One: Daniela Berni

Daniela Berni

            “You need a job.” This comes from my best friend Audrina Bianchi, while we’re sitting at the bar. Audrina is tall, with jet black hair, and brown eyes. As a teenager, she worked as a model. Then, when she got tired of having to starve herself and always look good for the camera, she used her money to start up her own fashion boutique. Now, she ran hundreds of stores world-wide. We had originally met in private school, when she would come in every few months before flying away from another job.

            She’d always tried to get me to model but I’d never been bold enough. My mom worked as a maid for fancy, rich people. And something about that had messed with my psyche a little. I never believed that I was good enough for anyone or anything.

            “I know,” I told Audrina, taking a sip of the cosmopolitan I had.

            “You should go back and get your degree then come work for me,” Audrina offered, “I could use someone like you. You’re smart, Daniela. It’s weird to me that you never tried to do more. You were top of our class at school. You were going to be something. What happened?”

            Audrina isn’t saying this to be mean. She knows exactly what happened.

            On a winter night in my senior year, I was walking home with my mom. We lived in Roxbury. We’d gone grocery shopping. It had been my birthday, and Mom had wanted to make me a cake even though we couldn’t do much else. We didn’t have a whole lot of money. She’d gotten off work from her job early, even, and picked me up from school.

            We were about a block outside of the market when a stranger in a black, ski-mask approached us. “I know what you did!” the man barked at my mom, brandishing the gun.

            “Audrina, run!” mom said.

            I gripped her arm tightly. “No, I’m not leaving without you! Come on. We can both---”

            “I know what you did and you’re going to pay for it!” the man barked again. Then, before I knew what was happening, I heard a loud gun shot. Everything slowed down. Mom fell to the sidewalk, her eyes seemed to go cold, lifeless. Then, she collapsed onto the floor, bleeding out. In the chilly, Boston night, I let out a scream. I should have done something, called someone. But I was frozen in fear over what had happened.

            All I could do was get down on my knees, rock my mom in my arms, and scream, “Help! Help! Somebody!!!! Somebody help!” I think I screamed until my voice was raw.

            Someone did eventually call an ambulance, and the police. I spent the night being questioned by officers about what happened. Eventually, I was allowed to go home. The problem was, I didn’t have a home. So, the only thing they could do was call my mom’s employer since he was listed as her emergency contact.

            Mom’s boss was Giuseppe Capaldi. He owned half of Boston, and had his hands in just about every kind of business. But mostly, it was real estate. At least that’s what everyone was told. Mr. Capaldi was a rich Italian in the Boston area, and because of those rumors about him being attached to the mob had always circled.

            I’d grown up around him, so I didn’t find him to be that fearsome. He was just my mom’s boss. Mom had worked for his family since she was a teenager. We were practically family to him. Even though he had his own.

            A wife, that had died young, in a car accident. They’d been married for seven years when it happened. Long enough to produce two sons, Niccolo and Luca. I’d grown up with the boys. When I was younger, I used to spend my time after school in the Capaldi mansion. Luca had always been nice to me. But Niccolo made sure I knew my place.

            “You’re the maid’s daughter,” he would say to me, “you’re nothing. You’ll probably end up working for us just like your mom.”

            When I was still going to public school, I could escape them. But when I entered high school, for reasons I could never fathom, Mr. Capaldi decided I should go to the same private school as his boys. If I thought that going to the same school would make us closer, I was wrong. Niccolo made sure that everyone knew that I was the daughter of his maid. No one in the school full of rich kids let me forget it.

            I was constantly told that I didn’t belong there. I didn’t even have friends. Not until Audrina came to the school. She was like me, not from money, and was paying for her education with the money that she’d earned from modeling. But both of us having grown up poor, we connected a lot more than the other kids did. So, even though she didn’t go to school full time, whenever she was there, I at least had one friend.

            We’d stayed in touch after I graduated high school. But when my mom died, I had found out that she had made Mr. Capaldi my guardian. So, I spent the last six months of my senior year living with him.

            It had been miserable.

            Niccolo ignored me, and Luca distanced himself from me because he didn’t want to make his brother mad. When I graduated high school, I got contacted by my aunt that I hadn’t really known who lived in Florida.

            She was from my dad’s side.

            She’d offered me a place to crash, if I could help her out around the house. That had been four years ago. Aunt Luciana had gotten cancer, and passed away. She’d left me some money, enough to make it back to Boston and get my life together if I wanted.

            I felt rudderless in Florida without her. So, I headed back home. Now, I was crashing in Audrina’s guest bedroom until I could find a place.

            “You know what happened,” I said darkly in response to Audrina’s question.        

