Chapter 71

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 70 Another upside of not having to work on Rocco’s crew was that I didn’t have to get up at the ass-crack of dawn anymore.

I was eating breakfast around 8 the next morning with Isabella and Ludavica – under the watchful and disapproving eye of an older kitchen servant – when Paolo walked in.

“Hey, boss,” he said cheerfully.

Guess he was happy about his promotion to Isabella’s bodyguard.

“Good morning,” I said.

“Signorinas,” he said respectfully to Isabella and Ludavica.

Isabella smiled back at him and said Ciao.

Ludavica said Ciao but didn’t smile.

Then Paolo turned back to me.

“Hey, boss,” he said excitedly, “take a look at this!”

He opened his suit jacket to reveal a shoulder holster and revolver.

“You know how to handle that thing?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, offended.

“Okay.”

“So – where’re we headed this fine morning?” he asked Isabella.

“I asked Papa if we could go to Cefalù, and he said yes.”

“Where’s Cefalù?” I asked.

“About an hour and a half north of here,” Paolo said. “On the coast.”

I frowned. “How far is Cefalù from Ragusa?”

Paolo looked at me with wide eyes and a fake smile like, What the fuck are you asking THAT for? “Uh... three and a half hours, give or take?”

Shit. That meant Cat’s taxi would have to drive pretty far.

I needed to call her as soon as we got out of here.

“Alright, then – let’s get going,” I said.

We all walked out to the SUV. I got in the front passenger seat beside Paolo, and both girls got in the back.

As soon as Paolo was on the main road, I said, “Let me see your phone.”

He laughed nervously and looked at me like, Are you crazy?! “Uh... why, boss?”

“So I can call Caterina.”

I said it mostly to see what his reaction would be.

He didn’t disappoint.

He swerved into the oncoming lane, although he recovered quickly enough.

Luckily nobody was coming in the opposite direction.

“Jesus, don’t kill us!” I barked.

Paolo laughed nervously again. “Who’s Caterina?”

“We already know,” Isabella informed him from the backseat.

Paolo looked around in bug-eyed terror. “You do?!”

“Yes.” Then Isabella looked at me. “Is that her name? Caterina?”

“Yeah,” I said uncomfortably.

It was a little weird talking to your future wife about the girl you were banging.

“That’s a pretty name,” Isabella said sweetly.

“Yeah,” I said lamely.

What was I supposed to say?

Thank you?

I agree?

Instead, I focused on Paolo. “Your phone.”

Paolo was sweating now. “This is a bad idea.”

“Now you know why you got your promotion.”

He glared at me –

But he got distracted when Isabella said, “We can keep a secret.”

Paolo looked at them in the rearview mirror, then shook his head and swore under his breath.

“PHONE,” I said.

He pulled it out and slapped it into my palm.

“Pull off the road up ahead,” I ordered him.

“Why?”

I glared at him. “So I can talk to her outside the car.”

“What, we don’t get to listen to your conversation with your girlfriend?” Isabella teased.

“She’s not my girlfriend. And no, you don’t.”

“Awww,” Ludavica complained playfully.

“Not your girlfriend?!” Isabella exclaimed. She was having more fun than I’d ever seen before. “What is she, then – your mistress?”

“I think she’s a fuck buddy,” Ludavica said, which made Isabella gasp –

And then both girls collapsed into gales of laughter.

I glared at them in the rearview mirror, then looked at Paolo. “Pull over – now.”

Once I was outside the SUV – and had shut the door on the girls’ playful taunts and Paolo’s obvious panic – I dialed Caterina.

“...hello?” she answered warily.

“It’s me.”

“Hey!” she said, her voice suddenly full of joy.

I remembered Isabella’s remark about Cat being my girlfriend but quickly brushed it off.

“So, ready to see me again?”

“Of course!”

“Good. But there’s something we need to talk about first.”

Caterina sounded worried. “...oh?”

