Chapter 17

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 17 I thought I was keeping it on the down-low with Caterina –

Especially compared with Dario.

Once he started sleeping with her, you could hear Alessandra screaming in his bedroom from just about every corner of the house.

But apparently I wasn’t being quite as careful as I thought.

Niccolo came to me one day and said in irritation, “What would you do if I ordered you to stop seeing that kitchen girl?”

Shit.

Not a good situation –

But I did what any good player does in a situation where he’s caught:

Deny, deny, deny.

I put on my best poker face and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Niccolo smiled sarcastically. “Let me remind you, then: I’m talking about you fucking her in the kitchen. Specifically the pantry.

You were a bit more discreet when she first started and only did it in the early morning hours before anyone else showed up for work – but now it’s starting to get out of hand.”

My stomach plummeted.

SHIT.

“I’m not going to stop seeing her,” I said, a warning in my voice.

Like, Don’t fuck this up for me, Nic.

“I figured. My guess is you’d just set her up in an apartment in Florence and fuck her there. If we’re going to spend that much money, we might as well get some work out of her.”

I know Nic meant it as a dark joke, but it pissed me off.

“She’s not a fucking whore,” I growled.

“Oh – my mistake. Is she your girlfriend, then?” he asked with fake sweetness.

He kind of had me on that one...

And I hated him for it.

“...no,” I grumbled.

“Mm-hm. I know you, Val. You’re going to continue doing whatever you want, no matter what I say. So at least keep it quiet. It’s bad for the other workers’ morale for you to do it so openly. Got it?”

“...got it,” I seethed.

He turned to go.

I knew Nic was the new consigliere –

But he was still the know-it-all brother who’d annoyed me my entire childhood, and his ordering me around stuck in my craw.

So I said something that I knew would stick in his.

“You wanted to fire Cat, didn’t you? But Dario wouldn’t let you,” I taunted him.

It was a guess more than anything –

But I’d apparently scored a direct hit.

Niccolo looked back and smiled coldly. “Given his recent experiences, Dario has a soft spot for men with... ‘problematic’

relationships.”

He was talking about Alessandra, and we both knew it.

But Nic being Nic, he had to get in the last word.

“Keep it in the bedroom,” Niccolo ordered. “If she’s not your whore, then stop fucking her like a whore.”

And he walked away, leaving me enraged.

I swore someday I’d make him pay for his snotty attitude –

I just didn’t know how quite yet.

But until then, I decided not to press my luck...

And started taking Caterina to spare bedrooms in the house whenever I wanted to be with her.