Brewster's Brood - Pt. 44

Part Forty-four

(Author's Note: BB updates have been a bit sporadic as of late, so I've included the current Cast of Characters with this post at the bottom, just in case you need a reminder of who everyone is.)

Louisa Maresca – 3/13/2017 – Tuesday – 11:37 pm

            Louisa felt a little bit bad about leaving Max asleep alone in the bed, but Renee had snuck out the minute the man had drifted off, and the longer she was around, the longer she was going to have to keep up the lie, which, she’d realized, was harder than it had looked.

            To be sure, Max had bought into her story hook, line and sinker, and the rest of the girls in the Game had thanked her as soon as she’d made her way out of the bedroom. It had solved so many of their problems so quickly, and now they just need to make sure everyone sticked to the script, depending on if they were portraying themselves as a local or an out-of-towner.

            Mrs. Churchill had even called her, telling her that she’d earned a special quarter of a million dollar ‘bonus’ that would be deposited into her account, as a reward for ‘significant contributions to the game.’ That single conversation had apparently saved them a load of work, simply because it was such a plausible situation, and Max had been spiraling out of control for lack of a better one.

            Sure enough, in her email account for the game, there was a transcript of part of her conversation with Max, calling out to all the other women in the game of how these things were meant to be done, and how everyone else should take their cues from her. It was a little intimidating, Louisa felt, being called out as the ‘star pupil’ for the day, but she had to admit, none of the other women were making her feel bad about it. If anything, many of them looked extremely relieved not to be looking for some cover for their story.

            “You think you got him?” Olivia asked her as Louisa sat down in the area outside of the pool, sliding her a glass of water. That had been one part of Mrs. Churchill’s advice that many of the girls had been ignoring – less alcohol and more water. Lots of the girls had been drinking plenty, with the excuse of ‘that’s how my mother got pregnant, and once I’m pregnant, then I’ll stop drinking, and not a moment before.’ It was an easy attitude to take.

            “I certainly feel like I got a pretty heavy load from him, but the dude’s been firing rounds non-stop for over a week,” Louisa laughed. “It’s hard to imagine he’s got a full clip in him. That said, he’s hydrated, and it wasn’t like I was getting a dust buster blown up my cooch.”

            “Well, that’s good at least,” Olivia laughed. “You’re lucky. You had an edge from knowing him from before.”

            “I don’t know if that was as much of an edge as you think it was,” Louisa sighed, taking a sip from her water glass. “When I first knew him, I was pretty young, so I think there may have been some inertia to get past for him thinking of me back then.”

            “He must’ve been pretty young himself, though.”

            “It was, like, twenty years ago, so yeah,” she giggled. “Back when life seemed so wide open and not like we’d lived through so much of it. Guess that’s why we’re all here trying to get ourselves a baby without having to have a hanger on of a dad.”

            Olivia sniffed dismissively. “You could say that. I’ve been around the Hollywood scene long enough to know that there isn’t a single man there I’d want to see be the father of my child. Oh, there’s fine enough men, but nobody who’s great father material, at least that I’ve run into. They’re all far more concerned with their careers or the legacies than they are doing what needs to be done to raise a child into a decent human being. I’m sure there’s plenty who could; I’m just saying I can’t, for the life of me, figure out where they are or how to find them.”

            “What is it you do?”

            “I’m a TV producer,” Olivia said. “I created that series of shows your grandparents probably watch, Law of the Sea, Law of the Sky, Law of the Dirt, you know the series…”

            “Oh, all those military law shows,” Louisa said, nodding. “I don’t know that I’ve ever watched one, but I’ve seen ads on for them all the time.”

            “Yeah, you’re not really our demographic, but I appreciate you saying you’ve seen the ads. It started out as one show and I thought it would be something to make my bones with and then I could move on to making the kind of Norman Lear-style shows I wanted, where people were talking about real issues, things affected the everyday family. But no, all the networks want is a solid base-hit and nobody appreciates you trying to swing for the fences anymore. They want their predictable slice of the pie, a solid demographic that doesn’t fluctuate, that’s just going to keep watching, even if you’re recycling the same twenty plots over and over again.”

            “People like to play it safe these days,” a French woman named Delphine said to them. “They want everything to be within the realms of what they feel comfortable losing, which means no real risk at all.” She shook her head, a strange, lilting smile on her lips. “That is what drew us all together, no? We all wanted to feel alive again. We wanted to gamble with our future on a chance to win big, or a tiny, little, minute chance at winning everything we ever wanted. That’s what being alive is. Playing the odds where there’s a chance everything could blow up spectacularly. That rush, that incredible feeling of falling without net or parachute, hoping you will learn to fly before you hit the ground.”

            “I wouldn’t go that far,” Danny said with a chuckle as he reached behind the counter to grab one of the bottles of whiskey. “But you ladies are certainly all are playing a strange game with your future. Not that I’m judging. We all put our gambles in different ways in different places.”

            “How’d you get mixed up in all this, Danny?”

            The ex-Ranger waved his hand dismissively. “War wound meant a bunch of people thought I was done for good. Mrs. Churchill had other ideas in mind, so she put me back to work, and she was right – still plenty of hunt left in this dog.”

            “Anyone across the finish line yet?” a very curvy blonde named Nina asked.

            Danny shrugged. “Nobody confirmed yet. A couple of people say they’ve got ‘good feelings’ about it, but you can’t really detect a viable pregnancy until about two weeks in, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Besides, still plenty of time left. Nobody needs to be getting worried just yet. Hell, we don’t even have everyone in yet. Just a few more days, though, and it’ll get to be insane.”

            Liane leaned her head against her boyfriend’s shoulder. “The last few groups are where the real tryhards are gonna be,” the tall Asian woman said. “They’re afraid they’re starting behind, when they get just as much time as anyone else does. And they’re studying all the videos, learning from people’s approaches what works and what doesn’t… If I were in the game, I’d actually want to go later. I think it’ll work out better, and I’d stand better odds.”

            “You’re not playing Liane?” Esme asked her.

            “Nah,” Liane responded. “I want to have my kid with Danny, and Danny’s already got a big enough paycheck coming from this that if he wants to, he could retire. Not that he’s gonna. But it’ll let him and me buy a super nice house that we’ll only see a few months every year. But still, it’ll be ours.”

            “Why only a few months every year?”

            “Danny’s work with Mrs. Churchill keeps him on the go, and now that I’m going to marry the big palooka, I go where he goes, so we’ll be on the move a bunch.”

            “They do this kind of thing often?” Delphine asked.

            “Honey, nobody does this kind of thing often…” Liane laughed.

            The girls all laughed at that, as Danny checked in with Heather via text message, making sure she was ready to take over the night watch shift. Max seemed like was completely out for the night, so Danny wanted to head home and get a good night’s sleep while that was an option for him. Heather had been resting so she was geared up and on her way to take over, it seemed and the girls had gotten used to seeing Heather hanging around the place, although in a couple of instances, Max had actually noticed her as well, just because she seemed to be the one woman in all of Ironwood Estates who didn’t seem to be chasing him incessantly.

