[The skybox windows are open, the arena is empty and quiet.]

“Sit down Jane.”

[The Sophisticate, Edward White stands peering out at the eerily dark arena with its rows and rows of empty seats. Ed’s personal assistant Jane Katze knows this isn’t a personal call, this is a business meeting. The kind she’d seen so many times over the years she’s worked for White. This wasn’t going to be fun in any sense of the word.]

[Jane sits down in one of the plush leather chairs in front of Ed’s gigantic oak desk. She starts to talk but Ed somehow deftly cuts her off even with his back turned to her.]

Edward White:
You have a keen mind for numbers, Jane dear. You’re gorgeous, you’re dangerous. You’ve been an invaluable resource both in the board room and in the ring. A model employee in most respects.

[Jane is a little confused now.]

Jane Katze:
Thank you sir, I…

[He does it again. Back still turned.]

Edward White:
So why is it you can do something so presumptuously stupid?

[He finally turns around. Even behind his perfectly coiffed beard we can see how unhappy The Socialite is. Jane becomes visibly uncomfortable. She pushes back a strand of long brown hair and keeps her eyes cast down and away from her obviously upset employer.]

Edward White:
I forget, when did I say suspend Lindsay Troy? I must be getting senile in my later years because when I saw that press release pop up on my phone flying back from Tokyo the other day I for the life of me couldn't remember when I’d ordered it.

[She doesn't even get a word out before he cuts her off again.]

Edward White:
And seeing as you don’t work for any of the other decision makers in this wretched company it says to me you took it upon yourself to make that decree. You used my name to further your own ends, didn’t you Jane dear? You don’t particularly like Miss Troy so you took it upon yourself to ban her from my building, is that right?

[Ed moves away from the windows crosses the room and leans back against the front of his desk uncomfortably close to Jane. Shifting in her seat and adjusting her skirt she still has her eyes cast downward. Edward reaches out and places a finger under her chin lifting her head so her eyes finally meet his. With a little hesitation Jane nods her head shamefully.]

Jane Katze:
Lindsay Troy, she… she and those thugs of hers, she…

Edward White:
Shhhhh shhh shhh shhh… I don’t care what she is. I don’t care how much you don’t like her. I don’t care how desperate you are to prove to me you’re not a soulless number cruncher devoid of any and all passion or whatever it is rattling about in that pretty little head of yours.

[Edward leans over slowly, resting his hands on the arms of Jane’s chair getting inches from her face. He’s so close she can smell the intoxicating mix of the nameless cologne made especially for him in Paris, the whisky on his breath and the smell of the worlds finest cigars all wafting in her direction.]

[His eyes speak volumes about how serious he is.]

Edward White:
If you ever do that again? If you ever use my name and my power ever again I’ll end you, is that clear? I’ll put on hold every machination I’m currently working to personally drive you deep down into the dirt. So deep you’ll be forgotten, wholly and completely. Remember that coal mine in China I threatened to send Frank Dylan James to months ago? I’m sure they could use an accountant.

Is that clear?

[Shaken. Terrified. She nods her head.]

Edward White:
You’re dismissed.

[It doesn't take long for Katze to vacate the skybox. Ed pulls an already cut and prepped cuban from his coat pocket, lighting the long Churchill and taking a long satisfying drag.]

Edward White:
So hard to find help these days.

[Lesson of the day?]

[Don’t cross the Bo$$.]

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