Page 13 of Mafia Lion's Plus Size Obsession

“How many are still in town?”

“Almost a thousand.”

“And we have two days to get them out or get the fire out?”

“We thought we did, Tor,” he says. “But the word is now that we’ve got something like eighteen hours.”

I let out a long sigh. “This really sucks,” I say.

I thought I’d be getting laid tonight. Instead, the lives of a thousand citizens are suddenly on my shoulder.

Chapter Ten

Isabella

Mom and Dad are probably going to be pissed at me. That’s why I wait until I hear the announcement for the final boarding call and only then send the text to Mom letting her know I’m flying to California in case Vittorio needs any help during breaks fighting the fire.

And then I turn my phone off and board the plane.

It’s a redeye flight. It’s just after midnight now, and we’ll touch down in Los Angeles at two-fifteen. The flight is four and a half hours long but we lose two hours because of time zones. I’ve already got a hotel room reserved and it’ll be held for me.

I’ll get there and be whatever he needs me to be.

There’s going to be hell to pay, I suppose. My family will be angry with me. Vittorio’s parents might be mad at me as well. There will be less hell to pay than there would be if my dad was the big boss and Vittorio’s was the underboss. That’s the good news.

The truth is, though, I just don’t care. If I just live in California with Vittorio, I’ll be happy. Hell, I might be a whole lotmore than just happy. I might be overjoyed at the opportunity to live free of my family’s business just like he lives free of his.

But I pound down three shots of vodka from a stewardess happy to take the twenty-dollar bribe to give them to me before takeoff. Then, I close my eyes and when I open them again, it’s because there’s a beep when the seatbelt light goes on for the descent into Los Angeles.

I want to sleep more when I get to the hotel but there’s just no chance of it all. I’m too hyped up and too worried about him. So, I take a long shower to at least wash the travel off me and then turn it from nice and hot to freezing for the last twenty or thirty seconds just to energize me again. It’s about three-forty-five in the morning.

I do some research to find out where that town of his is located and get in my car. My navigation app tells me I’ll be there in about two hours. I think that means I’ll get there right about dawn. Of course, what actually happens is that two hours later, I’m stopped by a roadblock and I end up bribing a clerk at the roadside hotel to give me a room she’s supposed to be saving for people in county government.

Yeah, well fuck them. I want to see my man.

I know I’m being an idiot with that last comment but c’mon. I’m a mafia princess. I didn’t win any good citizenship awards in high school and I probably won’t win anything like that my whole life. I want out of the whole mob lifestyle, sure, but that doesn’t make me Snow White in a world of Jezebels. If anything, the rest of the world hangs out with the dwarves.

Hangs out with the dwarves? Wow. I’m close to Vittorio now so I’m losing it. I mean, I’m close in terms of proximity but… Well, holy crap. I’m not going to defend myself to you or anyone.

But I sure as hell wish I could see Vittorio and know that he’s okay, for fuck’s sake. I desperately wish I could see him, touch him, kiss him.

Know he’s still alive.

I am so terrified that this fire will claim him. I’m so terrified the last time I saw him will be the last time ever.

And so (just in case you don’t already think I’m an idiot), I decided to find a way to get past the roadblock to check on my man. And I see a little motorcycle. I hurry to the office. “Who owns that dirt bike?” I ask the girl.

“My boyfriend uses it,” she says, “but it’s mine. I bought it for him.”

“I want to rent it.”

“Rent it?”

“One hundred dollars just for today.”

“It’s not even worth a hundred dollars, I think,” she says.

“I don’t care.”

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