Page 14 of Twisted Throne
“Easy, easy. I’ve got you,” I heard him say as my vision swam. He half carried me around the corner, away from the crowd. I closed my eyes against the blur of light and noise. Carlos eased me down into a chair.
“Here, honey, sip this,” I heard a woman's voice say as a glass of water was pressed into my hands. “Take deep breaths.”
I tried to slow my breathing down, and I took a sip of the cold water. My eyes opened and things started to come back into focus. I was sitting in a leather chair in a little nook off of the bar area. Carlos was squatting down in front of me, looking concerned. Perched on the arm of the chair I was sitting in was a tall, gorgeous blonde woman in a deep red dress. She looked me over with no small amount of curiosity, but her face was surprisingly sympathetic.
“Carlos, give her some air, she’s fine now,” the woman said. “I’m sure you need to go talk business before dinner just like Alec did. I’ll show her around and keep an eye on her.”
Carlos stood up, looking uncertain for the first time since I’d met him. My head was feeling clearer, and I nodded at him in agreement.
“I’m good now, sorry. Just got a little dizzy,” I said. “You can go on, I’m fine here with, um…” I trailed off, just realizing I didn’t know the woman's name.
“Elena LaRosa. Part of a complicated arrangement of cousins and in-laws, but the important part is that I’ve been where you are. It’s a pleasure to officially meet you. Now go on, Carlos, she’s in good hands,” she said with a soft laugh.
Carlos left and I looked around for a place to set down my glass. Before I could even stand up Elena made a quick motion with her hand and a waiter appeared as if from nowhere, startling me, and took the glass from me. She chuckled when I jumped.
“Oh don’t worry, you’ll get used to it! Sometimes I think the staff here know what I want before I do,” she tittered. “I’m married to Angelo’s nephew, Alec, so we’re here all the time.”
She gestured across the room to a short, husky man with dark, buzz-cut hair in deep conversation with a handful of other men. He glanced over at us, saw her, and frowned slightly. She didn’t seem to notice though, and kept up a steady stream of chit-chat, pointing out people to me whose names I immediately forgot.
“I know it seems like a lot at first, but you’ll get to know everyone in time, I promise! Alec stays busy, so I’ll have plenty of time to take you around so you can get to know everyone.”
Well, I could see why this was who Paul told Carlos to dump me on, that's for sure. Elena was apparently one of those bubbly women who knows everyone and can talk to anyone. All I had to do with her was tag along for the ride. I could appreciate that—much less pressure on me, and now I had someone else to talk to instead of having to trail around after Paul like a lost puppy.
“I really do appreciate it, thank you!” I replied. “Um, does everyone here already know who I am and everything?” Although Elena seemed to know the situation, I wasn’t sure what the story was with the rest of the people here. I’d thought about family, but not about friends of the family. And hangers-on of the family, passing acquaintances of the family, and… how many people did the LaRosas know? I guess showing up here tonight was me at least showing that I do want a relationship with Angelo and the family, but I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure how deep I wanted to get either. What happened earlier really scared me, even more after my stalker revealed himself than before.
“You mean that you’re Angelo’s newly found daughter? Oh, not everyone knows by any means, although I guess most will after tonight. I think Angelo intends to keep it close until you give him an answer,” she responded.
“You’re Angelo’s daughter?” a female voice piped up from behind us.
Elena and I turned around and we were confronted by an astonished-looking teenager with dark hair that fell past the hem of her sparkly gold dress. She teetered on her three inch heels, and while expertly applied, her metallic eyeshadow and jet black eyeliner would have been better suited to a club instead of a family dinner.
“Lucetta! Why are you hovering? If I were Alec, you’d be shot by now!”
I bite my lip to hide my smile at the surly look the girl gave at Elena’s chiding tone.
“Oh my god! I wasn’t hovering, I just walked over here! Damn!” the girl snapped back. “I thought Angelo didn’t have any kids?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a new thing for us I guess,” I said with a slight laugh.
“Cool! So that makes us some sort of cousins then! I’m Lucetta, but do not ever fucking call me that.” She blinked. “Please,” she added with an abashed smile. “I like Lucy better.”
“Well, I’m glad to meet you, Lucy,” I replied.
“Has your dad seen the dress you’re wearing, Lucetta?” Elena broke in. She frowned at Lucy’s low-cut short dress as it was trying valiantly—and failing—to keep everything that needed to be covered, covered.
“Fuck, Elena! I have a sweater at the coat check, I’ll get it in a minute,” Lucy said, not looking in the least bit concerned.
“I’ll go grab it for you. I don’t want you to get in trouble, even if you don’t care. And you know your dad will throw a fit if he sees you in that,” Elena said. “Gia, stay here and I’ll be back in a second, then we can grab a drink and I’ll introduce you around.”
Lucy stuck her tongue out at Elena as she walked away.
“Good luck to her, I didn’t even bring a sweater and Dad is working tonight anyway!” she said, laughing. “Elena just loves doing that whole mother hen thing sometimes. It’s so stupid, I’m seventeen, not seven. She should get a cat or something.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her indignation.
“So you can handle yourself, huh?” I asked her.
“Better than you can, I’m sure,” she said. She took a step back to look me up and down, obviously sizing me up.