A Start

Douglas took a little extra time driving in, diverting through the poor area of town. Dilapidated apartment complexes, ramshackle homes. He looked at the worst of the lot, something built back in the 1970s. It was square, squat, a cement monstrosity coated in graffiti. Elizabeth would never touch foot in a place like this ... but he wanted his replacement to come from exactly a place like this. There were teens peddling on the corner. He couldn't be a druggie. Not a criminal. Someone who wanted to escape this hellhole, but had never been provided the tools and capital he and Elizabeth had. Someone who started from a disadvantage, whose parents had been disadvantaged, who had descended from slavery. Douglas and Elizabeth had both come from slaveholding families, much to their consternation.

He was lost in thought the entire drive into the office. How to do this, he wondered. It'd take time to find the right candidate. And he'd have to spoonfeed the concept to Elizabeth. It'd take months, he concluded. The discovery of some porn. Discussions. Gradually bringing in toys. Discussions. Gradually introducing the thought of a live man. Discussions. Seeing him, casually. Discussions. It would be painfully slow, but it would be worth it.

It'd have to involve pain too. She certainly wouldn't willingly replace her husband with another. He'd have to betray her, and she'd have to feel that betrayal badly. She'd have to find solace in her casual lover, to hurt badly enough to let him into her heart. She'd have to hurt enough to exact her on Douglas, both financially and by letting that lover, that bull, take over her heart and home. And only then could this experiment, this replacement, be authentic and organic.

He had a trial in three months, one that would give his firm millions in cash if the verdict was what he expected. He'd use this period of time well, to set the stage with Elizabeth. To get her to want this first, innocuous stage as much as he did. Then he'd do some pro bono work to find the right candidate to uplift.