Chapter 21
Ainsley – fifteen / Renzo – twenty-eight
Dear Ms. Burch,
Due to current circumstances, I will be unable to fulfill my promise to adopt you and your foster siblings. This duty will be passed on to my cousin, Salvatore D’Amico. The paperwork is already in process. Do not make a fuss, and remember our agreement.
Sincerely,
Renzo Iannelli
MADCAP
I never thought I’d be disappointed you got caught, but I guess foolishness isn’t reserved for kids.
I also never thought I’d be conflicted when it came to you. You stole the most precious person in my life, yet you saved three people no one else saw. One life for three. Maybe I’m putting more value on what you did than I should. After all, it was all part of an agreement. Or was it?
P.S. I hope your cousin is saner than you…if what you say is true.
PARADOX
You’re the reason I’m confused. You’re not at all what you were supposed to be. How do you kill someone’s heart and save it at the same time?
I thought you were lying about your cousin.
I fully expected to be tossed back into the system, and that was okay as long as we were away from the Hayeses, but I’m writing this letter from my new room.
In a mansion bigger than any house has the right to be in the Bay Area.
With a sparkly pen because your cousin thought that’s what all girls want.
But most of all, with Boyan and Lou. We each have our own room.
We have all the food we could eat. All the clothes we need.
I feel safer than I’ve felt in over a year. It only took five months.
I’d given up on believing your letter after the first month went by without news. They separated us, you know. I hadn’t seen Boyan and Lou even once in the last five months until the day Salvatore picked me up and showed me the signed and stamped adoption papers. You really made it happen.
So thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for helping us.
Thank you for answering your phone, especially since Ricco was too busy talking to his girlfriend to answer.
He told me he got punished for that. In case you didn’t know, the plates he caught on the van that peeled out that day turned out to be fake. Micah has also vanished.
I’m guessing you didn’t want to risk a RICO charge, but you should have let Ricco testify about how he saw Micah next to that van. That way, Micah wouldn’t have been able to lie and say he was a witness. You didn’t deserve to be convicted for this.
I’ll never be grateful I met you. That would be tantamount to being grateful my brother is dead. But I am grateful you took the time to get to know me when others wouldn’t have been so kind.
I’m not an idiot. I know this adds to my debt, but I plan to pay that debt by getting you out. Then we’ll be square.
Dear Piccola Peste,
Please refrain from future correspondence.
Concerning your repayment strategy, we shall see if your contributions are worthwhile and sufficient to cover said debt. In the interim, remember to obey my cousin as any caring daughter would.
Sincerely,
Renzo Iannelli
SPACE CASE
As if I’d ever call Tore my father. One word: awkward.
The guy’s only got eleven years on me. My brother and I had a bigger age difference than that.
Plus, the guy’s not serious enough. He’ll be the fun uncle or maybe brother, if anything.
Good at keeping us alive. Not great at discipline.
He’s tried to leave that to nannies, but well…
we’ve driven out three of them already. The fourth got scared off when we had a “late-night” intrusion attempt by some Greeks.
As if Tore would let those guppies get the upper hand.
Isa, your old housekeeper, now helps me out with the kiddos.
She told me she’s known you since you were a naughty little boy, running around, painting stick figures on the walls, which she spent her time painting over so your father never caught you.
I had a good laugh picturing that. Seems you lost your chill over the years.
By the way, I know that Tore goes to visit you every two weeks.
When you see him in the next couple of days, ask him about his shoulder, would you?
Maybe push him to relax a bit. He’s not taking the time to heal that he needs.
Not that I really care, you know. It’d just be a shame to have him die on us and be sent back into the system after all.
P.S. You’re not forced to write back, but you get no say whether I do. Enjoy your stay behind bars.
Dear Ms. Burch,
Please inform me if Tore refuses treatment in the future. He can be as stubborn as his new charge. Have you made any advancement on your debt?
Sincerely,
Renzo Iannelli
DIARY
You’re the reason I need to spill some word vomit, so you’re the designated receiver. Congrats.
Tore needs to ease up on his trust issues.
Seriously. No girl wants their diary read by a man close to double her age.
The worst part is that if I hide it, he goes in search of it as if it’ll contain some silly state secret.
If I leave my diary out, he doesn’t go looking for it, but then Boyan and Lou read it.
That’s like getting every detail of my life yelled out for everyone to hear.
Do you realize how embarrassing it was that even the gate guard knew who my most recent crush was? Two words: freaking awful.
