Chapter Five-Buddha #4
“Let’s go,” I said, leading the way. Lorenzo should be back by now. So I knocked on the door, letting him know I was ready to leave. The door immediately opened, and Lorenzo looked at me, then at Dior, who was standing next to me.
“She’s coming with me. Thanks for looking out for her,” I expressed my gratitude to the man who has been working for my family for over a decade.
“No problem, Phillipe,” he said, moving out of the way so Dior and I could walk past. Silently, the three of us made our way away from the stanza buia.
“Dior will spend the night in one of the guest bedrooms,” I said, dropping the dress next to my mother, once we made our way into the living room of the main house. My parents were still in the same spot where I left them. Dior stood back with her head bent as if she were afraid of being scolded.
“Dior, are you hungry?” My mother asked, getting to her feet. I observed the way she walked up to Dior and took her hand.
“Yeah, a little,” Dior replied with a shy smile.
“Let me make you something to eat. Phillipe, why don’t you come join us in the kitchen?” My mother said, leading the way. I cursed repeatedly in my head as I looked over at my father, hoping he would help me.
“I’ll be in my office,” Tomasso said, getting up from his seat. He walked over to my mother and kissed her cheek.
“Really?” I said, making a face as my father retreated, leaving me alone with these two women.
“Yes, really,” he answered before he disappeared in the opposite direction. Pinching between my eyes, I walked into the kitchen. My mother was fluttering around while plating Dior’s food. Dior was seated, waiting patiently to be fed. I took a seat next to her and looked at my mother.
“Did you two come up with a story of how you met?” My mother asked, placing a huge serving of her famous spaghetti and meatballs in Italian style.
Dior immediately picked up her fork and began eating as if she had been starving.
I would swear Lorenzo hadn’t been feeding her when she was locked in the room.
“What do you mean?” I asked my mother, wondering why she didn’t offer me anything to eat.
“Phillipe, the only people who know about Dior and the fact that this marriage is arranged are us. You two need some sort of cute meet and greet story,” leaning against the kitchen counter opposite where we were seated, my mother waited for us to come up with something.
“Is this a fucking joke?” I asked as she folded her arms under her breasts, giving me an exasperated look.
“Does it sound like I’m joking, Phillipe?” She placed a hand on her hip. I looked over at Dior; she had such an intrigued look on her face. I was curious to know what she was thinking.
“What’s going on up here?” I tapped the side of her head as I asked my question. Placing her fork down on her plate, she finished chewing her food before speaking.
“If it’s ok to ask. How did you and your husband meet Victoria?” Dior asked cautiously, looking at me, hoping I wasn’t going to blow up because she clearly was violating rule number one. My mother, on the other hand, broke into a smile, and she stepped closer.
“Of course you can ask,” I frowned a bit because there was something different about her. I knew exactly what it was; she liked Dior. This was indeed a revelation because my mother rarely liked anybody.
“Tomasso saved me from a very abusive relationship. I was young, and my home life wasn’t the best. I didn’t have positive examples of what love looked like, witnessing my mother being used as a punching bag by my father.
I kind of fell into the cycle. Tomasso was on a trip to the US.
It was then that he found out he had a stepbrother, Francesco.
So he flew in for a visit. I guess God placed Tomasso at the right place at the right time.
“I was in the gas station pumping gas, while my lazy ass boyfriend at the time, Luis, sat and waited. This guy randomly passed by and said hello to me. I politely replied that was my biggest mistake. Luis heard me, and he got out of the car and started whopping my ass. It just so happened that Tomasso and Francesco had just pulled into the gas station. They dragged Luis off me; Tomasso saved me that day. Francesco took me to the hospital and Tomasso…well, let’s just say he took Luis for a ride and he was never heard from again. ”
I listened to my mother retell her story. A story that I hated immensely, the thought of a man laying a hand on my mother made me extremely angry.
“The next thing I knew, I was on a plane back to Italy. I lived there with Tomasso until we came back to the US and started our lives here. He decided that being in the US with Francseco was better for work. So, you two need a story on how y'all met. Nothing as dramatic as mine, of course.”
