In the Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright #3)(34)

“I cannot officially run the Family and run my business,” I said. “I wish I could, but I can’t.

“However, I want to do everything I can to help you. Your words, Pip, have moved me, and I will not abandon you. I want to give even more Balanchines jobs, working for the clubs. I want to cut off our dependence on the Balanchiadze chocolate supply altogether. We can leave the black market chocolate business to some other family, and together, we can channel our efforts into legal revenue sources like cacao and medicinal chocolate.”

The Balanchines were nodding.

“But who will run the Family?” the man in the purple suit asked. “Who will ensure your plans are executed?”

“Perhaps one of you,” I began, but, as I was saying this, I had a better idea. Why not the slim-shouldered, resilient girl standing behind me? Mouse had been my only confidante at Liberty, and, at significant personal cost, she had even helped me escape. She had been mute, bullied, homeless, and cast out by her family. No one had overcome more or complained less than she had. No one had been more loyal to me. I trusted her like a sister. Of course it should be Mouse. I only had to convince the Family to my way of thinking. “Though I wonder if you would consider appointing Mouse to run the Family in my absence. I could consult with her on every decision. I know she isn’t a Balanchine, but she was Fats’s right hand and my loyal friend from prison, and I trust her to be my eyes and ears. Believe me when I say—no person has been a better listener or a more reliable friend to me than Mouse.”

I turned to look at Mouse. Her eyes were bright. “Is this all right?” I mouthed.

She reached for the notepad that used to hang around her neck. Back in the day, that notepad had been the only way she could communicate. “Yes,” she said.

“This is an intriguing proposition,” Pip said. “We will need to vote.”

“I assumed as much,” I said. “But whatever the outcome, I will do what I can to help you. I am a Balanchine and my father’s daughter.”

I stood, and the Family stood with me.

The following day, Mouse came to the Manhattan club, trailed by Pip Balanchine and a woman I did not know. Mouse informed me that the vote had been unanimous. As improbable as it was, a once-mute girl from Long Island had become the head of the Balanchine crime family. She bowed her head when she entered my office. “I await your instruction,” she said.

Over the next two months, we reduced the amount of chocolate supply that came to America. We reassigned dealers to new positions driving trucks or working security. The ones who didn’t want these jobs were given retirement packages, which was pretty much unheard of in organized crime. (In the Family, death was usually the sole retirement option.) We used the existing Balanchine labor force to move cacao and other supplies around the country to new locations.

During this period, the Balanchiadze were silent. Perhaps they thought we were still reeling from Fats’s death. “We should not take their silence as acceptance,” Mouse advised. “They will strike when they are ready. And I will be vigilant.”

* * *

“Drink with me,” Mr. Delacroix said one night at the club. “You are never around these days, and I almost feel as if I’m having a sighting of the Loch Ness monster.”

I shrugged. I had not told him about my new responsibilities. I had thought my life was full when I’d just been running the club, but it had become ridiculously so now that I was shadow-running an organized-crime family.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but word on the street is that Kate Bonham has become the new head of the Balanchine crime family.”

“Oh?”

“Well, it’s an interesting choice on many levels. She’s not a Balanchine. She’s a girl. She’s only twenty years old, and she was at Liberty. Did you know her, Anya?”

I said nothing.

“I recognized her name, of course. I may be old, but my memory is long. And I kept very good tabs on you that summer of 2083. Kate Bonham went by the name Mouse back then, and I think she might even have been your bunk mate at Liberty. What an extraordinary coincidence that Anya Balanchine’s bunk mate should become the improbable head of the Balanchine crime family.”

I wasn’t fooling him. I never had.

“I assume you know what you’re doing. I assume you don’t require any help. I might renew my request that you hire security, but I suppose you’ll do exactly what you want to no matter what I say.”

“How’s Win?” I asked. I had not uttered my ex-boyfriend’s name in months, and that bantam proper noun felt strange on my tongue, as if I were speaking a foreign language. “It was his birthday a week or two ago, no?”

“A change of subject. You suppose the way to my heart is through questions about my boy. It is a cheap maneuver, though I will allow it.” He crossed his hands over his knee. “Goodwin says he wants to go to medical school. I rather like this profession for him, don’t you?”

“That’s nothing new. Even senior year of high school, he wanted to be a doctor.”

“Well, I suppose you know my son better than I.”

“I used to, Mr. Delacroix. A long time ago, I was considered an expert in the field, but then I broadened my interests.”

XII

I RECEIVE AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR; A STORY IS TOLD; A REQUEST IS RENEWED