Down Payment - A Hit and Run Short Story

By The Ethical Hypnotist

Talia Devreux stared at her laptop, willing it to make sense. 

She’d been so damn cocky when she’d strolled into Bradford’s office yesterday morning. Talia had been with Arcus Capital Management for less than a year and had already moved from Associate Tax Strategist to Junior Wealth Manager - and was gunning hard for a Lead Advisor position.

The old guard at the Seattle office took offense to that. They’d built up their portfolios over long decades, building relationships with the city’s tech elites - and they didn’t appreciate some hot-shot Wharton brat from New York trying to bigfoot them.

Talia thought they’d gone soft, happy to kick back and earn their fees. She had ideas, she had vision, she had a plan. Talia was gonna be running this damn company in ten years, and if these lazy bastards tried to get in her way…

They were dinosaurs. She was an asteroid.

But as Talia had walked between the desks to Bradford’s office, there’d been a vibe in the air. Something was happening offstage; someone had told a joke she hadn’t heard. As she passed between the desks, she’d seen either deep pity or smug satisfaction in people’s eyes - sometimes both.

Bradford had been all smiles as she’d entered, asking a few banal questions about her boyfriend and their vacation to Tokyo before getting down to business.

“Talia, I have a special opportunity for you. With Derek’s sudden departure, we’ve been scrambling to reassign his clients - and I’ve got one that doesn’t quite fit into anyone else’s portfolio. One of our more… idiosyncratic clients, but with a portfolio around 190 million dollars.”

She tried not to show her excitement at that figure, though she leaned back a little in her chair anyway.

“I know you’re eager to prove yourself as a Lead, and I think this might be the break you’ve been looking for. This isn’t a promotion yet; this would be a special addition to your current duties. You’re gonna be jumping right into the deep end too - their quarterly review is tomorrow morning.” 

“But if you keep the client happy, maybe steer them towards some more aggressive investment strategies, I’ll personally guarantee you’ll have your own office by Christmas.”

Inside, Talia started pumping her fists. Here was her fucking break, her chance to show the old guard how finance worked in the twenty-first fucking century. This time next year, they’d be calling her Ms. Devreux..

To Bradford, she thoughtfully considered his proposal for long seconds, then gradually came around to the idea. They worked out a few details then shook hands again. The man wished her all the luck in the world, then sent her back to her desk to get ready.

Talia practically rubbed her hands together as she opened the files. 190 million fucking dollars under her management! There were guys who’d been here fifteen years who’d never sniffed an account this big!

She smiled, deeply satisfied, as the profile popped. “Ok, Mr… Dominick Vasquez - let’s see what you can do for me.”

—

She was still staring at the madness on her screen when the receptionist knocked on the conference room door. “They’re here.”

“Oh. Um, yeah, let them in. Thanks.”

The woman retreated and Talia stood, taking a deep breath. “190 million,” she mumbled to herself. “They’re worth 190 million. That’s the only important part.”

Dominick entered first, a handsome Latino man with a close cropped beard, in a nicely pressed shirt and slacks. Then a petite redhead in a cute sundress, who Talia assumed was Zoey.

So far, so good.

Then came an African-American woman. She had long braids and a pair of round glasses. She was dressed in a skin-tight blue vinyl dress, no more than four inches long, tied up in a complex series of ropes that bound her arms behind her back. 

Said ropes highlighted and emphasized her breasts - larger than basketballs, stretching the material around them tight as a drum. She clacked into the room in a matching pair of thigh high vinyl stilettos - five inches long, if Talia had to guess.

Finally, a tall woman entered, carrying a briefcase in one hand, the bound woman’s leash in the other. She was beautiful, a supermodel’s face with ice blue eyes, gorgeous black hair that went to her waist, and a figure that defied description - absurdly long legs, fantastic ass, toned stomach and tits as big as her head - massive, flawless breasts that you couldn’t buy for all the money in the world.

She was completely nude, not even wearing shoes. Talia kept her eyes locked on the woman’s eyes as they shook hands. The woman sat down, and pulled a pair of glasses from the briefcase.

Talia took another deep breath, then returned to her seat. “Thank you all so much for coming. My name is Talia Devreux, and I’m your new Lead Advisor.”

“Hi Talia, I’m Dominick, as I’m sure you guessed.” He gave her a broad smile, then pointed at each of the women.

“This is my wife, Zoey -” The redhead nodded, smiling. “- my wife Lola -” The naked woman nodded as well, pulling out paperwork. “And her wife, Violet.” A final nod from the bound woman.

“Yes. A pleasure to meet you all. Now, before we dive into the financial particulars, there were one or two… irregularities in your file that I wanted to clarify.”

“First off, I wanted to clarify your marital status.” She tapped at her keyboard. “You’re married to Zoey Vasquez and Lola Russell-Vasquez?”

“That’s right,” Dom replied. “Lola and I are also married to each other,” Zoey added.

“Legally married to one another?”