            Louisa felt strange after her encounter with Max – there was a sense of satisfaction, that she’d been able to do the right thing, to get him over the goal line and to have him take a chance at impregnating her, which would get her close to her two goals – a baby of her own and the financial stability to not have to worry about it – but she didn’t feel the sense of closure she thought she might get by seducing one of the guys she’d crushed after when she was younger. She’d expected to feel more satisfied, but she didn’t know if she was pregnant or not, and that was the hardest thing about this game – you could ‘score’ and still didn’t ‘win,’ because until people were showing up pregnant, everyone was just sort of in a holding pattern, to see if it had taken.

            She realized she couldn’t do much more at that moment. Hanging around waiting for Max to awaken would just kill her element of mystery, and if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, she would need to take another swing at him, but she wouldn’t know that for a while now. She could’ve tried to get another round in in the morning when he got up, but that just felt greedy. There were a lot of girls in the competition, and she’d had her one shot for now, so best to step aside and not fight with all the girls who hadn’t even gotten a single load up tossed up them yet, much less several.

            Early on, Louisa had thought she’d try and learn everyone’s names, make friends with as many of them as possible, but there were simply too many people for all of that. She just needed to make friends with a handful of key players and then forget the rest as quickly as she met them, dismiss them as nothing more than competition.

Except, of course, for Renee.  

            With her re-introduction to Max, Louisa had tied her game to Renee’s, simply because she needed one person to be her anchor, her rock that she could turn to, and the woman’s podcast had been something Louisa had been familiar with enough to feel like she knew Renee, even if the two women had never met before that fateful day when Mrs. Churchill gathered them all together. But she had to hope that Renee was as quick a study as she was, because if Renee slipped up, Max’s suspicions could come flooding back to them in a heartbeat, which was something they couldn’t afford.

            Accordingly, Louisa had written up a couple of pages about herself for Renee to read, and hoped that the podcaster’s typical level of attention to detail would apply here as well, but if it didn’t, they were going to be right back where they started again.

            With nothing else to do for the day, Louisa headed back to the rental the Game had gotten her and hoped like hell her belly was growing a new life.

Danny Garney – 3/13/2017 – Tuesday – 11:58 pm

             Danny and Liane were on their motorcycle, heading away from Ironwood Estates when Danny’s cellphone rang. Thankfully, his helmet had a Bluetooth headset wired into it, so he could take the call as he was heading back to the AirBnB they’d rented out. “Hey Jac, what’s up?”

            “So it turns out your spidey sense was right, big man,” Jacinda said to him from the main office. “We do have an operator putting bugs on our boy. And we’ve identified a little bit about him. His name is Aaron Stamford.”

            For the next few minutes, Jacinda walked Danny through what little information they had about Aaron, and while she did, Danny changed course away from the AirBnB and over towards Max’s apartment over the garage. All the details made sense, especially if the guy had wanted to be a spook early on in his life.  “So, let me get this straight – you want me to make contact with the guy and bring him in?”

            “Mrs. Churchill thinks the best play is to just bring the guy into the fold, right? He’s looking out for Max’s best interest, only he doesn’t realize that all of this is in Max’s best interest. Nobody’s out to harm him. Nobody’s trying to make his life difficult, beyond what the terms of the will specify we have to. We just want you to make contact with this guy and then see if you can bring him in for a meeting with the boss.”

            “If this guy’s half the spook we think he is, he may not want to meet in person,” Danny said. “Might find that he would suspect it of being a trap.”

            “Well, you know the sort of spook handshakes and whatnot, as well as what levels of paranoia to expect from someone of this level of security. You think you can find some way to make contact and then put him into a conversation with Mrs. Churchill?”

            “I do,” Danny said, “but I’m betting you she may not like it. She still awake?”

            “She can be.”

            “Which means she isn’t. Right. Well, I’m probably going to have to have you wake her up in an hour or two, although it might be longer,” Danny said. “Depends on how good this guy is at his job.”

            “Assume he’s as good as one of us, Danny, if not better.”

            “Alright then,” Danny sighed. “If we really want to make contact, we’re going to have to get outside of the box a bit and tip our hands a bit.”

            “What do you mean by ‘tip our hands a bit,’ Danny? How direct are you going to be?”

            “About as direct as it gets, Jac, but don’t worry. If this guy is who you seem to think he is, then everything’s gonna be fine, and this’ll all work out hunky dory.”

            “And if it doesn’t?”

            “Well, he might try and put a bullet in the back of my skull, but I think we’re far too early for that to be an option,” Dany laughed.

            “I hope you’re kidding, Danny.”

            “Me too, Jac. Call you when I know more.” He tapped the button on his phone to end the call, then switched his headset to link up with Liane’s. “Hey babe. Looks like we’re not going home right away after all. If you want, you can take the bike back to our bunk and I can just catch an Uber back. I wouldn’t blame you one bit.”

            “What did I miss?” He spent the next couple of minutes filling Liane in on what Jac had told her in the phone call as Liane laughed, shaking her head, a little incredulous that Danny’s team had actual competitors that they’d stumbled onto by accident. “No way in hell I’m missing this,” she said. “I’ll hang around with you and wait.”

            “Alright,” he warned, “as long as you don’t bitch and moan at me if it takes us longer than you want it to. Because we could be here a while.”

            “What are you going to do while we wait?”

            “Probably just surf the web on my phone, although maybe I’ll just take a little nap. I have no idea how often this guy’s checking his cameras, but I know that he is,” Danny told his girlfriend. “So I’m just gonna trip one, tell him into the camera that I want a meeting, and then wait.”

            “You think he’s going to show up?”

            “I suspect he’s going to call.”

            “How’s he going to know what number to call?”

            “I’ll write my phone number down on a piece of paper and hold it up to one of the cameras.”

            “You think that’s going to work?”

            “I think he’ll be too curious not to.”

            “Isn’t he going to be afraid to call you for fear of you tracing his phone call?”

            “He’ll call from a landline. Probably a public phone, but maybe a restaurant or gas station or something. It’s easy enough to do, if you know what you’re doing.”

            “Public phone?” Liane asked incredulously. “They still have those?”

            “In a few places, here and there, if you know where to look and how to get to them. And, y’know, how to use them,” Danny said. “More than likely he’ll just step into a gas station or a restaurant or something and ask to make a quick phone call, and that’ll be that.”

            “Okay, I think you’re full of shit about the public pay phone, but I’m willing to take a gamble just to watch you work,” she said as Danny pulled the bike into a spot alongside of the garage Max’s apartment was over. They each pulled their helmets off and affixed them to the bike as Danny moved over to the steps that led up to Max’s door, knowing full well Max was still asleep at Ironwood. “What’re you doing?”

