Chapter 1

"Thank God It's Friday" never made so much sense before. This was my last day as a salaried employee. I had scrimped and saved for the last five years and I finally had the stake I needed to implement my plan. I had come up with a method of investing that should make me very wealthy within just a few years. The problem was that, in order to do it, I had needed at least $200,000 to start. I had denied myself a lot in order to save that much. I even sold the house that I had inherited from my grandparents and lived in a small efficiency apartment to save money.

Now I was ready to start to implement my plan and I would need more time than working a job would allow me to use. My job had paid me very well, but had left me unfulfilled otherwise. In other words, I had not found anyone to date in the company or in the area. I might have changed my plans if I had, but that had not happened.

A little history would be in order here.

My name is Alex Andrews. I am 28 years old and I am very much alone. My mother left me with my Grandparents when I was only a few months old and disappeared, never to be heard from again. Mom did not tell her folks who my father was, and from the way Grandma talked about the life their daughter had been living, she may not have known who he was, either.

My Grandparents raised me and provided for me as was needed, except for one area. They saw me as an obligation incurred by how badly they had raised my mother. They never once said that they loved me, and in fact only talked to me when necessary. I cannot remember ever having a conversation with either Grandparent that did not involve my obligations and responsibilities. They apparently thought that they had been too lenient with their daughter, and did not want to repeat that mistake with me.

They died while I was a senior in high school, and I did not shed a tear. I was so used to being independent by then that the only change in my lifestyle was to move upstairs from the basement to the larger, warmer, bedroom.

I had very few friends in school and had only dated twice after I bought a car. Going to the local community college meant that I was with most of the same people I had gone to school with my whole life, and there were very few opportunities to date even then, as I had to work two jobs in order to afford school. My Grandparents had not left much insurance.

My first year in college I took an economics course. The professor wanted us to plot trends in the stock and commodities markets. I aced the course, but I also noticed that many of the trends we had all been tracking had no one reason or cause. This didn't set well with me and I started looking further and further afield to try to give the numbers meaning. Numbers had always been my way to get away from the pain people caused me. Numbers had meaning, all numbers. I started looking at the political climate, and global climate, and insect deprivations, and bank policies, and numerous other items, until a pattern began to emerge. As an experiment, I invested money in the markets, on paper only. I started with an arbitrary fifty thousand dollars, and soon discovered that that was not enough. I doubled the amount, and started over. I again saw that this was not enough, so I doubled it again. Now I got the response I had anticipated. I was making money, in theory, and continued to make money at a ridiculous rate. I continued the experiment through the rest of my schooling and by the end I had a staggering amount of money. I saw some problems in my methods. For one, I was operating in a vacuum, and the markets were not. Some of the investments I had made would have caused their own reactions on the market had they been real, some for good, and some for bad. I tried to compensate for these actions, but saw that it was not possible. The market would have been forever changed by my actions and since it had not, my final figures were flawed. Even with this, it was very obvious that I would have accumulated a large amount of money had I been working the experiment for real. I determined that I would have to build a nest egg and try it out in true life.

My last year in school I had interned with a large manufacturing concern, and after graduation, I was able to get a job with them. I had just left that job. During the years I worked there, I had tried to get dates, but for some reason the women were not receptive to me. I had to assume that I was unattractive in some way when woman after woman turned me down, and three years ago, I hatched this scheme to correct my loneliness. By watching the world at large I had determined that rich men were more attractive to women, so now that I had my grubstake, I would become rich.

Now I am starting to implement my plan, and I am not so sure that I want to be with a woman who sees me as a paycheck. What I want is love and affection, and a mercenary b#$%h is not going to give me this. I think I need to revise my end goals a bit. Since any woman I get will be mainly interested in my money, why not just hire her? I can just pay a woman to marry me, and then get her pregnant with as many children as possible. I can set up a contract for her for 5 years. At the end of the contract, she would leave and I could raise the children myself. As long as I show the kids that I care, they would love me. They would show me the affection that I had never had and I could give the same to them. This was my greatest desire. The money would be a means to an end, not an end in itself. It may not play out as I plan, but this is the only means I can see to achieve my goal, a family.

Six years later in a suite at The Venetian, Las Vegas:

I sat in an armchair as Ms. Hudson led the 5 women into my suite. Once they were all seated, I began.

