Chapter 6 - She’ll Decide That Herself
The second Bellarosa dinner was smaller.
That made it more dangerous.
There were no sixty guests this time.
Only fourteen.
The people who mattered.
Vittorio.
Paul.
Thomas Bellarosa.
Adrian.
Two lawyers.
Several senior relatives.
People who could turn gossip into policy and assumptions into agreements.
Enzo arrived at 8:12.
Thomas Bellarosa met him personally near the entrance.
“Enzo.”
Thomas opened his arms slightly, expecting some version of warmth.
Enzo offered a handshake.
Nothing more.
“Thomas.”
“Thank you for coming.”
“I wanted clarity.”
Thomas smiled.
“So do we.”
The house was enormous.
Glass.
Stone.
Modern art.
The Strip glowed in the distance.
Enzo had attended hundreds of rooms like this.
Tonight, everything looked different.
Maybe because Sofia wasn’t beside him.
Maybe because now he could see the architecture of pressure.
People placed carefully.
Conversations staged.
A chair left open beside Adrian.
When Enzo entered the dining room, Vittorio stood.
His expression said behave.
Enzo almost smiled.
Adrian approached.
Tall.
Well dressed.
Nervous.
Not arrogant.
That mattered.
“Mr. Marino.”
“Adrian.”
“I’m sorry about last night.”
Enzo studied him.
“For what?”
Adrian hesitated.
“That things got… complicated.”
“Did you know about the announcement?”
The room quieted.
Thomas stepped forward.
“Enzo.”
He ignored him.
Adrian looked at his grandfather, then back at Enzo.
“Yes.”
“Did Sofia?”
Adrian’s face changed.
“I thought she did.”
Enzo believed him.
That made the situation uglier, not cleaner.
“Who told you that?”
“My grandfather.”
Thomas stepped in.
“This is exactly the kind of misunderstanding we can resolve calmly.”
Enzo turned.
“Good.”
He removed his jacket.
“Let’s resolve it.”
Dinner began.
For twenty minutes, nobody mentioned Sofia.
They talked about markets.
Construction.
A hotel renovation.
A charitable foundation.
Enzo watched them perform normalcy.
Then Thomas finally placed his glass down.
“I think we should address yesterday.”
Enzo leaned back.
Vittorio watched him.
Thomas continued.
“Our families have shared mutual interests for many years.”
Enzo said nothing.
“We believed there might be value in creating something deeper between the next generation.”
Adrian looked uncomfortable.
Enzo noticed.
Thomas continued.
“Nothing binding. Nothing immediate. Simply a public understanding that Adrian and Sofia would spend time together with the possibility of something more.”
Enzo smiled faintly.
“You keep saying understanding.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who understood?”
Silence.
Enzo looked around the table.
“I didn’t.”
Then at Adrian.
“He thought Sofia did.”
Then at Thomas.
“Sofia didn’t.”
He leaned forward.
“So help me understand who the understanding was between.”
Nobody answered.
Paul cleared his throat.
“Enzo, the idea was preliminary.”
“Then why was her photograph on a stage?”
Paul looked down.
Thomas answered.
“Symbolism.”
“Without her permission.”
“No harm was intended.”
Enzo nodded.
“I believe you.”
That surprised them.
He continued.
“I don’t think anyone here woke up yesterday wanting to hurt my daughter.”
Vittorio relaxed slightly.
Enzo saw it.
Then kept going.
“That’s what makes this more important.”
The room tightened.
“Because you convinced yourselves that good intentions made permission unnecessary.”
Thomas frowned.
“That’s not fair.”
“No?”
Enzo looked at Adrian.
“Did anyone ask you?”
Adrian hesitated.
“My grandfather discussed it with me.”
“Discussed.”
“Yes.”
“You could say no?”
Adrian looked toward Thomas.
That glance answered enough.
Enzo nodded.
“So you had more choice than Sofia.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
“She is sixteen.”
“There’s that number again.”
“Because it matters.”
“It does.”
Enzo leaned forward.
“It means you should have been more careful, not less.”
Vittorio spoke.
“We are not talking about marriage.”
Enzo looked at him.
“No. You’re talking about creating expectations around a sixteen-year-old girl in a room full of adults who know how hard expectations are to break.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
Thomas raised a hand.
“Let me be direct.”
“Please.”
“We believe the Marino and Bellarosa families would benefit from long-term unity.”
