They Took My Ticket, I Destroyed Their Lives Chapter 09
Jayden finally hit the floor, his legs giving out. He was a broken man, muttering,
“Impossible… it can’t be…” over and over.
My father looked at him like he was a bug on his shoe, then looked at me with
soft eyes: “Kira, ‘mi dispiace’ you had to deal with this.”
I took the mic one last time.
“Jayden, Vivian… did you think I fought for those train tickets because I didn’t
have a choice?”
“Did you think I dressed simple because I couldn’t afford the ‘lusso’ you dream
about?”
“Did you think my silence was weakness? That I was ‘fesso’?”
I stepped closer to the edge of the stage.
“I wanted to be a regular girl for once. I wanted to see if I could have something
real without the Family name behind me.”
I looked Jayden dead in his terrified eyes: “You weren’t worth the effort.”
Then I looked at the rest of the room.
“My GPA is a 4.0. My work is mine. I did the time in the library while you were
all talking ‘stronzate’. Does anyone have a problem with my record?”
No one said a word. Finally, I looked at Vivian, who was trying to disappear into
her chair.
“And you, Vivian.”
“The business class seats, the reputation you tried to burn, even this
‘uomminicchio’ next to you… to me, they’re nothing.”
“What you think is a treasure, I see as spazzatura.”
I handed the mic back and walked off. The show was over.
Later, Jayden tried to come to me, begging like a cane: “Kira, I didn’t know… I
swear…”
“It was all Vivian! She took the photos! She pushed me!”
I looked at him—a man with no palle, ready to sell out his partner to save his own skin. It was pathetic.
“You know why I never told you who I was?”
He just stared at me, shaking his head.
“I wanted to see if there was a man under there who loved me for me, and not for the ‘onore’ of the Rosetti name.”
“Now I have my answer.”
I turned my back on him for good.
The next day, I moved my things, changed my number, and put them both in the cimitero of my contacts.
My father was right. Flashing your wealth isn’t always the way, but sometimes you have to show your hand to see who’s leale and who’s a serpente.
From now on, the wheat stays with the wheat, and the chaff rots in the dirt. They can keep struggling in the mud; Cosa Nostra is onto bigger and better horizons.