Chapter 42: Merger

The only time Jacqui's Place was closed was on the night when they all went next door to a wild and wonderful drunken party in the New House of Joy for Hugo's and Martha's joint sixtieth birthday party; everybody who was anybody was invited to the party and everybody came. The girls were giving free fucks to their favourite clients and taking even greater delight in refusing those they didn't like. Nobody thought of the morrow and it was the first time most of them had seen everybody so happy since they arrived on the prison planet.

Late in the evening, someone suggested a Conga and Martha decided to liven it up by giving everyone a whip or a paddle. Instead of merely dancing, each one whipped the one in front, and they went round and round the night-club, in and out of the doors, and up and down the stairs, each whipping and being whipped and all having a great time and getting more and more exhilarated. Jacqui was just behind Karl and delighted in giving him a thrashing.

Karl had managed to get behind Martha and was laying on the whip with a will, drawing blood, when it all suddenly stopped as Martha let out a great scream of pain and fell to the floor clutching her chest. As she lay there fighting the pain, with Hugo leaning over her, Jacqui saw that she whispered something to him and then a contented smile replaced the look of pain on her face as she died.

It was very quiet the next morning in the New House of Joy, as a very subdued group of the staff and even fewer especially favoured customers were discussing Martha's death from a heart attack the night before. Although all the nicest things were being said, and everyone was being sympathetic, nevertheless everyone had their own little schemes and thoughts about how they could best profit from Martha's death. As was now almost a tradition on Csadia, the New House of Joy was the neutral ground where politicking could take place.

Kim, Top Girl in the New House of Joy, was looking very smug and was clearly confident that she would succeed Martha. Jacqui was very worried that the peaceful coexistence between the New House of Joy and Jacqui's Place which had existed during Martha's time would not continue when Kim took over. She assumed that Kim would persuade Hugo to close Jacqui's Place and she really didn't want to work for Kim, not even as Top Girl.

Kim was deep in conversation with Hugo, who was looking embarrassed by this. Jacqui reflected that Kim might have waited; it was well known that Hugo and Martha were very close and he was clearly very upset by the loss of an old friend and colleague. Hugo extricated himself from the conversation with Kim and came over to where Jacqui was standing talking with Alf and Peter.

Taking her aside he said, "You and your little sadist brothel belong directly to me now, Jacqui. I shall insist that Jacqui's Place will have to be merged back into this one, but after the funeral we'll discuss the details of what is to happen next."

Jacqui's heart fell; all that work and all the pain she had suffered to get the money to start up, lost at the stroke of an administrative keyboard. Then she realised that he had said she belonged directly to him; he had never asserted his ownership before, nor had Martha. It was a shock to be reminded that he could sell her to Jason or Karl today if he wanted. Worse, he might decide to use her as a personal whipping girl, or make her kneel in front of him nude and suck him off with all the bosses watching, as he had made Martha.

'And because he owns me, I will have to do it.' thought Jacqui.

"I know that Martha would expect you to change the name here to something like Jacqui's House of Joy, and you will need to think about your replacement for Kim as Top Girl," Hugo continued to Jacqui's total amazement, "There's no sense in trying to keep her on in that job because she's going to resent you too much to work for you when you are the Madame here. I expect you'll want Sarah as Top Girl, at least at first, and I would approve that temporarily but you really need a straight sex Top Girl to complement a Dom Madame. I'll take Kim with me to my place as my housekeeper and occasional fuck, replacing old Dina. Open for business as usual, even on the day of the funeral; Martha would expect it. Now go and find out how Martha ran this place and kept everyone happy; I know the answer is in her files and they have been recoded to you."

As Jacqui want out of the Reception Area and towards the office she saw Kim trying to get in through the office door.

"Where are you off to?" Kim demanded, "This damned door won't open for me. There must be something wrong with it. It's supposed to open for the Top Girl."

Jacqui thought for a moment and took a deep breath before she said, "Perhaps that's because you aren't Top Girl any more."

"What? Oh, you mean now that Martha's dead everything needs reprogramming. Well who's going to do that?" asked Kim, not understanding.