion, the distraction Jacinta provided was well worth it.
It took Abundio’s attorneys a week to draw up the papers. After Jacinta looked them over and signed them, a priest married them.
Because she was, much to Abundio’s shock and delight, a good Catholic virgin. He didn’t even mind her insistence on visiting her new church closer to their home almost daily for confession and attending at least one mass a week.
And as Abundio set about the business of teaching her his business—and taking plenty of blue pills so he could fill her as often as possible—he quickly realized she was the perfect choice.
He had offered her the option of this being a marriage in name only and use IVF, but she wanted to do it the natural way.
There were no lies between them in terms of what this was—a business arrangement. She was eager to learn his business, and he was secure enough with his ego to allow her to use toys in bed to help finish her off once his part was completed.
He was a realist—she would be producing an heir for him, he was entrusting the future of his company to her, and he didn’t want her to be unhappy.
The agreement was structured in a way that she couldn’t cash out after he died. She had to run the business and teach their child how to run it so they could take it over once they were of age. Girl or boy, at this point Abundio didn’t care. He wasn’t picky.
He wanted to ensure his legacy, and to do so in a way to guarantee that he wouldn’t be fucked over again.
Abundio also understood that, upon his death, she would likely wish to marry again.
His paperwork and revised will also covered that.
Any future spouses were entitled to exactly zero assets that she did not herself accumulate on her own outside of his business.
The business, house, other personal properties, those would pass through her to their children.
Likewise, the children could not cut her out of the company.
She would, at minimum, receive a guaranteed salary, should they decide upon reaching adulthood that they did not wish her to remain in charge.
Living expenses and comfortable housing would also be paid for.
She would have to make all future partners sign a prenup, making them ineligible for a cash settlement or alimony from her.
She could, of course, care for future children who weren’t genetically his, and he made allowances for that.
But cumulatively, they would never be allowed to have a controlling share of the company.
Unless they were children conceived from his stored seed via IVF.
In that case, Abundio would be listed as the legal father, not her husband.
And every child she bore and wished to claim as Abundio’s would undergo a paternity test to verify they were his and eligible to receive an inheritance from the estate.
In their paperwork, he also made a stipulation that, for the length of their marriage, she would not be allowed to have male lovers. If she were discreet, she could take a female lover. Not that he believed she would, but he gave her the option.
All of this he’d laid out to her at their first meeting. He suspected that she would likely never marry again, shrewdly preferring partners she could jettison as needed who wouldn’t interfere with her career running the business or try to insert themselves between her and her children.
Because she absolutely wanted children. She’d grown up alone, raised by her now-deceased abuela, and her dream was to achieve a lucrative career where she could have the children she longed for and still work.
Well, this arrangement solved all problems for both of them.
And she was, also to his delight and happy surprise, quite feisty.
She’d grown up learning how to defend herself.
Armando reported that she was quickly becoming an excellent marksman.
They would be careful with the self-defense lessons, of which she already knew some basics, so as not to harm the baby.
Abundio had even told her she could sleep in her own room if she preferred, but she insisted on sharing his bed.
One morning, enchanted by her smile, he stared at her during breakfast where she sat to his left at the small four-person table.
A smile he could tell was sincere, not merely put on for his benefit. An easy, free smile.
“Why are you so contented with our arrangement, sweet?” he asked.
Her smile broadened. “You’ve literally made my dreams come true.
I get to have a career, children, and I will never again want for anything.
I will miss and mourn you when you pass.
But let us say you live another twenty years.
That means you get to watch our children grow and they get to know you.
And, using that number, I will still be in my forties.
That is quite young. I would not consider my life over but just beginning.
If I had not agreed to this, I might never have had a career or children.
I certainly would not have settled for a husband who wished me to stay home and remain poor while raising his children so he can run around with his friends and whores. ”
She cocked her head at him. “You are a man of your word. I will not waste time or tears wondering if you are sleeping around on me, because you will not be.” She reached out and gently touched his nose, booping it.
“And as for younger…considerations…” She blushed.
“You have already bought me toys that I never dreamed could feel so good. At confession, the priest told me that such things between a husband and wife are perfectly acceptable and said I could enjoy it. And your body is warm, and you hold me. Should I feel the need for a stiff cock, we can sit together and order any shape or size I wish from a store, and you can have fun using it on me.”
Her playful smile looked adorable with her pinkened cheeks.
“And what of those who say you are a gold-digger and a whore?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Their words do not pay my bills. Perhaps they feel they are better than me, but they can keep talking, and it still won’t grow their bank account.
Why should I care what they say? I am right with God and the Church and, besides yourself, those are the only opinions that matter to me. ”
Abundio leaned forward and kissed her. “The things I shall teach you, sweet. Lovely, practical, shrewd, and logical. You will become feared for your business acumen. No one shall dare cross you. Lawmakers will bend to your will. People who look down upon you now will one day beg for your attention and consideration.”
She leaned in, meeting his gaze head-on. “And that is another point—we will have too few years together. We have no idea how many. So why should I waste a second of that time worrying about what others think? I have too much to learn from you about the business.”
He laid his hand over hers. “If only my Miranda had been as practical as you are.”
“Father Marto says that God has a plan for us all. And I believe our meeting is His will. And you have generously allowed me to donate to the church.”
Abundio smirked. “Do you wonder if our generosity has influenced the father’s opinion of this arrangement?”
One of her conditions, that Abundio agreed to, was that he would renew his bond with the church, attend mass with her as frequently as possible, attend confession on occasion, and take communion with her.
She shrugged. “It does not matter. I am serving God and His plan for me. We are helping people. Our abundance will only grow because of that. Over the years, as our fortune grows, I will be able to continue helping the church and others as a result. Our children can better serve God if they have the resources to help others, and that comes from being good at business.”
He happily sighed. “You truly are the perfect wife.”
They had been married seven weeks when she stood in the doorway of their bathroom that morning and held up the test stick with a sweetly bashful smile on her face. On it, in the window, was a + sign.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “You understand that you are not my whore, correct? You are my wife, and this is our child.”
She nodded. “Yes, love.”
He didn’t know if she really loved him or if she loved the situation.
He didn’t care, either. “And what are you to say if our child ever comes to you and asks about any siblings?” Despite her optimism didn’t know if he would live to see the birth of his heir, and he needed these lessons drilled into her now.
She stared into his eyes. “That it was too painful a subject for you to discuss, because she betrayed you and our family. That our child is wanted and planned for and the center of our universe.”
He smiled and caressed her cheek. In his old age he’d gained a certain perspective, and he felt slightly guilty that he was crawling all over her on a daily basis.
But she knew what she’d signed up for, and knew she could also ask him to stop, and he would.
And if he was blessed enough to live past his child being born, once Jacinta was healed enough and cleared by the doctor, they would immediately start trying again for another.
He would also start banking semen for her to use in case they needed to resort to IVF.
He wanted at least three, if she could physically have them.
In return, she would never again want for anything.
And he would have a guaranteed legacy.
My poor Miranda. If only you had appreciated what was before you. You threw it all away.