Balance of Power, 26
“Hello. Thomas Hagen here.”
“ I want to talk to him .”
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Sabrina stared in shock at her cellular phone. Suddenly all that greeted her ear was the sound of an impersonal dial tone. It was not what the young woman expected. Her carefully rehearsed conversation was effectively, and abruptly, derailed. Furiously she hit the ‘redial' button.
“ Did you just hang up on me? ”
“I suggest,” Thomas Hagen proposed without a trace of emotion in his voice, “that you gather your composure before you call again.”
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Once again Sabrina was serenaded by a dial tone. Her mouth snapped shut for only seconds before the young woman let loose a strangled cry of anger and frustration. The Corleone men had been a part of her life only a matter of weeks and already she had reached her limit of patience where they were concerned.
Over the course of her lifetime, very few people had been able to provoke Sabrina's emotions with the ease that her ‘newfound family ‘ could. Cassandra DeLane had taught and lived by the credo that control of one's emotions was as essential as breathing. It was, she explained frankly, how she managed to move from man to man without the slightest fear of growing attached to any of them. It was, Sabrina's mother said bluntly, how she could allow a man between her legs night after night and not see what they did as anything more than sex.
Sabrina had quickly learned to control her emotions: not because Cassandra wished it so, but because it was the only way that the young girl could shield herself from the harsh reality of her mother's life as a kept woman.
“Sabrina?” Maggie's worried query came from the other side of the guestroom door.
“I am okay, Maggie. Really.” Sabrina regretted causing her friend any concern. But she was also grateful for Maggie's timely interruption. It gave her the opportunity to rein in her quickly rising temper. She would not give Thomas Hagen the satisfaction of knowing that Sabrina was affected by his tactics.
Sabrina waited until she heard Maggie's hesitant footsteps leave the doorway. She took a deep, calming breath and dialed Tom Hagen's number for the third time. “Hello, Mr. Hagen,” Sabrina greeted her uncle calmly. “This is Sabrina DeLane. I would like to speak with Mister Corleone, please.”
“Contact me again when you arrive in New York.”
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