Bitsy brought Classi into her office to explain the whole situation with Nathan and Mimsy. The whole time, she was fuming over Nathan and Mimsy's betrayal, wondering how and why they decided to do so the day before the election. She'd already come to the conclusion that Kayla must have been involved somehow, but the hows and whys weren't quite clear in her mind. Classi couldn't understand the rationale behind it, either.
"Why the hell would Kayla convince Nathan and Mimsy to drop out now?" Classi was asking Bitsy. "It don't make sense."
"Well, she managed to convince Dimitry to drop out!" Bitsy replied, still fuming over what had happened. "Why wouldn't she do the same with Nathan and Mimsy?"
"Look, I'm just saying. You expect me to believe that she's going around convincing everyone to drop out? Besides, if there's one thing I know about Nathan and Mimsy, it's that they're real good opportunists. They probably wanted to betray you for a while and just picked a good time to do it."
"You think that's supposed to assuage me? Because it's not! Who the hell do they think they are, those fucking rats? They think they can fuck with a Brandenham like that, the audacity! I'm going to have to call them up and ask them to meet with me here tomorrow night. I ought to show them what happens when you fuck with me."
She picked up the phone and prepared to dial Nathan's number, only for Classi to press down on the receiver.
"Oh hell no!" Classi yelled.
"Classi!" Bitsy exclaimed, aghast. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Ain't no way I'm letting your dwarf ass get killed by Nathan and Mimsy. You know how dangerous those guys are? Extremely; and trust me, I would know. Doesn't matter who you are; if you try to take them on by yourself, you're gonna die, plain and simple. I'm telling you this as a friend, okay?"
Bitsy just smacked her hand off the receiver. "First of all, we're not friends. How dare you assume that just because I shared something private about myself that we're friends. Second, I've got tons of friends. Hell, Whitney and I were friends, and you're just a prostitute that I hired to sleep with me a year ago. Third, what the hell do you think Nathan and Mimsy are going to do to me anyway? Kill me?"
"Bitch, I'm trying to warn you that things are gonna end badly if you try to pick a fight with them!"
"Right, like I'm going to let a hooker tell me my life's in danger."
"Oh, but you'd listen to your precious Helen if you heard it from her, right? Why wouldn't you? You seem to love her more than you love your dog and you loved Whitney. Isn't that what you told me when we first met?!"
"Get out." Bitsy's voice had gained an edge. "You're starting to piss me off. Why don't you go find Masa and talk about... whatever it is you Gen Z people like to talk about? Now if you'll excuse me, I need to set up a meeting with your pimp and his friend."
Classi did just that, her frustration threatening to boil over if she didn't leave right then and there. She needed to clear her head anyway. Sometimes, people like Bitsy could just drive her up the wall within just a few minutes. She never could understand why she stuck around with people like that.
Classi and Masa met up at the Shake Shack at Madison Square Park, hoping to strike up a worthwhile conversation over there while getting something to eat. The place wasn't all that busy, so they didn't have to worry about having their voices drowned out by noise. That, along with the fact that most of the patrons seemed too busy texting away on their phones, made the two feel like they could actually talk to each other without being interrupted.
"So, man, what's up?" Masa asked, after clearing his throat. "How have things been?"
"Fucking terrible," Classi groaned through clenched teeth. "That bitch Bitsy is just so frustrating!"
"Huh? What did she do this time?"
Classi explained everything to Masa, including how she tried to talk Bitsy out of having Nathan and Mimsy meet with her in her office. While Classi continued to explain the whole situation, Masa picked up the meals he and Classi had ordered from the counter and then headed back to the table. Classi gave the tray of food a once-over before concluding her explanation. Afterwards, they started eating their food.
"Damn, that really sucks," Masa could only respond.
Classi shrugged. "Yeah, but whatever. It's her funeral."
"Actually, I think I remember her telling me that she didn't want a funeral. She wanted to be cremated because she didn't want family members upstaging her on her big day. Well, that and it's less expensive."
"It was just a figure of speech, Masa."
"Oh." Masa continued working on his meal. "Still, that really sucks that you couldn't get her to back down."
