With Friends Like These Pt. 01

This story takes place in Gamblinluck's Slave Camp universe. It was originally a small idea I had for my "Sherry's Sanctuary" series but did not fit with that story. The idea of the location discussed near the end of the story was neat, but it just didn't go well with the tone of my series. I couldn't get the idea out of my head, though, so I made it into a one-shot story so I wouldn't be so distracted while trying to continue my series. It takes place in the same world as "Sherry's Sanctuary", but that's where the connections end. I don't get into much of the world building of Gamblinluck's universe in this story, so please see his stories "Slave Camp", "Gotta Pay the Piper", and "My Mom Owns Me", or even my series if you want a much more detailed description of how slavery works in this universe. I go into a pretty detailed explanation on how the world works in chapter 3 of "Sherry's Sanctuary".

This is my first time trying a story the "Loving Wife" category. As always, thanks go out to Gamblinluck for allowing me to play in the world he has created. And a big thank-you to CurrentParameter for all his help in proofing and improving this story.

With Friends Like These...

Part 1

I was a stupid idiot, and it got me enslaved. What did I do that was so stupid? Simple, I trusted a conniving bitch. I also trusted who I thought was my best friend. And I was too blind to see I was being set up the entire time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. To understand the whole story, I need to go back to the beginning. For me, that was my first day of college.

I went off to college to study computer programming. I was good at it, too. I had designed a lot of different programs in high school. Nothing major, but more than silly little apps. What I was most proud of, and what got me the scholarship for college, was the skeleton for game engine. It was raw at the time. I mean really raw. But it showed potential and the professors were impressed with the low resource demands needed to run the engine.

A good friend of mine, Cindy Perkins, was accepted to the same college, but she was studying graphic art. She loved to design computer images, especially game characters. We had played around with doing a game in high school, my engine, her graphics, but we just couldn't come up with a story or even decide what type of game it would be. We worked well together, though, so we became friends. It was only natural we kind of latched onto each other when we went to college. Nothing romantic, it was just nice to have friend to share the fear of being surrounded by a few thousand people you didn't know.

My freshman roommate and I quickly became best friends. Jim Robinson was studying creative writing and had a way of developing stories out of the most bizarre concepts. He would take totally unbelievable premises and make them seem perfectly rational. He had published a few short stories in various magazines and received pretty strong praise for them. He was also everything I wasn't. Handsome, popular, and an absolute master at seducing women.

I guess I should introduce myself. Sorry, should have done that from the start. My name is Matt Peterson. I'm the idiot you heard about in the first paragraph. I'm shy, awkward, and have absolutely no game with the ladies whatsoever. If I hadn't met Jim, I probably would never have left my dorm room except to eat, go to class, and hang out with Cindy every now and then. I lived on my computer. The real world didn't interest me. Until Jim showed me what I was missing.

The last character in our little drama was Cassandra Robinson, or Cassie. She was Jim's stepsister and Jim finally introduced me to her about two months into our first semester. She was a finance major, and she was gorgeous. Honestly, she was the type of woman I only believed existed in the movies. Tall, blonde, and a body most porn stars would kill for, she was everything in a woman I felt I would never have. I was in love with her from the second I saw her. And for some bizarre reason, she seemed to like me.

Against all odds, she agreed when I asked her on a date. Even more amazingly, she agreed to a second date. I may not have been the smartest man when it came to women, but I sure as hell wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I had a chance with Cassie, and I wasn't going to blow it. We started dating more and more, and eventually we were an item. I lost my virginity to this goddess, and never looked back. She taught me more about sex than I ever knew was possible. Positions that would make the authors of the Karma Sutra blush, kinks that were probably illegal in most civilized countries, and orgasmic pleasures that bordered on divine experiences. Yeah, I was completely head over heels for her.

The four of us started to hang out more and more through college. Jim usually had a different girl with him each week, and Cindy really didn't seem interested in dating. Cassie and I tried not to flaunt our love for each other in front of them, but they didn't seem to mind how bad our attempts at discretion were. Still, the four of us made a good team. We were four completely different people, with completely different personalities, but for some reason we meshed well together. It probably helped that we were each becoming very successful in our chosen majors.

By the end of our sophomore year, Cindy had already put on a few shows of her artwork and was doing a little freelance character design for a small startup game company. Jim was steadily publishing short stories, mostly in various sci-fi and fantasy magazines. Cassie was some kind of financial wizard that had already paid off the next two years of college through some shrewd investments. She seemed to have a knack for taking money and making it grow substantially. We all started having her invest what little money we could scrape together and were ecstatic when we saw the returns. As for me, I was still plugging along developing different programs I hoped would one day pay off for me. That day came during finals of my sophomore spring semester.

