Page 29 of Beguiled and Broken

“Yes Vinny! They know how to close the store. Stop with your attitude. If you’re not going to be helpful, then I’m gonna go. I need to talk to the cops and file a report.” Vinny didn’t say anything. Everything was shit, and fighting with him was the last thing I wanted to do, but my nerves were frayed too. I stood there a second and huffed, “I’ll keep you posted, Vinny. Go for a walk or something.”

*

It was a long afternoon at the shop. The amount of shit that was delivered was unreal. Boxes were scattered across the entire floor. The girls and I stood there, shocked, not knowing what to do.

Mila asked, “Bianca, who would do something like this? It’s like someone is trying to sabotage your business.” She made a great point. Itdidseem like someone was trying to sabotage me. Had someone broken in? Yes. Had they stolen anything? No. The exact opposite. They had a bunch of random shit delivered instead.

“Mila, does anything on the computer look off? Did you change the password?”

“I didn’t even think to change the password because no one had ever broken in here before. I’ll do that now.”

She scurried off to the computer. While she was doing that, I was trying to think about how I was going to return everything. It was going to cost a fortune to send back. A few days before, I had filed the fraud claim, but every transaction looks legit, right down to my signature. They had so many questions, but I didn’t have any answers. All of this was beginning to feel like aninside joband by that point, I was suspicious of every employee.

Mila yelled over the computer screen, “Bianca, I think you’ll want to see this.”

I ran over and asked, “What’s up? What am I looking at?”

“Someone was in here. Look at all the tabs they left open. It’s like they came in to do whatever they were going to do, and then just bolted. Maybe they got spooked?”

“Let me see that. What’s on the tabs?”

“Well, there’s a tab here for the fulfillment center listing all the stuff sitting on our floor right now...and, there’s a tab open for the Leonardos’ website…?”

When Mila clicked on Leonardos’ website, it was theAboutpage showing a picture of Vinny. “What? Why the hell would they be looking at the pizzeria? And from here?” I was completely thrown off.

Mila clicked on the next tab and said, “And look, the next tab is the kids’ school.”

“What the fuck is this? It’s freaking me out now. Is someone stalking my family? I don’t understand what’s happening here.” I felt like my world was spinning out of control.

“It’s ok, Bianca. I have a repair man coming this afternoon to fix the back door. I’ll hang out here until then. You have to get ready for your flight tomorrow.”Shit.

“Oh no, not now. I can’t go. I need to be here. I want Vinny and my kids away from here though until I figure out what the hell is going on.”

*

Vinny was fuming. “Bianca, no! It’s mygrandfather. You can’t stay here while we go to New York.”

I practically begged him. “Vin, listen. It’s not safe for you guys to be here. I want you and the kids and Catarina to go to New York. I need to figure out what’s going on with the store.”

His tone was softer, sadder now. “Bianca, it’s my grandfather. Igottago. I don’t want to leave you here. If there’s someone doing shady shit, I don’t wantyouhere either. I need you. Please.” His tone broke my heart, but I didn’t feel like I had any other choice.

Straightening my voice, I said, “It’s done, Vinny. I cancelled my flight already. Go. Give my respects to your family. I’m sorry I can’t go, but I gotta figure this out.”

He looked broken. “It’s done? Another decision you made without me. We’ll see ya, Bianca. Get the kids’ shit together and get them ready to go.” Then he walked away.

I hoped I could figure it out. We’d been on shaky ground for so long, and this just made things even worse, but I was determined. I would make whoever did this to us, pay.

*

Departure day felt like it was full of doom and gloom. I got the kids up and ready. Vinny had slept on the couch the night before, and he’d never done that in all our time being married. I knew I had made a mistake, but it was too late to go back. He would face the death of his grandfather alone and I felt terrible. I wasn’t sure if he would ever forgive me. We were so happy, and everything was perfect before the fraud. I wondered,Did I do this to us?It felt like my need to have something of my own and open the boutique hammered the nails in our relationship’s coffin.

I was staring at the back patio door like I was in a trance, but snapped out of it when Cat came upstairs.

“You ok, Bianca?” she asked.

I half smiled at her. “Not really, but we’ll get it figured out. Please look out for my family while you’re gone. Vinny is gonna need you. His grandfather’s death is a major blow to them and our other relatives. The worst since his father died.” I hoped she would give me the reassurance I needed that my family would be ok without me there.

“Bianca, don’t worry. I’ll watch after them as I would my own, and I’ll make sure Vinny is ok and supported.” That last part made me flinch.Isupportmy husband. Was she implying something? She went on, saying, “Don’t worry. You figure out all these issues with the store. That’s the important thing right now.”

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