Enter you: my solution. See, I figure three things.
One, you’re bored, so you’ll take all the reading material you can get.
Two, you won’t care enough to discuss my personal information with your cellmates.
Even if you do, random men won’t care about my random BS.
Three, nothing I say will be important enough to waste time telling Tore about when he visits you, so it’ll stay private.
Hence, my problem will be solved. Your sacrifice is appreciated. Now, onto my venting.
Dear Diary,
I swear, Tore or whoever handles this stuff picked the most expensive school in the Bay Area and decided, for no other reason than its price, that it was a great fit for me.
It’s not. Even when my parents were alive, they never placed me in a preppy school with a dress code, full of rich kids too full of themselves to wipe their own asses.
They stay away from me for the most part, too afraid of my so-called adoptive father—now, that’s just a weird thing to write down.
I need to find something else to call him. It’s just not working for me.
All this school stuff means that I attract all the wrong attention for the right reasons from my peers.
It’s nothing I can’t handle. Doesn’t mean I don’t wish things were simpler.
I also hope that in the long run, Boyan and Lou don’t grow up to be influenced by these egotistical, narcissistic little bastards.
That’s it for now.
You know, I think this is going to work great. The best part is, if you don’t want to read my mindless fodder, you can just refuse it or toss it out.
And no, not yet. Have patience, or hassle Tore or Vincenzo.
My focus has been a little preoccupied. My presumed debt is so far down my priority list, it’s at the bottom of a canyon, but don’t worry.
I haven’t forgotten you. A little prison time won’t kill you, and they always say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Until next time.
Ms. Burch,
While you have correctly guessed that my entertainments are rather limited these days, I assure you I will find the will to avoid reading your endless fodder.
If you have nothing of interest to write, it is neither appropriate nor appreciated that you continue to send me letters. I did not adopt you. I am almost double your age. This needs to end.
Do not write to me again.
Sincerely,
Renzo Iannelli
Dear Diary,
Aw, did I hurt your feelings?
You don’t have to read my letters or write back. That’s on you. But I need someone to vent to, and this is the most practical arrangement for me. So yes, you’ll keep receiving them. You’ve called me pest enough. I might as well live up to that. You already know I’m stubborn to a fault.
School still sucks. Apparently, my clothes are so “last season.” It’s freaking clothes. Who gives a shit? They cover me up, keep me warm, and look nice. This whole in and out of season thing is so wasteful.
Oh, and someone thought it’d be hilarious to put a booby trap in my locker.
I didn’t laugh, but somebody probably did.
I mean, it was absolutely fantastic getting covered in purple paint at eight thirty in the morning on a Tuesday.
Even better, my homework was illegible, and my textbooks were ruined.
And guess who got the blame for that one? Little ol’ me. Sucker!
Well, at least until Tore and Vinny showed up.
Love those guys. Tore seduced the pants off the assistant principal, and Vinny scared the shit out of the turds who have been bugging me.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what kind of ridiculousness the assholes at this school will throw at me next time.
JAILBIRD GODMOTHER
You’re the reason Tore finally saw reason and pulled me out of that god-awful school. Tell me I’m wrong. That way I don’t have to thank you…again.
Who knew I’d miss regular people so much?
Rich people are such pricks. All about who’s who and what they can get you.
Everything they say and do is an act, and every word is a manipulation toward getting what they want.
Lie upon omission upon lie. Whatever happened to people being straightforward with each other?
To honest friendships and relationships?
Sure, money gets them what they want, but what happens when it’s gone?
They’re empty without it. They have nothing outside of it, but I don’t think they realize that. I mean, look at you. What are you in prison without your money? I dare you to answer that.
Other than that, you’ll be happy to know Boyan, Lou, and I haven’t driven Tore too crazy yet. I’m sure that’ll come with time. We’ve left your home mostly intact, though Boyan might have smashed what Vinny said was a priceless vase the other day. Hope you don’t mind.
The next time you see Tore, though, please order him to take it easy.
His doctor said that too much movement before his shoulder has fully healed might cause further damage and loss of motion.
Considering how often he visits you and the way he defends you to the old asshats who come visit sometimes, he might actually listen to you.
Piccola Peste,
When you grow up, you will realize that what people want most is power, not money. And I can maintain mine easily wherever I am. You will find I care very little for the durability of said vase. However, the damage will be added to your debt. I am keeping a very thorough tally.
I will relay your message with vigor.
Enjoy your new school.
Sincerely,
Renzo Iannelli