The day my SAT scores arrived, I walked into the dining room carrying a metal box.
Inside were five hundred and seventy-six slips of paper, each stamped with a black seal.
My father called them permission slips. In Newark, a capo’s daughter couldn’t leave the territory or get extra cash without one. He’d turned his protection into a system of rewards and punishments that only applied to me. Finish my chores, get an A, keep my mouth shut about family business—each task earned me a single slip. Five hundred slips, and I could finally ask to take one trip outside our territory.
It had taken me three years to save them.
“I got a 1580 on the SATs,” I said, laying the score report on the table. “And I received a conditional offer from Westbridge Institute of Technology for their cybersecurity program. I’ve met all your conditions. I’ve earned my graduation trip.”
“So, when are we going to the Caribbean?”
The question landed like a stone. Marco stopped twirling his car keys.
Ava lowered her head.
After her parents died, the Ferraro Family had registered her as a protected orphan. Her travel, tuition, and security were all covered by the Family. She wasn’t subject to the permission slip system my father had designed for me.
My mother set down her coffee cup.
“Romy, you know Ava’s scores aren’t as good as yours. Why would you say that in front of her?”
“She’s already lost her parents. Do you have to remind her that in this house, everything she has depends on our charity?”
I froze.
To prove Ava wasn’t a charity case, my family gave her a credit card with no limit, a personal driver, and a full security detail.
Meanwhile, I—their actual daughter—had to hand over one of my father’s signed slips just to buy clothes, get new school supplies, or leave our guarded house on a weekend.
Their graduation gift to Ava was a full suite of the newest Apple devices, worth over ten thousand dollars.
They also bought her every birthday gift she had missed, from birth to age eighteen.
The next day, a new itinerary appeared in our family group chat.
The Caribbean cruise was off.
They were taking Ava to Orlando instead. My father assigned two cars and four guards, a full detail to ensure nothing happened to the girl the Family had publicly sworn to protect on her first trip out of New Jersey.
No one asked if I wanted to go.
I threw the metal box in the trash.
My parents always said Ava was a responsibility the Family owed the dead, so she deserved the best of everything.
But I had parents. A brother. I was a Vitale, same as them. And somehow, I was always the one left to fend for myself.
If that was the way it was going to be, then there was no reason to go back to a home that only recognized my obligations, but never me.
The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 43 A year after the education system went live, the managing advisor mailed me a report. Every education payment was now confirmed by the applicant personally. There had been no more proxy signatures. Not a single payment had been redirected to a family member without the applicant’s knowledge.
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 42 The following spring, I moved into my own apartment. The lease, the locks, and the visitor list all contained only the information I approved. The property manager asked me to fill out an emergency contact form. I still wrote down Elena Albright. The second contact line remained
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 41 After the project ended, the company gave me a bonus. I didn’t buy jewelry. And I didn’t put the money into the metal box. I contacted Westbridge Student Affairs and set up a small transportation grant. It wasn’t much—just enough to cover a new student’s ticket to
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 40 On the day the system officially launched, Ava emailed me again. The attachment wasn’t an apology letter. It was proof of transfer from when she sold the Gucci bag. The money had been sent back to the education fund. It wasn’t five thousand dollars. The bag, used
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 39 The education fund pilot program used the records from four years ago as its primary test case. My five-thousand-dollar check was copied into a closed test environment. The system reran the process exactly as it had happened back then. My mother entered my name. The page required
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 38 Before the pilot launched, my mother sent me an email. *At graduation, you said we might be able to eat together once in a while.* *If that offer still stands, the time and place are yours to choose.* She didn’t book a restaurant. She didn’t add *Mom
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 37 At the final review before the pilot launch, the administrators proposed adding a “Family Special Authorization” feature. If a local capo signed off, applicant confirmation could be skipped. The line item appeared at the very bottom of the requirements sheet, in tiny text. I marked it in
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 36 A week later, compliance closed the investigation. My supervisor asked if I wanted the company to publish a statement. “We could talk about how your personal experience inspired the project’s design.” I shook my head. “No.” “Whether the system protects applicants depends on its design and test
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 35 That night, Marco messaged me. *The old video wasn’t reuploaded by Ava.* *I asked her. She says she’s willing to post a clarification.* I replied: *That’s her decision.* *Don’t ask her to plead my case, and don’t go telling people how pitiful I am.* It took Marco
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 34 When the project entered its second testing phase, the company published a team introduction on its official website. Next to my photo, it said: “Romy Vitale, Data Security Engineer for Education and Healthcare.” That same night, the video Ava had deleted four years ago resurfaced. Someone had
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