when the head of the glorious reinaldi clan wanted to have some of her time, she was sure to keep it as long as three or maybe four minutes. all she could give to the old reinaldi man was her rage and penitence, she regretted the trust she used to have for charles reinaldi ever since her wedding day. â quite interesting that you still act like⊠â taking a small pause like she didnât have all of her sentences constructed very well inside her head. â like you still deserve my respect and words, father. â when the word father slipped from her mouth, she uttered it like an insult. celeste was almost renewed after what her family condemned her to, however that didnât mean the flame of rage burning inside cece wasnât there anymore. it was there, flaring up every time the face of her father made her think of how much she used to rely on him but how he failed her little daughter.
   â iâve got business to do, appointments to make so if you excuse me, iâll frankly claim that i donât have time for you. â striaght-forwardly, celeste refused to even sit down, she was standing with her arms crossed and a solid discontent all over her look, waiting for the patriarch to free her from this conversation.
his daughterâs hostile demeanor towards him hurt charles more than he cared to admit, but it didnât mean heâd ever stop trying to win her affections again. all he wanted in life was for his family to be together, and happy. and for the most part in his life, heâd managed to keep them together, and keep them happy.Â
now, rather than enjoying a casual brunch at their breakfast table, they were sitting ( standing )Â in the formal living room of the Reinaldi estate, a place usually only reserved for acquaintances or work-related visitors. and yet, it was the only place celeste seemed willing to be in when they things needed to be discussed. while a disappointment, charles had to admit he was slightly surprised to see sheâd even showed up.Â
he ignored her first words, knowing from experience it was best not to engage, then replied only to the rest of her speech. âactually ââ he said, before she had the chance to slip away again, âi have business to attend to as well. family business, celeste.â the emphasis on the word family was solely to draw her attention to the values that she had been raised with. âi wanted to thank you for your work on this yearâs brunch,â his words were softer now. âyou made our family proud.â
âever the philosopher, charles,â vivian with a bounce of her brow and a smirk resting on her lips. regardless of her love of romanticism, the brunette found it rather odd to be sprouting such deep conversation based on a flower patch in the middle of the park. âwhat rests on your mind to be talking so poetically, mm? your lessons spawn from some sort of rational thinking.â she was teasing him, proud of their friendship. vivian had been on her semi morning jog again, beating the afternoon heat now that summer had arrived. she sat down on the bench nearby, âor is this the aftermath of a very well executed brunch?â
âa perfectly executed brunch, i might say,â charles corrected the woman with a pleasant smile. he may not have been as vain as some other people on the upper east side, but that didnât mean he didnât occasionally like to gloat. especially since celeste had put so much effort into it. âbut no, thatâs not necessarily on my mind. iâve just finished reading a book on meditation, and while most of it is garbage, of course, some things that were mentioned were quite valuable. like the effect of a walk in the park on morale. and i must say, i feel good.â
âwe must remember to look at the beauty of life,â he said, probably sounding like an old fool as he looked down at the flowers in central park. âbeauty â art, they make life worthwhile.â in his line of work, charles had seen many ugly things. and he never judged, because he didnât need to. he couldnât care less about his clientsâ innocence, he just needed to win cases. so no, he didnât judge, but he did see. and art and beauty were the perfect antidotes for the things he saw at the firm. sitting down on a nearby bench, he didnât take off his eyes of the flower patch until he spoke again. âart is what breathes life into our existence.â
she sat by herself at the music lounge & bar, wondering whatever the hell she was doing all alone. maybe it was the way the jazz music played, or maybe it was the way the whiskey ran down her throat icy & sour â she had no time for pretty fruity drinks. whoever was it that sat beside her probably had no idea she was the adriana reinaldi, now so faded and so distraught. she merely wanted a companion, although adriana knew there was no better company than her own & the craving for an exchange of words left a roaring hole in her soul.
heâd sat down next to his daughter in silence, thinking that sheâd immediately turn her head sideways to see whoâd joined her. when she didnât, charles studies his daughter carefully, not used to a reinaldi hanging her head down the way she did right now. âpiccolo,â he started, using the term of endearment he reserved for adriana only. âsit up straight.â it seemed like an order, but it was said with a voice of encouragement only, knowing that he had raised strong daughters.
âAudrey-â He tried to speak in between his wifeâs angry ramble. He had been on the phone with her for the last ten minutes; his missus outraged because Phillip had left this morning before even finishing their argument last night. That was all they did lately: argue, and Phillip was honestly tired of constantly arguing. He swore her voice was so loud, the person next to him could hear everything she was saying. âI have to go babe,â he said, trying to remain calm, yet still Audrey was yelling at him. âHoney, weâll talk about this when I get home, alright?â Phillip said, a little bit more stern this time before hanging up. He downed the bourbon in front of him in one gulp and sighed, his day ruined now.
charles waited patiently while phillip was on the phone, with enough decency to pretend he couldnât overhear the man talk. if he tried, he could probably also hear audrey on the other line, given the volume of her voice. he was sipping his espresso, looking out the window to enjoy the view from the hotel restaurant, only glancing back to the other once the phone had been put away. then, since he did consider phillip a friend, he couldnât help but inquire. âeverything okay, phillip?â
guess whoâs finally making an intro post for this guy !! sorry this took so long. anywayyy, iâm so stoked for charles, if thereâs any plots or connections you can see, come talk to meeee !!! i put up some stats and a bio so .. itâs a Readâą, but you can also just scroll down to the bio! so here we go.
