Chapter 6
ELENA
T he lock on my apartment door stuck as usual, something I'd noticed my first night here just last night. I jiggled the key, shoulder pressed against the weathered wood, and pushed. The door finally gave with a groan that matched my own.
Home sweet home. Sort of.
The one-bedroom apartment was a far cry from the cozy house Mom and I had shared before the medical bills started piling up. But at least it was close enough to Donati Enterprises and, more importantly, affordable enough to let me save for Mom's treatment.
I dropped my purse on the counter, kicking off my heels with a sigh of relief.
The neighborhood wasn't great—sirens were a nightly lullaby according to the single mother of three next door I'd met when inspecting the place, and I'd already learned which streets to avoid after dark thanks to her—but beggars couldn't be choosers.
A bottle of red wine and a box of chocolates sat on the kitchen counter, a folded note propped against them. I smiled, recognizing Ivy's looping handwriting immediately.
Hope your first day went well! Can't wait to hear all about it. Love you, bitch. —Ivy
The note made my chest warm. Ivy had been my rock through all of this, insisting on moving with me to keep costs down. "We're family," she'd said when I'd protested. "Family sticks together."
She'd always been that way, ever since we were kids and my mom had taken her under her wing.
Ivy's parents had been more interested in their next fix than their daughter, and our house had become her sanctuary.
And Mom had loved her like a second daughter, making sure she always felt welcome and like she belonged.
Now Ivy was determined to help save Mom too, even taking a job at some strip club called Velvet here.
I hadn't been thrilled about that, especially after she'd told me about the management's "rules" and the customers' "requests" after she'd gone in for an interview.
She'd had to send bikini photos too just to secure an in-person meeting. That just felt wrong to me.
"I can take care of myself, Elena," she'd said, waving away my concerns. "Always have."
I couldn't argue with that. Ivy had been using her looks since forever.
Despite Mom's best efforts to show her other options, Ivy had always fallen back on what she knew worked.
I couldn't recall exactly when she'd first started trading on her body.
Maybe sixteen? But I'd long ago accepted it was her choice.
She enjoyed the attention from men, even if her string of exes were nothing to brag about. It was something we had in common, actually, our mutual inability to find decent partners. We joked about it often, calling ourselves the "Red Flag Magnets."
My last long relationship had ended during my final year of college. Harry had seemed perfect. He had been an accounting major like me, ambitious, charming. Then I'd found texts from Lisa, our classmate, on his phone. He'd dumped me via text two days later.
Ivy had driven three hours to campus just to slap him outside the library. "You spineless dick!" she'd screamed while I'd watched, mortified and secretly delighted. "Breaking up over text? You never deserved her anyway!"
That was Ivy. Fiercely protective and completely unfiltered. And I loved her for it.
I grabbed a plate from the cabinet and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Dinner of champions. The bread was slightly stale, considering I'd brought it with me during the move here, but I was too tired to care.
The move had consisted of the bare basics, and we were sharing the one queen bed.
We'd at least picked up a fold-out couch for cheap, hiring two guys off Craigslist to move it in for us.
Thankfully, the place had come with a few other things, which we were grateful for, and I'd been able to rent out our place back home to a friend from the diner whose lease had been ending.
She was a sweet mum of two, and her husband worked hard as a mechanic in town.
I'd been more than happy to rent to them, but the rental market was not in our favor, so their payments didn't even cover the mortgage.
It was enough though, considering the low cost of this place, and the good pay I was going to be receiving.
I sank into one of the mismatched chairs at our creaky dining table, wincing as it wobbled.
My laptop hummed to life, and I pulled up the accounts for Aaron Accounting, my firm back in my hometown. I'd been lucky that Mr. Aaron had agreed to let me work remotely in the evenings after I'd explained about Mom. The arrangement meant twelve-hour workdays, but the extra income was worth it.
Aaron Accounting was the main firm of the entire area back home, mostly due to his long-standing name from the old days of phonebooks, where his name had landed him right at the start for accountants.
If I could just save enough for Mom's treatment, maybe I wouldn't need to confront the Donatis at all. Maybe I could handle this on my own, without stirring up decades-old family drama and potentially piss off some high-class people.
People who were already going to be paying my bills.
The thought was comforting, even if I knew it was probably wishful thinking.
I worked steadily through the evening, pausing only to call Mom and check in.
She sounded tired but in good spirits, telling me about the nurse who'd snuck her an extra pudding cup.
I'd lied and said I was watching some show to relax after my first day, and she'd bought it.
The last thing she needed was to worry about what I was doing and how I was overworking myself by holding two jobs.
By midnight, my eyes were burning. I shut my laptop with a decisive click, ready to call it a night. That's when my phone rang, Ivy's face lighting up my screen.
