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I roll my eyes. “Oh, sure.Business.”
“Think what you want. You can’t honestly believe I would get any kind of stimulation out of coming here when I have you at home.”
Instead of the front entrance, he takes me through a side door. I won’t deny feeling a modicum of insecurity as he leads me throughthe narrow backstage area, past scantily clad dancers whose bodies seem so perfect to me. But by the time we reach the door to the back room, it’s obvious that I’ve paid far more attention to them than he has.
“Have a nice trip?” Sal asks, looking up. He’s sitting at his desk, watching sports on his laptop. He mutes the computer as we come in. “I like the vacation beard, kid. Very distinguished. And a very happy birthday to you, Mrs. Rossi.”
Mrs. Rossi—I’m still not used to hearing that.I blush at the memory of my birthday trip. “Thank you. It was really wonderful to get out of the city.”
“It was very nice,” says Alessandro. “What did you find out?”
“I put Mr. Garcetti on it,” says Sal. “I thought you’d want someone doing the legwork who you trusted. He should be here any minute.”
“Very good,” says Alessandro as the door opens and Dominic joins us.
“Hey, how was the birthday trip?” asks Dominic brightly, kissing me on the cheek.
“Really great,” I tell him, pushing down memories of being chased naked through the jungle.
He grins. “Well, I have a belated birthday present for you, in the form of some information. Your acceptance to Bover City University was rescinded over a violation of their social media policy. An admissions officer reported that he discovered social media posts of you engaging in unacceptable conduct.”
My mouth opens in shock. “What? What conduct? That’s total bullshit.”
“It gets better. The admissions officer who made the report is named Jacob Talbot. That same Jacob Talbot just so happens to owe almost $200,000 to your dad in gambling debt.”
Yup. That checks out. I’ve overheard enough conversations between my father and his associates to know how things get done. “So this guy made a fake report about me in exchange for clearing the money he owes?”
“You guessed it.” He looks at Alessandro. “You want me to take care of it for you? I can get it done tonight.”
My husband thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. “No. I’ll do it myself.”
“You sure? One of the perks of being the boss is you get to delegate shit like this.” Dominic glances at his friend’s bruised knuckles, and I wonder if he was there when those bruises happened.
“I know. But I’m going to take this one. It’s personal to me.”
“I’ll help you,” I say, and all three men turn to look at me.
“Out of the question,” replies my husband immediately. “I’m not putting you in danger.”
“You’re doing this on my behalf,” I insist. “I want to be a part of it.”
“I really don’t think it would be dangerous,” says Dominic, earning a glare from Alessandro. “Guy’s a 45-year-old office worker. Not like you’re running up on a cartel hitman or something.”
“And so that means I should bring mywifealong on business?”
I make eye contact with my husband. “Come on. You’re threatening this guy so he changes his report. He’s a BCU admissions officer, not some badass. Can you really argue this is more dangerous than our vacation?”
He holds my gaze, then chuckles, rubbing his forehead. “Fine, fine. My woman gets what she wants. We’ll call it a date night. Just don’t expect a candlelit dinner.”
“Honeymoon, part two,” Sal cracks.
***
Alessandro parks near the University, and we walk through the campus together. It’s bittersweet being here, considering how excited I was to attend. All the students around me would’ve been my classmates.
Hopefully, they will be someday.
We find Jacob Talbot’s office in one of the administration buildings, then sit on a bench outside his door. We’re waiting for him to come in or out so we can clock his appearance, then follow him when he leaves. After about 20 minutes, a stocky, middle-aged man with fading, disheveled hair comes out, holding a coffee mug.