I had been working on my final project, trying to increase the compression rates for music and video files, while preventing the loss of quality. I had hit roadblock after roadblock in trying to get it to work. Every time I increased the compression rates by a noticeable margin, quality dropped. Every time I preserved the quality, the increase in compression rate was so minimal as to not be worth it. I knew there was a solution, but I couldn't find it. To get my mind off the problem, I started to play with the game engine I had started in high school. I hadn't thought much about it since I started college, too many other distractions. But I remembered how at peace working on the engine had made me feel back then. So, I loaded up an old version and started to tinker with it again.

That's when I saw it. The code I had written back then was designed to maximize the power of the engine, while minimizing the resource requirements. This was basically the same thing I was trying to achieve with my final project. Only instead of compression rates versus quality loss, I was dealing with power versus resources. With a little adapting and rewriting of the code, and forgoing sleep for two days, I was able to convert part of my old engine into a workable compression program.

The results were greater than I ever imagined they could be. I increased the compression rates tenfold with almost no loss of quality in audio or video. I ran the tests and simulations five times before I allowed myself to believe I had done it. It was still early when I ran to my professor's office, thumb drive in hand, to see if he agreed with my findings. And when I say early, I mean I sat outside his office for two hours waiting for him to arrive at school. I finally had to put the thumb drive into my pocket because I was afraid I would snap it in half from how hard I was gripping it. When Dr. Burke ultimately arrived at his office, I was a nervous wreck. I saw him roll his eyes at me.

"Mr. Peterson, I hope you are not here to ask for an extension on your project. I thought I had made myself clear to the class, there will be no extensions," he said in robotic like voice.

"No sir. I was hoping I could meet with you to double check my project. I believe I've cracked it but would like a second set of eyes to make sure I didn't miss something."

Dr. Burke raised his eyebrow and looked me over skeptically.

"Are you trying to tell me you have developed a better compression program than what is out there? By yourself?"

I tried to smile through the heat rising to my face and just replied, "That's what I'm hoping you can tell me."

Shaking his head he motioned me to follow him into his office. I handed him the thumb drive, feeling a little scared to let it out of my grasp. Sure, I had it backed up on my laptop, as well as on an external drive and the Cloud, but still, handing it over to another person was intimidating. But this was my final project, and this man literally had the power to decide if I continued in college or not.

Taking the drive from me, he booted up his computer. I kept staring at the drive sitting on his desk, impatiently waiting for him to run his tests. I knew he was taking the time to ensure he was running an isolated operating system and was disconnected from all Wi-Fi and hard line connections. He didn't want to risk infecting anything if my program went apeshit. Once he had his computer isolated, he plugged the drive in. He brought up the source code for my program and started to review it. It definitely wasn't my cleanest work, and I could tell by his face that he was seeing a lot of redundancies in code. I knew, however, once I was sure the rates and quality were confirmed, I could go back and clean up the code.

"All right, Mr. Peterson, it's a little sloppy, but you're trying some interesting things here. Let's see how the rates compare to the quality. I'm have a meeting soon, so let's go right to the hard tests and see what we have. I'm going to use a 4K test. Let's see how much your little program can condense the size."

He ran the test, and then sat upright when the results came in. Looking back at me, he shut down all programs and reloaded mine. He ran the test again, and then sat back.

"This isn't possible. Let me play the compressed version and run a quality check."

He ran the quality check at least three times, before he picked up his phone and called his secretary.

"Jean, I need you to cancel my meetings for today and see if Adam can cover my classes. I am not to be disturbed for any reason. If it's an emergency, text me. Thank you." Then he turned to me. "Matt, I need you to be very honest with me right now. How many copies of this program do you have, and have you shown it to anyone else?"

I told him there were three other copies, and after I ran my test this morning I came straight here.

"Good. Do you have a lawyer?"

That scared me. Why would I need a lawyer? What the fuck was going on?

"Sir, why do I need a lawyer?"

Dr. Peterson looked at me shocked.

"Matt, do you realize what you have just handed me?"

I shook my head.

"The tests I just ran show you have compressed a 4K video down to the size we expect for a video running at 720p. Even more amazing is that the tests are showing a quality loss of less than 1%. You have in essence found a way to stream Ultra High Definition at speeds that surpass what we see on YouTube videos. In other words, every streaming outlet in the world is going to want to use this, even in its sloppy state. If you clean up the code, you may even be able to tweak a higher performance.

"You got your A for this class, don't worry about that. What you need to worry about is getting this getting this copyrighted and if possible patented as soon as possible. You also need a lawyer so the university doesn't try and claim ownership. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

I did understand. This wasn't just some little project for a class. This could be life changing. And it was. I ran back to my room and called Cassie. She set me up with a friend of the family who was a lawyer and the next thing I knew I was rich. We were able to patent the program, and soon I was licensing it to all the major streaming services. I had cleaned up the code and they were banging down my door to license it. The monthly checks came rolling in. By the time we all graduated, I had more money than I knew what to do with.

