Hello, I'm back! School hasn't killed me (yet), but it has been taking up pretty much all of my time. I've had so much homework, you wouldn't believe it, but you don't really care now do you? I thought not.

So here is chapter 10! Woohoo! I'm proud of myself for being able to write a 10 chapter fic. We are getting close to the end here because we're now up to the point where other characters from the movie are being introduced.

"You want me to what?" Ellanor asked incredulously.

"I want you to become my business partner," Cruella replied levelly.

"Are you forgetting that I own this store? That I am still your boss?"

"Hmmm... that is a problem... how about this? I take over the store, and you become my partner."

"Are you mad? I will not give up the store! Not to you at least. I can fire you right now. Has that crossed your mind? I can throw you to the curb right now! And then where would you be?"

"What kind of idiotic question is that? On the curb of course, but I could stand up, walk to another store, and take all of your girls with me too. Of course... we could also just... throw you to the curb."

"You can't."

"I can, and I gladly would."

()()()

Needless to say, Cruella had many wicked tricks up her sleeve to be able to get what she wanted, and she did get what she wanted. Ellanor became Cruella's business partner that afternoon, and Cruella became the head of the store. After about three months, Ellanor was fired, and Cruella became the owner of the store, as well as continuing to be its designer. However, after about a year, it became apparent that she would not be able to run everything and still design all of the clothes. After coming to this conclusion, she assigned Constance to draw up three quarters of the designs while Lydia designed the other quarter. All of the designs had to pass Cruella's inspection though, before they were allowed to be sewn.

The designs could be anything the girls imagined, but there was always one thing that Cruella mandated: each design had to involve a piece with fur. Cruella's passion was slowly becoming more of an obsession. Everything she wore had fur, and as time passed, she began to look for more exotic furs than just plain rabbit, or sable, or even mink.

Cruella also became more domineering as time went on. Her cruelty, which she had hidden from the other seamstresses while she had worked with them, became more apparent with each passing month. At first, she merely yelled at them, but then after another year, she began to scream at them and even insult them if things were not exactly to her liking.

In 1930, business was doing so well that Cruella was able to move the shop to a larger building in Belgravia, where all of the designer and coture shops were (and still are). She began to hire more seamstresses, and she also began to take on a few more designers.

Things ran smoothly until August of that year, when Constance and Cruella got into a bitter fight, and Constance left the shop in hopes of being able to open her own. She never did because somehow, every time she was ready to open, her store was mysteriously trashed and her workshop sacked. Cruella always remarked "what an absolute shame" it was that the "poor dear" had such "terrible misfortune". Yet for her words of sympathy, it seemed that Cruella was never very sorry when that happened. In fact, her worker whispered that she actually seemed a bit pleased with the events. In any case, it had no effect on their business.

At thirty years old, Cruella was one of the most successful business women in London. Her store and studio were thriving, she made thousands of pounds per year, and most importantly of all (to her) she had all access to all the fur she could ever want. But despite this, she always wanted more...

()()()

In the spring of 1935, Cruella did something she had never done before: she accepted an orphan to work at her shop, just as she had been accepted to Ellanor's store nine years before. However, this girl was only fifteen at the time. She was sent there because the orphanage she had lived at was becoming incredibly crowded, and since the young girl was very polite, respectful, and hardworking, it was assumed that she had a better chance of making it in a career than many of the other children did. The girl's name was Anita.

Okay, I know that in the live-action movie they show that Anita worked for Cruella. I'm not writing this to follow that at all. I had the idea before I saw the live action movie. I actually found out that in the 60's animated version, Anita was supposed to have been a school chum of Cruella's but I think that's kind of unlikely (and quite honestly I think a little boring. I don't want to write about school!). I'll try to update again as soon as I can!

A note on location: Belgravia is a high-end part of London, where (at least today) all of the fancy, expensive designer shops are. I'm not sure if it was the same way in the 1920's and 30's, but if not let's just pretend that it was...

Oh, and by the way (since I don't think I've put this anywhere in the story so far), I don't own 101 Dalmatians and I don't own the characters. All I own is the plot, and the characters I made up.

Please review! Cruella is standing here reading over my shoulder as I type, screaming at me to make people review... so please review, because she will take her anger out on me if you don't...

NO CRUELLA, I CANNOT FORCE PEOPLE TO REVIEW!