Page 171 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“Yeah,” I muttered, watching Rocco and his dipshits as they disappeared into their first shop a hundred feet away from us. “You hear from Cat yet?”

“As a matter of fact, I did,” Paolo said. “And I think you’re gonna like the place she booked.”

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Paolo drove us along a road at the bottom of Ragusa, outside the walls of the city.

On one side of the road were rocky cliffs and scrub brush; on the other, a 50-foot drop down into a gully full of bushes.

Just when I was about to ask what the hell kind of hotel Cat had booked, Paolo slowed down and parked alongside the road.

On the other side of the street, stone steps led up into overhanging trees. Above the trees, a sheer rock cliff rose 50 feet up to the wall surrounding Ragusa.

“Where’s the hotel?” I asked.

“It’s not theentirehotel – just one of their rooms,” Paolo explained, then pointed up the rock cliff. “The main hotel is up there.”

“What?!”

“Just go up those steps, boss.”

So we were back toHey, boss.

Paolo checked his watch. “By the way, I’maskingyou to be back down here in six hours.”

Maybe he’d learned his lesson.

“I’ll do my best,” I said, and I meant it.

I got out of the SUV, looked both ways, jogged across the street to the base of the steps, and started climbing.

The steps were steep and zigzagged back and forth.

After a couple of twists and turns, I reached a grassy patch with a patio and table –

And a frosted glass doorway set into a stucco wall built right into the cliffside.

Cat opened the door, grinning like a loon. “You made it!”

“What the hellisthis place?!”

“You’ve got to see it to believe it. Come in!”

She held the door open –

And I walked into something like that looked like it was out ofLord of the Rings.

The hotel room was inside a cave with sloping walls and a low ceiling made of tan stone. The floors were white marble.

The ‘cave’ had tons of modern touches: a long dresser with a flatscreen TV on top of it…

Recessed lighting placed in hidden crags…

A huge king-size bed against the cave wall…

And a glass-enclosed shower at the rear of the cave. You could basically have a show while you lay in bed as your woman washed up.

Over on the left side of the room, there was a sunken bath that was carved into the floor. Steps led down into what looked like a three-foot-deep tub made of marble, just like the flooring. Over the tub was a metal faucet, and off to the side was a wooden bench stocked with towels.

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