"Hello ladies, I am Alex Andrews, and as your agents have told you, I have a job that I am recruiting for. The lady who let you in is Ms. Hudson, and she represents the law firm I have retained. She is here to see that everything is legal and above board.

"I have an unusual opportunity for one of you. To cut to the chase, I will pay one of you one million dollars a year to marry me. The contract will be for the period of five years, at which point we will divorce and separate. What you do after that is up to you. Are there any questions?"

The black haired woman with the very fair complexion on the far end of the sofa spoke up.

"What's the catch? That is far too easy for that kind of money. It can't be the sex; you could hire a whole bordello for that price."

"One catch is that you have to have sex with me. I know that it cannot be very appetizing to such beautiful women as you all are. On the flip side of that, since I am totally inexperienced where women are concerned, you can train me to do what you like, and I will do my best to please you."

The redhead next to her looked up at that. "Do you mean that you are a virgin? One of the most eligible bachelors in Vegas and you are a virgin? Why?"

"I haven't had much luck with women, for obvious reasons, and more recently I have not had the time to try, even if I had the will to. I came up with this plan as the only alternative to prostitutes. I had each of you investigated to see that you are decent people with no present commitments. I don't expect affection from you, but I hope that we can at least be friends. Taking care of the requirements will probably be awkward, but we can keep the most onerous tasks minimal."

"What kind of conditions would you require? You intimated that this would be done with a contract, well what clauses would be in it?" The dirty blonde in the love seat to my right asked this.

"Okay, you would be required to undergo a very extensive exam to determine that you are healthy. You would also have to forgo any contraceptive measures such as an IUD or the pill. You would not be allowed to have sexual contact with any man but me. Your female lover would be alright, Ms Johnson," I nodded to the black haired girl, "as long as she undergoes the same exam you do. You will also receive a million dollar bonus for every child you deliver. The final catch, and probably the biggest, is that when you leave at the end of the contract, the children would stay. The whole concept of this plan is to gain a family. I don't want to adopt someone else's kids; I want to raise my own. The reason for using such beautiful women as you are is so that the children would gain some of your beauty to counteract my looks."

The statuesque platinum blonde on the love seat stood up. "There is no way I could have children and leave them with a man who thinks that he can buy them. The money sounds great, but I couldn't do that."

"I'm sorry that you feel that way, but I understand. Ms Hudson will pay you for coming to the meeting. All I ask is that you sign a non-disclosure clause to say nothing about this until after the contract is complete. Does anyone else wish to leave?"

"Not right now, but I am going to have to think this over very carefully before I do anything permanent." The dirty blonde next to me said.

"That is understandable. Before we go any further, let me tell you what I know about each of you, and you can fill in the blanks. Over on the far side of the sofa is Brenda Johnson. She and her roommate, Diane, have been lovers for the last two years, and they both work at the "Valley Girls", dancing. They have not been exclusive in their relationship, but they have been selective. They have each lost jobs because they refused to sleep with the manager.

"Next to her on the sofa is Sophia Morgan. She is a 23-year-old graduate of UNLV, with a degree in business management. She is attempting to earn enough money to start a business, and she is not prostituting because she is afraid of the repercussions if it is discovered later. She has been staying away from men for the most part, because most of the ones she meets in this business are trumped up bores. Her words, not mine. She is currently serving drinks at "Westworld".

"The blonde next to Sophia is Janice Atwaller. She is a currently unemployed stripper. She is also currently in-between boyfriends. Her last beau couldn't get permission from his wife to continue the affair. She is considering breast augmentation surgery in order to get better paying jobs, the customers at her last place of employment kept telling her to put it back on. I must say that I heartily disagree with them; I like you just the way you are. Larger jugs would look out of place on your small frame.

"The last one is Inez Brumfeld. She is 24, and has a darling little 4-year-old daughter named Jessica. Her boyfriend abandoned her when they came here to get married. They checked in at the hotel, and he went to try gambling for the first time. He lost everything they had, and $50,000 dollars they didn't have. He then disappeared, and she has been working for the past five years at Dockside Dolls trying to get rid of his debt. She didn't even get a wedding, just the bills and a baby. My detectives tracked down her ex-boyfriend. He actually paid off 90% of the debt before he was killed last year. Your boss has been cheating you, my dear. I'm so glad that you have resisted going to bed with him to pay the false charges and interest. No matter how this works out, I will help you take care of that asshole.

