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“Isn’t the fact that I’ve got a nearly 100% conviction record responsible enough?” It was a valid question. I’d worked my ass off to get to where I was. After Harvard, I shunned the corporate law firms that had hunted me down and started at a job in city hall that barely paid more that minimum wage. I’d been bright-eyed and eager to make changes.
It wasn’t until then that I started seeing how deeply organized crime was embedded into the fabric of Manhattan society. My near takedown of Marco Blanchi, Italian Mafia Prince, had put me on the map. Watching the mayor and other DAs cower to his brother, Dom Blanchi, lit a fire in me, and I knew that I needed to be in the mayor’s office if I was going to change the city I loved.
Based on initial polls, it seemed that the city agreed with me. At least, they had.
“We’ve come too far to let this stop us,” I told Marcel. “Whatever we have to do to win, we are going to do it.”
A slow smile unfurled on Marcel’s face as he reached for something next to him. He placed a black book on the table with a loud thud. “We find you a wife. We’ve got thirty days to change your image and make you look like a legitimate mayoral campaign. What better way than to make all of this seem like old news.”
I was so shocked that Marcel could have knocked me over with a feather. “You can’t be serious,” I said. “I’m not getting married.”
“I thought you said you were willing to do anything to get elected?” Marcel leaned forward, tapping his index finger on the top of the book. “This is how we get you elected.”
Reluctantly, I grabbed the binder and flipped it open. I’d agreed to do anything to become mayor. I just hadn’t thought that that would mean potentially getting married.
CHAPTERTHREE
“Hey, Annie,” my boss, Maggie, yelled from her office. “Please come in here.”
I got up from my seat with an internal groan. Maggie was nice enough, but I was still getting used to being around her. She was an older woman who’d worked at city hall since the 60’s. She’d started as a secretary, and now, she was the head of our department. As a temp, I needed to make sure that Maggie liked me if I was hoping to stay on, and from the way she always eyed me suspiciously, I never knew how she felt.
“Good luck,” the other temp, Hope, muttered to me.
I gulped. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but that didn’t always seem to matter. Maggie ran a tight ship, and she’d call you out for everything from a run in your pantyhose to you having a typo in a memo.
She reminded me of my old nanny who had been just as unforgiving in her expectations, which is why I usually gave Maggie a wide berth. Better to be seen and not heard was the motto I’d lived by my entire life, and while I often resented it, I couldn’t help but wrap myself in the ideology like a warm security blanket.
Today, though, I’d been called into Maggie’s office, which was either really good or really bad.
“Yes?” I asked, my tone soft, as I looked at the toe of my scuffed heel. I’d found them in a consignment shop during an outing with Julia, and they were one of my favorite pairs.
Maggie looked me up and down, her dark eyes narrowed on me, and I immediately wanted to fidget. But I stood stock still, just as I’d been taught to do as a girl, reminding myself that if I could survive the Petrov family, I could surely survive a woman pushing sixty-five.
“Ezra Wright’s office needs several files brought up this afternoon. They are down a girl, so I volunteered you.”
I gulped. Ezra Wright was a big deal. “Me?” I asked, hating how timid I sounded. I didn’t want to be this way. I wanted to be like Julia--fierce and unafraid--but I wasn’t quite there yet.
“Yes,” Maggie said. She looked down at the papers on her desk, and I was unsure if the conversation was over or not. I hated being so unsure of myself. “You’ve been doing a good job here, and despite what you girls may think of me, that doesn’t go unnoticed.”
It was as close to a compliment as a woman like Maggie was going to give, and I had to stop myself from beaming with pride. “Thank you, ma’am,” I said, sincerely. It meant a great deal to be complimented for my hard work. Before coming to city hall as a temp, I’d had a few short-term gigs that barely paid the cost of the subway. And before that, I’d been trained to be a Bratva wife, which wasn’t exactly a transferable skill set.
Maggie got up from behind her desk, grabbed a heavy stack of files, and walked towards me. “Keep your head on straight and continue doing your job. Come in early like you’ve been doing, and I’m sure that you’ll go far here.”
I nodded, trying not to sag under the weight of the files Maggie loaded me down with, and tried to keep the smile off of my face. My entire life I’d been taught that my role was to support a man, to make sure that he shined while I stood in the background. It was nice, for once, to shine on my own.
“I won’t let you down,” I stated as I wrapped my hands around the folders. I wasn’t a moron, even though Julia constantly reminded me how naive I could be. I knew that Maggie hadn’t just picked me because I came in an hour before everyone else. This was a test, and if I failed, I’d be back at the temp agency going from job to job trying to find something stable. I’d done that for so many months, and it was exhausting.
“Keep things professional with Ezra Wright, and we will be fine,” Maggie said.
I noticed the way that Maggie’s tone changed when she spoke about Ezra Wright. She wasn’t always the most soft-hearted of women, but she kept things professional.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I said. I adjusted the large stack in my arms. “I doubt I will see Mr. Wright.”
Maggie’s lips turned into a thin line as I spoke Mr. Wright’s name. “Just keep your head down and mind your work,” she said. “I can guarantee you that he will notice you, and when he does, I suggest you turn yourself away.”
There was a warning in her words that I recognized. I heard it once from my mother. Then, I hadn’t listened, but things were different now.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I have no interest in anything but work.”