            “Exactly what I told you,” Danny said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out his tiny little notebook and his pen. He opened it up to a blank page and wrote “Call me” and his phone number on the piece of paper then moved to sit down, holding the paper up, pointing in a slightly odd direction. He moved to brace the pad so it stayed up without him holding it, then took out his phone and started playing Clash Royale while he waited.

            Liane moved over and sat down a few stairs below him, making sure that wherever the camera Danny was seeing that she couldn’t, it had a clear line to the pad and the note.

            Danny had guessed it would be about twenty or thirty minutes before his cell rang.

            It was a little less than ten.

            “Hello Aaron.”

            “Why Danny, I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced,” Aaron said in amusement on the other end of the line. “Although I’ll grant you, that’s an impressive little trick. I’m starting to be glad I made this phone call, if for no other reason than to have this little chat.”

            “Think you’d feel comfortable having this meeting face-to-face?”

            “I’m a spook; you’re ex-Special Forces. Do you think I’d feel comfortable with it?”

            “How about if I give you my word it would be just to talk?”

            “Oh, well in that case, sure, yeah, I’ll be right over. C’mon.”

            “Had to try. It would’ve made things much easier than you hanging up in thirty seconds only to call me back in two minutes to continue the conversation after you’ve moved.”

            “Got my MO sorted out already?”

            “It’s that you’re good. C’mon. I’ll let you name the place and time.”

            The line went silent for a few seconds before it went dead. And then Danny’s head perked up as he heard a voice from across the street. “How about here and now?” Aaron said with a soft laugh, walking over towards them. “You don’t have a backup spotter with a rifle watching you right now. Either you’re incredibly bold or incredibly stupid, and your file makes it clear the second isn’t an option. I looked into you, Danny Garney. You’re a hard man to get details on.”

            “Back at you, Aaron Stamford,” Danny said with a grin. “You don’t have much of a file anywhere according to just about everybody. That’s not easy. I’d have asked your uncle, but he’s passed.”

            “How’d you find me at all?”

            “If I tell you, will you give me five minutes to explain everything to you?”

            Aaron glanced at his watch, an expensive looking timepiece with absolutely zero digital functions on it. “Sure I can give you that, I think. What did I miss?”

            “You left a pretty sizable note in Max’s senior yearbook for a guy who went out of his way not to appear in the contents at all,” Danny shot back.

            “Goddamn it,” Aaron said with a laugh. “I knew actually signing those things for people would come back and bite me in the add, but I just couldn’t help myself.”

            “It’s always the sentimentality that comes back and bites us in the ass,” Danny said. “We wouldn’t have picked up on it if we hadn’t spotted your attempt at jacking into our signals.”

            “Yeah, kudos to your people for that,” Aaron said. “I thought I’d covered every bit of my tracks, but somehow you lot spotted me.”

            “Well, there’s a lot more of us than there are you of. I’m guessing you’re, what, a two-or-three-person team? We know it’s you and Larissa, but we weren’t sure if there was another.”

            “Well, if there is, you’re not exactly incentivizing me to tell you about them, now are you?”

            “I’m trying to show you as many of my cards as I can, Aaron, so you feel like we’re being as transparent with you as we can be,” Danny said. “Oh, this is my fiancée Liane, but I’m pretty sure you knew that.”

            “Hey there,” Liane said, not looking up from her phone, not wanting to make the guy any more nervous than he already seemed.

            “Girlfriend, sure; fiancée? No. Mazel tov. Now, you want to tell me what the hell you’re doing keeping all these cameras on my friend?”

            “I can tell you, but you can’t tell him.”

            “That doesn’t sound very fair.”

            “The reasons you can’t tell him are entirely for his benefit.”

            “So you say, but you’re asking me to trust you on this.”

            Danny grinned. “Oh, I’ll tell you everything, but only on the condition that if you agree with what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and that it’s in your friend’s best interest, you keep quiet about it and don’t tell him.”

            “What the hell would I tell him instead?”

            “That you looked into it and that nobody’s doing anything to him with malicious intent, and that he doesn’t have anything to be worried about.”

            “That’s a very tall order.”

            “It’s a very wild tale.”

            “Fine, lay it on me.”

            “Can I call my boss and loop her in on this?”

            “C’mon, Danny,” Aaron warned, moving to lean against the side of the garage. “I’m starting to consider the concept of trusting you. Don’t blow it here.”

            “Fine,” Danny said. “How much do you know about your friend Max?”

            “Enough.”

            “You sure?” Danny grinned. “Because I’m betting you were so focused on looking for who was keeping tabs on Max, you forgot to look into Max himself.”

            “Alright, hotshot. What did I miss?”

            “Couldn’t find anything about his parents, could you?”

            Aaron’s eyes narrowed a little bit. “No. Suspiciously so. His dad seemed like a pretty plain dude, and I couldn’t… well, I couldn’t find anything at all about his mother, although, to be honest, I did most of my looking when I was a lot younger. I didn’t think it would be relevant all these years later.”

            “As it turns out, it was truly the only relevant thing entirely.”

            “Okay, how so?”

            “How much do you keep tabs on the news?”

            “As much as any other conspiracy nut, so lots? What in particular am I supposed to be keeping tabs on?”

            “You know who Monty Brand is?”

            “God, who doesn’t? That rich fuck is like a billion and ten, and owns half of everything.”

            “Was, but don’t go spreading that around yet,” Danny said.

            “Wait, what?”

            “Yep. And according to all the press stories, he didn’t have an heir… except he did.”

            Aaron’s head tilted then his eyes widened. “NO.”

            “Yep,” Danny laughed. “Except old man Brand had a rather kooky condition in his will that prevents Max from claiming all that money. But, as part of the will, he can’t know what that condition is until he meets it.”

            “Wait… what? How can he do something he doesn’t know he’s supposed to be doing?”

            “That’s where we come in,” Danny said. “We were hired by Mr. Brand before his passing to… help get Max into doing what he needs to do to claim his inheritance.”

            “Which is… what exactly?”

            “Knock up a whole lotta women…”

            “Surely you can’t be serious.”

            “As a heart attack, and don’t call me Shirley,” Danny said. “Monty Brand was worried that what he considered ‘their sacred bloodline’ was going to expire, since Max is the only living member of it right now. So, to claim his inheritance, he needs to knock up at least ten women within the next hundred days. Each woman who gets pregnant with his child gets a stipend to help her take care of their child, and she doesn’t have to have anything to do with Max if she doesn’t want to after that. If the number of women Max gets pregnant goes beyond that, there’s tiers and whatnot, and the stipend that each woman gets goes up. As part of this, of course, they also relinquish any claim on the Brand family fortune, unless they end up marrying Max. But you see, if Max just knocks up one woman, he doesn’t get the inheritance, and none of the women get anything.”

            “This is insane,” Aaron said. “How the hell are… Ironwood. It’s not real, is it?”

