The sunlight in Jenny's penthouse office is colder than it looks. The large glass windows behind her reveal the city sprawling endlessly below – the same city whose attention she commands. Jenny plugs away at her keyboard when she notices an email from a shareholder. Benchmarks were missed last quarter, and a lot of people were unhappy. Especially people like Jerry Steinberg, one of the wealthiest and most powerful financiers and venture capitalists in the country. Even someone as powerful as Jenny has someone she's accountable to.
"Ugh," Jenny sighs, pressing her forehead with her fingers.
Her PricePhone vibrates against the glass desk, shattering the quiet hum of the morning. The caller ID flashes: Gina Sister.
Jenny hesitates, thumb hovering over the screen. Perfect timing – as if she needed more stress, her crazy-ass little sister decides to call her. She takes out her PricePods from their charger box, puts them in her ear, and slides to answer.
"What is it now?" Jenny asks, expecting the worst.
"Jenny," Gina's voice cracks through the line — fragile, distant, a ghost of the girl in the photo. "You never visited me."
Gina pauses, sniffling sounds follow. Jenny does not respond, she simply sighs – she's had this conversation a million times. Her patience with her sister's antics has worn out, but Gina has no one else to turn to.
"I'm out of the hospital," Gina says, voice trembling. "I hate being this way Jenny, I really do! I hate myself for being this way."
Gina stops for a beat, hoping to get a response from Jenny. Nothing comes. Jenny is really done, she has completely checked out. Gina continues:
"You probably don't want me at the house anymore, so I'm staying at a halfway house for the time being while I figure things out. I know I hurt you and I'm sorry, but can you… find it in your heart to forgive me? I don't need your money Jenny, I just need you."
Jenny's jaw tightens. She's heard this before. The endless calls. The promises. The breakdowns. The hospital stays. The therapist notes she never reads. Gina had been in a psychiatric hospital for five months, after setting Jenny's G-Wagen on fire when they got into an argument. Gina's bipolar disorder began after their mother's death fifteen years ago — and it's only worsened since. Jenny doesn't want to be bothered anymore; she has helped her sister enough. She's tired.
After listening to her sister, Jenny's mind also flashes back to their father's funeral – the manic episode that broke everything. Gina was screaming and crying, completely unhinged. While a family friend was giving a eulogy, Gina ran up to the pulpit and snatched the microphone from his hand.
"MY FATHER WAS FUCKING MURDERED!" Gina screamed as tears rolled down her face, blackened by eyeliner. She kicked off her shoes, ran around the sanctuary, and screamed at the funeral guests who were all terrified and disturbed.
"YOU ALL DID THIS! ALL OF YOU!"
Jenny wasn't shocked, however. This was her sister. Jenny has dealt with all the episodes, the random outbursts, the breakdowns. The bail hearings. None of that was new to her, but after a while she just got tired of it. Now, Gina has become an embarrassment, a liability, and Jenny would just rather not be bothered by her.
Jenny, trembling but resolute with tears rolling down her face, got up and grabbed her, gently pulling her outside. Gritting and grinding her teeth, Jenny pushed Gina through the door, whisking her outside into the California heat. She forcefully turned Gina around to face her, before firmly placing her hands on Gina's shoulders, "Regina! Pull yourself together!"
"JENNY HE WAS MURDERED!!!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jenny clapped back, looking around to make sure nobody noticed them. Gina stares at Jenny with tears streaming down her face. Jenny shakes her head in annoyance, disappointment, and frustration. Taking her hands off of Gina's shoulders, she pulls out her PricePhone and begins dialing away before putting the phone to her ear.
"Who are you calling?" Gina asked.
"911!" Jenny replied, at her wit's end. "I'm putting you in! You're having another episode, and I can't deal with this right now. We just lost our father! You're making all of us look bad!"
The death of their father only made Gina's condition worse. This was one of many moments Jenny's sister had to be admitted for both her own safety and that of others. One of many times Gina embarrassed Jenny and the family. There was also the time Gina ran down Melrose Avenue half-naked screaming "aliens are after me!" There was a time Gina robbed a jewelry store using their father's old pistol because she wanted to buy a new watch but couldn't find her wallet.
Now Gina is calling her again.
"Gina," Jenny says, voice cold and almost rehearsed. "You need to focus on your recovery. This isn't good for either of us."
There's a long, painful silence.
"Do you even care?" Gina's voice breaks, desperation bleeding through the line. "Do you even feel anything? I'm your sister! I need you right now! If it's about the G-Wagen, I still have my inheritance money from Dad I can buy you a new one! I mean, I could come back to the company—"
"Gina get help," Jenny says flatly, frustrated and irritated. "I can't help you. I love you, but you have been an embarrassment to this family. And I'm done. You need to get your life together. Take your meds. Or leave me the hell alone!"
"But Jenny—"
"And coming back to the company is out of the question," Jenny says, sternly. "Look you're smart, you have the talent, but you're not reliable! How many times have we had to fire you?"
Gina doesn't answer. Honestly, she has lost count. Jenny continues.
"The last time you worked here, you threw a hot cup of coffee on a guy and called him a weirdo because he said good morning to you! Well, he quit and threatened to sue the company, and I spent five-hundred racks settling him! Did you know that?"
"Look," Gina says. "That was a reflex. I'm in fight-or-flight mode all the time. Jenny I have issues, you know that!"
"It's not just about that," Jenny says. "Or the G-Wagen, which I replaced myself by the way. It's all the shit!"
Jenny is silent for a beat.
"I just think there needs to be space between us."
Gina is silent. The silence is enough of a response. Gina begins crying hysterically, Jenny's strings are being pulled but she reminds herself of all of the embarrassments and bad looks. Jenny doesn't know what to say. There's so much she wants to say, but she isn't equipped to.
Jenny's fingers tighten around the phone. She wants to say everything — the pain, the guilt, the helplessness — but all that escapes is a cold, "I've got a company to run. We can't keep having this conversation."
The line is quiet for a moment. Then Gina's voice explodes with venom and grief:
"I fucking hate you, Jenny!"
Jenny sighs. "If I got paid every time you've said that to me, we'd be even richer. Get help Gina. And take your damn meds!"
Jenny clicks off the phone call. She stares at the black screen on her phone, heart pounding beneath her immaculate blue blazer. She wanted to say so much but couldn't. The hollow ache she's spent years burying claws at her ribs. She pulls the framed photo off her desk, fingertips tracing the faded smiles — Hers, Gina's, their father's. The family that was once whole.
"I'm doing this for you," she thinks, but the lie tastes like ash.
Her reflection in the glass flickers: the powerful CEO, the lonely sister, the woman who's lost everything but the façade.
She sets the photo down, exhaling sharply. Time to get back to work.
Power and money are supposed to make us happy, right? Being the richest woman in the world has its perks. It gives her control. Control of her life, her company, her employees, her family, her city, the world she operates in. But control doesn't fill the void, nor can she control everything. So, she overachieves her life away, hoping her accomplishments will fill the void instead: Trying to fill her father's shoes, trying to make shareholders happy, trying to keep her employees in line – all while feeling like she has to abandon the only family she has left. The void still remains. Nothing can fill that void.
Jenny leans back, eyes closing briefly. The city pulses beyond her window — oblivious to the fractured soul behind the glass.