Vincenzo waited at the end of the block, his phone resting in his hand, screen awake. Recording. For posterity. For future endeavors.
From this angle, they resolved into something usable. Amelia barefoot on the steps, shoulders turned inward; Chase at the curb, hands in his pockets, rain threading the space between them, a soft divider. The porch light caught her hair just right. Chase stood half in shadow, half not – a pleasing imbalance that spoke to Vincenzo’s sense of composition.
He tilted the phone a few degrees. Better.
On the screen, they weren’t just people. They had potential. A narrative waiting to be directed. He imagined the crop, the contrast bump, the way attention would linger exactly where he wanted it to.
This wasn’t just content… It was the foundation of a future branch of El Viento Securities, an internet media division he’d quietly brainstormed about a year ago when he bumped into Chase outside Michael & Cole.
That day still lived vividly in his memory. Chase, his high school rival who complained about XBOX Live, had been straightening his collar in the reflection of the glass doors, the same nervous gesture he’d used before having to explain our mischief to Principal Spaulding. The same gesture that had always made Vincenzo want to reach out and fix Chase’s collar for him.
You could have anything, Vincenzo had thought, watching his old friend. If only you reached out and snatched it.
“This one is very magnetic and warm,” Vincenzo murmured now, almost fond. His thumb hovered over the screen. She was readable.
High empathy retention, authentic smile mechanics. The camera would devour her. And Chase… Chase had that rare quality of being both principled and persuadable. A combination Vincenzo had spent his high school years learning to balance.
The lighter appeared without thought. Click. A small flame bloomed, piercing the darkness lighting a cigarette.
He snapped it shut, taking in the smoothness of the tobacco.
“SilverTongue,” he whispered to the dark. “You were never meant to waste that gift in legal briefs and billing hours.”
Chase had been brilliant in high school—brilliant but aimless. He’d craft excuses to skip work on group projects, yet he’d still stop to help lost freshmen find their classes not caring about a class he was already five minutes late for. He’d defend the unpopular kids against bullies when he could have walked away.
Vincenzo had admired that about him then. Now, he saw only untapped potential.
When he’d found Chase interviewing at Michael & Cole, he’d known exactly what to do. Create a path. Create a stage. Create a reason for Chase to finally stand in the light where he belonged.
Amelia stepped back, said something Vincenzo couldn’t hear. Chase smiled, not the polished grin he used in classes and courtrooms, but something softer and real. The kind that made audiences lean in without realizing why.
Vincenzo’s thumb hovered over the screen, instinctive as breath.
A pause.
Then the smile.
Good.
He stepped back as the moment finished itself. This was better than he’d hoped. More authentic. More compelling.
Chase with his guard down, finally allowing himself to want something beyond billable hours and moral victories.
And Amelia… She could be the catalyst Chase needed. The emotional anchor to ground his restless intellect. Or she could be the complication that made everything more interesting.
“Engagement needs a catalyst,” he said softly, watching Chase turn to leave. “And you’ve been running your life on economy mode for too long, my friend.”
Amelia lingered a second longer on her steps, then went inside. The porch light clicked off. Chase walked down the block, rain swallowing him one step at a time.
Vincenzo lowered the phone at last, already composing the first lines of tomorrow’s pitch in his head. Controlled media needed faces. Authentic faces. And he knew exactly which two faces could make it real.
“It’s time you joined me living in easy mode,” he whispered, the lighter clicking once more in the dark, a tiny sun blooming in his palm before being snuffed out. “And this time, I’m not letting you walk away from the opportunity.”