Enzo nodded.
“I understand.”
“Then why destroy the possibility over presentation?”
“Because Sofia isn’t the presentation.”
Thomas exhaled.
“Nobody said she was.”
“You printed her face on an easel.”
Silence.
Adrian looked down.
Thomas turned toward his grandson.
“Adrian, perhaps you should leave.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Adrian.
He swallowed.
“I think I should hear this.”
Thomas frowned.
Adrian looked at Enzo.
“And I think Sofia should have known.”
The room changed.
Thomas looked betrayed.
Adrian continued.
“I thought she did.”
“I know,” Enzo said.
Thomas’s face reddened.
“This is not the time.”
Adrian gave a small, nervous laugh.
“That seems to be the problem.”
Enzo almost smiled.
Vittorio stood.
“Enough.”
Everyone quieted.
He looked at Enzo.
“You have made your point.”
“No.”
Enzo’s voice remained calm.
“I haven’t.”
His uncle stared.
Enzo stood.
He looked around the table.
“I came because last night, apparently, some people believed Sofia’s absence meant she became nervous.”
Thomas shifted.
“Or confused.”
Paul looked down.
Enzo continued.
“She was neither.”
He paused.
“She understood perfectly once somebody finally told her what all of you had decided to discuss without her.”
Vittorio’s mouth hardened.
“No decision was final.”
“That’s not the defense you think it is.”
Enzo looked toward the windows.
Las Vegas flickered beyond the glass.
He remembered Sofia standing in jeans after removing the blue dress.
He remembered Elena’s handwriting.
The night everyone told me what my future should look like.
Then he looked back at the room.
“There will be no announcement.”
Thomas opened his mouth.
Enzo continued.
“There will be no understanding.”
Vittorio stood straighter.
“Enzo.”
“There will be no plan involving Sofia and Adrian unless, years from now, they independently choose to know each other.”
Thomas’s expression darkened.
“You’re closing a door that could protect both families.”
Enzo nodded.
“Yes.”
“You haven’t even asked what Sofia wants long-term.”
Enzo gave him a thin smile.
“Exactly.”
Thomas frowned.
Enzo continued.
“I haven’t asked because she’s sixteen and there is nothing she needs to decide tonight.”
Vittorio shook his head.
“You are being shortsighted.”
“Maybe.”
Enzo shrugged.
“I can live with that.”
His uncle stared.
“You would throw away a strategic alliance.”
“If the alliance requires my daughter, yes.”
Vittorio’s voice sharpened.
“She is part of this family.”
Enzo looked at him.
“She is a person before she is a strategy.”
The room went silent.
Thomas pushed his chair back.
“You are humiliating us.”
Enzo didn’t raise his voice.
“No.”
He looked directly at him.
“I’m refusing to let Sofia be humiliated so none of us have to feel uncomfortable.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
Vittorio said, “We all sacrificed something.”
Enzo nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
His uncle continued.
“That is why you have the life you have.”
“Maybe.”
“That is why Sofia has the life she has.”
Enzo’s expression changed.
“No.”
Vittorio frowned.
Enzo stepped closer.
“Sofia has her life because she was born.”
His voice dropped.
“She does not owe us ownership of it in exchange.”
The room became completely silent.
Paul stared at the table.
One of the lawyers shifted awkwardly.
Adrian looked toward Enzo with something close to relief.
Vittorio’s face hardened.
“So this is your final answer?”
Enzo thought of Sofia’s instruction.
Don’t make it sound like you’re giving me permission.
He nodded.
“My final answer is that I don’t get the final answer.”
Confusion moved around the table.
Enzo continued.
“Sofia will choose who she dates.”
A pause.
“Who she loves.”
Another.
“If she marries one day, she’ll choose that too.”
Vittorio looked almost disgusted.
“And if she chooses badly?”
Enzo smiled faintly.
“Then she’ll have the same privilege the rest of us had.”
Vittorio said nothing.
Enzo looked around the table one last time.
“She’ll decide that herself.”
No one applauded.
That would have been too easy.
Thomas was angry.
Vittorio looked wounded beneath the anger.
Paul looked embarrassed.
The lawyers looked like men calculating consequences.
Good.
Consequences were real.
Enzo had never expected freedom to be free.
He picked up his jacket.
Thomas spoke.
“This will affect business.”
Enzo stopped.
“I assumed.”
“Relationships will cool.”
“I assumed.”
