The Price
By LadyWithLight (a.k.a. Martha)
Summary: The senator always said, "Everyone has a price, Willi."
Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty or any of the characters or plotlines from the show. I'm just borrowing.
"Everyone has a price, Willi."
One of the countless important lessons that Wilhelmina Slater learned from her father, a United States Senator, was that no one was unbuyable. Loyalty from employees, constituents, lovers, friends and enemies had to be bought.
The price of loyalty varies by person. Some people come fairly cheap: a few little baubles now and then. People like her assistant could be purchased with just a few extra bits of fashionable swag from the closet or invitations to parties.
Other people demand a higher price. People like Christina, the seamstress, needed a leg up in their careers. With Christina, Wilhelmina almost couldn't make the sale. But luckily, at the last minute, she pulled through.
Betty Suarez had been the most difficult purchase of all. Wilhelmina had known all along that her family was the most obvious way to make the deal. She had tried several times early in the girl's career at MODE to buy her loyalty. She had even been a little discouraged, at first, at her inability to buy the assistant out. If $20,000 wouldn't do it, what would?
But she soon discovered that she just needed to bide her time. When she first offered, Betty's family was not in quite enough difficulty. That's why Wilhelmina used her father's influence to insure that Ignacio Suarez could not return from Mexico without her help.
When she finally had her opportunity to buy Betty out, it wasn't nearly as satisfying as she thought it would be. The look on her face when she realized that she had no choice but to sell her soul almost made Wilhelmina think twice about carrying out her blackmail.
Almost.
In the end she made sure that she owned Betty Suarez's loyalty. Her price was one deported father returned from Mexico.