Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
S carlet recognized the man who’d been making a speech. He was the same man who’d whacked the front window of her car. Angry, deflated after the group of families had accosted them on the beach, he turned his back and wrapped his arms around a young woman with jet-black hair.
It felt like a stone in Scarlet’s belly.
That’s Ivy’s boyfriend. She just knew.
Now that the police recognized what a monstrosity this all was, they were calling for backup. She heard one of them say, “We’re going to need psychologists. Therapists. Can we call them in from Boston?”
“I’ll call the chief,” another said.
Scarlet was able to capture the entire scene on camera.
She lost Nathan in the chaos. His sister had seen him and raced toward him. He wept and led her to their parents, and now, they stood in a group hug as a family. Scarlet’s camera lingered on the scene for a long moment. She wasn’t sure if something so personal would make it in the final cut, but she knew Nathan would want to see it. They’ll welcome him back with open arms, she thought. But he still won’t take their money.
Together, Catherine, Quentin, James, and Scarlet approached Ivy.
Why did it take Ivy so long to join them? Scarlet wondered.
But she knew. It was because Ivy loved her family. It had taken her boyfriend a very long time to convince her. Who knew why she’d ultimately given in? Who knew why anyone did? Perhaps it was the pressure of her approaching a new semester at university. Maybe it was the pressure of their family asking her what are you going to do? Why didn’t you get an internship? Should you write an article about that? Are you using your summer well?
Ivy turned as her family approached. Scarlet’s arms felt heavy with the camera. She wanted to throw it aside and take Ivy in her arms. She was supposed to protect her little sister, but she’d gotten swept up in her own art.
Unlike the others, Ivy wasn’t wearing a long dress. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She hasn’t fallen for it completely, Scarlet thought.
Suddenly, Ivy burst away from her boyfriend and into the arms of her mother. Catherine and Quentin wrapped their arms around her as the bonfire cast its orange light across their faces. The boyfriend and the other men wearing black hung back; they looked despondent. The young women whose parents hadn’t come were scattered across the beach. A few of them had begun to walk away from the fire but in the opposite direction to the house where they’d been living.
A few of the men had begun to disband, too.
“I’m sorry,” Ivy cried into her mother’s shoulder. “I was just so confused.”
“Shh,” Catherine breathed, sweeping her hand through Ivy’s hair. “We all get confused sometimes. But we’re here now. It’s going to be all right. I promise you that.”
Scarlet, Catherine, and Nathan were allowed to go to the police precinct as the police interviewed the young women and paired them up with the therapists readily available at this time of night. The place was crowded with parents and daughters. An officer came with a big box of sweatpants and T-shirts so that the girls could change if they wanted to. They took turns in the bathroom and returned looking like modern young women. They threw their dresses into the trash.
Scarlet asked a few young women if she could interview them for the documentary. The first was Felicity Fellini. Her mother didn’t explain their connection to Felicity until the following week, which led Scarlet to rewatch the footage several more times.
But now, all Scarlet knew of Felicity was that she had the same last name as Scarlet’s great-grandfather from Italy. Maybe we were related in the old country, Scarlet thought as she set up the camera.
Felicity was meek and tired. She looked very small in her sweats and T-shirt. Her parents, April and Rainer, were seated off to the left of Scarlet’s shot, holding hands. Felicity sucked in her cheeks.
“It started out like a philosophical game,” Felicity explained when Scarlet asked her to tell her everything. “I met Xavier outside the English department, and we started talking about the pressures of modern society. How we’re expected to give and give and give of ourselves. I was so tired of studying and keeping up with this big course load. And he said he was tired, too. I didn’t learn till later that he wasn’t even enrolled at Columbia. I just assumed what I wanted to assume. It didn’t take long before I was head over heels for him. That’s when he introduced me to other people around our age who spoke like him; who spoke about another way of living. They talked about freedom like it was a thing you could really have. That intrigued me. I always thought of myself as an outside thinker.”
Felicity sniffed and pressed her hands over her eyes. “It will take me a while not to think the way they taught me to think.”
“That’s the way these people operate,” Scarlet assured her.
Felicity sighed and removed her hands from her eyes again. “They told me that I was born in a prison of wealth. They told me I had to break out of it. They didn’t let us communicate with our parents or anyone from the outside. I questioned it at first, but it just seemed so…so easy.” Felicity rolled her shoulders back. “I’m so embarrassed to admit this.”
“Don’t be,” Scarlet urged. “Does that mean they took your phones?”
“Yes. They did.” Felicity furrowed her brow. “My dad just mentioned they texted our parents from our phones and asked for money.” She wrapped her hand around her opposite wrist. “I don’t really know what to say. I always thought I was a smart person. I can’t believe I fell for this.” Her brow crinkled up. “What is my great-grandma going to say? My great-grandfather came here from Italy—only for his great-granddaughter to fall in line with some kind of stupid cult?”
Felicity hung her head.
Scarlet did her best to assure Felicity that she wasn’t stupid; that men like this were sophisticated in their attacks, and that the world wasn’t always a cruel place. But Scarlet knew Felicity needed time to heal and be with her family.
April and Rainer soon gathered their daughter up and took her away. Scarlet imagined them later, sitting quietly in an ornate room. She hoped they’d find new ways to talk to each other. She hoped they’d find ways to be honest and show their tremendous love.
