Page 245 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

Don Vicari looked furiously at Ludavica. “What happened?!”

She pointed at me with a trembling finger. “Paolo knocked him over the railing into the water.”

Vicari glared at me. “Well?”

“I ran after him, but he pulled his gun, which is why I hesitated. Then… I don’t remember much else.”

I knew my injuries would sell the story for me. The right side of my face was bruised and cut, and the doctor said I’d suffered a mild concussion. Not to mention I’d nearly drowned.

Don Vicari stood there fuming in silence –

Then shouted “OUT!” at the doctor.

The old man got out of thererealfast.

Don Vicari leaned down in front of me, his eyes blazing. “Why the hell would Paolo do all this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Whatdoyou know?”

“Earlier in the afternoon, he left the restaurant to go make a phone call,” I said. “When he didn’t come back, I went to go find him, but I couldn’t.”

“YouLEFTmy daughter byHERSELF?!”Vicari roared.

“She was in a restaurant full of people. She wassafe. Besides, I thought I’d find him and be back in five minutes.”

“You should’ve called ME!”

“I don’t have a phone, remember?” I snapped. “Besides, I didn’t think he was a fucking traitor – I just thought he was slacking off on his job.”

Vicari looked like he wanted to break my face –

But he got control of himself. “He disappeared from the restaurant, but you caught up with him at some point. How?”

“He’d been gone several hours by the time it got dark. At that point, I didn’t think I should leave the girls alone – so I took them with me, and we all went looking for him.”

A lot of the details in my story wouldn’t hold up if Vicari’s men questioned the restaurant staff. For instance, that I’d taken the girls with me.

However, I’d been in the restaurant when I’d told them I’d killed Paolo. I was hoping that in the hustle and bustle, the restaurant workers would be fuzzy on the details.

If not, I was fucked.

“Andyoufound him,” Vicari snarled at his daughter.

“Yes,” Isabella said.

Vicari looked angrily at me. “Why weren’t you together?”

“We were just a block apart,” I replied. “One street over from each other. I figured we could cover more ground if we spread out.”

Vicari turned back to Isabella. “And what was Paolo doing?”

“He was on the phone. He was acting… strange.”

“Strangehow?”

“Like he was nervous.”

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