8 #2
JEROME PUT DOWN THE document and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
He had to hand it to Cosimo. He hadn’t left anything out and he had been meticulous in handling all his assets.
Jerome knew he was lucky to have such a diligent accountant and a mother who was stubborn.
He picked up his phone and dialled Cosimo’s number.
“Jerome. How are you?” Cosimo’s voice was soothing as he spoke.
“Hey, Cos, I’m fine. I managed to read through everything.”
“I see. You’re pretty well covered. She can’t get her hands on anything except the house.
All three businesses are not in your name.
” He paused, waiting for some comment but it never came.
“Thankfully, Mama kept La Casa in her name, while Sky and Level One are part of the Ferretti Leisure Group too, of which Mama is the CEO. The only thing she can claim from you is a percentage of your earnings. That, I’m afraid, we can’t do anything about.
We could reduce them but if she decides to get her lawyers to dig, we’ll have to let them know when the decrease was implemented.
It’ll look bad, so I wouldn’t advise it.
” He paused again, hoping Jerome would speak.
Cosimo knew this was hard for Jerome. After a few seconds, he continued.
“You’ll need to get Seni to draft up a settlement. That’s if you decide to go forward.”
“I’m not sure what I want to do yet, Cos,” sighed Jerome. “I’m not ready for Seni to know anything either. With all due respect, Cos, it’s bad enough you know.”
“I’m sorry Jerome, I truly am. But you have to be smart. You’re lucky Mama insisted that everything stayed in her name.”
Jerome’s mind drifted to the conversation they’d had with their mother ten years ago. He had to hand it to Gia – she knew a thing or two.
“I’VE HAD OUR LAWYERS redraft my will.” Gia was standing in her sumptuous living room by her Italian marble fireplace. Cosimo, Jerome and Arsenio were slumped on the sofas, but this conversation caused all three brothers to immediately sit forward.
“Er, why? Is everything alright?” Cosimo was first to speak.
“Everything’s fine, but it’s time to put things in order.”
All three men physically relaxed.
“I need to protect you all in case of… well, many things, to be perfectly honest.” Her eyes darted to Jerome and he tensed.
Gia took a deep breath. “The A and C Ferretti Chartered Accountant Company will go to Cosimo. As you both know, he has taken Papa’s modest company and built it up to be one of the largest in northern England.
” Both Jerome and Arsenio smiled at Cosimo as he shifted awkwardly in his seat.
“I have asked our lawyers to transfer the company from me to Cosimo from now.”
“Why?” interrupted Cosimo.
“It’s your company. I kept it on my name to protect you.”
“Protect me?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure about your personal life. I didn’t know if… well, you won’t be getting married, will you? So…” Cosimo smirked as Gia struggled to be tactful.
Jerome’s eyes narrowed as it began to dawn on him why this meeting had been called.
“No, Mama, marriage isn’t in my future,” Cosimo replied softly and Arsenio sniggered, causing Gia to frown at him.
“Arsenio’s share of his inheritance is still in a trust fund until he’s ready to branch out on his own. This will remain in my name until you decide what to do with it. It is willed to you in the event of my death, should that happen before.”
Arsenio stared at Gia wide eyed. “I have my own trust fund?” he’d been twelve years old when his father died and Gia had never revealed to him the extent of his inheritance. It had grown considerably over the last ten years.
“Yes, you have. When Papa died, he left everything to me. I then took fifty percent of it and split it into three for each of you. Cosimo used his share to expand the accountancy business. I used Jerome’s to set up La Casa, and yours was put in a trust fund for when you decided which direction you wanted to go in. ”
Arsenio slumped back, stunned, and Cosimo smiled wryly at him.
“As for La Casa, we bought the building using the money from selling our home and then to set up the restaurant and apartments, Jerome’s inheritance was used.
As you all know, the restaurant has become very profitable and has paid back its original set up costs plus, a few times over.
” Gia smiled tightly at Jerome as he regarded her, his posture tense.
“I have managed to recover the money I used from the sale of the house, so effectively, La Casa is solely Jerome’s.
” Jerome relaxed slightly. “However, it will remain in my name and it will be willed to you when I die.” Jerome opened his mouth to speak, but Gia interrupted him before he could: “In the light of your recent… relationship.”
