Chapter 9 - THE FOUNDATION DINNER
After the recital, the Ardelli Foundation had scheduled a donor dinner.
Celina served on its youth arts advisory committee.
Not a board director.
Not trustee.
An influential family volunteer.
At dinner, Dr. Holcomb was expected to speak about access to elite training for children without wealthy parents.
The irony became unbearable.
Celina had also planned to announce privately that Audrey reached Eastbridge semifinals.
A proud mother moment.
Photographs.
Donors.
Family applause.
The same kind of visibility our older Mafia-family relatives had always mistaken for legitimacy.
Then Audrey’s confession threatened to turn the moment into exposure.
Celina’s committee status mattered too.
If the foundation learned she used another student’s recording to advance her daughter, her role with youth grants would become untenable.
No one had formally threatened removal yet.
She anticipated it.
Then her mother.
Lucia? Could name Celina's mother Viola Ardelli. Viola had told relatives for years that Celina “raised the next Ardelli musician.”
The title existed only socially.
Still.
Old-family competition.
Celina was about to lose:
Eastbridge.
The committee.
Her mother’s pride.
The story she told about Audrey.
Then Maisy’s solo became the visible trigger.
One child’s truthful performance could unravel an adult’s manufactured narrative.
That was why Celina said:
“You get silence.”
Not:
You don’t deserve it.
Not:
Audrey is better.
May you like
Silence.
She needed Maisy’s music not to exist publicly.
