“Luca, I don’t want the money.”
“The paperwork isn’t just the money, Sofia. Micah and I have discussed this in detail. We are making you an equal partner in Corsetti Financial.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Sofia, just hear us out,” Micah said as he leaned forward to place his wine glass back on the table, “You should have been part of the business from the beginning. The money is the amount you would have earned in profits if you had been, but the important part is that we provide you with your share of the firm.”
“I don’t know anything about finances. I don’t want to know anything about it or own a business. This is insane.”
“You won’t need to know anything. You will be a silent partner and the only thing you will need to do is show up once a year for a meeting with the two of us. Luca does the same thing. He runs his business here in New York City, and I don’t bother him with anything.”
“No.”
“I told you she wouldn’t go for it,” Micah said, turning to Luca.
“What is the problem, Sofia? Maybe if you explain it, then we can understand.”
Sofia was so annoyed with the two of them it was hard to think straight. “You wouldn’t understand. You’ve never been broke a day in your life. Money can be so evil and people like the two of you just don’t get that. You never would.”
She watched as her brothers exchanged glances with each other. They sat there for a minute before Luca broke the silence. “There is still a lot you don’t know about me. I’m sure my experiences cannot compare with yours, and for that I will always be sorry. I wish we had known about you before Dante found you, but we didn’t. Micah and I haven’t always had the easiest life. As children, money was never an issue for us and I won’t pretend it was. But when I left Miami and came to college in New York, our father completely cut me off. I had nothing. I got a scholarship and came up here as any other broke teenager would have, and I built my company on my own. Not with the money from Corsetti Financial. Micah only made me a partner after Dad died,” Luca said, turning to Micah.
“And when he died, the business was a mess. We’ve shared some with you, but it took me and Izzy years to get things back on the straight and narrow. Much of it with money from Luca that kept us afloat. So the idea that we have been rolling in cash our whole lives and never worried about it isn’t true. We both know money can be evil. It’s our father’s dealings with his brother that nearly tore the business apart. Which is one of the reasons why it is so important to us we share this business with you.”
Sofia hadn’t realized how much of a mess things had been for the two of them. Sure, she knew in her heart every problem people had wasn’t solved by money, but a lot of them were. “You’re right, I don’t know everything, but with what you shared, it makes even less sense to pull me into this. Luca, it was your money that kept it going and Micah’s hard work. I haven’t contributed to any of it, it’s not something I deserve to be a part of.”
“Maybe you don’t think that, but we do. Our father may have been a shit person, but in the years we had our mother, we learned how people should be treated. I know why we think money is evil, but maybe you should explain to us why you think the same way.”
“Ever since I was a kid, everything seemed to be about money. My guardians were ruthless about it. Everything was frivolous to them. Birthdays, Christmas, all of it. I never got presents as a kid. I was never allowed to go to friend’s parties because they wouldn’t pay for a gift. It would even piss them off when they had to take me to the doctor because it was a waste of money. When I was thirteen, I broke my arm playing in the yard and they waited two weeks before they took me to the hospital. By then, they needed to break and reset it because they had waited so long. It just got worse as I got older. They were stingy, ungrateful people who let money rule their lives. When I got the scholarship to University, I knew I would leave and never come back. I was only seventeen, but in my first year I would be eighteen and in Italy the legal age is sixteen. I had no reason to ever come back to them, but their subsidy payments would stop if I didn’t, so they hunted me down until I left Italy. They reminded me that every time I threatened to leave. It was miserable, and I promised myself I would never let money get in the way of anything again, and I haven’t. Taking money that doesn’t belong to me is just as bad as letting money rule my life.”
Luca and Micah had grown still as she spoke. They didn’t respond immediately, but instead watched as she signaled for the waiter and ordered a drink.
“Sofia, there is something you need to know about your guardians,” Micah said, “They weren’t court appointed or even regular foster parents. Dante shared with me the night we met that he found you through them. Ida and Ralph Edwards worked for the family. In fact, they weren’t even married. Either our father or Dante’s hired them and placed you in their custody. They were paid handsomely for the job and money was also provided to them on a monthly basis to take care of you. It’s clear that wasn’t being put to good use. I don’t know them, and I’m not sure Dante knows them either. He would be the one to ask. From what I understood, once you left University and came back to the United States, they weren’t able to find you. I imagine they released them from their duties at that time.”
“Like fired?”
“Or killed,” Luca answered, “I doubt our Zio would allow anyone who lost track of a eighteen-year-old girl to continue to work for him.”
Glad she ordered a vodka and water rather than another glass of wine, Sofia picked it up and downed the entire thing in one gulp. She had really hoped this trip would have been different because of the wedding. It wasn’t though, instead it was just like every other interaction she had with her brothers. No matter what they did, the three of them couldn’t just have a conversation about normal, everyday things. Now she was burdened with the truth that the two people she spent her whole like hating were probably dead because of her. She didn’t want them dead, just gone from her life.
Micah reached across the table for her hand, “I’m sorry Sofia, I know every time you learn more about us, it’s stressful. We just want to make sure you are taken care of. If we couldn’t be there for you when you were a kid, then we want to be there now.”
“You say that, but all you want to do is give me a bunch of money to make yourselves feel better.”
“That’s not true,” Luca said, “Micah is telling you the truth. If we had any idea who you were, we would have done anything in our power to find you. Family is the most important thing in this world and you are part of ours. Sign the papers, Sofia. Please.”
She was so confused. She spent her whole life dreaming of a family, but never had she considered it would be like this. “If I sign the papers, what happens next?”
“I have accounts set up in your name already with the funds that are due to you. Izzy will need you to sign some paperwork and then monthly payments will be made to the accounts. You will have full access to them. If you want one of my advisors from the firm to handle everything, I will set you up with a meeting or you are welcome to take the business elsewhere. The money would be yours Sofia, spend it, save it, donate it. Luca and I wouldn’t have any say in anything.”
“And if you need it back? What if something happens again like it did before?”
“I won’t need it back. The money Luca provided to get us through the disaster we were in was paid back long ago. Dante helped for a time, and I have repaid him as well. We have kept everything within the family for years and now the firm is doing extremely well. After signing this, you will have access to all the firm’s financials and you can see for yourself.”
Sofia reached for the papers that had been sitting in front of her and flipped through them. She had seen them once before. Micah approached her a couple of months after they met, trying to do the same thing.
“Nothing has changed. The paperwork outlines that you will be one-third owner of Corsetti Financial and all of its subsidiaries. You will have voting rights as part of the board of directors and ownership in the Real Estate as well,” Luca said as he handed her a pen.
This was one thing she had been dreading more than anything since meeting them. She and Micah had gotten to know each other well enough since they met, but she never knew how Luca felt about her. It’s something that has bothered her from the beginning and before deciding about being in business with them, she needed to know the truth.