Wealth is a prison, Scarlet thought. But it shouldn’t be a prison that keeps us away from each other.
April hugged Catherine hard before they disappeared into the darkness. “You’ll let us know if you need anything else for your book,” she said.
“I will,” Catherine said.
Scarlet gave Catherine a funny look as she approached. “You went to the Fellinis about your book? The one about great-grandpa?”
“I did.”
“Does that mean they really are related to us?” Scarlet asked.
Catherine looked tremendously tired. She sat in the plastic chair beside Scarlet and rubbed her knees. Scarlet realized she wasn’t going to get an answer right then. Her mother’s mind was elsewhere.
Ivy had been talking to a police officer for the better part of twenty minutes. They’d realized she was the most recent of the disappeared young women. She’d held out the longest before joining.
It meant her mind was still mostly of the real world, rather than the other one built up by the men wearing black. It meant she could give them the best information about what had really gone on—without tripping up on ideologies and fears.
The police hadn’t been able to bring any of the men into custody. Scarlet knew it would be difficult to round them up. But because it was an island, the cops already had people watching the harbor and the ferry boats. It was to be a fascinating hunt to watch.
The door burst open to return Ivy to the lobby. Her shoulders were slumped; her eyes were lined with red. But already, Quentin and Catherine raced for her and wrapped her in a hug. Scarlet filmed for a few seconds, then turned the camera off and joined her family.
Scarlet’s phone buzzed with a text from Nathan. They were already safe at his parents’ place in Nantucket. He planned to spend the night.
NATHAN: Thank you for everything.
NATHAN: It’s strangely great to be back with them.
NATHAN: None of this could have happened if you hadn’t started digging around.
SCARLET: It couldn’t have happened without your help, either.
Not long after that, Quentin drove them back home. James continued to cry in the back seat, too overwhelmed with emotions to say much of anything except, “I’m just so relieved.”
Catherine said they’d talk more tomorrow. “But everyone needs to sleep,” she ordered.
Scarlet and Ivy went upstairs to the room painted lilac and changed into big T-shirts. Scarlet’s heart broke every time she looked at her little sister. How could she have run away?
Did I miss the signs?
Should I have helped her before it was too late?
But she was back. Scarlet didn’t want to fixate on the past.
Ivy and Scarlet sat on Scarlet’s bed, their feet hanging off and their backs against the chilly wall. Scarlet played music softly from her phone. Ivy looked fourteen or fifteen with her makeup off and her hair in a ponytail.
“I feel so stupid,” Ivy said, her eyes to her toes.
“Don’t.”
Ivy placed her head on Scarlet’s shoulder. Scarlet focused on her breath.
“Did you really love that guy?” Scarlet asked.
“I think so. I don’t know.” Ivy tried to laugh, but it sounded false. “What does anyone know about love, anyway?”
“Where did you meet him?”
“I met him here in Nantucket. Like I told you,” Ivy said. “He made it seem like he was going to Columbia at first. I thought we were on the same page. And we had a lot of fun. We talked about everything. But looking back, I can see the little ways he tried to manipulate me. He belittled my education. He belittled my goals and dreams. And because I was falling in love with him, I let him do it. I began to believe he was right.” Ivy closed her eyes. “It sounds like such a cliché, doesn’t it?”
Scarlet brushed Ivy’s hair behind her ear. She remembered Owen, who’d manipulated her in a thousand different ways. She’d still loved him for years.
“You know I can’t judge you,” Scarlet reminded her.
Ivy was quiet for a moment.
“Not only that,” Scarlet said, “I would never judge you. You’re my sister, and I love you. I will always have empathy for your lived experience. I will always take your word above everyone else’s.”
Ivy sniffed and raised her head. Scarlet wanted to ask her, Were you going to wear the long dresses? Were you going to give in?
Why? What was it about that ideology? What was it about giving up on the real world that appealed to you so much?
But she knew the reason.
Everyone wanted to believe in a better world. Everyone wanted to believe they could find their way out of boredom or fear or hard work.
It wasn’t dissimilar from their great-grandpa Gionnocaro. He’d imagined America to be this better and brighter world across the Atlantic—so far away from the war. But before he’d arrived, he’d lost everything. He’d had to make do with what he could.
“Are you going back to school?” Scarlet asked quietly. She sensed Ivy was nearly asleep.
Ivy’s voice was like a string. “Do you think I should?”
It was clear going back frightened her. Maybe she didn’t trust herself.
“I’ll visit you all the time,” Scarlet breathed. “We can go to our favorite diners and read at the park and go shopping. We can decide how to love the city as adults, rather than children.”
Ivy sniffed. “But you’re not coming back.”
Scarlet shook her head.
Ivy pulled back and looked Scarlet in the eye. “I heard you mention something about a documentary. You’re making it about us.”
Scarlet nodded.
Ivy set her jaw. “Let me know what you need. I’ll tell you anything. I’ll give you anything you need.”
Scarlet’s heart swelled. She thanked her sister and watched as Ivy tiptoed across the room to turn off the light.
There in the dark, Scarlet realized something. Her documentary was going to be a very big deal.
Her career was on the brink.
She had to brace herself.
She had to hold on.
But she needed Nathan with her if she was really going to go for it. She made up her mind to tell him how she felt—both professionally and personally.
She couldn’t keep it to herself a moment more.