Unexpected Consequences - Chapter 1
By SubKaren92
I have made two critical decisions in my lifetime that led me to where I am today. Sure there were plenty of lesser decisions, some good, some bad, but everybody does that. In fact, I have nobody else to blame but me for being in the position I am today. I should have known better, but my best friend, whom I trust completely, had given me some advice and I shouldn't have listened to her. What happened and why did everything go wrong? Or did everything go right and I am just too close to the situation to see that? Read on and then decide.
My name is Charlotte, but my friends call me Charlie. Growing up I was an early bloomer and learned how to use my good (great) looks to get what I wanted. In college, older men were always hitting on me and promising me the world. Underfunded college boys (and girls) were also perpetually hitting on me, but as they say, money talks and bullshit walks. Sure I hooked up with them occasionally. Even sugar babies have needs when daddy is out of town, but mostly I refrained. There was one alcohol fueled night when I had a threesome with my roommate and her boyfriend, but that is another story.
After graduation, I struggled to find a job that paid enough for me to strike out on my own without a roommate. That was unfortunate. I worked third-shift and ended up taking a second part-time job early mornings at Starbucks. That is where decision one took place. As the low barista on the totem pole, I usually worked the drive thru window. It was there I met Mr. Rudolph Sanders, although his cup always said Rudy. I was sure his car cost more than I made in three years, but he was always affable and smiled at me. He didn't seem to be a rich asshole. He always ordered a Venti Nitro Cold Brew and I always served it to him with a smile. He always used the app to pay, but tipped with a five dollar bill. One day when I unfolded the bill to drop it into the tip jar, I saw that he had written, "Have dinner with me." on it. The next time he came in, I agreed to go out with him.
Rudy turned out to be far wealthier than I gave him credit. He owned a private equity company, whatever that was. He was already married (red flag), of course, and 25 years older than me (red flag number two) but he was charming and my social life was almost non-existent at that point. I ended up going back to his hotel room after dinner. He told me his wife thought he was out of town on business, but that he came back a day early for our date. Fast forward a year, he was now divorced and we were engaged. My life as a trophy wife was about to begin. I was confident that the decision was the right one. Even if it wasn't, the pre-nup he required me to sign meant even if things went south, I would be taken care of financially. I deserved living the good life, I believed, so I became Mrs. Sanders.
Rudy owned a huge mansion and I almost got lost the first time I was there when he told me to "Go exploring." There were four bedrooms on the upper level, two would qualify as master bedrooms with opulent ensuite bathrooms. The other two were smaller, although still large with smaller but still nice bathrooms. Those had been his kids' rooms. He had a son that was my age and a daughter who just started college. The son was out of the house and lived in another state. The daughter would be home for the holidays and summer. I also found a nicely appointed gym. That was a perk in my book although I knew I would still go to my regular gym due to the social interactions. I loved having guys look at me while I worked out. But being able to get my sweat on at home if the weather was bad was great. The house also had a nice home theater, a large formal dining room, a formal living room and a casual family room. Oh, did I mention the pool with a pool house for changing that was bigger than the house I grew up in and the gourmet kitchen? Doing the math in my head, I came up with around 8,500 square feet in the main house. Part of me was impressed and part of me was thinking there was no way I was going to clean this place.
I continued my exploration in the full basement that was setup for entertaining with a well stocked bar, multiple TVs on the wall, a poker table and several old school arcade games. I also found the laundry room. I was confused by a window that looked built into an interior wall. Upon further inspection, I figured out it was a dumbwaiter to bring the clothes back upstairs to the bedrooms. I also found a chute that dropped into a clothes basket. I quickly realized that was for the dirty clothes coming down. I'd never seen such luxury.
I was wandering around the main floor again when the housekeeper, Celina, found me and directed me back to the grand foyer. I was glad Rudy had a full-time housekeeper. I had no interest in doing the work to keep this house spotless as Rudy demanded. He entertained the owners and executive management of companies he was considering investing in or buying at home. Everything had to be ready to host at all times. That included me. I always had to have professional outfits prepared to put on at a moment's notice. Don't imagine I was kept shut in. I could go out any time, although usually it was to the gym as keeping my figure was an unspoken requirement as was regular visits to the nail salon and hair salons instead of having a real social life. But I didn't mind. I had the house budget to spend as I saw fit as well as a generous allowance, my mad money as Rudy put it, to spend on myself. Yes, it was a good life. The only fly in the ointment was Rudy's daughter Julie, who was now at school at Rutgers, didn't like me at all. That was understandable as I was about five years older than her and now her step-mom. And before you ask, I never told her to call me mom. That wouldn't work for either of us. I tried to be nice to her, but I understood her angst toward me.
My marriage was unconventional, but it worked for us. Three years in, my investment account was large enough that I could live comfortably off the earnings if it came to that, but I had no interest in leaving Rudy. Our sex life wasn't wonderful, but I could pleasure myself to keep my needs in check. Julie and I had an uneasy truce when she'd come home for breaks and I'd even learned to live with a minimal social life. Basically I would work out in the morning, either at home or at the gym, and then lounge out by the pool in the afternoon, sometimes with my neighbor Katrina. Celina took care of the house, the laundry and cooked most of the meals. I did the food shopping just so I would have something to do, plus she needed the time to keep the house spotless. I did my best not to leave messes around, but just dusting was practically a full time job.
Katrina was living a parallel life to me and we bonded as each other's only close friends. Some days she would spend the afternoon at my house and some days I would visit her. Her husband traveled a lot too. On the occasions when they were both out of town, we frequently would go out to dinner and maybe to a bar for a few drinks. Either that or if there was something new and exciting to stream, we would stay in at one of our home theaters and enjoy the show and a bottle of wine.
As I said, in many ways we lived a parallel life. One thing that was very different was our housekeepers. While Celina was older, although an incredibly hard worker, she was not particularly attractive and I never worried about her screwing around with Rudy. Katrina's housekeeper, Luna, couldn't have been more different. She was young, probably just 21 or 22, and very sexy. I didn't understand how Katrina kept her around her husband.
Luna was clearly a mix of races, somewhere in Central America and probably French. As a result, she had an exotic look. She had jet black hair, cut in a bob in front and long in the back. When she was working, she kept it in a ponytail. She also didn't wear much make-up and was also very lean. She looked like she probably worked out as much as I did. Although I never told Katrina, I would be worried her husband would dump her for Luna. On the positive side, Katrina's house was always spotless. Their house was as big as ours so Luna must work as hard as Celina. Her good looks were not my problem, although I sensed Katrina might have a problem with her. I always tried to treat Celina with respect. In truth, her work ethic rarely gave me pause to criticize her, so only on the rarest of occasions did I have to correct her. I always tried not to raise my voice.
Katrina did not treat Luna the same way. It seemed like every time I was at their house, Katrina would find some reason to chastise Luna verbally. And she was not nice about it, nor did she wait until she could do it in private. I was ashamed of Katrina and even quietly apologized for her behavior. Luna always told me not to worry about it, but I could tell it angered her. She seemed like a sweet girl and I loved her choice of yoga pants and a white t-shirt she usually wore while working. In a way, she looked like an Oreo cookie.