            “Well, this one is. For the next hundred days or so, but who knows, maybe Max’ll want to keep it open after he’s done with the game. No, the women in the game came up with the concept themselves, a place where having sex with people you’d just met wasn’t just commonplace, it was expected. And that’s the first of several good ideas they’ve had since the game started a little more than a week ago.”

            “This hasn’t even been going on two weeks yet?” Aaron asked with a laugh. “And you have to keep him from finding out for a hundred days? Fuck, I don’t envy you guys…”

            “That’s the thing, Aaron,” Danny sighed. “If you tell him you’ve investigated it, and that nobody’s out to harm him, it’ll go a long way, and should help lull him into a sense of complacency.”

            “How many people has he knocked up so far?”

            “It’s too early to know if any of them have taken, but your boy’s been giving it the old college try like you wouldn’t believe.”

            “With how many women?”

            “Twenty-five, give or take.”

            Aaron’s eyes widened and his jaw actually dropped open for a second. “No shit? That’s, like, three a day!”

            “Yep. With a number of repeat offenders, too.”

            “And you’re sure he’s going to be okay?”

            “We’ve got a doctor on staff full-time, and her entire job is Max’s physical health. If she thinks he needs a break, we have some control mechanisms to help dial the women back a bit,” Danny assured him. “Trust me, Aaron. If this goes south, we’re all screwed too. If Max doesn’t survive to claim his inheritance, none of us get paid. The entire fortune gets scattered around so many charities it’ll make your head spin.”

            “How much?”               

            “About 145 billion dollars.”

            “Wait, what?”

            “I mean, it should be closer to 147 billion dollars, but a lot of money is being set aside to pay the stipends for all the kids, and to pay our salaries, and for all the support it takes just having these hundred women here for the hundred days.”

            “There are a hundred different women trying to get Max to knock them up?”

            “I think it’s a little bit over, but thereabouts. We had a couple of late entrants, and you know how any endeavor with this many people goes. There’s always some chaos you have to make room for.”

            “And why can’t Max know about it?”

            “Part of the conditions Monty left behind,” Danny said with a chuckle. “I think the guy was annoyed that Max never seemed to have a ‘sow your wild oats’ phase. This was his way of punishing the guy, by making him have so much sex that he’d get a little numb to it all, so the bloodline would get spread far and wide. I dunno, man. Rich fucks are weird, y’know?”

            “I take it you can prove all of this?”

            “I can take you to meet my boss, show you Monty Brand’s dying wishes tape about the will, the one that all the girls got to see, the whole shebang.”

            “Huh.”

            “But you see? If you tell him, literally the person you’re hurting most is Max…”

            “…fuck me…”

MRS. CHURCHILL'S NOTES (Cast of Characters):

The Mark (& Company)

•        Max Brewster – The Mark – 42, Caucasian, doughy, with mostly black (although with some gray) hair pulled back into a ponytail, sleeved with tats, tanned skin, brown eyes (near sighted), owner of the Constant Rotation food truck, and long lost grandson and only living relative of the late billionaire Max Brand. Seems like a nice enough guy, but a bit shy and a touch socially awkward. The more women I can get him to knock up, the more me and my team get paid. He had a restaurant go up in a fire and through a loophole, didn't get any recompense from either the building owner or the insurance company, and started the food truck as a way to get a fresh start.

•        Monty Brand (deceased) – The Bank – Died at 102 about three months ago. Established the Brand game before his death, whereas his only living relative (Max), gets his inheritance after he's spread their genetic lineage to at least 10 women, although he can't know about the game until after it's over. I feel a little sorry for Max, but he's going to be having so much casual sex that I can't muster up too much sympathy for him. Monty wanted to make sure that both Max sowed his wild oats and also punished him for waiting so long to do so. Monty was a tough old bastard, but he's leaving Max over a hundred billion dollars, so I guess he's entitled to be.

•        Frankie Yen – The Inside Man – 38, Asian American, Max's best friend, and his coworker at the Constant Rotation truck. Frankie also owns the house where Max lives in an apartment above the garage. Frankie's been a wonderful resource for us to use, and is in on the game, although he's also a little bit flaky, and doesn't always have the information we want. Doing our homework on the people Max had dated was exceptionally difficult, and I still feel like we're missing some key details that will make the whole puzzle make sense.

•        Carlos & Joey Hernandez – The B-Team – The two Hispanic brothers who man the Constant Rotation food truck on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so that Max and Frankie get two days off but the truck is still earning. We're going to have to find some way to convince Max to let these two take more shifts on the truck so that we get more time with him, but Jacinda's got a few thoughts on that, and some of the girls in the game have already coopted one day of the truck's schedule, so maybe it won't be as big a problem as anticipated.

Mrs. Churchill's Team

•        Mrs. Helen Churchill – The HBIC (Head Bitch In Charge) – Me. 59, short cut white hair, no nonsense business-like attitude. I've been told I resemble Dame Judi Dench, which I take as a compliment. I'm the woman in charge of the Max Brewster Project, contracted by Monty Brand.

•        Jacinda Acosta – The Heir To My Throne – My right hand woman. 29, from Madrid. Black hair, brown eyes, brown skin, could stand to eat a sandwich. Only has about seven months with the team. Stresses out easily. 

•        Maia Brown – PR – 44, former Kentucky television station manager, in charge of social smokescreens and making sure we don't draw any attention to our operations.

•        Lynne Jefferson – Tech – 28, heavy set, African American. Our technical manager, who handles all our cameras and internet connectivity. The newest member to the team, brought on about six months before the start of this project.

•        Carmen Vasquez – Graveyard Shift – 37, our late night set of eyes, the one I trust to watch the camera feed when the rest of us are getting our good night's worth of sleep in.

•        Doctor (Rachel) Williamson – 44, our staff doctor whose entire job it is to keep an eye on Max's health, to make sure he's not being overtaxed or exhausted beyond his capabilities.

•        Danny Garney – The Muscle – 34, ex-Delta Force, chiseled and ridiculously good looking, head of security and Max's personal bodyguard, even if Max doesn't know about it. If there's anyone I'm going to lean on if shit gets out of hand, it's Danny, who's been part of my operations for about three years now, after an injury cut his military career short.

•        Liane Jing – Muscle Adjacent – Danny's girlfriend, 26, 6'6” Asian American, gorgeous and playful, knows what Danny's up to, but doesn't mind being used as cover considering it gives her a front row seat to the madness. Liane's been with Danny long enough that I have her under NDA, and if he does the right thing and puts a ring on it, I may even consider bringing her into the team, since she seems to have good instincts at crisis management.

•        Heather Bickers – Midnight Muscle – 31, ex-Army Ranger. Danny can't be awake all the time, so Heather's doing nightwatch duty for him, as she has on and off for gags we've been running. Heather's smart, capable and an excellent person to serve as Danny's second.

•        Abigal ‘Abby’ Tench – Foe Turned Friend – 27, ex-military, ex-Yancy’s Nancies. Abby used to work for the other side, but Yancy’s a pain in the ass, the money’s better and we’re nicer people, so she ditched working for him to come work for me.

