Chapter 13 - THE VIDEO THAT MADE ROSE FAMOUS
Rose hated being recognized.
The pie video ensured it happened constantly.
At grocery stores:
“Are you the pie lady?”
At the airport:
“Say fat one more time!”
At church:
Carmela introduced her as “my violent baker.”
Rose threatened to stop bringing cannoli.
Carmela behaved for almost two hours.
But fame had one useful side effect.
Business exploded.
Rose refused franchise offers.
Instead, she expanded carefully.
Second bakery in Racine.
Then a training kitchen attached to the Stanley Kowalik Culinary Center.
Tessa won her scholarship.
Fully.
No Benedetti intervention.
Rose made Luca sign a statement confirming nobody had contacted the committee.
He called it insulting.
Then signed.
Tessa chose Northwestern.
Rose cried in the parking lot after orientation and denied it afterward.
Serena changed too.
She sold her interest in Victor’s legal-services companies.
Returned money traced to fraud.
Started working with an adoption-rights nonprofit.
The internet did not forgive her immediately.
Rose did not ask it to.
One afternoon, a reporter cornered Rose.
“Have you forgiven Serena Vance?”
Rose considered.
“That’s private.”
“But you work together.”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you regret throwing the pie?”
Rose smiled.
“I regret wasting the pie.”
The quote went viral.
Dana printed it on mugs without permission.
Rose demanded fifteen percent.
Then Luca received a call.
Carmela had fallen.
Hip fracture.
Surgery.
Rose reached the hospital before Luca.
Carmela was furious.
“I slipped.”
“You’re eighty-three.”
“Unrelated.”
“You tried carrying a Christmas decoration up a ladder.”
“Allegedly.”
Luca arrived.
His fear showed only in his eyes.
Rose took his hand.
He let her.
Hours later, surgery went well.
Carmela woke and immediately asked for pie.
“Hospital says clear liquids.”
“The hospital is run by cowards.”
Normal.
Then she motioned Rose closer.
“I need to tell you something before I die.”
“You’re not dying.”
“Everyone is. Timing varies.”
Rose sighed.
“What?”
Carmela looked toward Luca.
“Carlo did not arrange for Stanley to receive ten percent because of the fire.”
Rose frowned.
“That was the story.”
“It was partly true.”
“Then why?”
“Because Stanley owned the idea.”
“What idea?”
“Benedetti Distribution.”
Rose stared.
Carmela continued.
“Carlo had money. Stanley had the routes, supplier system, warehouse model, union relationships.”
“So Dad wasn’t a junior partner.”
“No.”
“He was co-founder.”
“Yes.”
Rose felt anger rise.
“Then ten percent was already an insult.”
Carmela looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“Why did Dad accept it?”
“He didn’t.”
Silence.
“What?”
“The original agreement was fifty-fifty.”
Rose stopped breathing.
Carmela whispered:
“Victor destroyed it.”
The ten-percent document in the safe-deposit box had been a later compromise Carlo prepared after Stanley was pushed out.
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Which meant Rose’s family had been cheated out of far more than anyone admitted.
And somewhere, according to Carmela, the fifty-fifty agreement still existed.
