C18 Chapter 17 - Valentina

I shrug, puffing out smoke. “I don’t know, twenty, maybe?”

At this, she laughs, throwing her head back. A few people turn around to look at us but I ignore them. “What, more?”

“Last time I heard a number it was around fifty.”

I frown. “Did he tell you that?”

“No, but people talk.”

“You mean, maybe the girls he’s slept with talk? And they could say things that aren't true.”

“Everyone at school talks. It’s Matteo Giudice.” She looks at me for a second. “You really haven’t heard about him until now?”

“I don’t really follow gossip. I mean, I kind of know of these people. Maybe I’ve overheard something about them, but no. I don’t know any details.”

Raisa leans against the railing and holds her cigarette up as she starts speaking. “Well, everybody suspects that his family’s in the Sicilian mafia and his father’s a billionaire because he basically owns half of Sicily and half of New York.”

“Maybe it’s just gossip.”

Raisa looks at me, unimpressed. “Maybe the billionaire part, but trust me, there’s something going on with that entire family, and I’m pretty sure the Barone kids are also involved.”

I look at her, wondering whether she ever suspected that our own families might be involved in illegal businesses, but the way she feels so free to speak about such things lets me know that the thought never even crossed her mind. She probably thinks our parents built a business conglomerate that got so successful so fast 100% legitimately. But we went from living in a two-bedroom apartment in Moscow to a multi-million dollar gated-community in less than three years. The math just doesn't add up for me.

“Why would the Barone kids be involved?” I ask, thinking about Vinnie and Eddie, and how we grew up spending our summers together. I also know their parents who in turn know my

parents, and there was never one moment that I thought the Barone family had something to hide.

“Because there’s more families involved in the Sicilian mafia. I think Matteo’s father is the leader and then people like Vinnie’s dad are his right-hand men.”

I can’t help but laugh. “It sounds made up, Raisa.”

“You’d think so, but I’ve heard stories from Allison’s friends.”

I raise my eyebrows. “For example?”

“So you know Matteo’s family is in the insurance business.”

“I thought it was real estate.”

“Amongst other things. Anyway, this ‘insurance’ business apparently means going to newly opened businesses and threatening them to sign up for an insurance plan against any possible disturbances.”

“How do you know they threaten people?”

“Because one of Allison’s friend’s dads refused to buy insurance for his restaurant and two days later it burned down. A month later it was back and he signed the insurance contract. They kept telling Allison he was toxic but she didn’t listen.”

This discussion is too much for me. I would have never thought Raisa was the type of girl to spread gossip around so easily, especially when she knew how important privacy is for most families at our school.

We finish our cigarettes and drinks so we decide on going back inside and pouring ourselves another.

“She’s with him.” is all she says as I try to get the Gin and Tonic ratio just right. “Who? What?”

I stop what I’m doing because Raisa clearly sounds upset. She shows me something on Instagram. It’s a photo of a view of the sea from a dimly lit balcony with the tag ‘Palermo’ and a thirty-minute countdown.

“What am I supposed to be seeing here?” I ask, squinting.

“Allison posted this five minutes ago. She’s spending New Year’s with Matteo. Look.” She points to one of the few guys looking out at the sea, which I didn’t even spot the first time I looked at the photo. “That’s Matteo and the Barone brothers.”

I feel bad for her because I can see my younger self in the way she analyses every single photo of an event he’s at, in order to know exactly what he’s doing and prepare for the worst.

“Maybe they’re friends.” I try.

“No, they always get together when they’re at the same location. It’s like she can’t let go.”

Shifting the blame completely on the girl was also something I used to do before I realized that the guy I was involved with was always just as responsible as everyone else. But when you think you’re in love you only see the person next to you as who you’d like them to be, and who you know they could be, but never solely for who they are.

“But I guess I understand why she keeps going back.”

“How so?” I ask, placing straws in each glass.

“The sex is incredible.”

I look at the two glasses on the counter, trying to remember the last time I had sex. It was months ago, back in April probably, after I’d gone back to my ex for the last time and swore to myself that I would never do it again.

“It’s like he knows exactly what he’s doing and how he should be doing it. I didn’t even have to tell him what I like.”

“Sounds…fun.”

“It is. And he’s big as well. Just the right amount.”

I make a face. “Not really something I wanted to know, but thank you.” I joke.

“He’s always going to be like that though, I guess I need to remind myself from time to time.”

“Like what?”

We choose to stand by the bar in the corner of the living room where people are dancing, just to be near the music but also be able to talk. I can tell that she needs someone to talk to about her feelings for Matteo.

“He’s never going to be able to settle for just one person. He gets bored easily, he always needs a new thing, a new distraction. And his dick just goes along with it. Doesn’t care who it is as long as someone’s there. And Allison’s always there.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want love or romantic relationships right now.”

“I think he doesn’t even know what that means.”

“Well, he was with Allison for a few years, right? Maybe he wants a break. Have fun.”

“I meant he doesn’t know what love is.”

I shrug, looking out at the crowd of people. My eyes fall on a guy I remember seeing around school before. I always thought he was cute but he was a year above me and didn’t even know I existed. I’m 95% sure that his name is Isaac, but there’s a slight chance that I might be confusing him with someone else.

