Elegance with Expense

47. Roma

After I put the container on the table, I reached for the credit card in my bra and pulled it out. 

'So weird.' Xavier commented as he pulled his choice of food out.

'Is that the family money, does she have a card connected to your account?' Santiano asked Vince who had just put a fork into his pasta dish.

'No, it's my money.' I answered before my brother could. After my father gave his eldest son a glare to the side of his face, I jumped in again. 'I refuse to take their money.'

'How come?' Uncle Sergio asked.

'Because I didn't contribute to making it, therefore it is not mine.' I shrugged.

'The money that is made in this family belongs to everyone, so it is everyone's to use. You should have a card connected to one of Vince's main accounts since he is your guardian.' Santiano spoke with authority, as if what he says goes. Not in my case, that man can't make my decisions for me.

'I prefer to make my own money, I have money that I have saved from working, and I also have a closed bank account that transfers all the savings I make from trading and investments. But I'm only allowed access to it when I turn 21.'

'You made this bank account, then you made it only accessible once you turn 21?' Romeo looked at me weirdly. 'You could have moved out of the slums, with a much safer surrounding, you wouldn't have to steal or run from the police.' He held out his hands, whilst everyone who hasn't heard this story stared shocked.

'Money creates emotional indifference between people, therefore there is no good future with money. It changes us, and there are fewer and fewer left who can make the wise choices. The choices that require us to see the world for what it really is. So I had to choose between money, or a life actually worth living.'

'So, you chose the disgusting life that you lived?' Dante frowned, whilst everyone else in the room scowled at him with disappointment due to his choice of poor words.

'No, I chose the life that I built for myself.' I kept myself calm. 'I knew by the time that I had finished my studies and gotten a degree, I would be able to pay off my student loans, buy a decent home, and live a stable life. I just needed to get through my childhood. Because I knew as I aged, I would mature, and with that, I would be smarter with the money that I earnt.'

'I'm glad you understand the importance of money. When born into a family with such titles, and success, the welfare was immediately showered onto you, all of you.' Grandfather spoke with a glass of red wine in his hand, using the other hand to accentuate his words. He looked up as if recalling a memory before he talked again. 'But when we took you shopping, you would point away from the boutiques, and only smile when we entered a shop full of the casual working-class folk. It's why we had to do all of the shopping without you.' He only smirked once through his words, I haven't yet seen a smile.

'Money is only worth something because people say it is, designer is only fashionable because people say it is, being rich is a fantasy only because people say it is. People say money can buy happiness, it's what you imply...but not once have I seen any of you laugh or smile apart from when you are surrounded by family.' I spoke only to the older men who I had only recently just met. 'I don't know you very well, and I'm sure that what I'm saying is just going in one ear and out of the other, because there is beauty in anarchy. I'm sure that you know this by now, but elegance comes with an expense.'

'I never would have expected that a child would be the one to teach us about money.' Matteo tilted his head, he wasn't being cocky, he was genuinely shocked. 'But the American dream is all that anyone could ever want, you know.'