I really didn't have to work too hard my last two years of college. It's hard to fail a someone who wrote the program used by multi-billion-dollar companies. Instead, I devoted most of my efforts to perfecting my game engine. And right before graduation, I had.

I also had come to the realization that I had everything I needed to start my own game company. I had the money, and I had the engine. Cindy was able to provide all the graphic work, Jim's imagination was perfect for developing the genre and story for the game, and Cassie, well her business sense took care of all the bullshit parts I hated. I offered them an even split, four ways, in the new company and would front the start-up money. I had it, why not use it.

We worked on our first game for fourteen months, and when it was finished, we searched for a publisher. Physical media was dying by this time, so it only made sense to distribute digitally. So, we forwent the big publishers, self-published the game and it took off. Morrigan's Trials was an instant hit. Jim had outdone himself on the story. It basically involved bringing the Celtic goddess to life in modern day California with the mission to protect a poor Irish girl, destined to save the world, from various Greek, Norse, and Egyptian gods seeking to end mankind. Trust me, it was a lot better than I am making it sound.

Cindy was praised across the gaming community for her realistic graphic work, especially the lead character Morrigan. One of the gaming magazines hailed her as the artist who finally broke the uncanny valley. And through it all, Cassie continued to work deal after deal. By our second year they were all multi-millionaires. By far I was the richest because I licensed out the engine to other software developers and had another steady influx of royalty and license checks coming in from the compression program licenses. Between my share of the gaming company and the license checks, I thought I would never need money again. We expanded our company, hired new staff, and were enjoying life. And then I made the stupidest decision of my life. I proposed to Cassie.

============

She immediately accepted and we were married within two months. Even though we were both independently wealthy, Cassie insisted on a pre-nup agreement. She told me she wanted there to be no doubt that she was marrying me for love, not money. I had one of the company's lawyers review it and he told me everything looked kosher. He even pointed out the slavery clause. Basically, if either of us was enslaved, which would immediately annul our marriage, the other would automatically get half of the combined accumulated wealth we will have made starting on our wedding date. The only part she would not be entitled to would be the income from the licensing of the compression software and the game engine if I was the one enslaved. Because that would be considered wages, whoever was my owner would be entitled to the money from that for the length of my enslavement. I had no desire or intention of being enslaved, so everything looked great to me.

It was great. Over the next year the company grew, we produced three more games that sold like hotcakes, and everyone was happy. Cassie and I built a large house, bought fancy cars, and had Jim and Cindy over constantly. Jim was loving his new life. He had almost complete artistic freedom in his writing and he loved the challenge of writing non-linear story lines. Cindy, who was so much like me, dove into her work and soon had seventeen other graphic artists working under her. Cassie and I spent our days working, and our nights discovering new ways to please each other sexually. I couldn't think of a better life than this.

Then, on that fateful Thursday morning, two large men in suits and sunglasses came into my office. They asked me to come with them to the police station to answer some questions. I immediately called the company lawyer and followed them. Once at the station, my life ended. They let me know I was being placed under arrest for embezzlement and fraud. They produced all sorts of documents that seemed to show I had been stealing money from the company and diverting it to offshore accounts. I had no idea what they were talking about. Like I said previously, I had too much money already, why would I steal from my wife and two closest friends? It made no sense. My lawyer was caught completely unprepared and quickly got Cassie, Cindy and Jim down to the station. While Cassie was looking over the documents, Jim and Cindy were trying to get their minds around the fact that I could have been screwing them over for the last three years.

When Cassie came back, she looked like she had been punched in the gut. She sat us all down and said the evidence was solid. It had been well hidden, but there was no doubt that over twenty million dollars had been diverted to offshore accounts, and everything pointed to me doing it. Cindy was devastated and refused to believe I would do this. Cassie kept asking me why I would do something so stupid. And Jim, well, he was just pissed. He stormed out of the room and we all just sat there.

My lawyer dropped another bomb on me then. Because he was technically counsel for the company, it would be a conflict of interest for him to represent me. Cassie hired another lawyer, but with the short turnarounds for court cases now, he really didn't have time to prepare much of a defense. I refused to take a plea deal, I knew I was innocent and I couldn't find it within me to admit to a crime I didn't commit. In hindsight, I wonder how things would be different today if I had.

With the amount of documentation showing I had embezzled the money, and no real defense except my word that I hadn't, I was convicted in short order. I was sentenced to eight years enslavement and fined fifteen million dollars, five each to be paid to Cassie, Cindy, and Jim. I was also awarded to them as my owners. After going through the process of being collared, I was escorted nude from the induction center to my new life as a slave. Cassie was there to pick me up and we drove back to the house in silence.

