The Capo’s Daughter Needs No Permission Chapter 06
At that exact moment, our neighbor Carol knocked on my family’s front door.
“Maria, your daughter is incredible!”
“A 1580 on the SATs—that’s one of the top scores in the state! And she got into Westbridge for cybersecurity.”
“She’s giving the graduation speech on the school’s livestream right now. When is she coming ba—”
Carol, holding up her phone, trailed off as she saw the four people sitting in the living room.
“You’re all home?”
“Not one of you went to see her?”
Marco was the first to move, rushing over to snatch the phone from her hand.
He stared at the screen, at me.
“That’s Romy?”
My mother seemed to remember something and immediately tried to call me.
A system message informed her my phone was in airplane mode.
My father stood up, his expression grim.
“A public event like this, and not one person from the Vitale family is there. Why didn’t she tell us?”
“People will think I can’t even protect my own daughter.”
“We’re going to the school. Now.”
Carol took her phone back.
Sensing the shift in the room, she made a quick excuse to leave.
But before she went, she still said to my mother, “Tell Romy to call me when she gets back. My son is applying to college next year, and he wants her advice on his cybersecurity project. Money is no object.”
Ava watched as the people who, just two hours earlier, had been helping her pick out gifts, all rose to their feet.
Her eyes immediately turned red.