Alfa Group

•        Zoe Hitchens – The Planner – 36, business analyst, light blonde, Nordic, 5'7”, glasses, blue eyes, expensive tastes, the smartest in A group, wants to organize for success, from DC. So far, Zoe's been instrumental in making the group time spent with Max feel natural and organic. I don't think she's after Max for the long haul, but she's definitely invested in making sure the game is a huge success. Might even be a candidate for my team at a later date, post kid or if she doesn't get knocked up. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Dana Weismann – The Socialite – 32, heiress/investor, brunette, 5'9”, had nose job/boob job, brown eyes, doesn't care about the money only wants good DNA for her kid. Is presenting herself as the owner of the Berkeley chapter of the Ironwood Estates sex club, something the girls made up to try and sell Max on the story. She's whip smart and seems to enjoy the challenge the game presents. Definitely not wifey candidate. Attempts: 0.

•        Michelle Stenson – The Joker – 24, pharmaceutical rep, 5'4”, dark blonde, ex college cheerleader, the ultra flirt, mostly just here to get in, have a good time, get knocked up and get out, from Texas. Seems to enjoying the girls' company more than Max's, but definitely wants to get her cut. No chance of going for wifey. Attempts:1, Success: Unknown.

•        Rachel Munroe – The Intellectual – 27, redhead, psychiatrist, 5'2”, wants to keep everyone on the rails, protective of the girls' feelings. Haven't decided if she's going to try and go wifey or not, but is another smart put early in the game, as she's helping sell the story well. Attempts: 0.

•        Kelly Coleman – The Damaged Student Athlete – 21, brunette, native Californian, 5'7”, 120, in phenomenal shape except walks with a slight limp, was a rising up and coming tennis star until an accident injured her too much to ever play again, has a chip on her shoulder and something to prove. Definitely not wifey material, but will be a good touchstone for the younger girls in the game. Took one in the mouth and one in the ass to sell the story, so definitely willing to play the game as needed. Has potential to run long in the game. Possesses a photographic memory. Attempts: 2, Success: Unknown.

•        Mai Liang – The Banker – 30, investment banker, 5'6”, slender, 2nd gen Chinese American, tired of feeling like a walk on in someone else's story, does NOT intend to keep Max around. She's got a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but I think she's going to be another get in, get knocked up, get out candidate, and won't care about upping the pool after she's gone. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Jenny Westinghouse – The Undercover Cop – 33, strawberry blonde, 5'10”, Oakland detective, keeps strange hours which makes it hard to have a relationship, on 3 months administrative leave following difficult UC assignment, dependable & accomplished liar. I knew Jenny was going to be a key player in our game, but she's taken to it like a fish to water. Might be wifey candidate. Certainly seems like she wants to go for the long game. One to watch closely. Her and Zoe are my current odds on favorites, although it's early. Attempts: 3, Success: Unknown.

•        Cara Bianchi – The Tourist – 25, brunette, 5'11”, business owner, visiting from Rome, wants a non-Italian father, in need of money, doesn't want to ever talk to Max. I was pretty impressed with how Dana and Esme handled Cara's incredibly specific demands, and I'm hoping it took so we can just get her out of here, as she's a massive pain the ass. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Blake Brown – The Party Girl – 19, 6'2”, blonde, Berkeley student, sees this as an opportunity to have a kid early in life, have the day care and her tuition paid for, studying to get into IP law. She's nowhere near mature enough to stick with Max long term, but she'll be a fun dalliance for him to dip his dick into, assuming she doesn't put him off with her flippant attitude or her incessant textspeak. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Esme Santiago – The Team Player – 24, 5'4”, Latina, up from Texas, wants to have a child but dislikes everyone in her small town, intends to go back home after the competition and help her parents run the family business. Doesn't seem like wifey potential, but is working well with Dana to sell the Ironwood Estates story, acting as “manager” of the club. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

Bravo Group

•        Zelda Fujikawa – Doctor Wifey – 34, 2nd gen Japanese immigrant, oncologist on sabbatical from a Miami hospital, wants to stay with Max past the game. Extremely pragmatic and determined. Could be a contender. Attempts: 0.

•        Anya Petrov – The Eye Candy – 25, Russian model, blonde, fit, definitely in it just for the money, literal zero chance of being wifey material. Am a little worried about her being too passive for the game, but I suspect we'll see the competitor come out in her after a few weeks of Max's head not being turned. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        LaTonya Jefferson – The Investor – 27, African American, restaurateur from Chicago, not looking to stick around but wants to amp the game to get as many girls pregnant as possible. I like how this girl thinks, in that she's in it to make sure the prize pool gets as big as possible, and doesn't give a fuck about anyone's feelings along the way. Attempts: 0.

•        Diane Wilson – The Deadender – 26, brunette, diner owner from small Kentucky town, needs the money, wants the kid. She seems nice enough, too passive to be wifey material, but is definitely going to make sure she gets her oven filled with a bun, as she's up to her eyeballs in debt, and the money to take care of the kid stretches a whole lot further in the Rust Belt than it does in the Bay. Could get cutthroat if the rest of the girls don't give her her shot. Attempts: 0.

•        Janet Flowers – The Unrealistic Clockwatcher – 33, nurse from Oklahoma, convinced her clock is ticking despite the fact that she's still got the better part of a decade. Strikes me as overly excitable, and not wifey material, but is definitely not going to throw away her shot. Attempts: 0.

•        Olivia Castle – The Realistic Clockwatcher – 41, TV exec from LA, knows her time is running out and that a viable pregnancy is going to be difficult for her if she waits too much longer. Can't tell if she wants to be wifey contender or not, but she's in TV, and that means she will cut a bitch for getting in her way. Attempts: 0.

•        Song Min-a – The Foreign Starlet – 25, actress from South Korea, wants a baby completely removed from the press of her home country. Nobody knows who she is here, but she's a massive star in her home country. She had to duck the press leaving, but the longer she's in the game, the more attention her presence might bring. We're hoping to keep her presence in the Bay quiet, but it's not something that we can completely control. Doesn't want to be wifey, so won't be, but wants the father of her child to be a non-issue. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Lisseth Rodriguez – The Fugitive – 23, Latina from Arizona, wants a father for her child that her bad ex can't track down. I feel for Lisseth, I really do, and I decided if she gets pregnant, we're going to give her a “signing bonus” to help her relocate after the game, to get away from a  particularly vindictive ex-husband. We'll get her settled somewhere in the Northeast with a new name and a new life, away from that asshole. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Yael Getschmann – The Bohemian – 31, Jewish, artist/sculptor, split between just wanting the kid and wanting to go for the brass ring. Could be wifey material, but also may not be motivated enough for our boy, who seems a bit of a hustler when it comes to work life, whereas Yael's pretty much had everything handed to her on a silver platter. One to watch. Attempts: 0.

