✖---cleopatrathesecretary
( @cleopatrathesecretary )
“So, you’re the Vansten’s boy.”
Two figures stood on a small sidestreet, one looking north, the other south. The first speaker, a woman, glanced back slightly at the other, a young man leaning against the brick wall.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. Enough to make me wonder how someone like you could ever be connected to all this.”
The boy smirked, flipping to a new page in the penny novel in his hands. “Family’s funny that way - bein’ the son ‘f a rumrunner an’ leader of the Vansten.. ah.. “Company” does have that… pull.”
“But m’not here t’ talk about my life ‘r my father.” he continued, “Something from “this life” as you call it, touched mine.”
“Oh?” The woman raised a brow, intrigued, “And is that why an angel such as yourself wants to meet someone like me?”
“Yes,” He replied, “Th’Palermo clan has a… beneficial workin’ relationship with m’father. An’ yer ability t’ hide in plain sight is well known, Miz Cleopatra.”
“Though your father may call me by my first name, Tobias, I still prefer Ms. Palermo, if you please.”
Toby blinked, unperturbed at the use of his name. “O’course, m’apologies. Then please call me Toby, not Tobias.”
“Then, Toby, I assume that you need be to… listen at the appropriate keyholes?”
Toby nodded once more and turned a page, “Yes. A classmate of mine at the university has been acting… odd. Friendly. T’ friendly. He wanted t’ be lab partners fer a class he doesn’ need for his major; an’ he’s been pressing t’ hang out at places I know fer a fact he hates.”
Cleopatra smirked and leaned against the wall of the alley, watching him.
“Maybe he’s sweet on you.”
Toby snapped his book shut and gave her a look. “I hardly think so. M’not his type.”
“Then he has a motive for getting close to you.”
“That’s my thinkin’. He wears a signet ring on a chain ‘round his neck - the DiCarlo family if memory serves.”
Toby faced Cleo directly, arching a brow himself. “Yer family an’ theirs has quite th’feud, one my father took on once he started workin’ with you.”
“Seems like a win-win situation, figurin’ out what my classmate is up t’ hm?”
“Yes,” Cleopatra concedes, “Yes it does.”
Pushing off from the wall, she straightened her jacket and flashed Toby a predatory smile. “Alright Kid; let’s talk details.”