When we entered our home, I was expecting to see Cindy and Jim there, but it was only us. Cassie sat me down on the couch and explained what was going on.

"Matt, I want to believe you didn't do this, but it's hard. Everything points to you. Still, you're my husband, well, ex-husband, but I wanted to make sure you were protected. I've bought out Cindy and Jim's share of you, so I am your sole owner. I want us to try to get past this, but it's going to take some time. For now, I think it would be best if you slept in one of the guest rooms. I've taken the next week off, so we can try to see where to go from here."

"Cass, I didn't do it, I swear. Why would I steal from the company? Why would I steal from the three of you? I set up the company for you guys. I don't need the money, I never have. I pull in twenty million every few months from the licensing alone, none of this makes sense," I pleaded with her.

"God, I really want to believe you. Just give me a little bit. Let me take the time to figure things out."

With that she got up and left the room. With nothing else to do, I took the first shower I'd had in three days and lied down on the bed. This was a nightmare. Someone had set me up, but I couldn't figure out who, how or why. I laid there wallowing in self-pity, trying to figure out how everything had gone to shit so quickly. My best friend wouldn't talk to me, my childhood friend felt betrayed by me, and my wife, or ex-wife now, wasn't sure she could ever believe me again. And I hadn't done anything. All I wanted to do was convince the three closest people to me that I had not fucked them over. I could survive the slavery if only I could have the reassurance that they believed me. I fell asleep doing something I had not done since I was a child. I cried.

That first week of my enslavement was difficult. Cindy stopped by once to talk to me, but even though it was obvious she believed me, it was just too hard. Seeing me with the collar around my neck was just too much for her. We had been so close for so long; she couldn't watch my downfall. She apologized and left in tears.

It wasn't any better with Cassie. Every time I tried to get her to talk to me, she just responded that she needed a little more time to process everything. I tried to everything I could think of to get her to see I still loved her. I cooked her favorite meals, I cleaned the house top to bottom, did the laundry, gave her the space she wanted, anything to have her acknowledge I still existed. But it was all in vain. She avoided me as much as she could. She went out most nights, and did not return until well past midnight. She took the meals I had carefully prepared and plated to her room and would leave the dishes in hall outside what used to be our bedroom. I felt her slipping further and further away from me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Then on the eighth day, everything finally made sense.

============

I was doing the dishes when I heard the doorbell ring. I started to go answer when Cassie told me she would do it. I heard some talking in living room, and then heard her ask me to join her. When I arrived, I was shocked to see Jim there. He was sitting on the couch next to Cassie and she told me to sit down on the chair across for them. I started to beg Jim to listen to me, but he just held up his hand and told me to sit.

"Before we begin, Matt, I want you to remember a few things," he said coldly. "You are a slave now. Cassie can press a button on her phone, and you'll have so much electricity flowing out of your collar, you'll be on the ground unconscious, twitching, and pissing yourself in an instant. If you try anything violent with either of us, we'll not only shock the hell out of you, but we'll also make sure you are convicted of assault on a free person. That will at least double your sentence, if not result in chemical castration as well. Do you understand your situation?"

I was starting to get a cold feeling in my gut.

"Why would I get violent, Jim?" I asked, not liking how this conversation was starting.

"We'll get to that. Do you know how many days you've been enslaved?"

I told him today was day eight.

"Right, and do you know the significance of it being day eight?"

I shook my head.

"The significance of it being day eight is that yesterday was the last day you could file to appeal your sentence. As of today, the only way you can be get out of your enslavement is to be retried, and you need Cassie's approval for that."

This was sounding worse and worse. I think I knew what was coming, but I couldn't let myself believe it.

"It's not all bad news. We both believe you that you are innocent. We know you didn't take that money. We did. It was simple for Cassie to divert all those funds in your name. Hell, she controlled everything financial in the company. Like the idiot you are, you gave her access to all your accounts, signing privileges, everything she needed to ensure everyone thought it was you."

There it was. I finally knew the who and the how, but the why still eluded me.

"Jim, why set me up? You were both making millions anyway. Cassie, if you were so unhappy with our marriage, why not just divorce me? The pre-nup would have guaranteed you half of everything."

"Not everything," Cassie smirked. "Yeah, I would have gotten a lot, but let's be real, the company isn't where the real money is, right?"

There was the why. If she owned me, all the money from the licenses went straight to her. She wouldn't get any of that that in a divorce. She would get a lot, a hell of a lot, but nothing compared to the licensing checks. To get her hands on that, I would have to be enslaved, and she would have to own me. The pre-nup! That's why she was so adamant about it. It laid it out clearly. But that would mean she was planning this before we even got married. Oh shit! This had been a con job all along.

"How long have you two been planning this?"

Jim started laughing at me then.

