Page 24 of Hired By the Consigliere

"Signore Carbone'soffice. How may I help you?"Her soft, sweet voice flowed over the line.

"Ciao,Aurora."

“Enzo?”

“Yes. How's your first day going?”

“It's going well. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is great.”

“It’s just...it’s the middle of the day. I figured you’d be busy at work.”

“I’m just waiting on my lawyer to arrive so he can finalize our agreement.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I wanted to see if you’d like to get together this evening. You know, to celebrate our deal being official.”

“Of course. What did you have in mind? Something public, I assume?”

“Actually, I was thinking maybe we would let this celebration be just you and me so we can relax. We can have dinner at my place and have some time to get to know each other better. Like you said before, we need to get the details right or it’s not going to be convincing.”

“Yeah, sure. That sounds great.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you at my place around, say...seven thirty?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Great.”

I hung up the phone and realized that I was still smiling. I enjoyed spending time with Aurora. I felt like I could be more myself around her. Maybe that was just because it wasn’t real. I was paying for her to be there and as long as I continued to pay her, she’d keep showing up. That thought didn’t feel good, though. What Aurora and I had was just a business deal, but for some unknown reason, I wanted her towantto be around me. I wanted her towantto spend time with me. I wanted her tolikeme.

Those were dangerous thoughts. I reminded myself that what we had wasn’t real. It was a mutually beneficial business arrangement. However, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy the arrangement.

I met with my lawyer and finished the rest of my meetings right on schedule. I had a few minutes before I needed to leave the office, so I picked up my office phone and dialed Luca. There was still no answer. I’d tried to get in touch with him all day with no luck. Of all my closest friends, he was the only one I hadn’t been able to tell about the deal with Aurora and I didn’t want him to hear it from anyone else. Matteo and Alessandro already knew and while they were cautious about the idea, they supported me, nonetheless. Matteo had been encouraging me to get into politics for a while and I could see the benefits of having an inside man within the local government. It would help the family. They were just concerned that Aurora and I wouldn’t be able to pull off the facade.

I called Alessandro and he answered on the third ring.

“Ciao, Enzo.”

“Ciao. Have you heard from Luca today?”

“He’s flying back from Las Vegas, so he’s probably drunk, passed out on the plane, or passed out drunk on the plane.” Alessandro chuckled.

“I thought you all flew back days ago.”

“We did but he wanted to stay an extra couple of days to hang out with Nic and Dario. Nic’s new casino is doing really well under Dario’s management and he’s thinking about expanding.”

“Again?”

“He says if you aren’t growing, you’re shrinking...or something like that.”

“I don't think that’s a saying.” I chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t either. He was a little drunk when he said it.”

I laughed but felt sad that I hadn’t been able to join the guys for the big New Year’s Eve celebration in Las Vegas. “I hate that I couldn’t make it. It’s just with trying to break into politics, I couldn’t lose momentum.”

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