Don Bowed To Me Chapter 03
Friday. I flew into Providence.
A black car service picked me up and drove me down to Newport.
No one from the Family came to meet me.
The car dropped me off at my parents’ house on Bellevue.
Melanie opened the door.
Something flickered behind her eyes.
“Hazel… I almost didn’t recognize you. A coat like that isn’t something a girl making two grand a month serving coffee could ever afford.”
I didn’t answer. I walked past her into the house.
Isabella’s eyes tracked to the watch on my wrist, then swept over my coat. Her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Hazel, come on. We’re Family. You don’t need to put on a show like this. How many credit cards did you max out?”
Ethan laughed. “Wow, Hazel. Looks like New York taught you how to wear designer knockoffs.”
I looked at the faces in front of me.
Ten years later, they’d changed very little.
Elliot had put on weight. Melanie had lines at the corners of her eyes. Ethan’s hairline had retreated visibly.
Isabella was the exception. Porcelain-smooth. Cartier on one wrist, a Marchetti engagement stone catching the light on her finger.
But the same casual contempt lived in every one of their eyes.
I raised an eyebrow.
“From the day I graduated until now, I have never once mentioned my income to any of you.”
“So where exactly are you getting your numbers from?”
Nobody had an answer.
My mother came out of the sitting room, wine in hand. The housekeeper followed behind her carrying a tray toward the dining room.
She glanced at me.
“She didn’t even finish college. Who knows what she’s been up to in New York? It’s been ten years, and she’s given this family absolutely nothing in return. We wasted everything on her.”
My father clapped me on the shoulder.
“Alright, alright. We’re blood. Nobody here’s going to judge you. Let’s just eat.”
Eight dishes, brought out one by one and set carefully on the table.
Ethan and Melanie cooed over them.
“Mrs. Vitale, you remembered I love the osso buco.”
“You had them make the branzino again.”
I scanned the table.
Every person had their favorite in front of them.
Even the Cane Corso curled up by the fireplace had a small bowl of veal.
The only thing in front of me was a casually tossed-together salad.
My mother personally cut Isabella’s steak and placed it on her plate.
“We’ve been investing in property along the Newport coast these past few years. Elliot and Isabella both graduated from top schools and have contributed to this Family. They’ve each earned a house.”
She looked up at me.
“As for you, Hazel. Someone who’s done nothing but bring shame to the Vitale name doesn’t deserve a thing.”
I set down my fork and laughed softly.
“So that’s how the Vitales divide property. Not by blood. By who’s been the most useful to the Family.”
The table went dead silent.
My mother’s palm came down on the wood hard enough to rattle the glasses.