Page 12 of Hired By the Consigliere

I grabbed a glass and a bottle of wine, opened the email, and flopped down onto my couch.

I scanned over the text as I ate my dinner and sipped on my wine.

"Lorenzo (Enzo) Morelli, born July 27...thirty-one years old...political interests...blah blah...couple met at his card club when you were playing poker...what? No. This isn't going to work."

Maybe it was because I'd only eaten half my dinner and had made my way through most of the bottle of wine, but I was somehow emboldened to pick up the phone and call Lorenzo.

"Ciao?"

"This information packet your assistant put together is not going to work."

"Who is this?"

"Aurora... from last night."

"How'd you get this number?”

“It was listed on the footer of the email that your assistant copied me on.”

“Oh. I had her send that to my private email to make sure that no one at the office was able to get access to what was going on. Other than my assistant, no one from my office needs to know about this.”

“Of course. But as I was saying, the information your assistant put together for our cover story is not going to work.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's too predictable, it's too flat. If there’s a slip up or anything comes up to spark doubt in our relationship, having a complex and original meeting story could help smooth that over before it starts, but if he's already suspicious because of a boring, generic meeting then he's going to be more likely to pick up on small things later.” I heard some shifting around and his voice came out harsh enough to sober me.

"I'm not paying you to think. I'm paying you to do as you're told and follow the plan that my assistant and I set up. That's it."

"Fine. I should have known you wouldn't be open to any variations to the plan." The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I cringed at his tone. "Nothing. It's late. I'm tipsy and we should hang up now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow evening at seven," he reminded me.

"Okay. I—"

The call disconnected and I let out a frustrated sigh before slumping down into the couch cushions and letting myself drift off to sleep.

I jumped awake to the sound of knocking on my front door. A glance at the clock showed that I’d slept till noon. I never slept that late but the past couple of days had been strange and I hadn't been sleeping very well. It took a moment before I realized someone was at the door. I jumped up, running my fingers through my hair, and looked through the peephole.

On the other side of the door stood a professional looking man with several shopping bags in his hands. Curiously, I opened the door.

"Signora Ferro?"

"Yes, that's me. And you are?"

"Signore Morelli asked me to drop these off for you.” He extended his arms to hand me the boxes and I took them automatically.

“What is all this?”

“Clothes for tonight as well as a few options for any other events that may come up in the next week.”

“I don't understand. I have my own clothes.”

“Yes, but to make the ruse successful, Signore Morelli wanted you to have a particular look that would match the caliber of woman he would usually be with."

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