( jeremy irons | male | he/him ) is that ( charles reinaldi ) walking around the streets of new york city? i heard the ( sixty-four ) year old tends to be ( dignified ) & ( ruthless ). last time i heard, the ( defense attorney ) was blasting ( adagio for strings by samuel barber ) in their apartment. the tabloids whisper that ( he has an illigetimite son from a short-lived affair with a maid three years after celeste was born ) ! letâs hope itâs not true.Â
the basics
FULL NAME: Charles Douglas Reinaldi
NICKNAMES: Chuck (as a child + teenager)
AGE: 64
DATE OF BIRTH: September 18th
ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo
HOMETOWN: New York City
CURRENT LOCATION: New York City
NATIONALITY: American
SEX: Male
PRONOUNS: He/him
RELIGION: Atheist
OCCUPATION: Defense attorney
LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English (native), French (C1), Italian (B1)
physical appearance
HAIR COLOR: Grey
EYE COLOR: Light Brown
HEIGHT: 6â2ââ
BUILD: Toned
BODY DECORATIONS: /
CLOTHING STYLE: Black tie
health
PHYSICAL AILMENTS: None
MENTAL AILMENTS: None
ADDICTIONS: None
DRUG USE: n/a
ALCOHOL USE: Habitual ( a daily scotch before bedtime is his nighttime routine)
background story (subject to change as the rp evolves)
The Reinaldi's were a family of money and influence that can be traced back all the way to Florence, Italy. One of Charles' ancestors, Roberto, moved his family to the United States at the turn of the century, and in 1903 the family had settled and Roberto had started his own law firm, right here in New York City.
While he started with defending anyone, the Reinaldi quickly worked himself up and got a solid reputation with the richest of the city. That, coupled with their already massive net worth, made Roberto a very well liked man among many powerful families, launching his family into the scene of the upper class citizens of the city.
As soon as Charles was born, he was considered the heir of the Reinaldi legacy. He had an older sister, Sofia, but it was still the fifties, and women as 'mater familias' were still fairly nonexistent. He enjoyed the lifestyle that the Reinaldi's were accustomed to, with the best schools, the best food, the best clothes, and the best workers anyone could ask for. His father, Raffael, was a no-nonsense, ruthless businessman, and while Charles feared him as a child, he grew up to seeing a hero in his father, desperate to follow into his footsteps.
Charles married Frances fresh out of college, in a wedding that even today is seen as one of the top events of New York's elite. She was a few years younger than him, barely eighteen when she donned a white veil, but it had been love at first sight for him. He knew that it wasn't the same for Frances, that she had her reservations at first but felt her family's pressure to marry into a family of equal standing. Regardless, despite a rocky first two years, the two grew closer and formed a deep connection that, over time, turned into love on both sides.
Still, it took some years before Frances could conceive. Charles was even getting antsy, worried he wouldn't be a father at all. But when, at 28, Celeste was finally born, all his worries disappeared like snow in the sun and the couple lived a first few blissful years with the apple of their eye. Celeste was daddy's princess, and as ruthless as he was at the firm, as gentle he was with his daughter, careful to spend enough time with her and set himself apart from other fathers in New York, who seemed to barely know their own children.
When Celeste was three, Frances tumbled into a late onset postnatal depression, and it nearly wrecked the marriage. Charles tried all he could, showering her with affection and love â but all she wanted was to be left alone. It caused a momentary rift in the family, and in a fatal mistake, hamartia so great that it would forever follow him, Charles found the affection he so craved in the arms of another woman. A woman, no less, who worked for the Reinaldi's daily. A woman who cared for his wife daily, but who became Charles' emotional and romantic companion for two full months. And then, one day, that woman broke the news to Charles, and he could feel his entire world start to crumble around him.
A hefty sum and promises of monthly installments later, the woman and her unborn son were on her way to the west coast, far away from the city where she could do any damage to his family. He sent her money every month from that moment on, but other than that, he never heard from her again, pretending that she had just been a dream to forget.
To this day, no one in the family knows of this. Not his wife, nor his parents, or anyone else. Not even his sisters - who he is still very close to, are aware of the blemish that Charles put on the family's reputation. And even though the Reinaldi's marriage was salvaged as Frances started to get better and they had another child, Charles would always have to live with what he'd done to the wife he so adored. In that sense, Adriana was both their savior, but also a reminder of the love they shared â and, therefore â the hurt he'd cause his family should they ever find out.
Eventually, daily life was no longer dictated by thoughts of his wrongdoing, or fears of his secret spilling out, and Charles managed to build himself a life to be proud of, for the most part. His law firm was doing better than ever, he had three beautiful little girls who he adored more than anything in the world, and his marriage had found a steady, stable balance. A balance that he maintains to this day â despite recent tensions with his family (and more specifically, his eldest daughter), and even though the decisions he makes for his daughters may not always be the right ones for them, they sure are for the family, and they sure are from his point of view.
TL;DR:
this will be super short bc the bio is like .. you just gotta read it
anyway reinaldi's: italian by heritage, law firm has been the crown jewel of the fam since forever, charles is at the head of the firm and he's damn good at it.
married the love of his life when she was only eighteen (and she had different feelings), started off a little rocky but eventually they both found love and peace in their relationship.
had a little girl, celeste, who they loved so much.
huge mistake when he slept with the MAID of all people (while his wife was suffering postnatal depression i might add). oops, maid gets pregnant, in true upper east style, he pays her off, sends her all the way to cali and sets up an account for her where he deposits money every month to THIS DAY.
never heard from her again, tried his very best to forget it had ever even happened.
he's a shark at work, he's feared by his colleagues, but he's really loving with his family and can make a 180 turn as soon as he walks through the door of his home.
his family is everything to him, typical old money values instilled in him. always acts from what he thinks is the best course of action, even though with his daughters he's messing up !!! like seriously @charles stop marrying off your daughters to random rich ppl!!
anyway that's it if you have questions come and ask!!
