doctor to monitor these medications could now be avoided. He surely didn't want Ben to meet with any doctor. Something else might be uncovered, like the truth. Yes, I believe that Marvin let Ben suffer in silence for his own personal gain and told those who inquired that Ben was over-medicated and that Marvin's actions were really a rescue effort on his part.
Marvin's adoption of Ben also yielded him an additional monthly income from the State. Funds that contained an increase in its amount due to Ben's documented behavior issues. It was as if Marvin was getting paid to 'own' Ben.
Yes, Marvin had it all figured out. What better way to keep a victim 'under your thumb' to control them, than to keep them under your roof and under your wing. Silencing Tools.
As for the odd mentioning of Ben wearing nothing but his underwear; this was most probably done to broadcast an example of Ben's inappropriateness and also a twisted opportunity for Marvin to conjure up another stimulating mental image of Ben.
Ben was ejected from Marvin's home and his life, when Ben turned 18, when the monthly checks from the State ceased. Now Ben was no longer 'useful'. He was surely a loose cannon. Ben moved to another state and rarely contacted Marvin.
While Marvin was a fugitive from justice, with the authorities searching for his whereabouts, Marvin traveled to the state where Ben resided, to meet with him. A special farewell, with threatening overtones to hopefully silence Ben permanently should authorities discover his existence and locate him for questioning. A parting gift especially designed for Ben.
I never saw or heard of Ben again. But I did not look away from Ben this time. This time I told.
Chapter Eleven — CONSTANT COMPANIONS
I noticed that people constantly surrounded Marvin. He didn’t seem to need a private time. Male friends routinely drove from an hour and a half away to see him. Someone always spent the weekend with him.
I discovered through the course of the next eighteen years that every person on his “friend list” was also on his seduction list. He preferred males, but used women as well. Gender was irrelevant. Sex was a game with intercourse the prize. An orgasm was something he could take from you. That’s all that mattered. The more chaos he could create when seducing someone, the more he enjoyed himself. And he was persistent. Only those who repeatedly refused his advances would survive this outcome.
Chapter Twelve — THE NON-INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP
The only intimacy Marvin and I shared in the first four months of our relationship was a hurried peck on the lips. I was concerned by lack of chemistry and physical attraction. I thought about ending the relationship and cutting my losses. Marvin sensed this, and instigated intimacy. That’s not a good word. It was a completed sexual act, but it was not intimate. Marvin exhibited no signs of passion. It was as if he were struggling to perform. But it reassured me that I was loved. It was enough to make me close my eyes to his sexual shortcomings. It allayed my fears enough that I married Marvin. I was happy. Marvin was shielded. What a strange relationship. What lies.
Now the reasons are clear. Marvin was not physically attracted to any female. I doubt there was any sense of giving in having sex with men. He used the sex act solely as a means of conquest. It was a source of control and power purely for the sake of his amusement. After seven years of a manipulative marriage, we were divorced. I needed more from life and Marvin surely was tired of pretending he could be a proper husband. But I remained a friend he could call and brag to and boast about his business successes. We had moved a distance apart, and now our communication was by telephone. He would call me several times a month to boast about his latest business venture or the new contract that he was able to win. He delighted in telling me the details of his latest business conquest.
Marvin was a sales representative for a small but specialized company. He was able, with great ease and little effort, to acquire a sizable contract nearly every month. He would set up meeting with the intended client, show up in his recently “detailed” BMW, wearing a $1,000 suit, and chauffeur that client to a fine restaurant. Most often he would get the contract he sought. He lived well on the companies’ credit card.
Later, after the fall, it became apparent how Marvin got his way. He had sexually seduced his boss, and shortly after that, seduced his boss’s wife. Less than a year after those conquests, his base salary was raised from $35,000 to $100,000 a year. His commissions doubled and sometimes tripled his income.
Marvin seduced several co-workers and clients. His list of conquests was growing. He now had a number of people who would do his bidding, and never be able to undo what had been done. Being sexually conquered, they could be used for a lifetime.
Chapter Thirteen — PENNY
Six months after we were divorced, Marvin invited me to his wedding. He was marrying his neighbor, Penny. When they first met, she was married and had three young boys, ages 8, 10, and 12. Marvin had seduced her and convinced her to file for divorce from her husband of twenty years. Marvin suggested an attorney for her to use, one that he selected on her behalf. One with a merciless reputation and the vicious qualities of a Pit Bull, the kind of qualities that he himself admired. He would be sure to carefully observe this lawyer's tactics and techniques, like a student would a mentor. These 'private lessons' would be valuable to him, and of course, paid for on someone else's dime. This lawyer would render Penny's husband nearly destitute. Broke, most of his acquired assets lost in this divorce that was overseen and coached by a sociopath. Penny's husband was evicted from his home of twenty years, as his wife and three children went to live in the house next door.
Marvin married Penny two weeks later, and the following week a 'For Sale' sign went up in front of Penny’s old house. In a matter of weeks, it sold at $85,000. After twenty long years of house payments this house was just recently paid off. Now all that money was Marvin’s.
Along with the sale of her house he manipulated Penny into selling her other assets; antique furniture, and a paid for truck. Within a four month period of time, Penny's paid for house, furniture, and vehicle were all gone. And so was the money from the sale of her items.
Now that Penny was cash broke and without assets, he would devise another plan to open up other opportunities for him to take from her. He was like a vampire draining the last available drop of blood from his victim. He applied for numerous credit cards via the mail, using each card for the maximum amount of available credit. He forged Penny’s signature on the applications, with him only a secondary cardholder. Thus, he had complete use of these many credit cards, and no fiscal responsibility.
Marvin accessed Penny’s Credit Union account, and found that he could withdraw up to $6,000. He received that check in the mail just one week after forging the application to withdraw. Somehow, he was able to cash that check.
Marvin would begin to use the credit cards that he had applied for; they were coming in the mail at a rapid rate. He hurriedly went about the task of using them to charge items up to their maximum credit limit. So on it continued for Penny, with his 'what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine' type attitude in full operation. This would be the case until he could squeeze her completely dry, and then he planned to discard her.
Now that the scheme to max-out the credit cards was well on its way, he would look for other things that he could take from Penny. He would focus his devious attention on the one thing left to take from her, her children.
Two months after Marvin put all of Penny’s funds in his own name, two of her children came to Penny and told her that they were being made to “do things” with their new stepfather. They gave their mother graphic details of what had occurred in her absence. The youngest child, Nick, then 8 years old, denied any such encounters of his