“Who’s that?” I ask Raisa. She follows my gaze and smiles.

“That’s Isaac. He’s at New York University studying World Economics. He dated half of the girls in our year back when we were in middle school. We had the biggest crush on him, remember?” she laughs, and I smile, just to see him watching us now.

“Oh shit.” I say and we laugh even harder now because we’ve been caught.

“He’s coming over here, I’m dying.” Raisa says and I shush her as we both watch Isaac making his way over to us.

“You look familiar.” He tells me and I exchange glances with Raisa.

“We used to go to the same middle school.”

“What’s your name again?”

“I never told you my name.” I tell him, not falling for his little trick. “Valentina.”

“I saw you at the club in Manhattan a few months ago, that’s why you seem familiar.” He says, snapping his fingers and smiling.

“Maybe.” I smile at him. He’s still attractive and he’s got that sort of baby face with the jawline that I like when it comes to guys.

“You know Matteo Giudice?”

I shrug. “I guess.”

“I know him.” Raisa interjects. “Why?”

“He’s a friend of mine, I think it was his party.”

“How do you know him?” Raisa asks.

“We were classmates for two years in high school after I moved to New York.”

“How come I never saw you?” Raisa asks, leaning forwards and taking over the conversation.

“Uh…I didn’t really attend school.” Isaac says, not taking his eyes off me. I pretend to look down at my drink to let them talk, even though I can feel him watching me.

“And what do you study now?” Raisa asks, even if we both know the answer.

“World Economics at NYU.”

The conversation drifts off after that and I pretend not to notice that Isaac is going out of his way to make conversation with me while Raisa obviously wants his attention. Two hours after midnight I get bored and decide it’s time to go home. Raise decides to stay and keep partying with Isaac, but my entire body is telling me to just go home and go to sleep, so I listen to it.

I get home around 3am and the house is dead silent. My parents usually have a few friends over on New Year’s, but it looks like that has already ended. I know Adrik is with some friends, so I don’t even bother checking if he’s awake as I make my way to my room.

“What are you going to do about the situation?” I hear my mother’s voice down the hall. It's coming from my father’s office. There’s light coming from under the door, and I take off my boots so I can walk closer without being heard.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to repeat history again.”

“Was it a misunderstanding?”

I don’t hear what my father replies, so I step even closer, only a few steps away from the door now.

“They’re saying we instigated it.” My father says and I squint, making up a scenario in my head so I can have the slightest idea what he means.

“Did you?”

“Not as far as I know. We didn’t send any men out to Europe during the holidays.” “What did you tell their families?”

“We told them that they got lost at sea.”

So, someone did die.

“Does it have the potential to become dangerous?” my mother asks, I can tell by her tone she's getting worried.

“I think we’ll sort it out soon enough. I’ll reason with them.”

The conversation drifts to small talk, which means they’re going to finish soon, so I turn around and tiptoe back into my room. I fall asleep wondering who died and why my parents were talking about it.

***

We fly back to New York three days later on Saturday the 4th with the company private plane, which always takes us from the private airport outside Moscow to the private landing strip near Albany, where a car would be waiting for us to take us to Hamilton College.

Adrik takes the seat in the corner closest to the door and puts his headphones on before we even take off. It was a nine-hour flight, and even though we left at seven in the evening, we would be arriving in our dorms around eleven pm local time. I'm trying to be smart about jet lag and not sleep until I get to my room.

Raisa chooses to sit across from me in the left corner and Aleksi takes the space across the aisle from us, busying himself on his laptop. As soon as the plane is off the ground I busy myself with a new book by Paulo Coehlo, but Raisa gets bored scrolling on her phone soon enough so she starts up a conversation.

“Did you hear about what happened in Sicily?” she asks, crossing her legs and leaning back in her chair, ready to talk.

I close my book, already knowing that it won’t be a short conversation if it involves Matteo. But as long as it was distracting me from thinking about a hundred different scenarios of my parents being involved in a crime, I didn’t mind.

“No, what?”

“So apparently someone called the police on the party saying there were drugs involved and everyone got busted. Matteo, Vinnie, Eddie and Marco were taken into custody with like half a kilogram of cocaine and weed.”

“Oh shit.” I say, genuinely feeling worried about Vinnie, especially. “Where are they now? What happened?”

“A friend told me that they took them down to the station and let them go thirty minutes later.”

My mouth falls open. “What? What about the drugs?”

Raisa shrugs. “I don’t know. I think the police kept it.”

“Are they under investigation?”

“Not as far as I know.” She says, looking at Aleksi, who also seems interested in the conversation. “What do you know?”

“Just that they’re fine. Nobody pressed charges.”

Raisa looks at me in a knowing way. “See? I told you they were mafia.”

I roll my eyes but then I also see Aleksi nodding. “Wait, you believe that shit too?”

“I do.”

I look at him incredulously.

“It’s sounds made up but they are in the mafia.” Aleksi states. “I’ve seen their bodyguards, I’ve heard stories.”

“Plus, they own the police and that’s why they never get into trouble.”

I still seem reluctant, but Aleksi looks at me with a serious look. “Valentina, you have no idea how deep and dark these things can get.”