Galit Shows Her Hand
Four hours later, Galit was buzzed up to their apartment. Jorge, the family carpenter and situational butler, answered the door. He laid Galit’s jacket on the chair in the entryway instead of hanging it up. Without that one faux pas and the fact that a baby goat was tailing him, he might have pulled off the butler act. He walked Galit into the library, where Christy was waiting.
“Christy?” Galit said, looking around. “Where’s Michael?”
“Michael’s not here. This is between you and me. Sit down.”
Galit took a seat, acting nonchalant. “Fine.”
Jorge walked in to serve a Mexican high tea. That is, chips, guacamole, and tea. He poured two cups and left the room.
“Okay, Galit, tell me what you want from Michael.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve been threatening to expose his financial problems to the business community. If you do that before he has a chance to renegotiate with his banks, the consequences would be devastating.”
“You have a nice home, Christy,” she said, looking around. “I’d like a home like this.”
“I’m sure your apartment is very nice,” Christy said.
“Yes, but it’s not like this. Do you know how hard it is to make ends meet on a reporter’s salary?”
“No, I don’t.”
“It’s tough. By this point in my life, I would have expected to hook up with a CEO who would marry me and take care of me in style. Like Michael takes care of you. But no such luck.”
Galit looked forlorn, and for a moment Christy felt sorry for her. Apparently Galit had never realized that her “don’t fuck with me or I’ll cut your dick off” attitude wasn’t much of a turn-on. “Well, I’m sorry you haven’t met the right guy yet” was all Christy could say.
“My life would have been so much easier with assistants, stylists, chefs, drivers, masseurs, maids—all the things you have.”
“I don’t have a stylist, Galit,” Christy said.
“Obviously,” she said, looking Christy over. “I was hoping Michael would find me enticing enough to leave you.”
Whoa! All that time Christy had been envious of Galit’s beauty, brains, and sophistication, and Galit was jealous of her. She laughed out loud. “Galit, you have no idea what it takes to entice a man like Michael.”
“Then why don’t you tell me?”
“Sorry, I don’t give lessons in husband stealing. You’ll have to figure that out on your own. Can I offer you some chips? Guacamole?”
Galit took a blue corn chip and dipped it in the chunky green dip. “Did you make this? I heard that you’d given up everything to become Suzy Homemaker.”
“Galit, just tell me what you want.” Christy was losing her patience.
“Okay. I want a million dollars. Give me that, and I won’t publish the article. If you don’t, the story runs in Friday’s edition. In fact, it’s already written.”
Christy swallowed hard. A million dollars. “Okay,” she said evenly. “That’s going to take a few days to pull together.”
Galit rolled her eyes. “Don’t bullshit me, Christy. Michael can get that kind of money with the snap of his fingers. I want it in bearer bonds. By Thursday.”
“Thursday? That’s two days.” She thought about it for a moment. “Okay, fine. Come back Thursday at five. You’ll have your money.”
As Galit left, Christy heard her lay into Jorge. Apparently, Princess Anastasia had licked her on her way out. “Get that thing away from me!” she screamed in Christy’s direction. “Who ever heard of a pet goat?” she muttered. Then she slammed the door.
Christy sat on the couch thinking about what to do next. There was a rustling sound in the closet. Mice? Bats? Naah. Quietly, Christy tiptoed over and yanked the door open. There was Renata on the ground, holding a glass to her ear where the bottom of the door had just been.
“What in God’s name are you doing in there?” she asked.
Renata looked up and smiled weakly. “Ummm…I was looking for my contact lens?”
Christy reached down and pulled the girl up by the arm. “You don’t wear contacts. Try again.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t get mad. Just listen to what I have to say.”
“It had better be good.”
When Galit arrived on Thursday afternoon, Michael was with Christy.
Jorge escorted her into the library once again.
“Hello, Galit,” Christy said politely, before realizing that she really didn’t need to treat their blackmailer so civilly.
“Christy, Michael,” Galit acknowledged coldly.
“Here,” Christy said, handing her a duffel bag. Galit unzipped it and started counting stacks of bearer bonds.
“It’s all there,” Michael said.
“I’m sure it is,” she said, still counting.
“What assurances do we have that you won’t demand more money later?” Michael asked.
“None,” she said, looking at him with those icy blue eyes of hers.
He walked over and got in her face. “Listen, Galit, you can do this to us once, but not twice. We don’t ever want to see your ass again.”
“You seemed to like my ass just fine in Aspen,” Galit said.
Christy recoiled. Galit was one nasty piece of work.
“There’s one more thing,” Galit said, peering around Michael at Christy. “I want that ring you’re wearing.”
“Are you nuts? That’s Christy’s. You can’t have it. In fact, fuck it.” Michael grabbed the bag from Galit. “Get out. You’re not getting anything.”
Galit stood up and walked to the door. “That’s too bad, Michael. Look for the story tomorrow, front page, center column.”
“Wait,” Christy said, taking off the ring. “Here. Take it. Give her the
