My Don Mistook Survival for Greed Chapter 04

My Don Mistook Survival for Greed Chapter 04

I learned my lesson.

I ignored Celina’s taunts and finished taking the order.

As for Dante, he was no more than a creditor who’d never lift a finger to help me.

I didn’t have any expectations left.

I noted down order after order.

They’d ordered a lot.

The bill came out to a few thousand dollars.

Celina paid without hesitation.

After they left, the girl I was working with slipped me a pack of tissues.

“If you’re upset, go cry in the break room for a bit.”

The copper bell by the door had long stopped swinging.

Only a Chet Baker jazz track played through the bar.

They’d all gone far away.

I didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing me cry and turning it into bar gossip for the Chicago

underworld.

But I didn’t want to cry anymore.

I handed the tissues back.

“I’m fine..”

Renee got shattered, then got reborn.

I’d stopped hurting long ago.

For the sake of keeping my life drama-free, I blocked Dante.

That way, I wouldn’t have to see him constantly post his cute couple content on his Instagram story.

It had been me before.

Now it was Celina.

But Dante had always been a showoff.

We were also in the same program-Business Administration at UIC.

Naturally, I couldn’t avoid hearing stories everywhere about the young Don of Caruso Family and the lead dancer of the Joffrey Ballet and their whirlwind romance.

I told myself, “Renee, you’re just not busy enough.”

If I were really swamped with work, I wouldn’t have time to care about any of this.

Before, I’d turned down a tutoring job for AP Calculus that ran from 6:30 to 8:30 PM just to make

time for dates with Dante.

Now that I had the free time, I reached back out to them.

My GPA was great, and the students I’d tutored had all gotten impressive score improvements.

I landed that time slot quickly.

I had regular classes, worked at the bar in my free time during the day, and had two tutoring

sessions at night.

My schedule was packed enough that I didn’t have time to think.

Breaking up wasn’t that bad, actually.

I could pay off my debt faster this way.

But the new tutoring gig was a little awkward.

I’d only seen the employer’s last name was Marino, I never expected it to be Jason Marino’s sister.

When I arrived at the Marino Family’s Lincoln Park villa, Jason was just heading out.

I was holding my prepared AP Calculus study materials, and ran straight into him.

When he realized it was me, he snickered.

“How’d you even track me down here? Working too hard and can’t win Dante back as your sugar daddy, so you’re setting your sights on me now?”

He twirled his Maserati key between his fingers, a playful smirk playing on his face.

“I gotta give you credit for finding my place. Too bad I’m not into gold diggers like you-go try your

luck on someone else.”

There was no point arguing with someone like Jason.

I just wanted to get away from him as fast as possible.

But then I remembered the Marino Family was paying double the market rate.

I forced myself to speak up.

“I’m here for work.”

Luckily, someone stepped in before things got worse.

Mrs. Marino came out and saw me, smiling warmly.

“You must be Miss Renee! Come in, sit down-we’re counting on you for Julia from now on.

Jason hadn’t expected I was the new tutor, his face went through a colorful change.

Finally he mumbled.

“Mom, she’s definitely up to no good.”

Which earned him a slap on the back of the head from Mrs. Marino.

“Nonsense! Miss Renee is the best AP tutor we could find-she gets the biggest score improvements in all of Chicago!”

Jason rolled his eyes.

“Mom, she’s the gold digger Dante Caruso dumped.”

He tried to say more, but Mrs. Marino shut him down.

“Who taught you to talk like that? You’ve judged people cruelly since you were little! A girl cares about money, that just means she’s practical. You were born lucky and don’t have to worry about it, that doesn’t mean other people don’t… Don’t say stuff like that anymore.”

After Mrs. Marino finished scolding Jason, she turned and apologized to me.

I’d heard so much malice over the months that this sudden understanding hit me harder than I

expected.

My nose stung, but I managed to hold back the tears.

I said, “It’s fine.”