            Audrina sighed. “I know. I know, and that was a really, really, horrible thing. Losing your mom so young. But you know Mr. Capaldi would have sent you to college. He thought of you like you were his own daughter. So, why didn’t you take him up on that offer?”

            I sighed, and tugged at my brown hair. “That offer came with strings.”

            “What strings?” Audrina asked, furrowing her brows together. “And why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”      

            “Because the whole thing was weird. Mr. Capaldi told me that he would pay for my college if I agreed to marry his son.”

            “Luca?”

            I shook my head. “Niccolo.”

            Audrina winced. “Why? Niccolo always hated you. Even when you hooked up that one summer, he still treated you like dirt. Luca at least was friendly.”

            “I know. Mr. Capaldi told me that if I married Niccolo, he could keep me safe from ‘what was to come’. If I didn’t, I was on my own after I graduated. He never explained what he was talking about, either.”

            Audrina made a face. “That’s weird. But maybe he was just trying to make sure you were taken care of.”

            “Anyway, there was no way I could go to college without help. And I didn’t want to go into debt trying to pay for it. So, when my aunt contacted me, I just took her up on that job instead. It was easier.”

            “Why didn’t she contact you before that?”

            I shrugged. “Her and my mom had a falling out. I guess she wasn’t really fond of my dad, and thought Mom was making a big mistake by being with him. But I swear, I’m going to find something. I already sent my resume to one of the employment agencies.”

            Audrina sighed. “Okay. But you know I could get you a job in one of my stores or----”

            I shook my head. “You’re the only friend I’ve got, Audrina. I don’ t want to make it weird by working for you. Besides, you spend most of your time in New York and I’m not cut out for that.” I took another sip of my drink. “Anyway, I’ve still got my savings from my aunt, and that will keep me covered for a little bit. But I’ll find something, I promise.”

            Audrina took a sip of her own drink, making a face. I could tell that she was frustrated with me. “Are you going to contact the Capaldi’s? Let them know you are home? Maybe they could help you get a job. I mean, they do know everyone. And own everything.”

            I laughed. “I wouldn’t work for the Capaldi’s in a million years.”

            “Alright well----I keep a look out for something too. Tonight, though, let’s just celebrate you being back home!”

            I smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

            Audrina had let me borrow a slinky, black Chanel dress from her closet. She was wearing a silver, Versace number that glittered every time that she moved. Audrina had a town car waiting for us outside. We finished our drinks, paid, and then headed outside to the car again. We went to a club called VILLAIN. The logo was a big, red sign that was hard to miss.

            I laughed a little when I saw it. “Why is it that club names never make any sense?”

            Audrina laughed too. “When has anything at a club ever made sense?”

            Audrina was a VIP and the bouncer just nodded when she walked up to the door. There was a long line of people waiting, circling around the block. Some of them craned their necks to see who was entering. “Audrina! Audrina!” I heard a few people shout as I followed after her.

            “You ever get used to that?” I asked.

            Audrina shook her head. “It’s always weird. But you know, it’s nice sometimes. Most of the people that are excited are fans. It’s easier to go under the radar here though. People know me from when I was younger, so it’s not like if I was out in New York or LA.”

            I smiled at her. Audrina had come so far from the teen model that she used to be. Back then, even though she’d had her own money, her mom had been her manager. And the two of them had had a difficult relationship because of that. Mrs. Bianchi was a hard, cold woman that had micromanaged every part of Audrina’s life from her diet to who she dated.

            Now, as the CEO of her own company, Audrina called the shots. I just wished I could find something to be as passionate about as she was about her job.

            Inside, the club was loud. There was pulsating music, bodies crammed together. It smelled like sweat, booze, and the sickly sweet, smoky scent of the fog machine. Laser lights danced overhead. Audrina and I found a place on the dance floor, moving to the beat and smiling the whole time.

            Ah, Boston.

            It was really good to be home.

            After we’d been on the dance floor a little bit, I shouted, “I’m parched! Want something?”

            Audrina nodded. “Vodka soda.”

            “’Kay. I’ll be right back.” I moved through the crowd, apologizing as I squeezed my way through the bar. When I got there, I waved at the bar tender to catch my attention. He flashed me a smile, but then his gaze went cold as if he had seen a ghost.

            “Daniela?” he shouted over the loud music.

            I froze as he made his way over to me. Peering at him closely, I realized it was one of the last people I wanted to see. Tall, handsome, blond, with a smile that lit up every room he walked into like he was the sun. Luca Capaldi. My old, childhood friend. And if Luca was there, that could only mean that Niccolo wasn’t far behind. “Shit!” I blurted. One of the Capaldi brothers knew I was home. That would mean trouble. One way, or another. It always did with them.