Page 164 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“You don’t know that.”

“Youdon’t know anything about high-level guys. He’s thinking about money in and money out, who he’s got to kill – he doesn’t give a shit about me being half an hour late.”

I hoped I was right about that…

But there was no way I was going to admit doubt and play into Paolo’s paranoia.

“Fine,” Paolo grumbled, “but – ”

“No ‘buts.’ You’re not the boss here.Iam. You’re getting paid to help me see Caterina, and I appreciate that, but remember who works for who.”

“I don’t work for you,” Paolo shot back. “I work for the Don.”

And you also betrayed him,I thought, but didn’t say it.

Instead I snarled, “And I’m marrying the Don’s daughter in a couple of weeks, so it would probably be a smart play to stay on my good side, wouldn’t you think?”

Paolo glared at me in the rearview mirror, but this time he stayed quiet.

“Let’s go home,” I said, then added sarcastically, “So we’re not thirty-fiveminutes late.”

Paolo put the car into gear, and we started off down the road.

He didn’t say a single word to me all the way back to Don Vicari’s.

I could live with that.

It just gave me more time to daydream about Cat…

Fucking her today…

And all the things I was going to do to her tomorrow.

56

That night, I talked to Isabella again outside the dining room.

“Did you have a good day?” she asked.

“Agreatday.”

Although it had nothing to do with Rocco or Don Vicari, that was for sure.

Isabella gave me a wistful smile. “I envy you.”

“Why? You have a bad day?”

“No… I read a lot, which was nice. And I took a walk in the garden with Ludavica.”

That sounded like a pretty fucking boring day to me, though I didn’t say it out loud.

And by Isabella’s standards, it was probably just fine.

“So what’s the problem?”

“Well… it’s just that I have to stayhereall the time. And you get to go all over Sicily.”

“Yeah, but I’m working with Rocco,” I said, though it was only half true. I didn’t exactly work with him much today.

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