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“That seems legit,” Stephen said.
“The journalist didn’t have much information on the mayor, but he said he was going to look into him to see what he could find. He was under the impression that the mayor was clean, but he also said he hadn’t looked into him much. Since he was the one that appointed Henry, he assumed the mayor would also be upstanding,” Ivan said.
“He might’ve been when he was first elected. Or might’ve been trying harder to be. If he took campaign money from one of the bosses, it would’ve been hard to get away from that,” Adrik said.
“Would he know he took money from one of the bosses?” I asked, my half-empty glass of water in my hand. Adrik walked to me, grabbed the glass, finished it, then refilled it for me.
“It’s possible he didn’t know. Henry said it came from a nonexistent corporation. On paper, it would’ve looked like a large donation from a company,” Viktor said.
“That’s how they get politicians in their pockets, princess,” Ivan said. “They make it look legit at first, then once they’ve already accepted the money, they reveal where the money actually came from. They’ve already accepted it, so it already looks bad. Then the bosses have their guy.”
“Rude,” I said.
“But effective,” Viktor said.
Misha and Andrei had been busy warming up bone broth while the rest of us talked. Misha ordered me to sit while Andrei put a small bowl of broth in front of me. “It might still be too hot, so be careful,” he said, as he set the bowl in front of me.
I looked at it for a minute, which made Misha say, “I will airplane it. Don’t tempt me.”
“You’re still not the boss of me,” I said, picking up the spoon.
“The bigger question is which one of the bosses has the mayor in his pocket. Or if it really is Ricardo,” Stephen said.
“It’s interesting that Ricardo seems to have so much influence without being well-known and without being a boss himself,” Andrei said. He and Misha both were basically standing over me to make sure that I ate at least part of the bowl of broth. Nothing like feeling like a child to stimulate your appetite.
“Not everyone is interested in recognition,” Adrik said, a small smirk on his face. “But I find it interesting that the other bosses allowed him to have this much influence.”
“Do you think it was because of his ties to Lorenzo?” I asked, diligently taking sips of the broth so the Wonder Twins wouldn’t yell at me.
“Possibly. I think it’s worth seeing what we can get out of Armando about it. Dario might know something as well, but I don’t want to talk to him without Sephie,” Adrik said. “Did the journalist give any indication of when he’d have more information?”
“He seemed to think he’d be able to find something quickly if there was something to be found, but it could’ve been his ego talking,” Ivan said. “He’s supposed to let us know when he finds something.”
“We’ll see what we can get out of Armando tonight. It’s been a few days since I’ve been down there. He might miss me,” Adrik said.
I looked at Misha and Andrei when everyone else left to go “talk” to Armando. “We are not allowed to do anything weird that will cause them to come running back upstairs this time.”
While they both laughed at me, Misha asked, “Do you not like it when Boss comes out of nowhere to save you?”
“No, I do. I very much do. But I feel bad for always interrupting his schedule,” I said. We were in the kitchen, as Andrei had talked me into more broth. It was actually working. I managed to eat most of the first bowl he gave me when they first got back from the meeting with the journalist and I only slept for a short period that afternoon.
“You know you’re more important than his schedule, spider monkey. He’s told us all exactly that. Multiple times,” Andrei said, setting down another small bowl of broth in front of me.
“I know, but it still doesn’t mean I should constantly interrupt him. This needs salt,” I said, taking a small sip.
Misha’s handsome smile stretched across his face. “That means your appetite is waking up, gazelle.” He grabbed the salt and handed it to me.
“I thought it meant this was bland,” I said, grinning at him.
“What did Boss say about Andrei’s newly discovered ability?” Misha asked curiously.
“He mostly wanted to know how long I’ve been able to do it. He seemed more amused that I outed Sephie than anything,” Andrei said, still giving me an apologetic look.
I laughed softly. “Don’t apologize, Andrei. It makes him angry that I try to keep it from him when I don’t feel well. He’s still mad at me for keeping it hidden after Misha and I were attacked. Same for the ball. I clearly need help in that area.”
“Ivan lectured him on being mad at you for that, you know,” Misha said.
“He did?”