"Shit, we've been planning this since before you even met Cassie. I knew the first week we lived together you were going to make it big. I had no idea how big, but everyone I talked to in your program all said you were the next Jobs, Gates, and Zuckerberg, all rolled into one package. I knew you could be our meal ticket, and Cassie was more than willing to play her part. A quick introduction to my lovely stepsister and we had you hooked immediately. Our original plan was to have her marry you and then take you for all you were worth, but then you developed the compression program. There was no way we could get a slice of the licensing money, so we would just have to stick it out until you had enough in assets to file for divorce.

"Then you finished the game engine, and even more money came pouring in. Let it build, get your net worth up as high as possible, then bam, divorce time. But you had to throw a curveball. You set up the gaming company, gave us, not sold us, gave us each 25% ownership, and made us all rich. We almost abandoned our plan then. Why kill the goose who laid the golden eggs? We could have just ridden this gravy train to the end, except for one little problem, right sis?"

"You know it, Babe."

Babe? Wait, this couldn't be happening. My mind wouldn't accept what I knew was going to happen next. But my eyes forced my brain to acknowledge the truth when Cassie gave Jim a deep, passionate kiss. They were siblings for Christ's sake.

"You're nothing but a couple of incestuous sociopaths," I gasped as I tried to keep from vomiting.

"Hey now," Cassie said offended, "we're not incestuous. We're step siblings. No blood relation. I can suck his dick, take him up my ass, have him fuck me six ways from Sunday, no taboo there. Oh, and I have, many times."

They both laughed hysterically at me, while she groped his dick and he fondled her tits.

"Matt, you may be the smartest person I know," Jim said as he moved his hand between Cassie's legs, "but man, you can be stupid sometimes. Cass and I have been fucking non-stop since we were fifteen. That's right, anytime you weren't with her, we were fucking like rabbits. Where did you think she learned all that kinky shit from? Sure, we fuck others, but Cass here is my soul mate."

"And you're mine, Love."

This couldn't be happening. My entire relationship with both of them had been a lie from the beginning. Everything that had happened was because these two sociopaths wanted money. But I had already earned them more money than they could need. Why enslave me for more?

My mouth was dry as I asked, "Between the two of you, and with Cassie's investments, you have to have already made over $50 million. Why go through all of this just to get more? Isn't $50 million enough?"

Cindy laughed at me. "You want to know why? You have movie studios, TV production companies, streaming services, game companies, shit, any company that is able to profit off of delivering high quality at a low data cost opening their wallets and throwing money at you. Your game engine is one of the most used engines in the business. Why would we settle for $50 million when we can milk that big stupid brain of yours for billions. Trust me, we have a plan, and by the time you're done with your enslavement we'll have enough to leave the country, buy a villa on Lake Como, and live in luxury far away from you and anything you may want to do to us.

"That should be reason enough, but the real reason is that I want to pay you back for keeping me away from my only true love for eight years. Do you have any idea how much it hurt to have to sneak around just to be with him all that time? Oh, you scratched an itch, I'll give you that. You're surprisingly good in the sack. But let's be real, do you really think you can compare to Jim? The way I figure it, I gave you almost eight years with someone WAY out of your league. Now, you're just paying that back. Eight years for eight years. Seems like a fair trade to me."

Was she serious? I thought we were in love. I gave her a life and opportunities that have made her rich beyond anything she could have imagined. And she thinks I deserve to be a slave for eight years to "pay her back"? Fuck this. I wasn't feeling sick anymore, I was pissed.

"What the fuck?!" I screamed at them. "Why the fuck are telling me this? You can't get away with this shit. I now know what you did. As soon as I tell someone to start looking into the shit you pulled, you're going to get caught. Are you that stupid? Once I tell everyone, it's over..."

Jim was no longer laughing. He stared at me with an expression of hatred I didn't believe could exist.

"No, Matt, we're not stupid," he said coldly. "I'm going to explain how the next eight years are going to go. You have a simple choice, the next eight years can be unpleasant, or they can be unbearable. Your choice. The unpleasant choice is that during the day you will be chained in your office here at the house, working on projects we give you, and developing all sorts of new programs to be patented. We'll own those patents, of course. We'll let everyone at the company know that you are just too embarrassed to be seen in public, so you will work remotely. I, of course, will be moving in here to help my poor distraught stepsister deal with the shame you have brought on all of us, and to help her manage 'the situation'. No one will question any of it. At night, though, that's when the fun part happens. We are having a nice cage installed in the bedroom where you'll be kept, and you will be able to see how a real man pleases a woman like Cassie. At the end of your sentence, you can go back to your life, start collecting the checks again, and, if you're smart, forget about us and be happy knowing you learned a valuable life lesson.

