Page 28 of Stroke of Luck

“True. There was a reason I was emancipated at fourteen and ended up in this life. It’s sad when you can count on the mafia to give a shit about you over your family,” Enzo remarks, turning to me, ready to move on from that conversation. “You want me to bring him out here to talk?”

Giving him a nod, he takes off to fetch Governor Talbot.

“You know, I wasn’t sure if she was going to stay,” Remo murmurs, surprising me.

“I suppose only having known us for two days, it would seem odd for her to stay, but I think she knows she belongs with us.”

Remo grunts his agreement, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. This is one of the many reasons I know she’s ours—in the years that I’ve known Remo, this is the most I’ve ever seen him display emotion. Then, having seen Giorgio calm her down from her panic attack when before he would never have intervened for fear of doing it wrong. Even Enzo and Paolo seem more at peace having her around. Paolo had started to become careless in who he brought in to play with them, and Enzo, wanting to make him happy, had gone along with it. Now, having met Skyler, I can see how Enzo’s still hung up on her all these years later. The fact he remembers her likes and dislikes so vividly tells me she hasn’t been far from his thoughts.

The sound of the door opening brings me back to the matters at hand, seeing Talbot and Enzo, along with a waiter, holding a tray of scotch glasses.

“I hope you don’t mind, I had them pour your favorite,” Talbot says, gesturing to the waiter. “Business always goes better when having a drink of fine scotch.”

“Hard to argue with that,” I agree, taking the glass as I take a seat in one of the armchairs. “How are the polls treating you?”

Talbot gets settled in a chair across from me, giving me a wide grin. “With the support of backers such as yourself, I’m viewed quite favorably. Now things just need to keep until November and I’ll have my second term, no problem.”

“I’d love to hear what our valiant governor has in store for us in the future,” I nudge, wanting him to tell me, even though we have our own people stationed in his office.

“There is talk about legalizing marijuana, but I need to feel out the parties involved before I take it seriously. Otherwise it’s the same old battle about taxes, minimum wage, and schools. Nothing too exciting on the docket,” Talbot shares with a shrug of his shoulders.

Everything he says matches what I know, setting me at ease. “I’ve noticed Aiden’s absence tonight.”

“Come now, you know he never comes to these things. He offers his support in other ways.” Talbot chuckles. “You, my friend, have a much more high profile involvement with things around this city. Aiden likes to keep hidden in the background, you know that.”

Good. That means they didn’t reach out about the dead body we left behind.

“Rumor on the streets is that the Russians are getting restless.”

Talbot’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise before his face morphs into a scowl. “What are you asking me, Lastra?”

I take a sip from my glass, watching him for a moment before I say anything more. There’s an undercurrent of fear in his eyes that I don’t like. It could be his fear of my reaction or the fact he’s keeping something from me.

“I wasn’t asking anything, simply sharing a bit of news with a friend. It would be bad for all involved if something were to change and they were allowed to get the docks back,” I reply.

“How dare you question my loyalty! I’ve had your back, making sure it’s impossible for them to ever be able to come back into Chicago!” Talbot snaps. “What have I done to lead you to believe I would be involved?”

“Calm yourself, Talbot,” I soothe, knowing I won’t get anything out of him once he’s on the defensive. “We are entering into a new term, and that means I have to make sure we will continue to work well together. It would be bad business to sign a contract without reading all the fine print.”

Talbot splutters, slamming back the rest of his drink before storming off in a rage.

Remo moves to go after him, but I wave him off. “No need. I can tell he’s hiding something from us. Send one of your men to search his office and home to see if they can find anything.”

“I’ll send Nico and Brando to search right away,” Remo assures me, walking off to make his call.

“Shall we go find out what the others have gotten up to?” I ask Enzo, finishing off my scotch as I get up from my seat. “I don’t think it’s the best idea to leave them alone with her too long. Who knows what trouble she’ll get them in.”

Enzo laughs as we re-enter the ballroom. “Yes, because Paolo is so pure. My money’s on them leading poor Giorgio astray.”

“Guess it’s a good thing we hate to be bored.” I grin, seeing them dancing like fools to music that’s playing off a phone.

“Come on, firefly, let’s party!” Paolo crows, shoving a glass into my hand. “Trust me, I know where all the good food is kept at these things.”

Without giving me a chance to even argue—not that I was going to—he grabs my hand and pulls me after him, making me laugh. Giorgi follows after us with a grin on his face as we slip through the crowded room. When we come to a set of swinging double doors, Paolo pushes right past them into the kitchen full of people bustling about and shouting. It’s as if I’m in Kitchen Nightmares or something, but this isn’t our destination since Paolo tugs me deeper into the room. Finally, we end up at a small, tucked-in corner table with two pizza boxes set on it with “LASTRA” written on it in black marker.

“Did you have pizza delivered?” I ask when we all sit down.

“Like we would have you starve,” Giorgi scoffs, giving me a mock frown. “Eat up, stellina. We got meat lover’s and BBQ chicken since a little birdie told us it’s your favorite… Or at least I hope it still is.”