“That’s right,” Dom replied again.

There was a pause. “Forgive my ignorance, but I wasn’t aware that polygamy was legal in the State of Washington.”

Lola put a hand up. “We have a carve-out, RCW 9A.64.010-5(a).” She rummaged for a moment, then produced a paper with the Washington State bigamy statue. At the bottom of the page was:

5(a) Dominick Rafael Vasquez is exempt from the preceding statute, as are any person or persons with whom Dominick Rafael Vasquez is legally wed.

“Our state representative really came through for us,” Zoey explained.

“Apparently.” Talia turned to the bound woman. “You’re Violet Watts-Russell-Vasquez, correct? You’re married to Lola, but not Dominick?”

“It depends on what you mean.” Violet considered a moment. “For tax purposes, I am legally married to both Mr and Mrs Vasquez, but we’re really just close friends. Mistress is my only wife in an emotional sense.”

Another pause. “Uh huh.” Talia took a few notes, then scrolled down. “Point number two: I came across some highly unusual title documents in your paperwork. If I’m reading these correctly, both Lola and Violet are classified as property?”

“Yup.” Lola’s reply was nonchalant, like she was confirming her address. “Master owns me, and I own Violet.”

“We’re sex slaves,” Violet clarified.

“I…” Words failed Talia for a moment. “Are you familiar with the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution?”

“That was a little tricky,” Lola admitted, “but forced servitude as punishment for a crime is explicitly permitted. Mostly I think that loophole is bullshit - states just use it as an excuse to force inmates into chain gangs - but in our specific case it worked out ok.”

“We’ve both been duly tried and convicted of conspiracy to commit sexual slavery - the punishment for which was a life sentence of sexual slavery.” She pulled out her copies of the paperwork. “I’m the property of my Master, and Violet is my property. There wasn’t really a modern precedent for it - so the state comptroller defined us as real estate.”

Zoey chimed in. “Our last advisor had been working on an appeal for their property tax. They’re currently marked as ‘commercial,’ but Lola and Violet only have sex with me and Nicky - we think they should be zoned residential.”

Talia sat very, very still. “Just to be clear… you want to be sexual slaves? This was your desired outcome?”

Both of them shook their heads eagerly. “It’s what I’ve wanted my entire adult life.” Lola gave Dominick a flirty smile. “There’s no better feeling in the world than submitting to my Master, knowing that I’m powerless to deny his sexual commands.”

“Well put, Mistress.”

“The girls have complete autonomy in all other parts of their lives,” Dom quickly added, “including sex with other people. I absolutely insisted on it.” He pointed a thumb at Lola, smirking. “I can’t get this one to clean the kitchen without a court order!”

Lola stuck her tongue out. “I’m a sex slave, not a maid! We pay people to mop and dust - I’m not gonna waste time on that when I could have your cock inside me!” She turned to Talia. “Speaking of which, could we pause before we get down to business? It’s been a few hours - I really should suck Master off…”

The woman froze, but Dominick waved Lola off. “You can blow me on the car ride home, dear. I keep telling you - it’s unhygienic to do it in public…”

“Not if I swallow all the cum!” she countered.

…Talia had always wondered what it would feel like to go mad, to physically feel one’s sanity slip away. Now she knew - her scalp was tingling, and she could hear her heartbeat.

“Knock it off you two!” Zoey gave them both a dirty look then jerked her head towards the twitching woman. “You’re freaking her out.” She gave Talia a friendly smile and patted her hand. “Our family is a little unorthodox, it’s true - but our money spends just like anyone else’s. What’s your opinion on the financials?”

The money. The money! Talia shook her head, pulse slowing as she refocused on her actual goal. Maybe the clients were …somewhat eccentric - but with the kind of money they had, they could afford to be. She gratefully took the lifeline Zoey had offered.

But there was a hook on the end of that line.

“On the whole, I think you’ve done quite well, though I have several recommendations about optimizing your risk-adjusted returns.” Talia took a deep breath, prepared herself. “However, I must ask… in the name of financial due diligence.  under the ‘Origin of Funds’ in your onboarding documentation, there was only one word…”

“Asteroid.”

“Oh, the asteroid! I’d completely forgotten about the asteroid!” Lola smiled at the recollection.

“Ok, so…” Dominick’s tone was apologetic, slightly embarrassed. “When I was nineteen, I inherited my grandparents’ land in Sequim - a little lavender farm, about 70 acres. An asteroid made out of gold crashed into the barn.”

Talia made a pained strangling noise. Her hand gripped the armrest so hard the knuckles went white. Unbidden, her analytic mind made some calculations. “You’re telling me a ton of gold fell into your lap!?”

Violet shook her head. “The actual asteroid was slightly over 500 pounds, and was roughly 87% gold - the remainder was a mix of iron, nickel and cadmium.”

“It wasn’t the weight of the gold,” Zoey explained. “The value came from being an asteroid made of gold. Nicky sold it to a Kuwaiti prince.”