"You will each receive $5,000 for coming to this meeting. If you are willing to continue, I will take each of you out on a few dates to try to determine whom I will marry. I'll be attempting to find the woman I can be most comfortable with. You will be paid $10,000 for each date. I will start with Miss Johnson on Friday night after I get the results of the medical exam. If there is anyplace you would like to go to in particular, let me know beforehand. Otherwise, I will choose a destination."

"I don't know of anyplace, but I will think about it, Mr. Andrews."

"Okay Ms. Johnson, but please call me Alex. Would you like to bring your roommate along? I would like to meet her, especially if she would be coming with you were we to marry. You don't have to, but she might have fun and you would probably be more at ease with her there."

"Diane would love to go, but is she going to have to sleep with you if she comes along?"

"No, and you do not either. None of you are required to have sex with me on these dates. That is not a part of the deal. I can, and will, wait until my wedding night to have sex.

"I would like to thank you ladies for meeting me like this, and listening to my proposal. Be sure to collect your payment, and sign the non-disclosure agreement on your way out. Ms. Hudson will also give you a paper with the address of a medical clinic. You need to be there on Monday. There is also a sheet to fill out on your family and medical history. Miss Johnson, if you are going to continue to have relations with your friend, then she needs to go to the clinic as well. You all need to come back Thursday night to get the results of the exam and further instructions."

Thursday evening came and I had to tell one of the women that she had failed the exam. Sophia had contracted a social disease from her last boyfriend and hadn't known it. After she was gone, I talked to the others, including Brenda's partner Diane Winslow.

"All right ladies, this is what I have planned. On the floor below us are three luxury suites that I have reserved for you to stay in for the time being. You will all have a credit account for room service or dining in the hotel restaurant. Every time we go out on a date, you will receive $10,000. This money is yours no matter whom I choose to marry. I figure two or three dates will be enough. Does anyone have a question?"

"What about work? I'm supposed to dance tonight and my boss is getting very pushy."

"Inez, you need to quit that job. My lawyers are talking to your boss about paying you back for all the money he has gypped you out of. They are also talking to the club owners about him and he may not have a job soon himself. If you are not chosen, I will make sure you have a job you can take care of your daughter with, without having to put up with assholes like him. If you want to dance, there are reputable clubs you can work at. The same goes for you other three. When I leave, I hope that you all will be better off. Is there any thing else?"

"You say that we have to live here for a while. Why is that, and what about my daughter?"

"There are a couple of reasons for you to stay here. One is for easy access. I don't have to send a limo to get you for a date; I just call your suite. There is also the security factor. I'm afraid that someone will try to use you to get to me, and my security people can take care of you here. You can go get your daughter as soon as we are done, I will have a limo and driver available to you. There will be certified sitters available for when we go on a date. Think of it as a paid vacation, and your daughter will be fine."

Janice spoke up then, "if we stay here. then you can keep us away from other men. Isn't that one of the main reasons?"

"I will admit that that is one of the reasons. I don't have any reason to expect any loyalty out of you, and I have to protect my interests. Have you all stopped your birth control?"

When they all replied in the affirmative I went on, "and that is another reason. Until you are protected again, you should stay away from men. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but this is, after all, why I have started this. Have a good evening and I will see you tomorrow night, Ms Johnson."

After a good show Friday night, I was sitting at a booth in a quiet bar with two lovely women.

"This has been the best night of my life, girls. Thank you for treating me so well, and being kind enough to listen to my silly talk. I especially thank you, Diane. You have no need to be nice to me; nothing you do will reflect on Brenda. I will judge her only upon herself, not on you. This has been the best date ever, thanks to you two."

"There is no need to thank us Alex. We had fun and have enjoyed your company. No matter what you might think, you are not ugly and you are a nice guy, there should have been a lot of girls who would go out with you. I know that this is a business proposition and I appreciate that we are being paid, but I would be willing to do it again. You are a fun date, Alex."

"Thank you Brenda, but there is no need. I am happy to pay for the company of two such lovely ladies."

The next night I took Janice out, and Inez the next. Both of them were a lot of fun to be with as well.

Las Vegas is date city. There are hundreds of places to take a girl, and over the next three weeks, I tried out quite a few of them.

All the girls were fun to date, but I was definitely getting closer to a decision. After a date with Brenda and Diane, they wanted to ask me a question.