“Don Vicari found out I didn’t work with his son yesterday.”

“Does he know about us?” she asked fearfully.

“No – I told him I went out drinking, and he bought it. But in order to get out of the house to see you, I had to come up with another excuse.”

“...which is...?”

“I have to take Isabella with me and show her around the city.”

There was a long pause.

“Is that her name?” Cat finally asked. “Your wife?”

“Future wife,” I said in annoyance. “Yes, that’s her name.”

Another long pause.

“How are you going to keep her from finding out about us if you’ve got to show her around?”

“She already knows.”

“SHE ALREADY KNOWS?!”

I’d never heard Cat scream before. It took me by surprise.

“It’s cool, it’s cool,” I said quickly. “She’s fine with it. She doesn’t want to get married to me, either, but she wants to go out and see Sicily.”

“And you believe her?!”

“Yes. You wouldn’t believe how much her father has her on lockdown. She’s only left her house a couple times in her life.”

I could hear the bewilderment in Cat’s voice. “And she’s HOW old?!”

“Twenty-four, I think. Look, that’s not the important part – ”

“Oh, the part where you told your future wife about us isn’t the important part,” Cat said sarcastically. “What’s the important part, then?”

“The important part is her father’s a fucking psychopath, and yesterday I saw what he did to somebody who crossed him,” I said angrily. “It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was pretty fucking horrible.”

Silence.

“Look,” I said, trying to bring it down a notch, “I called you to warn you. If you don’t want to run the risk, I’d understand – ”

“If I don’t want to run the risk,” she repeated in disbelief.

“Yeah. Of him finding out.”

“Val... I walked out of the house right under the nose of Niccolo and Don Rosolini. If either of THEM had found out I was going to see you, I don’t think it would have ended well.”

“They wouldn’t have done anything to you – they would’ve just stopped you.”

“Well, I’m sure they wouldn’t be so nice about it if they found me here in Sicily.”

“They still wouldn’t do anything to you,” I said in exasperation.

“Are you trying to back out?” she asked softly. “Are you just trying to just let me down easy?”

“What?! No! Absolutely not!”

“Are YOU afraid?”

“Yes!” I said, then clarified. “Not for me. I’m afraid for you. If anything happened to you... I don’t think I could live with myself.”

“Aww...” Cat seemed genuinely happy to hear me say it. Then she added, “But if something happens to me, I’m pretty sure it’ll happen to you, too. So you won’t have to live with yourself long.”

“THAT’S dark,” I said with a chuckle.

“I guess it is.” She sighed. “Look, I KNOW this is dangerous. I don’t care. I only want to be with you. So if you’re asking me, then I’m in. All the way. We’ll just have to be careful.”

I wondered how careful Don Vicari’s consigliere had been.

But I had to admit, I was relieved by Cat’s choice.

“Okay,” I said happily. “Alright, good.”

“Where do I meet you?”

“A place called Cefalù. It’s pretty far from Ragusa – about three-and-a-half hours.”

“Then I better get going.”

“Call or text me when you get there. Or call or text Paolo, I guess.”

“I will. I can’t wait to see you!”

“Same here, babe,” I said warmly, a huge swell of emotion surging in my chest. “I l– ”

I stopped myself.

I had been about to say something I had never said to any woman –

And which wasn’t a good idea to say now.

Especially now.

“...yes?” Cat whispered hopefully.

I struggled to answer...

Then finally just said, “I’ll see you soon.”

Another long pause.

“...see you soon,” she said sadly, then hung up.

Shit.

For somebody who was going to get laid in a few hours, I was suddenly incredibly depressed.

I remembered what Isabella had said last night:

Do you love her?

A woman comes all the way here for you – and you hadn’t ‘thought about it’?

You should probably START to think about it, then.

I stood there for a long time, thinking...

And then I looked through the other calls on Paolo’s phone until I found it:

Alessandra’s number.

It was one of many Lars had made us all memorize.

