AVION
I had been managing to keep a pretty good eye on my dad up until Gio came and sat down at the bar. He very nearly broke my iron-clad rule about not dating men my dad had some influence over. His rugged look, with his swiped back black hair, cleanly kept goatee, and long beard, not to mention his obvious fitness even through the clean suit he was wearing. It was incredibly easy to get lost in his hazel eyes, and talking to him was so charming, I completely lost track of time, not to mention, my job.
I was supposed to be keeping watch on my dad to make sure he was behaving himself, but now I had no clue where he was. It was a good thing Gio had gotten called away, otherwise, I would have continued to neglect my job, and eventually, I definitely would have given him my number and maybe even let him take me home…
I was saved by the call of the businessman though, so though I would have rather chewed tin foil, I finished up my drink and then stood up from the bar to go in search of him. I rolled my eyes, imagining him curled up in a corner with someone my age, but hopefully, he was practicing better judgment than that… for once.
As I drifted around the party, several more men approached me and asked me to dance. I found it interesting how little awareness they had with guys like Gio walking around. That they even believed they stood a chance with him hanging around was laughable, but then again, he was just one man. Even if he was able to take multiple women home, he could only fit so many in a car. They were probably looking to pick up his rejects.
It wasn’t a terrible plan, but I wasn’t that woman and I had things to do, so I politely said, “No thank you,” and went about my business.
I watched the way they postured as they moved on from me to the next closest thing with long legs and breasts. This world was such an endless drag of fake people, but I couldn’t seem to erase Gio from my mind. He seemed genuine, and not only that, but he seemed to be dictating the world around him, rather than allowing others to do so as many at that party would. It was hard to leave an impression in a sea of impressions, but unfortunately, what I told him was true.
If he was at that party, that meant he was no more than a single connection from my father’s circle, and if CJ taught me nothing else, it was that I couldn’t date men my father had influence over. People could be four or five degrees removed from my father and still looking for a come-up. That made Gio off-limits.
But damn was it a waste.
It was like Gio said, I would likely only find true happiness outside of New York and given that I didn’t see myself leaving anytime soon, my hot dates were going to continue to be with fictional men on TV and in books, and occasionally with my vibrator.
“Where the hell is this man?” I hissed out loud to myself.
The rooftop of the Apex building was large, but it wasn’tthatlarge. There were a couple of unlit corners of the area, with what appeared to be offices for working near the fresh air in the daytime, but they were completely dark, and one even had the shutters pulled—there was no one back there. I’d taken two or three trips around by that point and still hadn’t come across my dad and I was becoming increasingly nervous that he actuallywaswith some woman causing trouble. We did have a hotel suite at CosmoCo after all.
Please God let him not be there.
Dealing with my father was bad enough, so as much as I could, I tried to avoid my brothers. I was usually okay at keeping my father in check so that I didn’t have to interact with them, but with me being unable to find him at all, I had to swallow my pride and ask for help. If my dad had gone off to have a formal meeting somewhere, they’d know, so though it was probably going to earn me a lecture, I sought them out, having a much easier time in doing so and tracking them down near the bar opposite the one I was sitting at.
“Hey,” I said when I got close enough to them. They both turned and looked at me, giving me curious, almost harsh gazes, and I wondered if they noticed that I’d lost my dad. “I know. I’m looking for him right now.”
“Who?” Anton asked.
I narrowed my eyes. “What? What do you mean, who? Dad. Have you seen him?”
They both seemed to relax a little at my response, though Vincent immediately jumped to being snarky. “No, we haven’t. It’syourjob to keep tabs on him, not us.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but Anton stuck his arm between us. “We’re in public,” he said, smiling at a few passers-by. “In fact.” He set his drink down on the bar and then looped an arm through mine. “Come. Let’s do a tour and see if we can’t track him down.”
It was odd that he would want to help me at all, but at least it would get me away from Vincent. People immediately noticed Anton and I walking arm-in-arm and cooed or took pictures, so I did the best I could to smile and seem happy. Anton didn’t appear to be trying very hard to look for our father though, in fact, he was mostly smiling for guests, which was rare, even for him.
“Are you okay? You don’t normally do show-and-tell unless dad or Vince makes you,” I said.
“Well, with our circumstances changing soon, I’ve probably got to make a better show of it,” Anton replied. “You as well, if you were planning on sticking around.”
I scoffed. “That’s a far cry from killing me off.”
“Call it a change of heart,” he said. “I know we’ve never really gotten along, but…” He looked sideways at me. “Youareour sister. It may not seem like it, but we do love you. Vincent’s a brute, that’s not new information, but I can tell by the way he reacted, he wants you to stay.”
I frowned at that. “He’s got a funny way of showing it.”
“Yeah, well Vincent has a funny way of showing most things.” He laughed. “Who knows? You’ve been in politics for a while and New York could use a witty, beautiful Secretary of State.”
This time I actually laughed. “I have absolutely no interest in being a politician.”
“Fine,” Anton said, “but tell me you’ll at least think about staying on as our campaign manager. Really, no one does the job like you. Half the time you were running the campaigns through the old managers like proxies when you were still in school. You’re good at it, and I know you enjoy it, even if your bosses are assholes.”
I looked up at him, a small smile rising to my face. “Are we… having an honest, loving, sibling conversation right now?”
“Shh,” he said, “don’t mention it too loudly. It’s like a deer, you’ll scare it.”
