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 23 I looked at Ava. “I only want to ask you three things.” “The night of the French restaurant, did you know I wasn’t in the car when you left?” She pressed her lips together. “We were almost late for the reservation. Your father’s men couldn’t keep the
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 22 We sat down at a small table in a corner of the supermarket. My mother placed the metal box in front of me and carefully opened the lid. Every permission slip I had thrown away was inside. So were the ones she had later left in my
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 21 The fund administrator called me almost immediately. The original documents I had submitted through the internal channel had triggered a formal review. The signature used to claim the check did not match the one on my application forms. Because my mother had later transferred five thousand dollars
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 20 The fund administrator called me almost immediately. The original documents I had submitted through the internal channel had triggered a formal review. The signature used to claim the check did not match the one on my application forms. Because my mother had later transferred five thousand dollars
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 19 Instead, Marco posted a screen recording from his own account. The video began with him opening the group chat. He tapped into the member list, then scrolled back through the messages. The entire recording was unedited. The only members were Vincent, Maria, Marco, and Ava. I wasn’t
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 18 I didn’t record a video. And I didn’t rehash the feelings I had already explained too many times. I made a timeline. The first image was the metal box my mother had photographed while I was in the hospital. Inside were five hundred and seventy-six permission slips.
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 17 I reopened Marco’s attachment. The chat log was long. I started with the months just before I left home and scrolled backward. Before the reservation at the French restaurant, Ava had sent a single message: *Romy’s still not down. Should we just go? If we’re late, we’ll
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 16 I stared at the attachment, not opening it right away. Ten minutes later, Marco sent another email. *Ava just uploaded a video.* *She’s saying everything was our decision and that she never asked for anything.* *Romy, I’m giving you the chat logs. Do whatever you want with
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 15 After that, my life became simple. Classes, work, and lab projects. My high school graduation speech was cut into short clips that spread online. A lot of people started asking why I had gone to California alone. Some found Ava’s old posts about wanting me to go
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The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 14 The next day, I went to a restaurant and ordered the barbecue I’d been craving for months, then bought myself my first-ever iced Americano. A few weeks later, I was getting off my shift when I saw Marco standing outside the campus supermarket. He hadn’t shaved, and
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