•        Charity Morrison – The Kind Soul – 38, blonde, professional caregiver, just doesn't have time to date but wants a kid. I don't know that I've ever met a more aptly named woman. Charity wants a kid, but hasn't got a great social support system for dating, and her work makes meeting new people a giant challenge. No chance at wifey status, but one of the ones I'm personally rooting for to get her fill. Attempts: 0.

Charlie Group

•        Marta Youngquist – The Nutritionist – 33, personal trainer, yogi, cook and dietitian. Blonde, slender, pretty in a kind of naturist way. She's been offering advice on what kinds of food to give to Max to keep his sexual appetite and energy up, as well as to increase his virility, although I don't know how much of that is actual science and how much of it is pseudo mumbo jumbo. No way in hell she makes wifey. Attempts: 0.

•        Brooklynn Travers – The Fallen Older Sister – 36, actress, heiress to nothing, from a somewhat shattered family. Redhead, sporty, talented, a little conniving maybe. She and her sister were the heirs to the Travers fortune. You know, the one that disappeared just a few years ago, when the patriarch died and it was revealed that the family “fortune” was purely paper fiction. She and her sister are earning decent money acting, but they're used to living large, and I suspect the game is just as much about the money as it is the kid. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Guinevere “Gwen” Travers – The Fallen Younger Sister – 33, actress, also an heiress to nothing. Brunette, thin, very pale. If Brooklynn is the populist actress, Gwen's the arthouse rebel. She's also had a long list of disastrous relationships. The two sisters are both interested in having kids out of the spotlight, and so they're doing this for themselves, although I think both have aspirations of turning wifey. Their chances? Not entirely sure. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Keisha Jefferson – The Attorney – 37, lawyer from NYC. African-American, highly accomplished. If there's anyone who read every single line of our NDA, it was Keisha, who's here just to get herself a child without the hassle of having a father who wants to be involved in the child's life. She's going to get in, then get out, but she's also going to make sure the game does well and her paycheck is solid. Attempts: 0.

•        Erika Lu – The Songwriter – 31, professional songwriter from LA. Asian-American, ex-choir girl, ex-cheerleader, cheery and positive as all hell. Erika's been working with lots of very well known performers, and has probably co-written a number of songs you know and love. She's hard to get a read on, so maybe she's going for wifey, maybe not. Attempts: 1. Success: Unknown.

•        Felicita Rodriguez – The Architect – 35, one of the architects from Rodriguez & Sons construction company from Mexico City. Latina, should've been a model. She's got a bit of a chip on her shoulder that her father didn't rename the company to include her when she joined the company. Just wants the anonymity and the money. Not going for the brass ring, I think. Attempts: 0.

•        Nina Hanson – The Stylist – 24, a beautician and hair stylist from Cleveland. Blonde, BBW, charming and personable. Needs the money, wants the kid. Feels mostly like a seatfiller, but might surprise us, considering she's remarkably easy to talk to. Attempts: 0.

•        Angel MacDonald – The Hard Sell – 27, looks much younger. Blonde, slender, dresses to play into her extremely youthful appearance. I think Angel's going to have the hardest time with Max because she just doesn't appear old enough, so she's going to have to very much play into the “no one takes me seriously” angle, rather than the “I'm a cute little Lolita” shtick she's been using with boys her entire life. Attempts: 0.

•        Danielle Fox – The InstaPersonality – 24, brunette from Dublin. She's a fashion Instagrammer TikTok model, and we had a personal talk with her about how much shit she'd be in for blogging or getting any of this on social media. She's gorgeous and savvy, and is used to looking pretty, but her boyfriend is impotent, and they want a child, so he's given her permission to do this crazy thing while he's uploading prerecorded stuff for the three months while she's away. Attempts: 0.

•        Hana Tanaka – The Shut-In – 28, from Nikko, Japan, two hours north of Tokyo up the mountains. Hana is painfully shy, so I'm hoping she's going to pair up with someone else who can get her into Max's bed. She wants a child, but doesn't want to have to find a husband to do it. Attempts: 0.

Delta Group

•        Sunshine White – The Hippie – 29, “maker” and metalsmith. You know, I've heard about people like Sunshine for years, how they would spend time at Burning Man in tutus and fairy costumes while welding steel onto the side of an old schoolbus, but I always believed that was sort of a myth, until I met Sunshine, who is so that person. Is local, but way too out there to be wifey material. Attempts: 1, Success: Unknown.

•        Aisha Janson – The Comedian – 34, professional stand up comedian from Oakland. She's been a writer and a stand up for the better part of twenty years, and while she's made a great career out of it, she's had some bad run ins with male comics that soured her on long term relationships. She knows not to make material out of this. Attempts: 0.

•        Kayla Denver – The World Traveler – 28, a travel writer/blogger who graduated from college and went on a world tour that she's never really come down from. Is best known for her article on how to travel nonstop on frequent flyer miles for basically nothing. Seems like she's mostly in it for the experience. Attempts: 1.

•        Tisha Brady – The War Photographer – 33, a photojournalist from Jordan who has spent the last decade in every war zone she can find, which has already won her a Pulitzer. She's a little embittered by life, so she's hoping bringing a life into the world will shock her out of her ennui. Will be a little heavy for Max, but will be a good contrast. Attempts: 0.

•        Aiko Cabrera – The Small Town Peruvian – 26, works at a roadside motel in Huaraz, Peru as both desk clerk and maid. She's never been out of Peru before now, although her English is excellent. She's mostly here to see the world, and get outside of her little comfort zone. She's not in it for the long haul, but definitely wants a kid. Attempts: 0.

•        Delphine Trudeau – The Fashionista – 25, an up and coming fashion designer from Paris, she's so heavily immersed in the fashion world that she doesn't see many other ways to meet a man outside of that world. I'm mostly intrigued to see how high fashion runs into... Max. But she's French, so I'm sure she'll make it work. Attempts: 0.

•        Daisy May Price – The Deep Fried Southerner – 22, works on her parents' farm in rural Georgia, and wants to have a child but knows her parents would never approve without meeting the man, and they have hated all her boyfriends. Daisy May is loud and boisterous and is going to bring volume to the competition. Let's see if Max knows what hit him. Attempts: 1.

•        Eliza Sims – The War Widow – 25, still trying to recover from the loss of her husband, Nick, who was KIA in Afghanistan last year. Her whole world fell apart, and she's still sort of grasping at straws, but feels like being a mother will be the first step on her road to recovery. Attempts: 0.

•        Rose Whitcombe – The Athlete's Daughter – 20, from England, daughter of professional soccer legend Max Whitcombe. Rose has been trying to find a place for herself, competing in international dressage competitions, but right now, she's mostly just eager to do something to rile her father up. Something of a firecracker. Attempts: 0.

•        Ali O'Halloran – The Mountie – 29, from far northern Canada, Ali's been working for Canadian law enforcement since she was old enough to be admitted, but the job hasn't left her room for starting a family. Very friendly and approachable, and hopefully won't get shoved out of space for Max's attention. Attempts: 1.