I pressed the number and waited, my heart beating twice as fast.

“Hello?” a familiar voice answered.

“Alessandra?”

“Valentino!” she cried out joyously. “What are you doing calling from THIS number?!”

“He lent it to me.”

“So it’s going okay?”

“Yeah – yeah, it’s going great. I’ve seen Caterina a couple of times in the last couple of days.”

“I know!” Alessandra said impishly.

“...you do?”

“She’s been texting me. I’m so happy for you two!”

She sounded so joyful, it lifted my spirits the tiniest bit.

“I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for doing this,” I said humbly.

“You’re more than welcome!”

“Dario doesn’t know yet, does he?”

She sounded a little grim. “No. At least, he hasn’t said anything. But you know Dario. He has a way of looking into your eyes and knowing what you’re thinking.”

She couldn’t have put it better. My oldest brother had an almost spooky way of reading people.

“But Niccolo has given me crap ever since Caterina left. He suspects something, and he won’t let up.”

“That’s because he’s an asshole.”

She laughed. “Only sometimes.”

I wanted to say, Talk to me when he forces YOU into an arranged marriage –

But I didn’t want to ruin things.

Instead I said, “Well, I just thought it would be safer to call you than call them.”

I could hear the concern in her voice as she asked, “Why? Is there something you need? Does Caterina need more money?

She’s too shy to ask for it, isn’t she? I can get it to her – ”

“It’s not that,” I said. “I was... I was wondering about Massimo and Lars.”

“...oh.”

That single word told me everything I needed to know.

“There’s still no word,” she said gently.

My stomach sank.

“What about Roberto?”

“He’s not back from Hong Kong yet.”

Shit.

I had hoped that if Lars and Massimo were back home safe and Roberto had gotten the money, then maybe Dario would pull me out of Sicily –

And Cat and I could actually have a chance together.

But nothing had changed.

Dario still needed the alliance with Don Vicari so we could stand a chance against Uncle Fausto.

“I guess nobody called you because there wasn’t any news,” she said sympathetically.

“It’s okay... I just wanted to check in,” I said glumly.

“Are you alright?”

“Just worried.”

“I know... we all are. And I hate what they made you do. I really do.”

“Thanks,” I murmured. “Thanks for everything, but... I should probably go.”

“Okay. Please, if you need anything – anything at all – just call me.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“Give my love to Cat when you see her again.”

“I will. Bye, Alessandra.”

“Goodbye.”

I hung up the phone, my heart heavy, and trudged back to the car.

When I opened the door, Isabella and Ludavica were teasing Paolo, who looked beyond uncomfortable.

“Come onnnn,” Isabella said. “You mean to tell me you don’t know anything about Valentino’s girlfriend? Excuse me, his ‘mistress’?”

“Fuck buddy,” Ludavica reminded her, and they both dissolved into howls of laughter.

Jesus Christ.

It was like being in a car with a couple of drunk high school girls.

Paolo looked at me with a sickly expression like, How the hell could you leave me alone with them?!

“Let’s go,” I said as I held out Paolo’s phone.

“Ooh, I wanna see it!” Isabella said as she snatched it away from me.

Ludavica clapped in excitement.

“What?! NO!” Paolo cried out as he twisted around in the seat. “Give it here!”

“I won’t call anybody,” Isabella reassured him. “I just want to look on the internet.”

“For what?” I asked.

“I don’t know – anything!”

“You’ve never even been on the internet.”

“Now’s the perfect time to start, then.”

Paolo looked at me in a panic. “Boss?”

I sighed. I didn’t have it in me to fight over a goddamn cell phone. “Let her have it.”

“But – ”

“It’s the least of all the secrets we have going on,” I said grimly.

“Yeah,” Isabella agreed. “The least of all the secrets.”

Paolo grumbled, then turned back around in his seat and started the engine.

“Um... Valentino?” Isabella asked.

“Yeah?”

“...how do you get on the internet?”