"I know." Classi leaned her head back in frustration. "Ugh! What am I supposed to do? Bitsy told me herself she wasn't going to listen to me because I'm quote-unquote just a prostitute. There has to be a way to stop her from going through with this meeting."
"You said yourself that Helen might get through to her, right? What if we tried getting through to Bitsy that way?"
Classi mentally facepalmed at this. "Damn, I can't believe I didn't think of that first. God, I hope we can stop Bitsy before it's too late. You ask me, this quest of hers is self-destructive. I'm not gonna stand there and let her get beaten to death by two of the most dangerous people I've ever known."
"Me neither." Pause. "You think we can get Bitsy to cancel the meeting and save her?"
"I don't know, but it's certainly worth a try."
"I hope so, because otherwise she's boned."
Once Classi and Masa had left Shake Shack, they got a call from Maya that Helen and Kayla were meeting up with a wedding planner over at Tasca NYC. So they decided that that was where they were going to find her. It took them twenty-eight minutes to get from the Shake Shack at Madison Square Garden to the Tasca NYC restaurant on 505 Columbus Ave by subway. Along the way, they passed by Hell's Kitchen.
"Ugh, this is just no good," Classi groaned.
"Tell me about it," Masa conceded. "I can't even believe Bitsy would risk her own life like that. I don't know. What if Helen can't get through to her? Then what?"
"I don't know. You got a better idea?"
"Can we just kill her ourselves and get it over with?"
Classi was taken aback by this suggestion. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'd do anything to stop Bitsy, but that ain't it, chief."
Masa chuckled nervously. "I was just kidding. Your plan's better."
Once Classi and Masa had made it to 505 Columbus Ave, they proceeded to enter the restaurant and track Helen down to a table where she and Kayla and the wedding planner were seated.
The wedding planner was thrown off by Classi and Masa's presence. "Uh, excuse me, who are you and what are you doing here?"
Classi proceeded to introduce herself to the wedding planner. "My name is Classi, with an I, and a little dick hanging off the C that bends around and fucks the L out of the A S S."
Masa then introduced himself to the wedding planner with, "And I'm Masaru Akamiya, but my aunt and uncle call me Masa for short."
Masa extended his hand for the wedding planner to shake, and she hesitantly reciprocated.
The wedding planner still felt somewhat uneasy. "Okay... nice to meet you, Classi and Masa. I'm Guilhermina Nietzsche-Veloso. I still don't know why you're here or why you decided to interrupt my session with my clients."
Classi took a deep breath. "I know this is going to be hard to believe, at least for you, so here goes nothing."
Classi and Masa proceeded to explain everything to Helen, Kayla, and Guilhermina; including that Bitsy was under the assumption that Kayla was involved in Nathan and Mimsy going rogue, and that she wanted to make examples out of him before going after Kayla next. This was rather upsetting to hear, to say the least. Shit, Bitsy wasn't actually serious, was she? Then again, Bitsy going after renowned criminals like that might have been the least of her problems.
"She what?" Helen had to keep herself from shaking in fear. "Does Bitsy even realize the kind of danger she'll be in tomorrow?"
Classi shook her head. "Nope, she doesn't have a clue. That's why Masa and I had to come to you for help."
Helen sighed. "Why am I even surprised? I know she's done some stupid things over the years, but this has to be the stupidest by far."
Normally, Helen would've been looking forward to this sort of thing as well. After all, anything that could potentially wipe the old makhasheyfe off the face of the Earth was just another potential step closer to her well-earned inheritance. Of course, this was different. Nathan's reputation preceded him, and it was a gory and salacious one. No one deserved a cruel and unusual death at his hands... not even Bitsy.
"So... is there anything you and Kayla can do to stop her?" Masa asked hopefully.
"I can't be sure," Helen replied. "But it'll be worth a try."
"Yeah, I still don't fully understand everything," Guilhermina chimed in. "But I'm sure we can figure something out if we put our heads together, right?"
Kayla nodded. "Yeah, totally."
Part of Helen was hoping that Classi and Masa were just overreacting, and that nothing was actually going to happen on Election Day. Surely, Nathan and Mimsy wouldn't deign themselves to actually meet up with Bitsy at her office, right?