Echo Group

·       Annabeth Winslow – The Nuclear Physicist/Comedian – 33, Annabeth got her doctorate in nuclear physics, but after a couple of years in research, she gave it up to become a stand-up comedian. She’s witty and observant, but at this point, her money’s running tight. Attempts: 0.

·       Svetlana Miersk – The Gangster – 28, the daughter of now-dead Russian crime boss Oli Miersk, Svetlana has taken over the family business. Despite being told repeatedly that if she’s arrested the payments would stop and that having a child would be a liability in her line of work, she’s adamant that she wants to take part in the game. So I figure, either way, Max makes out for the best. Attempts: 1.

·       Deepika Bashir – The Researcher – 36, Deepika immigrated from India at the age of 16 and has been struggling to find her place to fit in since she arrived in the States. She’s a researcher focusing on human behavior, and specializes in both the flaws and working aspects of neurolinguistic programming, namely how words can get the brain to take certain pathways on its own. She’s whipsmart, although she can be a bit shy at first, so we’ll see how she mingles with the crowd of players. Attempts: 0.

·       Bianca Browne – The Mogul’s Daughter – 22, Bianca’s father is Blake Browne, who owns the Browne Bread Brewery, one of the most popular upstart beer companies of the last fifty years. She’s been living in a very insulated world, and is using all of this to get herself a degree of freedom from dear old dad. She’s drop-dead stunning, but isn’t used to having to work for anything, so I expect her to have some learning to do before she gets her head deep into the running for the game. Attempts: 0.

·       Tanya Blue – The Retired Porn Star – 38. You would think a former porn star would have no trouble finding somebody to knock her up, but if you believe Tanya, most of the men in the industry are either complete assholes or had vasectomies before they even shot their first scene. Tanya retired about four years ago, and has since gone on to become a writer and a C-list actress, but she wants a kid and she wants it with somebody nobody knows. Attempts: 0.

·       Madison Belledin – The Touring Musician – 31, I think Madison has spent most of her life in motion and without a home. Her parents were musicians who drifted from band to band, from tour to tour, and so Madison’s never really stayed in one place for long, or had much of a home. When she was old enough, she followed in their footsteps and began playing whatever was needed for whatever band was hiring. Doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for love. Attempts: 2.

·       Evelyn Staples – The Mortician – 25, Evelyn doesn’t spend a lot of time around the living, so she’s not exactly the best at conversation, but she wants a baby and likes the idea of the kid being funded by someone who’s just going to keep his nose out of her business. Attempts: 0.

·       Jaybird Nielsen – The Flight Attendant – 38, Jay travels about a million and a half miles every year and has done so for the last couple of decades as a flight attendant traveling internationally constantly. The pay is good and she enjoys being loads of places, but wants to take a couple of years off to have a child. That’s why she’s here. Unlikely to stick around, but her interpersonal skills make her an easy check in the win column. Attempts: 0.

·       Gail Hopeless – The Farmer – 24, Gail’s from the middle of nowhere, somewhere in central Australia, and is completely away from her home and comfort zone, but wants to have an adventure while she’s still young, and all this is meant to be that. Attempts: 0.

·       Jordan Tanbar – The ‘Influencer’ – 19, It’s funny how utterly confident this girl is despite not having any real basis for her confidence. She claims to be an ‘influencer,’ but she hasn’t got a lot of followers and doesn’t really influence anything. But I think she’s hoping that having a child will help her break into finding an audience. I have my doubts she’s going to be able to lure Max in, but she’s got such faith in herself that it’s going to be fun to watch if nothing else. Attempts: 0.   

Foxtrot Group

·       Nina Legetti – The Repeat Widow – 29, What a rough beat this lady’s had. She married her childhood sweetheart at 19 and lost him to cancer at 22. She thought she was done for but at 25 she started her second act only for him to be taken from her by a drunk driver. Both times, they’d been just starting to think about trying for a child, and she was heartbroken. Now, she’s approaching 30 and she doesn’t want to have a third husband, but she wants a child to fill that void in her life. She’s a veterinarian from Kentucky, and I’m certain she doesn’t want our boy for the long run. Attempts: 0.

·       Harper Ryan – The Former Soldier – 26, From one extreme to the other. Harper is an ex-Marine who lost one of her legs in the Afghan conflict and although she recovered and learned to walk on her artificial leg very easily, I don’t know that she’s ever really regained her footing. Since she’s gotten back, she’s been bouncing around a lot, trying to find her way. But I like the idea of a woman who specialized in demolitions and demolitions disposal showing our boy a bit of attention that he won’t see coming. Attempts: 0.

·       Amber Nguyen – The Retired Movie Star – 38, After leaving the spotlight a few years ago, Amber decided she was retiring from acting to move into directing. She complained about how the casting directors had stopped looking at her now that she wasn’t as young and pretty as she was during her glory days, but having a child has always been on her agenda, and having the money to soften that made it even more appealing. The woman still oozes sex appeal, though, and that should carry her far. Attempts: 0.

·       Dani McFadden – The Precious Stones Magnate – 26, She doesn’t want a man, just an heir. She’s the last in a line herself, her father having died in a mining accident about a year and a half ago. The man’s trophy wife was left a stipend, but Dani, his only child, inherited basically everything, so she doesn’t care about the money in any sense other than she doesn’t want her money to figure into it. Max doesn’t know she’s made of money, and even if he did, he wouldn’t care. So I think they’ll both walk away happy from this one. Attempts: 1.

·       Stephanie Walker – The Bounty Hunter – 31, I love this for the game. Stephanie Walker comes from a long family line of bounty hunters and bail skip tracers. She’s used to getting what she wants when she wants it, and she does not take no for an answer. She’s ripped, she’s forceful and she’s used to putting the moves on her target. She’s not just a ripple in the pond, she’s a giant boulder. Attempts: 1.

·       Megan Hitch – The Haughty Heiress – 24, This is a woman who knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want. She and the magnate will get along like houses on fire, but everyone else? Talk about culture clash. She’s used to having to navigate the cutthroat world of upper society, and she’s used to getting deferential treatment from everyone, so this is going to be rough. She’s going to have to find a way to take what she wants from someone unlikely to be interested in giving it to her. Her attitude’s going to be a challenge. Attempts: 0.

·       Ashley Mansell – The Underwear Model – 21, It’s amazing how poor social skills a woman this beautiful has. She’s been part of pageants and beauty contests since she was a child, so she’s great at putting on a false front and convincing people that she’s capable of anything. But, shockingly, she’s basically a virgin, having had sex twice in her whole life. She wants to have a child as a sort of chance to do something for herself, to fulfill a personal goal. But she may have trouble talking her way into Max’s bed, if her looks can’t carry her all the way there. Attempts: 0.

·       Abi Winters – The Dental Assistant – 29, This girl is absolutely tired of the social situation in her small town, but she doesn’t want to leave and she does want a child. I think it’s something about staring down 30 that makes us women all go a little stir crazy, and while she loves her home, she still wants to be a mother. Attempts: 0.

