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 to me, the fund had initially assumed she had collected the check on my behalf and that I had consented.
But collecting a check for someone and forging their signature were not the same thing.
Within the Ferraro Family, misusing designated funds was a serious breach of allocation rules.
“Did you authorize Maria Vitale to use this money?” the administrator asked.
“No.”
“Did she inform you in advance that she would be claiming it?”
“No.”
I resent the managing advisor my bank transfer records and the group-chat messages about the Gucci bag.
When I hit send, my hand was steady.
In the past, they had always used the words “we’re family” to justify taking things from me, as if having the Vitale name meant I had no right to refuse my father’s arrangements.
But the fund documents had my name on them.
That money was for my education.
The next day, my mother called from an unfamiliar number.
She sounded exhausted.
“Romy, the education fund contacted me.”
“I already returned the money to you, didn’t I?”
“I only borrowed it temporarily. We’re family. I never thought the advisors would treat it as a breach of the rules.”
“Did you ask me before you used it?” I asked.
Silence.
A moment later, she said, “No.”
“Then it wasn’t borrowing.”
Her breathing grew ragged.
“Can’t you just tell them you gave me permission after the fact?”
“If this goes before the internal council, the fund managers will revoke my authority to handle family affairs, and your father will lose the support he needs for his promotion.”
“I promise, I will never touch your things again. Your mother made one mistake. Do you really want the entire Vitale family investigated over five thousand dollars?”