“Come in,” he calls out.
Lev steps inside, standing tall and straightening his suit collar when he notices me. He jerks his chin up and winks in my direction.
I shrivel in my chair, looking away from him, and hold back the urge to roll my eyes. If he’d done that prior to Aleksy becoming boss, I’d have flipped him off.
But now that Aleksy has given him power, I don’t know what he’d do if I did.
I’m not a Lev fan. Not only because he was the first boy I made out with, via a dare. He usedsoo much tongue, traumatizing me enough to avoid kissing a boy again for a solid year.
He also asked Yaroslav to marry me, which my uncle promptly said no to—thank God. It was the only time I ever appreciated a decision he’d made.
Aleksy stands from his chair. “Come on. The party is waiting.”
I do the same with a disgruntled sigh.
Lev is the first to leave, then me, and Aleksy. We walk straight outside to where the party is.
Not many people showed up to celebrate a man who was truly hated. A few kids are in the pool, a group in the corner is singing karaoke, and others are seated at tables.
I ignore Lev trying to talk to me and slump in the chair beside my mother.
She pinches her lips together.
When I don’t ask her why she’s giving me that look, she does it even more exaggerated, scooting closer to my face.
I turn to her friend, Rita, and start a conversation.
My mother taps my arm. “I think it’s very disrespectful for Emilio not to show up.”
I peer over my shoulder at her and roll my eyes.
“I bet he wouldn’t allow you to miss a Lombardi event,” she adds, swatting a wasp away from her face.
I sink deeper into my chair, not answering to avoid an argument.
“Well?” she pushes. “Do you go to them?”
“Emilio is sick,” I grumble.
“Not too sick to drop you off.”
“Would you have preferred I walk the twenty-five miles?” I fold my arms across my chest, leaning back to pin my glare on her.
“He could’ve at least come in and said hello.”
“I’m sure he’d have feltso welcome,” I say, rolling my eyes again.
Luckily, Rita chimes in on the conversation, asking my mother about the sale of the house. I jerk forward. So much has happened that I forgot she’d sold our home.
“Why’d you sell?” I ask her.
“It’s too big a house to live there alone,” she replies, playing with the gold bracelet on her wrist. “You know how people downsize when their children move out.”
I mirror her pinched expression. “Where do you live now then?”
She’s quiet for a moment before saying, “Here, of course.” A breath leaves her. “Well, the pool house.”
“Aleksy wouldn’t even give you your own wing?” I bring my glass to my lips and hold back a smile. “This home has, like, fourteen of them.”
