He leans back—he’s doing the staring thing again. “No. This is you not having your head in the game right now for me to trust you with business. Instead of you calling one of our biggest clients Linda instead of Lesley twice during a meeting, you’re taking time away to focus on this. Maybe it’s also a way to remind you of how much all three of us have accomplished and everything we have to be thankful for.”
His phone beeps a second before Hannah comes through, letting him know Lesley Carlisle is in the lobby on her way up. He nods toward his door. “Go. I don’t want Lesley reminded of last time she saw you. Your pretty face only gets you out of so many fuckups.”
I don’t argue. He’s right. I used to love working with clients, figuring out what they wanted and their usually hidden needs. Then once I got it right, their happiness at finding their new home gave me a high for days. Now they get on my nerves with their demands while bitching about easily changed things. One of the things I liked the most, spending the days out of the office walking the streets of Chicago, can’t even compensate for dealing with clients.
Up until our last meeting, Lesley made it more than clear every time we met she’d love to mix business with pleasure. Even though it was never going to happen we enjoyed a relaxed relationship as we worked together. I’m not stupid enough to mix business with anything, not to mention the woman is married. Employees, and women in relationships, are strictly off limits for me and my brothers. At least they were supposed to be, then Cesare went and fell in love with my assistant two years ago. After the second time I called her by the wrong name, Lesley began staring daggers at me. When the meeting ended she wouldn’t look at me. I hadn’t even been drunk, just tired after another long night of working out until every muscle in my body hurt as a way of hiding from the bullshit in my head.
My email pings—it’s Cesare instructing Gretchen to clear my calendar. Cesare put his foot down two months ago when Alicia’s low energy couldn’t be ignored. Between Matteo and finding out she was expecting again, Che talked her into quitting. However, Alicia
told him she needed more than to become a full-time mom.
Her running the foundation is a win-win: part-time work for Alicia, and Che will have someone he can trust running it. Alicia stealing then returning money from our company aside. I remember his face when I reminded him of the theft. Whatever, even when I got the call from our accountant telling me, I knew there was something more going on than a straight theft. After all, she returned it. I’m more than happy for Alicia to run the foundation. I’ve always trusted her.
I pull out the paperwork the three of us drafted years ago but never got to filing. This is going to be a ton of work to get up and going. When Cesare brought up the foundation again two months, he suggested one of our employees Theresa Kent for the personal assistant to the director. After having her first child, Theresa wanted to go either part-time or work from home. Cesare had worked with her supervisor to shift her to working from home two days out of the week. Since Alicia will also be working from home, Theresa is a good fit. I email her an offer for the position. After I hit send I find an email from ever-efficient Hannah, Che’s assistant, listing our current donations. Motherfucker, there’s over a hundred and twenty. This is going to be a time-consuming pain in the ass.
2
Bethany
We’re on Cesare’s private plane, a freaking G6, on the way home to Chicago when Alicia swears long and loud.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s Dante, he’s not coming tonight. He’s not in the mood.” Alicia air quotes “not in the mood.” “I swear I don’t know what’s going on with him anymore. He isn’t bad with me, and he adores Matteo. I think the only time I’ve heard him laugh lately is when he’s playing with Matteo. But he’s snappish with Cesare and Enzo. He’s also spending a lot of time alone. And I do mean alone. Enzo says he doesn’t think Dante’s been with anyone since the gold-digging slut.”
That doesn’t sound anything like the Dante I’ve been hearing about. “Man, she really messed him up. He put all this time and effort into a relationship, I mean he even missed your and Cesare’s wedding. Then she cheats on him and breaks his heart.”
“I don’t know. I think she started it, but she’s not the problem. And she definitely didn’t break his heart—she hit his pride more than anything. Cesare has him working on the foundation they’ve been planning on setting up for years. At least something will get done. I’m just worried about him.”
“Well, I am bummed I still haven’t met the guy, but if he’s a downer then it’s a good thing he isn’t coming. I want bottles popping and happy people, damn it. I’m in need of serious celebration, or a few hours of cuddling Matteo.” I am not hurt some dude I don’t know doesn’t want to help me celebrate graduating from a hellish program that took some very real sweat and tears to finish. Not even a little. Okay, maybe a teeny tiny bit. Supposedly, we’re family now. All I’ve heard for the last two years is how Alicia was welcomed into the circle of the three brothers, only I never felt it. Cesare is cool one time then super formal the next. Enzo is nice but I get the feeling he’s watching, waiting for me to fuck up again.
Once, one time, I fucked up, and it’s haunted me ever since. After drinking too much I stupidly got in my car and drove home. It’s my kind of luck I made it six miles without a problem, only to drive right into my roommate’s car when I got home. Instead of just letting me repair the damn car, the bitch blackmailed me for fifty large. The fuck? The blackmail led to Alicia stealing from, then returning money to Cesare and Dante’s company to save me not being able to get into the PA program of my choice. Only Kelsey, my roommate, wasn’t done—she planned on blackmailing me again. Cesare got involved, then somehow his mob uncle got involved too, and Kelsey forgot she ever knew me.
