Chapter 5 - THE ORPHAN JOKE
Raymond first called me orphan six weeks before the gala.
Private dinner.
No slap.
He poured wine.
“Your mother is gone. Marcello is whatever he is now. At some point you need to stop behaving like someone is coming to rescue you.”
I stared.
“My father is alive.”
“Technically.”
The word made my skin crawl.
“He is recovering.”
Raymond shrugged.
“Then let him recover.”
He leaned closer.
“You are thirty-one.”
I was twenty-seven. Interesting. Need consistency. I am twenty-seven.
“You are twenty-seven. Married. A Kane now.”
“I’m a Fiorentino and a Kane.”
“That is the problem.”
There.
Not business.
Identity.
He believed marriage should replace origin.
Not add to it.
I told Travis afterward.
He laughed uncomfortably.
“Dad talks like that.”
“Tell him to stop.”
“He respects strength. Push back.”
“I did.”
“Then why care?”
Because sometimes the person who should protect a boundary asks you to become stronger instead.
May you like
It feels similar.
It is not.
