Meet the Characters
Everyone’s favorite billion dollar baby (as far as she’s concerned), her life’s all about partying, going on questionably legal adventures with her friends in their small town, traveling the world with her mom and dad, and being crowned homecoming queen. Her dad, Darrell, is an immigrant from Kingston, Jamaica, and began work as a janitor in a New York City hotel, where he met the beautiful, intelligent, and smooth-talking Michelle Vanderberg working the check-in desk to put herself through college. The two join forces and create not only the sensational Samantha Jesibelle Staten, but what eventually becomes Grand Meridian Hotels, America’s most successful multi-million dollar hotel chain. Sam’s bombastic, obnoxious, and carefree–mommy and daddy’s money solves all of her problems...or it would, if she had any. As the team captain of the girls’ basketball team, anchor for the school news, and party extraordinaire, she’s plenty known…but not necessarily liked by all. This all changes when Sam’s world comes crashing down with the news of her parents’ murders at the hands of the Cambiano Family, one of New York’s Five mafia Families…suddenly her life is consumed with trying to figure out who pulled the trigger, why they were after her parents, and who the orchestrated the whole thing. It’s a messy tangled web much deeper than she ever could have imagined, but with the help of her friends, she’ll do whatever it takes to make whoever is responsible pay. She wants her revenge…and Sam Staten always gets what she wants.
Jordan’s not even sure how he ended up here. How (or why) he even became friends with Sam and Danny in the first place (if you could even call them friends), why he even went to that party to try and talk to his crush Alex, and how he got roped into Sam’s revenge plan against a (pardon his French) goddamn motherfucking mafia family were all great mysteries–especially that last one. What was he even doing with his life? How would any of that stuff put him closer to his goal of being a #1 New York Times bestselling author? Well, don’t tell anyone, but he was getting a lot of inspiration for the mafioso in his crime fiction thriller novel…so maybe it was worth it? Beneath his stoic and unimpressed exterior, he longs for a real friend, he wants to be someone’s first choice…and no, his parents or cat Vito didn’t count. He’s quiet and observant, but when he does talk, it’s usually something insanely nihilistic or some form of dark humor…or telling Sam and Danny to shut up and behave themselves. He’ll yap for hours about the history and structure of the mafia, history in general, biology, and he’ll psychoanalyze every character in The Godfather…if someone would listen. When he’s not writing a masterpiece of a novel, he’s cooking something good for dinner, waxing poetry about Alex, or trying to train Vito to be a contributing member of society. But maybe everything happening isn’t all horrible…he might just find where he truly belongs along the way. Wouldn’t that be something?
After basically raising herself on the streets of Belmont Gardens, she’s seen enough of it, and she wants out. She wants a chance at a life like Sam Staten’s–money, glamor, fun. She wants to worry about whether she can afford a designer fur coat or the PlayStation 1…not if she can afford dinner or not. That shit sucks.She wants to quit her stupid job at the corner store, she wants to leave her hometown in the past, and she wants to get all of her friends off the streets (“friends” is a strong word, but she considers everyone she’s ever talked to her friend.) The problem? Her dad, Peter Santarossa, is a well-known soldier of the Cambiano Family…the same Family who are rumored to have it out for Sam’s insanely rich parents. Despite his status in the Family as a reliable enforcer, Peter is an alcoholic who could care less about his own daughter, and in turn, she hates his guts. He works in a management position at the shipping docks and makes sure all of the illegal goods (guns and drugs) make it on and off the boats. Most of his money gets passed up the ranks of the Family, and the rest of it he pisses away on booze, gambling, or cigarettes (which Morgan steals, ‘cause who has 2 dollars for a pack in this economy!?) Morgan’s mom left when she was 3, when Peter officially became a made man in the Family, and part of Morgan understands why she left, but why the hell couldn’t she have taken her with her? Bitch. Morgan doesn’t do well in school–she used to try, but she couldn’t understand anything, no matter what she did…someone somewhere along the line suggested she probably has some sort of learning disability, but she can’t get a formal diagnosis, so she just mostly blows off school these days in favor of working or sleeping off last night’s bad decisions. What she lacks in book smarts she makes up for in her off the charts street smarts, people skills, and sheer determination…she doesn’t know how she’s gonna get there, all she knows is she’s gonna end up on top. When she’s not hanging out in someone’s basement or eating their food, she’s taking long walks that she calls “side quests” around town and in the woods, watching NASCAR, trying her best to make some custom clothes a la Bikini Kill (her favorite band) or most of all, snooping in other people’s business to stir up drama. When Sam comes to her with some sort of plan to get revenge against the Cambianos, she’s all in for obvious reasons, but something’s not adding up in Sam’s stories, though, and she’s determined to find out what’s really going on.
