Chapter 104

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 104 Dario was the first off the plane. He held his hand out to help Alessandra descend the steps.

“Don Vicari,” he said once they both reached the ground, “thank you for your hospitality.”

Now Vicari was all sugar and spice. “It’s my great honor and privilege to have you on my island today, Don Rosolini.”

Of course, we all noticed how he said MY island.

As though all of Sicily belonged to him.

As Dario approached me, he looked at my face and frowned. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing,” I said grimly.

Dario looked over at Vicari –

“It was somebody else,” I muttered.

“A traitor,” Vicari said loudly. “Rest assured, once my men apprehend him, the scoundrel will spend a very long, very miserable time paying for it.”

“A traitor?!” Niccolo asked with fake surprise. “And you didn’t want us to keep our guns.”

Vicari just scowled at him.

Dario gave me a half-smile, then hugged me. “It’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too.”

Once he let go of me, Alessandra was waiting. I could see from the pain in her eyes that she knew everything that had happened with Cat.

She hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, “I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.”

She pulled back to look at me. “Are you alright?”

“...no. No, I’m not.”

She nodded sadly, then joined Dario.

Adriano and Bianca came next.

“Jesus,” he grinned as he hugged me, “I’d hate to see the other guy.”

Me, too, considering he’s a bloated corpse right now, I thought.

Bianca and I air-kissed on both cheeks, and then she and Adriano joined Dario and Alessandra.

Next off the plane was Massimo.

Seeing him was a complete shock.

He descended the stairs like an old man, slowly and carefully, wincing with every step.

Once he reached the tarmac, he used a cane to hobble over to me.

I knew he’d been hurt badly in the gunfight –

But actually seeing it shook me to my core.

Massimo was the biggest and the strongest of all of us – a mountain.

If this could happen to him...

Then anything could happen to any of us.

He smiled as he limped over. “I like your face. It’s an improvement.”

I laughed.

Same old Massimo.

I hugged him –

But I heard him suck in his breath in pain.

That’s when I knew it was really bad.

I immediately let go of him. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry, rimbambito,” he said, using his favorite insult for me: numb nuts. “You look worse than I feel.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically, but we both laughed.

Then I noticed someone was behind him –

A really beautiful but really short chick, barely five feet tall.

I stared at her in surprise. “Who’s this?”

“Ah,” Massimo said. “Lucia, meet my brother Valentino. Valentino, Lucia.”

“You probably know me as the Widow’s granddaughter,” the girl said with a smirk as she air-kissed me on the right and left sides of my face.

I laughed. If she was cool using her grandmother’s nickname like that, I figured she was all right.

“Lucia’s my fiancée,” Massimo added.

I stared at him in shock – then looked at her for confirmation.

“It’s true!” she laughed as she held out her left hand.

There were two rings on her finger:

A beautiful gold one with rubies and pearls...

And what looked like a cheap plastic imitation.

“I don’t understand,” I said, stunned.

“Some crazy shit’s happened over the last three weeks,” Lucia said.

“That’s putting it mildly,” another voice said.

I looked over to see Roberto, impeccable in a three-piece suit with his hair slicked back.

He grinned. “Good to see you in one piece. Even if you are a little worse for wear.”

“Same here.”

As we hugged, I whispered, “Everything’s cool? You got the money?”

“I got the money,” he confirmed. “We live to fight another day.”

“Good, I...”

I trailed off as the hottest Asian chick I’d ever seen came walking down the steps of the plane.

“What the hell?” I exclaimed.

“Ah – this is Mei-ling,” Roberto said. “My fiancée.”

I stared at him. “WHAT?!”

“It was a surprise to us, too,” Niccolo said dourly.

“Hey – I got the funds back,” Roberto reminded him.

“Yes, as you keep reminding me,” Niccolo retorted.

“Hello,” the Asian woman said in a sexy British accent. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh... yeah... you, too,” I said as I shook her hand.

“Some crazy shit happened in Hong Kong, too,” Lucia joked.

“Did everybody get a fiancée while I was gone?” I asked – and not happily.

After all, they apparently got to choose THEIRS.

“Um...” Lars said. “Actually... yes.”

I stared at him. “What the fuck?!”

He pointed at the plane, and I turned around –

To see Wonder Woman walking down the steps.

Okay, she wasn’t Wonder Woman, exactly...

But she was the spitting image of Gal Gadot: tall, athletic, and hot as hell in a slinky blue dress slit all the way up her thigh.

“I’m Rachel,” she said with a smile and yet another British accent. “Nice to meet you.”

I stared at her. “Wait – aren’t you the one who tried to kill Dario?!”

She winced. “It was a misunderstanding.”

“All is forgiven,” Dario reassured me.

“I... okay,” I said, stunned, as I shook Rachel’s hand.

“Crazy shit, right?” Lucia chimed in.

Niccolo glared at her. “Could you not curse so much?”

“Could you fuck off?” Lucia replied sweetly.

Niccolo just grumbled to himself and looked away, shaking his head.

“If you’re done with the introductions,” Don Vicari said loudly, “we should make our way to the chapel. My daughter and other members of my family will be arriving there shortly.”

“Let’s go,” Dario said, then hugged me around the shoulders with one arm as we all made our way to the cars.

I walked to the SUV, stunned.

It looked like everybody in my family got a fucking happy ending to their stories –

Except me.