It was the phone call she’d dreaded, the one she knew she’d get
eventually. Fear and certainty had paralyzed her; she’d had weeks to
prepare, to look for some other solution, but like a rabbit frozen in
fear, she’d done nothing but wait. Wait to hear Francesca’s voice
telling her she was selling The Planet out from under her. Even now,
Francesca still dominated her life. And enjoyed it.

There would never be any getting away from Francesca, she could control
you from a country away. Marina sighed, steeling herself for what was
to come.

“I assume you don’t have the money to buy me out,” Francesca said coolly.

“It’s a lot of money.” Marina said, her voice almost taking on a whining quality to it.

“Yes, I know.” Fran said with self satisfaction that dripped from each word she spoke.

Marina could hear the grin in her voice. Out of habit, she dropped her
eyes and chewed her bottom lip, as she always did when Francesca was
humiliating her. “I just need more.”

“No,” Francesca said firmly, “no more time. I’ll be in town on Friday,
to meet with a potential buyer. I know she has at least half my share
right now, maybe more. I’ll give you until then to come up with the
other half.”

“Francesca, please.” Marina’s voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Sorry, darling. Begging just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.” The red head said, the harshness in her voice stabbed at Marina.

The phone call terminated with a cold click. Marina ran a shaky hand through her hair.

“My sweet, who was that?” Jenny stopped at the door, their drinks on a
tray. She was wearing their favorite next-to-nothing dress, neckline
plunging down to there, and hemline way above the red garters holding
her black silk stockings in place. She knelt at Marina’s feet, handing
her a glass of wine.

“Francesca,” Marina answered miserably, hopelessness softening her voice.

“She wants money?” Jenny asked, feeling the pain in Marina’s voice like it was her very own.

Marina shook her head. “Not really. She’s going to sell The Planet. She
has a potential buyer for her half. For all I know, she might be able
to force me to sell mine too. I would have agreed to anything back
then, and I did.” Marina admitted with a soft sigh of regret.