“Liz is going to be my wife, Mama.” Jerome clenched his teeth as he spoke.
“Yes, well, because of that, I would prefer, for the moment, to keep everything in my name. You will have full control, as you do now. There’s no question that La Casa is a success because of you, there is no doubt about that at all.
I just… well, what you’ve built, what you’ve achieved, you did that through hard work.
I never want that to be taken away from you.
“ Her eyes darted to Cosimo, then back to Jerome.
Jerome rested slowly back into the sofa, understanding perfectly where this was coming from.
His relationship with Liz and her sudden pregnancy had caused a rift between him and his mother.
Gia hadn’t liked Liz from the start, but once his girlfriend had fallen pregnant, Gia had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to be in their lives, one way or another.
Liz may have tricked her way into their family, but she wasn’t going to lay claim to whatever her son had built up until now.
“It’s for your own protection, Jerome.” She repeated the words, knowing he would undoubtedly want to reopen this discussion at a later date.
This conversation wasn’t over, thought Jerome as he took a deep breath and slumped back deeper into the sofa.
BOTH LEVEL ONE AND Sky became part of the Ferretti Leisure Group, which Gia remained CEO of. Jerome had been given the title of General Manager, purely as a formality, though he was, in fact, the acting CEO.
Over the ten years, he’d had various arguments with Gia about taking control officially of the company but she’d never budged.
She gave him full power of attorney to do whatever he saw fit and never questioned his decisions, but she was never going to give him the company – not while he was still married to Liz.
In the last year and especially the last few weeks, Jerome had realised Gia’s original perception of his marriage to Liz had been correct.
She had known they’d have problems. If he went ahead with a divorce, he knew Liz would be ruthless, even if she was the one at fault.
The idea of splitting up his family home weighed heavy on his tense shoulders.
His eyes focused on the photos of Alessandro and Kara.
He’d needed legal advice, as well as financial and he knew that Arsenio was the only one who could help him.
He didn’t want to lose his children, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to go home to a wife that had obviously used him for his assets and whom he couldn’t trust anymore.
His home wasn’t the sanctuary it was supposed to be.
In fact, it was proving to be the opposite. He felt tortured and miserable there.
“Thanks for putting this together, Cos. I need to do some thinking before… well, I need to see where Liz is in this. If she wants us to be over, then so be it. If the decision is down to me…” He stopped and rubbed his face. “I’ll let you know, okay? But this is between me and you for now.”
“Of course. I would never say anything,” Cosimo replied softly.
“I know.” Jerome slipped the document into the envelope and put it into his desk drawer, eager to change the subject. “The kids will be down around two thirty today, if you want to come down.”
“I’d love to see them. Like I said, I’ve missed them.” Cosimo lavished all his natural paternal affection onto Alessandro and Kara. Jerome knew that his life had come with a great personal sacrifice – missing out on being a parent was one part of that.
Cosimo very much kept his personal life exactly that: personal. He had a number of friends but he’d never brought any of his partners to meet his family. Jerome wondered whether he might be celibate and had asked him a few years ago.
“No, Jerome, I’m not. I just don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. I’m not sure how well Mama and Seni would be able to handle seeing me with anyone and to be honest, I’d prefer to have that part of my life separate to the rest.”
“Don’t your partners mind?”
Cosimo shrugged. “It’s the only way for me, so if they don’t like it…”
Jerome nodded. Cosimo had always been a private man.
There was a six-year age gap between the two brothers, and that and Cosimo’s homosexuality evoked a distance in their filiation.
It was the death of their father that caused the dynamics of their relationship change.
Cosimo had taken his role as the oldest brother seriously after Alessandro senior died.
He was in his early twenties and Gia found it gravely difficult to overcome the shock of losing her husband so suddenly.
She suffered from depression, and Cosimo was left to guide and comfort his two younger teenage brothers.
As a result, both Jerome and Arsenio became very close to Cosimo, their grief bonding them.
Their father’s death led Cosimo to recognise that regardless of how uncomfortable his family felt about his homosexuality, they needed and loved him. So rather than pull away from them, he became very present in their lives and over time, they accepted his identity.