"The unbearable choice is pretty much the same, but with a slight twist. Instead of getting nightly live porn shows from us, your nights will be filled with more pain than you could ever imagine. You were with Cassie long enough to know she is a master at BDSM. Given, she was mostly the sub with you, but trust me, she is a switch that knows how to bring pain in ways most can't handle. I've seen her bring men and women pain that even makes me cringe. Me, I'm dominant through and through. Trust me, I know how to hurt people. Every night will be a new and unique hell for you. There will be no pairing of pleasure with the pain. Just nightly torture. By the time your enslavement ends, you will be broken beyond repair. My bet is you will spend the rest of your life in one of those 'half-way houses', drooling and shitting yourself, not able to have any coherent thoughts.

"Personally, I want you to choose the unpleasant route. It will make us more money, and I really do want you to have a life after this. The unbearable route will probably have you useless for developing new products within two years. Yeah, the first route is better for all of us, wouldn't you agree?"

Who the hell were these people? This wasn't my best friend and roommate throughout college. This wasn't the woman I loved and thought loved me. Fuck, I'm royally screwed. Jim was right, I would never survive the unbearable route. I don't handle pain well, and from a few past BDSM experiments Cassie and I had, I know she could deliver much more than I could handle. And I had no doubt Jim could be even more cruel. They'd won. My only hope was to survive the next eight years and lick my wounds.

Hold on! What about Cindy? She would never buy this shit. She might accept I was hiding in shame for a few months, but she would never believe I would hide for eight years and never see her. Smiling, I let them know that.

"Aren't you forgetting something," I said smugly. "Cindy is never going to let you keep her away for the next eight years. She will see through your bullshit and your whole house of cards will come crumbling down."

"Ha!" Jim laughed. "Don't worry about Cindy. She'll be out of the picture in six months. Yes, we need her in order to finish the next Morrigan game, that's going to be your first job, actually. She is having trouble with the eye movements, and you are going to look over the code and fix it for us. But once her part is done, we're going to force her out. We'll give her a nice exit package, but with Cassie having control of your shares, we control 75% of the company. She'll be out and no one else cares enough about you to do anything. Face it, Matt, you got played. We have covered all the bases. Do the smart thing and cooperate and will all get what we want in the end. It's the smart move.

"Oh, one last thing. I can see those wheels turning in your head, trying to find a way out. There isn't one. You are going to have access to your computer, but don't think that will give you a way to talk to anyone outside the house. We've removed any wi-fi from the house. All the landlines have been removed. And we'll be keeping close tabs on our cell phones. For all practical purposes you are now living in a Faraday Cage.

"Now, let's get you set up in your office and you can start working on that pesky problem Cindy's having. Sooner you get that done, the sooner you can start developing our next money maker."

As they led me to my office and chained me to wall, I realized they had thought of everything. I didn't have a choice. They'd won.

I sat at my computer while they went to the bedroom. The noises coming from there made me sick to my stomach, but this was my new reality. I brought up the code Cindy was having trouble with and tried to ignore the sounds of them fucking down the hall. Staring at the code, I saw the problem immediately. It was a simple fix and I was surprised Cindy hadn't caught it. She wasn't on my level when it came to coding, but she was good enough to see the problem. I fixed the problem anyway and closed the program. Then I had an idea.

It was a longshot. We're talking a billion to one chance it would work, but it was still a chance. It would all hinge on Cindy. Opening the code again, I added a few more lines of code and prayed Cindy looked it over personally. Now, all I could do is wait and try to survive what Jim and Cassie had in store for me.

==============

The next eight months were the worst months of my life. I had long since given up hope that my "secret" message to Cindy had been found. Everything Jim had promised would happen, did happen. The third Morrigan game was finished and released. It was the highest rated and most profitable game the company had ever produced. Jim and Cassie forced Cindy out of the company, and I had no idea what had become of her. They made sure to keep me up to date on how well the company was doing. Bringing me profit reports and updates regularly. They would also bring me various programming problems the company ran into for me to fix. It sucked to hear how the company continued to thrive, thanks to all my behind the scene work, but there was nothing I could do.

For eight months, my life revolved around four rooms of our house; my office, the bathroom attached to my office, the kitchen, and what I could no longer consider our bedroom. Each of those four rooms had an eyehook to attach my chain to the wall and ensure I did not wander somewhere I wasn't allowed. I would get up in the morning, be let out of my cage, and chained to kitchen wall to make breakfast for everyone. I often had passing day-dreams of finding something in the kitchen to poison them with, but that's all they were, day-dreams. Murder would not help me.

After breakfast, I was chained in my office and sent to work on my computer. Sometimes it was fixing a coding problem for the company, but most of the time they were expecting me to be working on my "next big thing". And they wanted results. I was expected to be developing another program that could be licensed and make them even more money. Were they crazy? The only reason I had developed the compression program was because Dr. Burke had joked in class that it was an impossible task. I took it on as a challenge and it still took me over four months to crack it. I was only able to crack it because of the years of work I had spent on the game engine. They were expecting lightning to strike not twice, but multiple times. I spent the first two months wallowing in such self-pity that I couldn't even think of what sort of problem I wanted to solve.

