Crimes of Fashion, Chapter Nineteen

Money, of which there never seems to be enough for most people, makes its scarcity known with an appalling sting to those who are generally used to having lots of it. Such was the case with Desiree and Alta, two pampered women who found they lacked the wherewithal to carry out their plans. Together with Ita,tory burch reva flats tumbled leather navy blue they cast around looking for the funds they needed to expand their business, their efforts hampered by the fact that all three of them knew more about high fashion than high finance.

Their initial hopes rested on Sol, Desiree’s personal ATM. She felt she was finally cashing in the chips she’d won by marrying him. During the frenzy of heedless optimism that gripped them the day before, she assured Alta and Ita that he would gladly dash off a check for the required amount. She was sorely disappointed. After expressing his highest hopes for their new venture, he laughed uproariously at the idea that he could bankroll it. While he was certainly a man of tremendous means, Desiree had to have him confused with the Treasury Department to think he could just cough up that kind of cash.

Rather than rationally listening to the alternate solutions he was willing to propose, she snapped, “Never mind. We can do this without you,”cheap tony burch tumbled ballet flats happy for an excuse to spend the next few days sulking.
Stumped and stymied, the conversation stumbled along until Desiree suddenly looked at Alta and said, “Why can’t you just put up the money yourself?”

It was the first thing that had occurred to Desiree after Sol refused to help, but she had decided to wait until they’d reached a point of desperation to bring it up. That way, this tidy little solution would seem as if it had popped unconsciously out of her head, which it didn’t. And it now hung in the air, like a fish lying on the rocks, its gills flapping desperately for oxygen.

Alta eventually broke the stunned silence that ensued by suspending her usual reserve about discussing financial matters. These people were her business partners. Leaving out the details surrounding Aldo’s disappearance, she explained why it left her powerless over her own fortune. Admittedly, she laughed, she was an absurdly wealthy woman, and yet she was limited to a fixed income.

“So, you see, I have no control over my money until Aldo is declared legally dead, which won’t be for another four years. Until then, I have to stick to a monthly stipend that pays for my houses and barely covers my other expenses. Cesare’s in charge of everything else.”

This revelation hit Desiree harder than decorum would allow her to reveal. She had always assumed Alta had a bottomless well of money. Indeed, this was what she admired most about Alta. Even more, Desiree had envied her. That Alta, like herself, was financially beholden to someone else lowered her several tory burch silver reva flats notches in Desiree’s esteem. But there was a good deal of schadenfreude to be savored from this news. It gave Alta feet of clay. And with this sudden shift also came a renewed avarice, as the opportunism that informed Desiree’s every move leapt to the next logical conclusion in achieving her goals.

“Why not ask Cesare, then? It’s your money, after all. He’s just looking after it. And why would he refuse? It’s a sound investment.”