“You know what - that actually does make it better.” Talia forced herself to release the chair, took another deep breath. “Anyway, the Vasquez Family Trust. On a personal level, I’m deeply impressed by your frugality. 95% of your earned yield was donated to charity - trans’ rights and animal welfare groups, mostly.”

Dom shrugged. “We don’t need much money. Trans folk do.”

“And animal shelters,” Zoey added. “The people that work in animal shelters are saints.”

Talia visibly slumped with relief. Finally, these people were talking sense.

“Absolutely. My sister has volunteered with TransLift for years - fantastic organization, excellent efficiency ratio.” She scrolled for a bit, then paused. “I was concerned about one expense, though. Are you aware that you’ve allocated nearly a million dollars in the past three years to something called “The Hot Girls Ride?”

Lola shook her head. “We really need to change that name. It’s so reductive.”

“I agree, Mistress, but it’s a question of branding. ‘Retroactive Feminine Gender Affirming Transformation Processor’ is accurate, but it’s quite the mouthful.”

The Vasquezes started discussing the matter amongst themselves, and Talia’s blood pressure spiked alarmingly, vision going red as she listened.

“Shut. Up.” Talia pounded her fist on the table and everyone jumped, shocked at the outburst.

She shook slightly as she spoke. “Are you trying to say that you are financing a ride, in a theme park, that turns the riders into women?”

“No.” Zoey calmly but firmly corrected her. “They were already women. The ride simply forces reality to acknowledge that fact. Also, it’s not strictly for transwomen. Gender affirmation is for everyone - ciswomen are allowed to be whoever they want too.”

“Mrs Vasquez, I apologize for my poor phrasing - but you misunderstand the nature of my concern!” Talia paused, making an effort to lower her voice. “You’re saying there’s a machine in the Bahamas that can physically transform people into attractive women. Why is right now the first time I’m hearing about it!? Why isn’t on the front page of THE NEW YORK FUCKING TIMES!?”

Zoey shrugged. “We try to keep it low profile - we don’t want scientists or politicians or religious nuts gumming things up. This is just for people who need help being the woman they’re supposed to be.”

“Also,” Dominick added, “The effects are retroactive. There’s less friction all around that way. Nobody wants to keep explaining why and how they returned from vacation as a beautiful woman with nice tits. Believe me, the conversation gets dull, fast.”

“My sister works at Bacchanal Bay - has worked there for like two years. She would have told me if there was a ride like that!”

The Vasquez family raised a collective eyebrow. “What’s your sister’s name?” Lola asked innocently.

“Aerith Devreux,” Talia was nonplussed by the question. “Why?”

Lola fidgeted with her phone a moment, then showed it to the rest of the family, who all nodded.

“A big Final Fantasy fan, your sister?”

“That is a coincidence.” Talia growled. “Almost stopped playing the game, she got teased so hard. It was her name first!”

“Talia, may I be blunt?” Zoey gave her a hard look, and Talia gave it to her right back before nodding.

“You’re not here to be our friend - you’re here to make us money. We have a lot of shit to fix, and we’re trying to do it subtly - so we invest our fortune, and use the returns to help people.”

“Your fucking job is make those returns as big as fucking possible. I don’t care what you think or believe about us, as long as you make the line go up. Can you do that?”

Talia stood. “Your last guy was a fucking pussy. You’ve got an absolute mountain of money, and right now it’s doing fuck-all. You got an average of 3.2 percent return with Derek - I can double that standing on my head.”

“You say you have a ride that gives people big tits? Fine. Give me three years and you’ll have two rides and tits so big you won’t be able to walk.”

Lola nodded her approval. “You had me at tits.”

The Vasquez Family looked at each other, wordlessly coming to an agreement. Dominick stood and offered a hand.

“Ok Talia, get us six percent if you’re hard enough. Pull it off, we’ll make sure everyone with money knows it. Fuck up, we’ll make sure everyone with money knows that too.”

“On one condition,” Zoey added. “If you want the gig, you’re going down to St Lucia with us - tonight. Go home and pack your shit, be at the airport by seven. You’re gonna spend the weekend at Bacchanal Bay - our treat - and go for a little ride.” 

“Afterwards, you and your sister can talk. I’m sure you’ll have lots to discuss.”

Talia didn’t hesitate. She nodded to Zoey then took Dom’s hand. “As your financial advisor, it would be irresponsible of me not to test your magic ride - make sure you’re not squandering your fortune on nonsense.”

“But if it works, you’re buying me a new wardrobe. I’ll need some outfits to show off my massive new tits.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm and confidence, but her confidence faltered when she saw the looks on everyone’s face.

“Of course,” Zoey reassured her. “Wouldn’t be the first time…”

The End

Thank you for reading Down Payment: A Hit and Run Story by The Ethical Hypnotist!

Author's Note:

Thanks again to SoylentOrange for help with continuity and editing.

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