But the nights were the worst. When they got home from work each day, I would have to make dinner again, shower, then crawl into my cage, naked. Then I got to watch Jim and Cassie rut like pigs for a few hours. At first, I tried to ignore them, shut my eyes tightly, and try to take my mind anywhere else. They did not like that. If they ever saw me looking away or not paying attention to their carnal acts, a painful shock was sent to my collar. Not enough to knock me out, unfortunately, but definitely painful enough to bring my attention back to Jim and Cassie partaking in every sex act imaginable. I thought Cassie and I experimented with some kinky shit, but the level of depravity these two engaged in was astonishing.

Sometimes they brought another woman, never the same one twice, into the mix. On those nights, the "guest participant's" needs were not a priority. The poor woman would be nothing more than another toy for their sex games. The women would be orally pleasing every hole Cassie had, while Jim would violently penetrate the women in all their holes. And that was when they didn't want to turn it up. I was kept in line by my observations of when BDSM came into play with these women. I had no doubt I would not be able to handle the level of abuse they gave those unlucky women.

On rare nights, they wouldn't come home. I cherished those nights even though it meant I was sleeping on the floor of my office and only had the snacks in the mini fridge by my desk to eat. Still on those nights, I wasn't tortured by the sight of my former wife and best friend reveling in watching my sanity slip away as they screwed each other to exhaustion. Those nights I was able to try and convince myself I would make it through this alive and sane.

So it wasn't that worrisome when they did not come home that night, shortly after starting my eighth month of enslavement. It was a little worrisome when no one had checked up with me the next morning. By noon, I was getting really worried. If something had happened to them, I was stuck chained to the wall, with maybe a day or two worth of food, none of it really nutritious. I panicked for a minute when I realized I was worried about them. It scared me to realize I had become dependent on them for my survival.

I berated myself for caring about their well-being. I started getting depressed. I had read about Stockholm's syndrome and trauma bonding in slaves, but never thought it could happen to me. I was sure there was no Stockholm's at play. I would never have an emotional connection with either of them again. But I now knew there was definitely trauma bonding happening. As cruel and evil as they were, I was still dependent on them. I was wanting to protect them and keep them happy, as that was the only way to ensure my own needs were met. God, I was fucked up.

By five that afternoon, I was a mess. I was sure they were dead and one of two things was going to happen to me. Either I was going to starve to death, chained to the wall, or the police were going to come let me out and I would be sold again, probably to someone even worse.

That's why I didn't answer when I heard a strange voice calling my name from just inside the front door.

=========

After a few minutes of listening to footsteps walking throughout the house, I figured there was nothing to I could do to stop what was coming. I called out that I was in the office, and two police officers came running to the room. They saw me chained to the wall, and I must have looked insane.

"Mr. Peterson?" one of the officers asked gently. I nodded to him. "We need you to come with us please."

I started to laugh. I believed my mind had finally snapped. I just held up the chain connecting my collar to the wall and said between laughs, "I'd love to, officer, but I'm a little tied up at the moment."

He looked at me strangely, then said something I couldn't hear to the other officer. The second policeman ran out of the room and returned shortly with a pair of bolt cutters. They asked me to lift my head and they cut the chain. They escorted me, still in a daze, to the police car they had waiting outside. I noticed they had not put handcuffs on me, so maybe there was a little hope I wasn't being taken to a worse place. But I wasn't so sure when we pulled up to the police station.

The took me to a cell in the back of the station, and I was pleased to at least see there was no one else occupying it. As they closed the door, I finally found my voice again.

"How did they die?" I asked dreading the answer.

"Excuse me, sir?" the first officer replied.

"Cassie and Jim. How did they die? I assume they must have if you brought me here."

"Sir, no one has died to my knowledge. A detective should be around shortly to explain everything. I'm sorry, but for the time being you are still a slave. We aren't making you wait naked as is the norm, and we will be providing you with a regular meal, not slave chow. But for now, we still have to hold you as a slave."

Then he turned and left. It still scares me I was in such a fucked up mental state, that I didn't even realize the importance of what he just told me. Thinking back now, two of his statements should have had me jumping for joy; "... for the time being you are still a slave" and "... for now, we still have to hold you as a slave." How messed up did I have to be to not see things were about to get so much better for me?