Everyone’s least favorite metalhead, he’s a proud rebel and delinquent who spends his days in the mosh pit at basement metal concerts or blacked out on whatever couch he can find. Despite all the spikes, leather, and questionable drug habits, he still drives his shitbox Pontiac across town to St. John’s Catholic Church for Mass every Sunday. Not because he believes in God, no, that ship sailed when whatever Creator was out there took his mother from him when he was 12 and ruined his family and childhood…but the familiarity of church is the only reminder of his old life that he has. After his mom’s death, his dad grew cold and distant, and he’s basically raising his 14 year old sister, Lennon. He wishes he could be a better older brother figure for her, but the only thing keeping him going is knowing damn well he’s gonna take over the world with his band, Iron Lightning, and thousands of people will be screaming his name as he shreds a sick guitar solo. He works at the shipping docks, and has noticed some sketchy shit going on there, but he really doesn’t care, he just wants the money…and it’s the only decently paying job he could get. He spends his money on CD’s, records, cassette tapes, surprises and gifts for Lennon (he wants her to feel special since he never got to) and whatever the drug cocktail of the week is. He stashes the rest under his mattress for when he makes his escape to Hollywood. It just so happens he was in the right (or wrong) place at the right time, and he finds himself involved in Sam’s vendetta against some fuckers with guns…but it’s fine, Jordan’s there. He’s been dying to have a reason to talk to him. What has he got to lose?
Sam’s right hand man, aspiring artist, resident hippie, and…uh…Sam’s right hand man. It’s great–he’s guaranteed an invite to all of the best parties, always has people to hang out with, and can focus on his art in peace. He’s fine with Sam pulling him around and following her every move, since that’s how it’s been for years…he knows it’s probably not healthy, but he’s in too deep at this point. Hell, he only ever gets attention anywhere because of Sam–his parents are too busy working or arguing with each other to even notice him, and on those nights where his mom and dad refused to even look at each other, Sam’s parents were there, and they had been for as long as he could remember, so of course he helps her try to find who killed her parents…and deal with the aftermath. He’s generally a pacifictic and calm person, more keen on painting a scene in his mind than focusing on whatever stupid shit was going on in front of him, but he does have a mean streak from being overlooked for so many years. When he’s not playing his role as Sam Staten’s shadow, he can be found painting (or making any form of art), smoking weed in the woods behind his house, working on his 1962 VW microbus, or working as a waiter at Shrimpy’s seafood restaurant on the water. All is groovy until Sam’s plan ends in tragedy, and he’s faced with an impossible decision.
Jess King- A shy teenage genius with an IQ one point lower than Einstein himself, the only place she finds her voice is from behind the keyboard of the computer she built herself. When she was 14, she was kidnapped for ransom by a couple soldiers of the Cambiano Family. Her mom, Lori King, is a trust fund kid turned successful commercial realtor turned wannabe politician, as she was running for mayor when Jess was kidnapped. Paying her daughter’s hefty ransom cost her most of her net worth and rumors around town about the mayoral candidate involved in shady business ruined her campaign. Devastated, she pulled out of the race, sold her not-quite-mansion on the water, her Mercedes, and asked her parents for help. Of course they did everything they could for their beloved daughter and granddaughter, so Jess and her mom moved into a new apartment. Her mom works two jobs to try to get back on her feet, but through all of this, she was just worried about Jess. She hasn’t been the same since the kidnapping, she’s like a shell of her formerly confident, outspoken self, and her mom wishes that she hadn’t shut her and everyone else out. These days, she’s virtually silent and rarely leaves her room, but she has her reasons, and it all relates back to the night from hell she suffered at the hands of the Cambiano Family. She knows she could get into any Ivy League school she wanted to as Lakeview High School’s valedictorian and get her two PhDs in aerospace engineering and astrophysics as she always wanted to…but what if they’re waiting for her there? She couldn’t risk that. Jess spends her days studying, reading and re-reading her favorite books on the history of rockets and space exploration, coding, pouring over the latest issue of Computer Shopper, playing video games, arguing with strangers online, and most importantly, doing some less than legal detective work on the Cambianos her own way. She’s determined to get answers for their crimes by poking around and hacking into their dark corner of the Internet. That is, until Sam Staten comes along, and Jess has to decide how far she’s willing to take it.
