Mom and I had come up with a plan to get me invited along with Gia the next time she goes over there, or at the very least find a way to prevent her from going back. But from the conversation we listened to from outside the door, it doesn’t look like that will work.
I couldn’t even ask Gia anything while she was in the hallway waiting, too afraid for some reason. But he’s gone now, no one here to protect her. I glared up the stairs where she’d disappeared. “That’s not important right now; fix this. If Gia gets to go back to the Russos, I’ll kill myself.” I stomped away from her, feeling my fury return in full force.
“What? Victoria, come back here.”
“Are you going to fix it?”
“Let me think of something; let’s go talk to your father.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind her into the study where Felix sat reading.
“Oh, I thought I heard you two out there. What’s wrong?” I fought back my anger and bit my tongue so that the words of fury wouldn’t spill out.
“So, how did things go with the tutoring?” Good, mom has her voice on. I know whenever she uses that tone with him that I’m about to get what I want, it always works; I can relax.
“According to the young man that just left, it went fine; they really like her. They want her to come back every day after school and then again on Saturdays, so I guess she did well.”
Why does he sound so proud? It’s been a while since he had any pride in her mom, and I had seen to that. He thinks she shouldn’t be trusted with things because I either broke or threw away everything of hers that he gave her, leading him to believe she was careless, while mom always made it seem that Gia was jealous of the love he showed me and that’s why she was acting out and throwing his gifts away.
To keep her from getting her license, mom gave her lessons and damaged the car more than once, leading Felix to believe that Gia was not responsible enough to get a license, let alone drive. That one was for mom’s benefit, though; I don’t really care if she drives or not.
Mom was just pissed that Gia’s grandmother had forbidden her to drive the classic car Gia’s mom had left that Gia would get when she got her license. Apparently, it was part of an inheritance from an aunt who died and not part of the marital assets, so Felix had no say. The stupid thing is still parked in the garage, probably no longer running, but mom won’t let it go.
All of these things had taken years to achieve; the wedge we’d driven between father and daughter had never been threatened. It had got to the point that Felix preferred to do things with me and saw me as the daughter he should’ve had, one he could be proud of. I won’t let it end, especially now when Gabriel Russo is so close.
I gave mom a look since she looked lost for words in the face of his praise. “Do something!” I mouthed the words to her while he wasn’t looking. “But Felix, you know how clueless Gia can be, won’t it be good to get in good with that family? Think of the contacts you can make if you get in good with Mr. Russo and his people, how many doors he could open for you.”
“I’m not doing that bad.” He joked.
“I know, but as a financier, you can never have too many investors. Can we really leave something like this to Gia? What if she messes up? We should have Victoria tag along just to be safe.”
“But she’s just tutoring the girls; what harm can she do? Besides, the boy said the family is already quite fond of her. Which means she didn’t do anything wrong while she was there.”
My hopes were raised and dashed within mere minutes.
“But how long will that last? You know the girl is always breaking something, and she’s so sullen. Shouldn’t we have Victoria there just in case?” He looked thoughtful at least, so I knew he wouldn’t just shoot down the idea.
“I don’t see how it could hurt, but wouldn’t it look strange to send her along without being invited?”
“What’s the big deal? They go everywhere together anyway.”
“Okay, I guess I can ask.”
“You don’t have to ask; just send her along; what are they going to say?”
“Dad, I really want to go; besides, I’m already friends with the Russo twins at school.”
“You are? I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, we just became friends lately; that’s why I recommended Gia to tutor them since I know how smart she is.”
“So that’s what happened. I was wondering since it’s not like Gia to volunteer to do such things. That was very nice of you, Victoria. Well, since it’s like that, I guess there’s no harm.” I felt my angst evaporate like smoke. I’m not sure why I was so worried; things always work out in the end.