The detective came by about an hour later, joined by a woman in an expensive pantsuit. She introduced herself as Detective Baker, opened the cell door and asked me to follow her to a private conference room. I was shocked upon entering to see Cindy sitting there, with another young woman I recognized from the accounting department of the company. I remembered her name was Lisa something or other. I had interacted with her often when I had visited Cassie in her office, and she had always been such a bright, cheery young lady, quick to laugh and constantly kidding around with the other members of the company. Both looked up at me with joy and relief, and ran to my side, embracing me so hard I felt like two pythons had gotten a hold of me.

"Matt, I'm so sorry it took so long. Lisa and I have been working non-stop trying to gather the evidence, but it took a long time. I tried to get to see you, get you a message, anything. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Cindy cried into my shoulder. Lisa just hugged me and nodded between her own sobs.

I was beyond confused. I slowly pushed them back and asked what's going on. The lady in the pantsuit started speaking then.

"Mr. Peterson, it seems there has been a great miscarriage of justice. Please sit, and I will try to explain everything." We all sat down around the conference table, with Cindy, my oldest friend, and what appeared to be my newest friend, Lisa, siting on either side of me, holding my arms tightly. "My name is Jennifer Douglas. I'm the Assistant D. A. and first I want to apologize for what has happened to you. Ms. Perkins and Ms. Johanson contacted me about a month ago with their discovery."

Johanson, that was her last name. From what I was hearing, I would never forget it again.

"They had been doing a deep dive of your company's finances and uncovered multiple false entries, billing irregularities, and errors in profit reporting. These actions dated back to the founding of the company. But what interested us most, was that all these irregularities ceased immediately after your enslavement. It appears your ex-wife and owner had been altering the financial records for years. We also are now aware that she forged the information to make it appear it was you doing the fraud and embezzlement, which, as you know, resulted in your enslavement. She and her stepbrother have been arrested and we are preparing the case against them now. They are looking at a litany of charges; fraud, embezzlement, conspiracy to enslave, unlawful enslavement, and a slew of other charges, including wrongful termination for Ms. Johanson and a Ms. McDonald. Those last two are at the request of Ms. Perkins. When everything is done, they are looking at a very long enslavement, possibly until they are 65, and so many fines and payments for damages, they won't have much left for their slave estates."

My mind was spinning. Cindy had somehow come through for me, and Lisa appeared to have played a major role in this. And wrongful termination for Ms. McDonald? Those assholes had fired my old assistance, Janice? Fuck they were evil shits. But wait, Jim and Cassie had been caught? Fuck yeah! They were finally going to pay for what happened to me. But what about what happens to me now? Does that mean I'm free?

"Ms. Douglas, please forgive me, this is a lot to take in. Does that mean I'm free?"

Ms. Douglas shook her head. "Not yet. We can go ahead and expedite a hearing as soon as today, but that may not be in anyone's best interest."

"What?! Why would I want to wear this collar for a second longer than necessary? I've been living in hell for the last eight months! I want out as soon as possible!" I couldn't believe this. They knew I was innocent, get this damn thing off of me!

"Mr. Peterson, I understand your feelings, I really do, but I would like to explain before you make a decision."

I nodded reluctantly for her to continue.

"In order for you to be released we will have to present a lot of the evidence we are planning to use to prosecute the Robinsons. They know we have them dead-to-rights, but showing their lawyers everything we have before the trial gives them much more time to prepare a defense and more wiggle room if they try to plead out the charges. If we add your release hearing to the case against them, we can preserve the evidence and get them convicted and you released in the same trial."

"In other words, you don't want to tip your hand early and inadvertently give them an out. Ok, I can see that. It even makes sense. But how long until they go to trial, and what happens to me in the meantime?"

Ms. Douglas started to smile again. She knew she had hooked me.

"To answer your first question, as I'm sure you remember from your prosecution, the days of large waits and lengthy trials are long gone. We are already scheduled to go to trial in less than two weeks. With what Ms. Perkins and Ms. Johanson have provided, the trial should only last a day or two. As for your second question, normally you would be held in the county jail while awaiting the trial. But, due to the nature of this case, I could have you assigned to Ms. Perkins. She would be your temporary owner while awaiting the trial. She would be responsible for your care and, most importantly, be responsible for making sure you appear in court."

I looked over at Cindy. "Are you ok with this? You've already done so much for me, I don't want to cause you more problems."

"You idiot!" she cried out, hugging me tightly around the neck. "Of course I'm ok with it. Lisa and I have a small house, and we will make sure you are comfortable and safe. Please allow us to take care of you and make sure that bitch and prick get what they deserve."

I looked over at Lisa who was nodding enthusiastically at me. Smiling, I told Ms. Douglas I'd do it. I spent the rest of the evening relating everything I had been through, and all that Cassie and Jim had told me of their how they set me up and their plans for the future. I had to laugh when Ms. Douglas made a comment that they sounded like Bond villains, monologuing about their deeds. It made me feel warm inside hearing Cindy and Lisa laugh right alongside me.