Paradise Burning (The Virtagwalla Series Book 2) by Kyle Malinowski
Authors: Kyle Malinowski
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Thoughts of Xavier, their wedding, Mikey’s birth, her first day of teaching, when she met Eric, and their first time making love. Her thoughts changed from about her family to all about Eric, and their affair. She leaned against the dresser and took a deep breath, her head aching.
Slipping on shoes, she whisked away down the stairs and into the dining room. The group stopped speaking when she entered, and Xavier’s eyes, although tired, looked at her with a fury he rarely showed. He stood and introduced her to the Prime Minister of Australia and his husband. Shaking their hands and charmingly welcoming them to her house, Rachel without a doubt still had the first lady touch. Assuming her seat next to Rove, she politely explained she got held up at the lab and apologized for rudely showing up late. Regaining control of the conversation, Xavier went back to work discussing things of their upcoming vote for statehood. Rachel smiled a dubious smile, reveling in the thrill she got from lying about her whereabouts, and living the double life.
7
The people of Villaggio were always the quiet ones. Generally, the mentality of the Villaggian people was to not be swept up with the trends, but to let them go and, maybe, every once in a while, adjust. It was a slower lifestyle on the western part of the island. Agriculture was king, and anything that had to do with technology scared the older population. However it did have Villaggian College. The campus of VC was not nearly one fourth that of the University on the other side of the island, however its students were just as smart and passionate about their Alma Mater. The majority of VC student body was comprised of kids raised in the city or in the fields surrounding the small coastal city. Surprisingly the college’s students were extremely liberal for being surrounded by a steadfast conservative city. Worst yet, the city was hit hard by the declining economy. Many of the manufacturing fabrications on the island were in Villaggio, and the city unfortunately was watching as its unemployment population grew more rapidly than its big sister to the east.
Subsequently students at the college were being forced to withdraw from classes to help support heir families. Life on the Villaggian side was becoming significantly more difficult to survive. Kel Goldberg found it nearly impossible to keep the City Council together and he too was nearing the end of his rope. His passion and fight for the city he loved was slowly being weakened by the depressing economic situation of the region. The doors of city hall seemed to never close as more and more desperate citizens came to him as Mayor to help fix their problem. Since losing control of the ability to regulate the rates for the RPC, they also lost a fee that went along with the service. That fee helped to subsidize the budget of the small city. Thus the city was plummeting towards bankruptcy. What Kel realized was that he needed money to get his city back on its feet, but didn’t know where to find such funding.
It was for those reasons that when such an opportunity arose he had to take it. ‘For Villaggio’ he justified, ‘I must do this to save my city.’
The sky was a quivering grey the day that Kel Goldberg stepped onto a platform on the college’s campus. It brewed with anger, threatening rain upon the crowd of nearly a thousand citizens, mostly students, to rally with their mayor. Many people held up signs that called for Virtagwallan sovereignty, or for Villaggio to break away from the rest of the island. Goldberg, in his mind, played through how this event would turn out. He didn’t know why his contact had asked him to put together this rally, to excite his people, but he clearly saw the value in it. ‘We must distract the citizens for the moment, and rally them behind a common
Slipping on shoes, she whisked away down the stairs and into the dining room. The group stopped speaking when she entered, and Xavier’s eyes, although tired, looked at her with a fury he rarely showed. He stood and introduced her to the Prime Minister of Australia and his husband. Shaking their hands and charmingly welcoming them to her house, Rachel without a doubt still had the first lady touch. Assuming her seat next to Rove, she politely explained she got held up at the lab and apologized for rudely showing up late. Regaining control of the conversation, Xavier went back to work discussing things of their upcoming vote for statehood. Rachel smiled a dubious smile, reveling in the thrill she got from lying about her whereabouts, and living the double life.
7
The people of Villaggio were always the quiet ones. Generally, the mentality of the Villaggian people was to not be swept up with the trends, but to let them go and, maybe, every once in a while, adjust. It was a slower lifestyle on the western part of the island. Agriculture was king, and anything that had to do with technology scared the older population. However it did have Villaggian College. The campus of VC was not nearly one fourth that of the University on the other side of the island, however its students were just as smart and passionate about their Alma Mater. The majority of VC student body was comprised of kids raised in the city or in the fields surrounding the small coastal city. Surprisingly the college’s students were extremely liberal for being surrounded by a steadfast conservative city. Worst yet, the city was hit hard by the declining economy. Many of the manufacturing fabrications on the island were in Villaggio, and the city unfortunately was watching as its unemployment population grew more rapidly than its big sister to the east.
Subsequently students at the college were being forced to withdraw from classes to help support heir families. Life on the Villaggian side was becoming significantly more difficult to survive. Kel Goldberg found it nearly impossible to keep the City Council together and he too was nearing the end of his rope. His passion and fight for the city he loved was slowly being weakened by the depressing economic situation of the region. The doors of city hall seemed to never close as more and more desperate citizens came to him as Mayor to help fix their problem. Since losing control of the ability to regulate the rates for the RPC, they also lost a fee that went along with the service. That fee helped to subsidize the budget of the small city. Thus the city was plummeting towards bankruptcy. What Kel realized was that he needed money to get his city back on its feet, but didn’t know where to find such funding.
It was for those reasons that when such an opportunity arose he had to take it. ‘For Villaggio’ he justified, ‘I must do this to save my city.’
The sky was a quivering grey the day that Kel Goldberg stepped onto a platform on the college’s campus. It brewed with anger, threatening rain upon the crowd of nearly a thousand citizens, mostly students, to rally with their mayor. Many people held up signs that called for Virtagwallan sovereignty, or for Villaggio to break away from the rest of the island. Goldberg, in his mind, played through how this event would turn out. He didn’t know why his contact had asked him to put together this rally, to excite his people, but he clearly saw the value in it. ‘We must distract the citizens for the moment, and rally them behind a common
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