"Hey," I answered, suppressing a yawn.
"Bitch, you weren't asleep already, were you?" Ivy's voice was loud against the background of thumping music.
"Almost. Some of us have to be at work before noon." I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder, reaching for the wine she'd left. I could use a little assistance in falling into a deeper sleep.
"Whatever. I'm on break and I need details. How was day one of Operation Sugar Daddy?"
I nearly choked on my glass of wine. "Jesus, Ivy. That is not what we're calling it."
"Fine. Operation Get What's Rightfully Yours. Better?"
"Marginally." I took another sip. "It was... interesting. I actually met Meredith."
"No shit! What's she like? Spoiled princess? Bitch on wheels?"
I smirked at Ivy's quick firing insults, remembering Meredith's quick smile and genuine welcome. "Neither, actually. She seemed... nice. Normal."
"Disappointing," Ivy huffed. "What about Grayson?"
"Didn't see him. Apparently, he's rarely in the office. He runs some shipping company called Lion Freight. Meredith only comes in part-time too, for the foundation work."
"So your master plan to befriend them might be harder than you thought."
I sighed, swirling the wine in my glass. "Looks that way. I'm not sure what my next move is."
"What about the rest of the place? Any tea to spill?"
"Not really. Everyone seems professional. Oh, except—" I stopped, remembering Jackson's ability to make my heart flutter. Just thinking of him now had my cheeks warming and a smile playing on my lips.
Good god, I had a schoolgirl crush.
"Except what?" Ivy pounced.
"There's this IT security guy. Jackson. He's... I don't know. Intense."
"Intense how? Like serial killer intense or fuck-me-against-the-wall intense?"
"Ivy!" I laughed despite myself, although the instant image had me biting my lip. "Neither. Both? I don't know. He's just... he watches me. Like he's trying to figure me out."
"Is he hot?"
I thought of Jackson's broad shoulders, the tattoos peeking from beneath his rolled-up sleeves at one point, those dark eyes that seemed to see right through me.
"Unfairly so," I admitted.
"Oooh," Ivy cooed. "You should tap that."
"Absolutely not. I'm there to work, not hook up with the IT guy."
"Why not both? You deserve some fun amidst all this shit, Elena. You've earned it. If he's in security too, he'll be fine, I bet."
I shook my head, though she couldn't see me. "I can't. And definitely not with him. That's too complicated, could get messy."
"Fine, be boring. What about me? Don't you want to know how my first night's going?"
I settled deeper into the chair. "Of course I do. How is it?"
"Better than I expected. The other girls are nice enough—there's this one called Diamond who's been showing me the ropes.
The boss is a bit of a creep, but nothing I didn't expect.
" She lowered her voice. "And the money is good, Elena.
Really good. Maybe we can pull this off without having to deal with your half-siblings at all. "
"That would be ideal," I agreed, though I wasn't convinced. Maybe I should've taken up the same line of work. Then again, I didn't have Ivy's wit or fiery personality. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Always am. Oh, and get this—I had a client mention the Donati name during a lap dance."
I frowned, finding that rather odd. "What? Who?"
"Some drunk asshole bragging about his connections and how they're a trash family. The other girls say he's a regular, comes in with some of his buddies. I might be able to do some digging."
"Ivy, no. I'll figure it out, no need to do that."
"Relax, mama bear. I can take care of myself." A voice called in the background. "Shit, I gotta go. My break's over. I'll try to catch you before you leave for work tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay. Be safe."
"Always. Love you."
"Love you too."
The call ended, and I drained the last of my wine, unease settling in my stomach. Ivy was fearless to a fault. It was what I loved about her, but also what terrified me. Why would the Donati name come up in her workplace anyway? What was the deal with them?
I pushed the thought away. One problem at a time.
My neck ached from hunching over my laptop all evening. I rolled my shoulders, wincing at the knots of tension. I'd wanted to research the Cassaros and Donatis more tonight, but exhaustion was winning. Whatever secrets they were hiding would have to wait until tomorrow.
I dragged myself to the shower, letting the hot water…well, lukewarm, the water heater in this place was a joke, soothe my tired muscles. As I toweled off, I caught my reflection in the steamy mirror. Dark circles under my eyes, hair limp from the long day.
"You can do this," I told my reflection. "For Mom."
I crawled into bed, setting my alarm for 5:30 AM. As I drifted off, Jackson's face floated through my mind—those watchful eyes, the way his presence seemed to fill the room. There was something about him that unsettled me.
Or maybe what unsettled me was how much I'd noticed him, despite everything else I had to focus on.
Either way, I needed to be careful. The last thing I needed was to fuck this up because of some damn guy.
Sleep claimed me before I could worry further, pulling me under into blessed oblivion.