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I shake my head and groan. “You’re a Valentino. Believe it or not, some girls don’t want to deal with what that name represents,” I remind him.
“Hmm, maybe, but it’s not like I asked her to marry me or some shit. I only asked her for one date,” he says.
“Maybe she already has a boyfriend.”
“Nope, she’s different, shy. I think I just need to get her out of her shell and then she’ll see that I’m actually a catch.”
“You’re sixteen, Dante. You have plenty of years left of dealing with girls turning you down. Get used to it. It happens.”
“Did it happen to you?” he asks me.
“My name is literally Romeo. No girl could resist that.” I smirk, silently thanking my mom for the choice. It really was a chick magnet back in the day.
“Gross. Forget I asked.”
“Go home, Dante. I’ll sort shit out with the school,” I tell him, waving a hand towards the door.
“Okay.” He gets up, slings his bag over his shoulder, and walks out.
I pick up my phone and call Matteo. Dante is right. Livvy is going to freak the fuck out when she finds out about this. I need a lawyer who can keep a level head when I go down to the school.
“Romeo, you all of a sudden not too busy for your brothers?” Matteo asks, and I ignore the comment.
“Where are you?”
“In the office. Why?”
“I need you to meet me at New York Prep, and I need you to not tell Livvy where you’re going.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Dante just got expelled for hacking into the school’s network system to find a girl’s fucking address.”
“He couldn’t just follow her home like a normal stalker would?” Matteo asks.
“That’s exactly what I said,” I groan.
“Okay, I’ll be there in twenty,” my brother says. “I can’t believe that school thought they could actually expel a Valentino.” He laughs into the phone.
“Well, they’re about to find out their mistake,” I tell him and hang up.
* * *
“Okay,here’s what we’re going to do. We have to take the kids out for a month for this Italy trip anyway, which the school does not know about yet. So we counter their expulsion with a one-month suspension. Then, after they agree to that, we tell them the rest of the kids will be out for the month too,” Matteo says as we walk into the school’s admin building. A new fucking state-of-the-art building our family paid for, mind you.
“Sounds good.”
“Just let me do the talking,” Matteo says and I give him the side-eye.
It’s my son they expelled. I’m not going to just stand here like a fucking chump. “I’m here to see Principal George.” I smile at the reception staff.
There are two older ladies sitting behind the front desk. They look at each other before they look back at me. “Mr. Valentino, we weren’t expecting you? Did you have an appointment?” one of them asks in a quiet, timid voice.
“Do I need one?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Ah, no, I guess not,” she says. “Hold on a sec. I’ll let him know you’re here.” She glances from me to Matteo. “Both of you.” She swallows.
“George, Mr. Valentino is here to see you,” she says through the phone, one hand cupping the receiver as if it can keep me from overhearing her. “Okay.” When she sets the phone back down on the base, she looks up at me again. “You can go on through,” she says, pointing to the large wooden door to the left of the reception desk.
