Don Bowed To Me Chapter 13
My mother was in the hospital.
Emma told me.
“Nothing serious. Overnight observation.”
“She called you.”
I glanced at the missed call count on my phone.
Seventeen.
“Elliot said work is too busy. Can’t take the time.”
Emma hesitated.
“And Isabella, well, Matteo recently…”
I looked up.
Emma quickly added.
“The Marchettis sat Matteo down with a new match. A girl from an old Newport family. Comparable pedigree. One clear advantage. Younger.”
“Isabella has been refreshing Find My iPhone every day, trying to pin down where Matteo actually is.”
“She doesn’t have time to sit at a bedside.”
Meanwhile, my mother reportedly told every nurse who walked in:
“My daughter Hazel. PhD from MIT. Sweetest, most devoted girl. When I get sick, she’s the one who takes care of me. Not afraid of anything.”
“She’d start to cry every time she said it.”
Emma looked at me carefully.
“Should I arrange for me to go visit her?”
“No.”
I lowered my head and kept reading files.
The most devoted daughter had cut her out of her life.
The year I was eighteen, I had a 102-degree fever.
For three straight days.
My mother was going over Isabella’s SAT practice tests.
I was on the couch in the living room, and I called out to her.
“Mom.”
She didn’t even look up.
“Fever? Go get some Tylenol from the fridge yourself.”
There was no Tylenol in the fridge.
I walked two blocks by myself to CVS to buy it.
I turned my phone face down on the desk.
And went back to reviewing the next patent licensing contract.
A week later.
The Marchetti defense subsidiary officially opened its books.
Sebastian, as the sole point of contact, flew to New York for the first time.
We signed the operational documents in a conference room in Midtown Manhattan.
Sebastian’s pen left its final signature on the page.
He looked up and gave me a small smile.
“Dr. Vitale. It’s an honor to work with you.”
“By the way, Matteo has been removed from Nonno’s list of succession candidates.”
I made a small sound of acknowledgment.
“Marchetti family matters don’t really concern me.”
“I know.”
Sebastian closed the folder.
“But there is one thing you might find interesting.”
“Matteo and Isabella’s wedding was never completed.”
“Last week, the marriage was annulled.”
I paused for a second.
“Isabella signed?”
“No.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Matteo moved unilaterally. The prenup was very clear. A Marchetti wife has to come from a matching Family. The Vitale name once barely qualified.”
“But after that day at the wedding, everyone inside the Marchetti Family understood one thing.”
“The core value of the Vitale name isn’t Isabella.”
“It’s you.”
“And you clearly have no intention of doing anything for Isabella.”
“So Isabella lost her last remaining leverage.”
I was quiet for a few seconds.
“She got nothing?”
“That’s right.”
“One year of severance. That’s all she took.”
“Her position at McKinsey has been affected by her mental state. She’s been put on a performance review.”
“Her situation right now is, to put it plainly, rough.”
I capped my pen.
“That’s not my concern.”
Sebastian nodded.
“I figured you’d say that.”