It’s odd to me Cesare’s uncle and cousin are nicer than Enzo and Cesare. The two supposedly scary mob guys are easy with a smile and incredibly charming. Cesare’s uncle is totally the old-fashioned mob guy I imagined, a throwback to polite and genteel Lucky Luciano and Paul Ricca. His son Dominic, however, looks like any Chicago businessman in a custom silk five-thousand-dollar suit without a trace of an accent, even though he also grew up speaking Italian like Cesare and his brothers. I was surprised to find out he’d gone to Columbia for his undergrad. While I heard Tony and Dominic mention property they own and manage when they were talking with Enzo, Dominic only talks about a bar he owns with me. I’ve often found myself gravitating to Dominic over Enzo. Enzo makes me feel like a bug under a microscope.
Then again, maybe Enzo is always uptight. The last time I said something about Enzo, Alicia told me he was an Army Ranger for seven years. He quit when half of his team wound up dead in an operation. During his time in the Army all his money went into the Sabatini Real Estate Company, with the belief when he got out he would join his brothers. However, he used his cut to create a hedge fund that reached the trillion-dollar mark in holdings three years ago. There’s something to the stock market, because he became a billionaire in only eight years. it took Cesare and Dante almost twelve.
Alicia snaps her fingers then waves them in front of my face. “Hello? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, just wondering if Dante isn’t coming, who is?” I refuse to think of how I have no friends.
It’s not as pathetic as it sounds, my therapist assured me. School and becoming a physician assistant was my number-one focus since the age of nine. In high school I worked my ass off, hoping to get a full ride to Johns Hopkins. It didn’t happen. I got a few scholarships, two of them free rides but with the cost of housing not included, none of the offers were equal to free in-state tuition for being a foster kid. In undergrad, the first two years at UIUC I formed a few friendships. Until my junior year started and the program intensified. The friendships fell away when I kept turning down invitations to party to study. I don’t regret it. Only at times like now, when I’m reminded I don’t have friends, it’s hard not to feel like a loser.
“Lydia and Decker and their little one Ella. Uncle Tony can’t come but Dominic said he’s happy for a free meal and night away from the bar. Enzo, of course, and Hannah. And have no fear, Cesare had a case of champagne delivered last week. We have food coming from Giordano’s. I wanted to cook, Cesare said no. Meredith’s mother had a stroke a few days ago, so she’s been in Michigan helping her dad and brother. Which means I’m in homemaker mode. Fuck it’s hard, even though we have a service come in to clean every day.”
“Yeah, well being pregnant and running around after a toddler isn’t easy all by itself. Why is Claudine taking care of your place and Dante’s if you have Meredith?”
“Claudine doesn’t do any housekeeping, that’s all Meredith. Claudine basically handles our money, bills and stuff. I’m sure by the time Claudine is ready to retire Cesare will trust Meredith with everything.” She shrugs. “Meredith has only been with us for six months.”
Cesare is wealthy on a level difficult to comprehend, so I can imagine it would take time for people around him to earn his complete trust. “I’m so excited to see Matteo. I was crushed I couldn’t come back for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the internship was too good to pass up and they were clear working on holidays was mandatory. I feel like a bad aunt—he’s already eighteen months old and I’ve barely spent any time with him. All I’ve had are pictures for the last year. Is he going to like me? Can he understand me with you guys raising him on Italian?”
“Matteo is a sweetheart who loves people, especially people who tell him how cute he is. He’ll love you.” She winces. “It was important to Cesare. I loved the idea the minute he said it. I was already learning Italian because the guys lapse into it without even realizing they’re doing it. Matteo knows a few words and phrases in English. Lydia teaches him when she comes over with Ella. Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad. I’m just wondering if you even considered teaching him Spanish. We are Hispanic.”
“Why would I teach him a language I barely know? I can get by in Spanish, but I’m hardly fluent. You say we’re Hispanic but are we really? We didn’t grow up in that culture. Some random guys knocked up Mom; we don’t even have the same dad. Through a DNA profile we found out they or their ancestors were both from Mexico. Sure, I like spicy food and I tan easily, but unless I’m filling out a form I don’t even think about it. I’m sorry I don’t feel the same connection you do.”
I shrug, not willing to admit it hurts she doesn’t feel the same way. Especially when I’m not sure how I feel from one time I think of it to the next. On one hand I’m proud of my heritage; on the other hand, Alicia is right, I have no real knowledge of it. I tried to join in with the other Hispanic students in high school. They laughed at me with my horrible accent as I fumbled with my school-learnt Spanish. In college I tried to join a Latina group but wasn’t Latin enough for them. When I volunteered at a clinic in Mexico for experience and immersion, I was sure I would at last feel at home. Only I never felt welcomed by the people there. Once again I didn’t fit in. Alicia is the one person I always fit with; without her, I feel a little lost. “I’ll look into learning Italian. I was already considering trying to learn another language.”