Page 134 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

I could back down and let this asshole grind me under his heel, now and for the rest of my life…

Or I could stand up for myself –

And Isabella.

I knew that if Ididstand up for the both of us, it could go badly –

But if I didn’t, my life here in Sicily was going to be hell on earth.

So –

FUCK this guy.

“My future wife was trying to bekindto me,” I said in a cold, vicious tone that matched Vicari’s own. “She was trying to share something with me that means a lot to her – something that sheloves.And since she’s going to be mywife,I won’t haveanyonetalk to her like that.”

Don Vicari looked like he was about to kill me –

But before he could say anything, I hit him with the haymaker:

“After all, don’t youwantme protecting your daughter after we marry?Sir?”

Again, credit to Niccolo for the verbal judo. He’d taught me the general principle a couple of years ago when he was explaining how aconsiglierecould negotiate for his don.

If somebody challenges you, you figure out the one thing they CAN’T say ‘no’ to without making them look like an idiot.

Then you pose a question where they’re FORCED to say ‘no’… or they have to agree with you.

Vicari just sat there stewing in his hatred – but what the fuck could he say?

No, I don’t want you protecting her.

Nobody but a shitheel would say that.

I guess he could’ve said,I’m her father, so I can talk to her any way I want.

But my immediate reply would have been,Well, I’m going to be her husband. And I don’t let ANYONE talk that way to my wife.

If there’s one unspoken rule in theCosa Nostra– and Italy, really – it’s that you don’t fuck with a man’s woman. And I don’t mean sexually (although it goes for that, too).

What I mean is this:

If you insult a man’s woman, you just insultedhim.

If you abuse her in any way, you just abused him.

And if the woman is hiswife?

The insult is ten times worse.

If youdon’tstand up to the other guy – if youdon’tact like he just spat in your face – then you just proved you’re not a man.

Nobody will respect you – and they shouldn’t.

A man who won’t stick up for his woman is a piece of shit, unworthy of respect.

The same rulehadto apply in Sicily. If anything, it was probably an evenbiggerrule around here.

If Vicari was going to get in a pissing match with me over this, thenhewas the fucking asshole – and we both knew it.

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