“Well, we officially met at a speed dating game. He sat down and scared the hell out of me. I guess we can say we met there,” Dior offered the story of the first time I practically forced my way into her life.
“Ok, good, we’ll go with that. Now, I need you two to sit here and get to know more about each other,” my mother was slowly getting on my damn nerves.
“Jesus, mamma,” I scrubbed the palms of my hands across my face.
“Phillipe, these men sense things. The Chinese and the Russians are very smart mothafuckas. If they get a hint that this union is fake, all our future deals are off. Ivan Petrov and his wife, Yelena, will be here tomorrow. Petrov has connections that could help him get his hands on the rarest form of diamond in the world. Do you know how expensive black diamonds are? Your father wants to retire, Phillipe. He’s counting on you,” my mother said, leaning in so she could grab my hand and gently squeeze.
“I hear you. Can I go now? I need to go over something with Snow,” I was about to get to my feet when my mother made a face at me.
“No, you cannot go. I just said you and Dior need to know more personal stuff about each other. Dior, you start. Turn to Phillipe and tell him some things about yourself,” I grabbed my chin and turned to face Dior. She finished off her spaghetti before she looked at me.
“Well, I lived with Lewis, who’s my stepfather, as you know.
My biological father died when I was young in an accident on his job.
My mother won a settlement, and she became obsessed with money.
She met Lewis and wasn’t satisfied financially with her life.
So he did everything in his power to make her happy.
Which led to us being in debt. My mother got sick with ALS and passed away after a short battle with the disease.
She left behind a huge medical bill, which clearly overwhelmed Lewis, forcing him to steal from y’all, I guess. ”
“Oh, my best friend’s name is Mia. I have an autistic younger sister named Chanel, and I’m somewhat of a model, who does small jobs because my mother believed being pretty made more money than being smart.”
I hated that after listening to her speak, I began to feel a little bad for what she had been dragged into. I wasn’t about to show that shit, though. One thing Dior said piqued my interest, and I stopped rubbing my chin.
“What do you think?”
“About what?” she frowned.
“Do you think that being pretty is better than being smart because it can get you rich?” I asked, waiting for her response.
“Two things can be true at once. However, I think using your brain has a lot more advantages than being pretty. For one, it can earn you more respect. Having a pretty face and a banging body can open many doors for you, yes. Then once you get past those doors, how many mothafuckas behind those doors are about to respect you? Most of corporate America is run by men with very big egos,” Dior lifted her eyebrows when she said that and gave me a telling look.
I knew she meant me and my little performance a while ago.
I smirked at her before I got to my feet.
“I think we're good now, mamma. I have to go over to Snow’s house and discuss something,” I walked over to my mother and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Aren’t you going to tell Dior anything about yourself?” She said, grabbing my upper arm so I couldn’t leave. I turned to the woman I was about to marry and eyed her thoughtfully.
“I think Dior knows exactly who I am. Be a good girl, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I removed my mother’s hand from my arm and walked off. I felt both women’s eyes follow me as I disappeared from the kitchen
“Can you not do that right now. You need to check yourself into rehab,” I looked at Snow as he snorted a line, sitting across from me at his house.
“You in my shit nigga,” he sniffed hard as fuck, tipping his head back while squeezing his nose. I shook my head as I looked around his living room. I wondered where the fuck Cruella was.
“Where’s Ciara?” I asked for my nemesis.
“Upstairs, thinking of more ways to make my life fucking miserable. Are you ready to get married tomorrow?” Snow asked, closing his eyes as his high began to slowly kick in. Lying his head on the back of the sofa, he waited for my response.
“Fuck no. The last thing I wanted was a wife; this some bull-shit,” I shook my head, thinking about what I was about to do for the sake of the family.
“I bet you wish you were on drugs like me, then daddy wouldn’t have expected all of this from you,” Snow said, tapping his temple with his index finger as if he said something that made sense. I made a face at his dumb ass.