Free Second Skin by Eric Van Lustbader Page A

panting like two animals caught in a crossfire of headlights, terrified, unsure what step to take next.
    ‘Rich’ – she put out a hand – ‘let’s talk about this now. It’s not too late to –’
    ‘It is too late, Margarite. I signed the papers late yesterday. It’s a done deal.’
    She looked into his blue eyes, trying to fathom the truth. This was so unlike him. It was as if she were seeing an entirely different person from the one she had come to know over the course of their twelve-year partnership. How many times had he been over to the house? He had come to Francie’s Communion, had bought her that six-foot, cuddly bear she still loved, had presented her last year with that massive multimedia system – stereo speakers and all – for her top-of-the-line MAC. And now this: betrayal. Why? For money?
    ‘Who did you sell out to?’
    ‘Oh, come on, bella, nothing’s going to change. I’ll still be working here. I signed a personal services contract–’
    ‘A contract!’ He reacted to the sneer in her voice. ‘A paid employee in your own company.’ She shook her head, raked fingers through her dark, thick hair. ‘Madonna, listen to yourself. You still don’t get it. These petzinavanti, whoever they are, own you. The minute they don’t like the job you’re doing or disagree with it or, even, don’t like the suits you’re wearing or the smell of your breath, you’re out of here, no recourse. Everything you’ve worked for for more than a decade, down the drain, over, finis .’ She stared at him. ‘Oh, Rich, what have you done?’
    ‘What had to be done,’ he said, turning away from her, ‘believe me.’
    ‘Right now I don’t believe anything or anyone.’ She finished the rest of the water, poured herself more. Her throat was so dry. ‘So who is it? Perelman? Am I now co-owned by Revlon?’
    ‘No, no one like that,’ he said, biting his lower lip. ‘In fact, this is the company’s first foray into cosmetics. Its name is Volto Enterprises Unlimited. They’re out of West Palm Beach in Florida, but they have offices all over the globe. They flew me down to West Palm,’ he continued, in a pathetic attempt to attach his enthusiasm to her. ‘Christ, you should see the layout they have there. This huge white stucco mansion over the Atlantic – breathtaking.’
    ‘So they had people schmooze you, probably fuck you till you couldn’t see straight, then greased you,’ Margarite said, the disgust evident in her voice. ‘What was Volto’s head honcho like?’
    ‘I don’t know. I never met him. Just a bunch of upper-management people – the board of directors, I believe – and, yeah, some good-time, um, people.’ Rich was bisexual, which was often something of an asset in Europe. ‘And a shitload of lawyers. It was unbelievable.’
    ‘Breathtaking... unbelievable,’ she said bitterly. ‘I can’t wait to meet my new partners.’
    ‘Nothing’s going to change.’ But he had already turned away from her, as if even he could not believe his words. ‘The Volto people will be in tomorrow to take a meeting with both of us. You’ll see, then, that this isn’t going to be the disaster you anticipate.’
    ‘Madonna, what cabbage patch did you grow up in?’ She found herself on the verge of laughing, which was okay because it stopped the tears from forming. She finished her water, went straight for the sambuca. ‘You betrayed me, betrayed everything we had together.’
    Silence. Air rushing through the vent like a live wire, buzzing like the blood singing in her temples.
    ‘I trusted you and you sold me out.’ She swung the empty glass at his head. ‘Bastard!’
    Every Thursday at five Tony D. had a massage. Even when he was out of town – which he often was, in LA – work stopped on that day at that hour so he could relax. Relaxation was one of Tony D.’s requirements of life. He found deal-making impossible without it. A clear mind enabled him to conceive of new ways to fuck