·       Kristen Cruz – The Sex Ed Teacher – 26, I can’t deny the irony and hilarity of this. She’s a Midwestern sex ed teacher (although she also teaches French and history – small town high schools, it’s the sort of thing where a person wears a lot of hats), lovely girl, but like so many people in our little game, she’s sampled most of the people in her local pool, and none of them are up to snuff. Attempts: 1.

·       Fang Miralles – The Spy – 28, She likes to tell people she’s an administrative assistant, but the woman is clearly an intelligence officer. But her cover is solid and she very much wants a child. We’ve pointed out that he isn’t going to be someone they can get any real advantage from, and she’s stuck to her guns – she just wants a child, but the money’s certainly a nice thing to get as well. She’s from China, but was educated in London, and she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in this game. And how could I turn down a genuine spy? Attempts: 0.

Golf Group

•        Shu Yeoh – The Legacy – 32, Daughter of Gemma Yeoh, one of the Oversight Trio. She’s a smart, talented businesswoman here in the Bay Area, working for one of the better known investment companies, eager to be part of the Game because she wants to be able to brag that she was part of it, considering it the ultimate FOMO. Attempts: 0.

•        Emma Wagner – The Rancher – 27, a young woman from Montana who’s inherited her family’s ranch, but doesn’t have much in the way of romantic prospects, but wants the ability to have a legacy that outlives her, and having a child will go a long way towards that. Attempts: 0.

•        Steph McMayer – The Van Girl – 29, the girl has been a musician playing coffee houses up and down the West Coast, trying to get ‘discovered,’ but so far, can’t even earn enough to make first/last month’s rent to cover renting out a place. But she sees this as an opportunity to get her life back on track. Attempts: 0.

•        Sally Golden – The Ex-Escort – 33, from the Las Vegas area, Sally was a legal sex worker in the state of Nevada from the age of 18 until she turned 30. From then on, she’s tried to have relationships, but her past keeps catching up with her. She’ll fit in fine with this crowd. Attempts: 1.

•        Bea Flavio – The Smuggler – 39, I’ve actually worked with Bea before. She’s good at what she does, but she’s also lived a very lonely life, and so when all is said and done, she’s just after the same thing as every other girl, the baby and the money. Currently residing in Madrid. Attempts: 0.

•        Joan Serge – The Art Appraiser – 34, It’s surprising how bad the rich and powerful are about getting knocked up. Several years being one of the most well-known art dealers in Manhattan and she can’t find some pretentious artist to plug her good. Oh well, her loss is our gain. Attempts: 0.

•        Gina Beltzer – The Chef – 26, It’s obvious that she and Max will get along in terms of discussing food, but once you get past that, the two couldn’t be more different. Gina’s classically trained; Max isn’t. Gina grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth; Max didn’t. It’ll be fun watching her trying to push against her own nature with him. Attempts: 0.

•        Noa Rafelli – The F1 Racer – 24, The Israeli born superstar of the racing scene doesn’t want anyone to know her husband is incapable of giving her children, so he’s given her permission to use Max as a surrogate, and possibly win them enough money to ensure the child’s permanently taken care of. She’s a stunner. She’ll get what she wants. Attempts: 0.

•        Kaila Spender – The DJ – 22, From Ibiza to the hottest dance clubs in London, Kaila’s been getting around and making a name for herself, but it’s lonely constantly travelling, and she hasn’t been able to hold down much of a relationship because of that. Attempts: 0.

•        Reiko Mitsosuke – The Salarywoman – 26, She’s had a mostly fulfilling life in Tokyo, but now she wants a child, and she doesn’t want the hassle of having to date and find someone suitable, so she’s looking at us, and Max, to fill that need. Attempts: 0.

Hotel Group

·       Renee Peters – The True Crime Podcaster – 37, Renee is an ex-NPR radio host who released her first true crime podcast about three years ago and has since turned it into a full-time business, leaving her very little time to date. Attempts: 1.

·       Sophie MacDougal – The Botanist – 31, Sophie is a classic bookworm, having spent her entire college career heads down studying. She feels like her time to be a mother is running out and so she’s doing everything she can to have that baby now. Attempts: 0.

·       Diana Mercer – The Stuntwoman – 37, Diana’s one of the best stuntwomen in the business, but she’s also getting too old to keep it going too much longer, and so she wants to have a child to help focus her mind away from the job she’s going to have to give up. Attempts: 0.

·       Gemma Ashton-Scythe – The Cottage Queen – 24, Gemma lives in a small village in upper Scotland, and wants to have a child, specifically because it will ‘give her content.’ Not exactly swinging for the stars, but she has a large YouTube following for her cooking videos. Attempts: 0.

·       Faye Anavelli – The Vineyard Keeper – 36, Faye lives in northern Italy, and keeps mostly to herself. Another one of the rurals come out to play, in search of a child without consequences. Attempts: 0.

·       Cecelia Alvarado – The Programmer – 27, Cecelia is one of the best upcoming programmers in Mexico, but unfortunately, that’s drawn the attention of the cartels. She’ll use the money and the relocation to somewhere safe to start a new life with her new child. Attempts: 0.

·       Natalie Bartlett – The State Senator – 28, Natalie’s a state senator from Kentucky, and wants to get pregnant outside of a relationship in order to push that towards normalization in the southern state. Attempts: 0.

·       Raji Anapoole – The Aeronautics Engineer – 36, Raji’s another workaholic who just got lost in her job and when she looked up, her youth had disappeared. She never found a husband or even a community to become a part of. Attempts: 0.

·       Louisa Maresca – The ‘Tracer’ – 36, Louisa is a woman working in a predominantly men’s oriented field – comic books. She’s an inker, commonly jokingly referred to as a tracer, and just wants to have something of her own. Attempts: 1.

·       Natalia Zeferelli – The Filmmaker – 41, Natalia’s been making successful arthouse films for twenty years now, never costing a lot, always making more than she spends, but her dating life is one long tragedy. She sees this as as her last chance to be a mom. Attempts: 0.

India Group

•        Grace Grimaldi – Sixth in line to the monarchy of Monaco.

Juliett Group

•        Isabella – The Apocalypse – God help us when she arrives... Perhaps the most unpredictable and dangerous player in the game. Worked as a caretaker for the late Mr. Brand for his final two years, and has a chip on her shoulder that he didn’t leave her anything.

•        Adette Schwartz – The Late Addition – Deiter's granddaughter, an entry to the game after it's already started, something I wouldn't normally do, but saying no to Dieter would make things a whole hell of a lot more complicated. Dieter's not to be trusted so who the hell knows what this girl's real agenda is. 

Other figures of note

•        Christine DeSilva – The Reporter – Hopefully tamed. For now.

•        Aldus Finley – The Opportunist – One of the people looking to make a little side money from any opportunity he could find with the Brand Game.