“You could lose partnerships.”
Enzo nodded.
“Send me a list.”
Thomas stared.
Enzo put on his jacket.
Behind him, Adrian spoke.
“Mr. Marino.”
Enzo turned.
Adrian stood.
“If you talk to Sofia…”
Thomas’s face hardened.
Adrian ignored him.
“Tell her I’m sorry.”
Enzo studied him.
“You didn’t create this.”
“No.”
Adrian swallowed.
“But I knew more than she did.”
Daniel’s guilt flashed in Enzo’s mind.
Silence.
Watching.
Knowing.
He nodded.
“Then tell her yourself someday if she wants to hear it.”
Adrian nodded.
“Fair.”
Enzo left.
Outside, the desert air felt cool against his face.
He stood beside his car for a moment before getting in.
No victory music.
No satisfaction.
He had lost something tonight.
Maybe several things.
He simply didn’t know the price yet.
His phone buzzed.
Sofia.
He answered.
“Hey.”
“How bad?”
Enzo smiled.
“You were waiting up.”
“No.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
He leaned against the car.
“It’s done.”
“What did they say?”
“A lot.”
“Did Uncle Vittorio call me a child?”
“Several times in spirit.”
She laughed.
Then became quiet.
“And?”
Enzo looked toward the Bellarosa house.
“I told them there won’t be any arrangement.”
Sofia exhaled.
“And you told them why?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly?”
Enzo smiled.
“I said I don’t get the final answer.”
Silence.
Then:
“You said that?”
“I did.”
“Are you sick?”
“Possibly.”
She laughed.
He heard emotion underneath it.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
The words landed quietly.
He closed his eyes.
“You shouldn’t have needed me to fix it.”
“No.”
She agreed.
“But you did.”
Enzo swallowed.
“I’m coming home.”
“Okay.”
He ended the call.
When he arrived, Daniel was waiting near the driveway.
Not on purpose, he would later claim.
Enzo didn’t believe him.
Daniel looked at the car.
“No damage?”
“Disappointed?”
“Professionally relieved.”
Enzo handed him the keys.
Daniel took them.
“How did it go?”
“I made new friends.”
Daniel smiled.
“So badly.”
“Very.”
They walked toward the house.
Daniel asked, “Vittorio?”
“Furious.”
“Thomas?”
“More furious.”
“Business?”
“Probably expensive.”
Daniel nodded.
“You okay with that?”
Enzo stopped.
He looked at his longtime protector.
“No.”
Daniel looked surprised.
Enzo continued.
“But I think that’s the point.”
They stood under the same portico where Daniel had locked the car the previous night.
Enzo looked at him.
“You were right about something else.”
Daniel waited.
“Loyalty.”
Daniel’s expression tightened.
Enzo continued.
“I’ve rewarded obedience for a long time.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t enjoy this.”
“Trying not to.”
Enzo smiled faintly.
Then became serious.
“I probably taught people around me that disagreeing with me had a cost.”
Daniel looked down.
“That’s not only you.”
“No.”
Enzo nodded.
“But I’m responsible for my part.”
Daniel looked toward the front doors.
“Then change it.”
Enzo almost laughed.
“You make everything sound easy.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I just learned saying the complicated thing usually happens in one sentence.”
Enzo nodded toward the keys.
“You still have a job.”
Daniel blinked.
“That’s official?”
“For tonight.”
Daniel smiled.
Enzo continued walking.
Behind him, Daniel looked at the same key fob that had almost ended his career.
It now felt heavier.
Not because it represented authority.
Because for the first time, it represented something else.
Trust that could survive disagreement.
Upstairs, Sofia stood near her bedroom window watching them enter.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She frowned.
A message.
Hi. This is Adrian Bellarosa. I got your number from my aunt. I know that’s probably not ideal. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I thought you knew. You don’t have to answer.
Sofia stared at it.
Then typed.
I’m not mad at you.
She stopped.
Deleted it.
Typed again.
I don’t know you well enough to be mad at you.
Deleted that too.
Finally:
Thanks for saying that. I’m not interested in any arrangement. I hope nobody is making choices for you either.
She sent it.
A minute later:
They were. Not anymore.
Sofia smiled faintly.
Then put the phone down.
For the first time in two days, the future felt empty.
No announcement.
No plan.
No carefully arranged room.
May you like
Nothing decided.
And she had never realized how beautiful an undecided future could feel.
