Don Bowed To Me Chapter 21
Saturday, 2 PM. The black Escalade rolls out of Manhattan.
Emma sits in the passenger seat. I’m in the back.
On my lap, a laptop shows the valuation analysis of the Draghi family’s land.
My phone buzzes. A text from Sebastian.
【Sebastian: Draghi’s land is worth thirty-eight max. They’ll open at fifty-two.】
【Sebastian: You don’t need to sign anything tonight. Just show up. Let the Draghis know Marchetti National Defense Subsidiary came by.】
【Sebastian: The rest, Emma can handle through official channels tomorrow to decline.】
【Hazel: Okay.】
I close my phone.
Emma turns around from the passenger seat.
“Dr. Vitale, the host tonight is the Draghi family’s only daughter, Camilla Draghi.”
My finger pauses on the laptop.
Camilla Draghi. My high school classmate.
The fall I was seventeen. The cafeteria at Newport Preparatory Academy.
I was carrying my lunch tray through the crowd, looking for an empty seat.
Camilla Draghi stood by the long table in the center of the cafeteria, one hand propped on the edge, laughing with her group.
She wore a perfectly tailored school skirt. Her hair fell over her shoulders in perfect Hollywood waves.
As she turned, her elbow “accidentally” hit my tray.
An entire bowl of cream of mushroom soup spilled down the front of my uniform.
The cafeteria went quiet for a second.
Camilla glanced down at my uniform, then looked up with a bright, practiced smile.
“Oh my god,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
She looked me up and down slowly.
“I thought you were the janitor.”
The entire table burst out laughing.
I stood there holding my empty tray. Cream soup dripped down my uniform, onto the wooden floor of the cafeteria.
She straightened up, flashed the whole room that practiced sweet smile, picked up her own tray, and drifted away.
The car reaches the venue, and I force myself back to the present.
I give a small nod.
“I know.”
I get out of the car and head toward the lounge.
After changing, I sit down in front of the vanity mirror.
Deep green Alaïa. High neck, sleeveless, fitted at the waist.
The dress hugs the line of my body all the way down to the ankles. Down the back, from the nape of my neck, runs a narrow slit that ends at the small of my back.
I’m not wearing a watch. My hair is pinned up. A pair of tiny diamond studs at my ears.
My phone buzzes.
Emma sends a message.
【Emma: Venue: The Great Hall at Newport Preparatory Academy. Draghi family booked the entire space. Dress code: black tie.】
【Emma: I verified the original invitation. It says “Investor Dinner.”】
【Emma: But the Draghis merged this dinner with the Newport Prep Class of 2015 ten-year reunion.】
【Emma: Dr. Vitale, do you want me to cancel?】
I stare at the screen.
I remember the hallway during the fall of my senior year.
I was carrying a stack of USAMO prep materials to class.
The paper on top was the Regeneron ISEF semifinal notification I had just received the day before.
Camilla came toward me with a group of girls.
She walked up beaming, as if she wanted to greet me.
The moment she reached me, her shoulder slammed into mine.
All my books scattered on the floor.
Every other student in the hallway stopped to watch.
Camilla bent down elegantly to help me pick them up.
Her fingers skimmed the ISEF letter. She glanced at the MIT letterhead.
Her expression froze for half a second.
Then she slowly crumpled the paper into a ball and stuffed it back into my arms.
She stood up, smiling sweetly.
“Hazel, why are you carrying all those books? It’s not like you’re going to get into a good school anyway.”
The people around us burst out laughing.
She stepped closer, lowered her voice so only I could hear.
“Hazel,” she said. “You’re not welcome here.”
“Your mother sent you to Newport Prep so that Isabella could one day marry into one of the Five Families.”
“You’re the useless one. Stay out of our way. “
She straightened up, put on that practiced sweet smile.
“Have a good day, honey.”
I sit in front of the mirror for a long time.
I type.
【Hazel: Don’t cancel. I’m going.】