Page 231 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

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Valentino

Iran back to the east side of Ortigia – back to the tourists and sunbathers and people who didn’t have a care in the world.

I found Isabella and Ludavica in the same spot I’d left them. They were laughing and drinking white wine as they ate fried calamari.

Isabella looked at me in surprise. “Why areyouback so early?”

“He ran out of steam and needed some oysters for stamina,” Ludavica joked.

“Lu!” Isabella scolded her but laughed all the same. “Where’s Paolo? He said he had to talk to you.”

I sat down opposite them, leaned over the table, and motioned them to come close enough that no one around us could hear.

“I need you toNOTreact when I tell you something,” I whispered. “Do you understand?”

Both Isabella and Ludavica nodded nervously.

“I’mserious,”I growled.

“We’ll be quiet,” Isabella promised.

Ludavica nodded. “Promise.”

“Alright.” I paused. “Paolo’s dead.”

Both girls’ eyes widened in shock, but they stayed true to their word: neither gasped or cried out.

“What happened?” Isabella asked.

“He tried to blackmail me for a million euros.”

“What?!”

“Yeah. He said either my family paid him, or he was going to tell your father about me and Caterina.”

The color drained from Isabella’s face. “Does that mean… thatyouwere the one who…”

She trailed off, but I knew where she was going.

You were the one who killed him.

I nodded.

Isabella was silent for a moment.

I thought she was going to freak out – start screaming and call me a murderer –

But instead she asked, “Is Caterina okay?”

Her concern for Cat touched me.

The fact that she was even thinking about her revealed a lot about who Isabella was deep down.

“She’s fine,” I said. “But we have a big problem.”

“‘We’?”Ludavica asked angrily.

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