Page 251 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“I don’t – ”

“PUT HER ON, NIC.”

Niccolo was silent for a moment – seething in rage, no doubt.

But then he said,“Hold on, I have to go get her.”

There was silence.

“That’s Don Rosolini’s wife, yes?” Vicari asked me.

“Yeah. My sister-in-law.”

Vicari narrowed his eyes. “Why do you want to speak with her?”

Why, indeed.

I couldn’t exactly tell him that I wanted to know about Cat –

So I said, “Niccolo has a habit of putting the best spin on news. She’ll tell me the truth.”

“I see,” Vicari said.

He didn’t sound convinced.

After another 60 seconds of sitting there in silence, Alessandra suddenly came on the phone.“Valentino?!”

“Hey, Alessandra,” I said, then added as a warning, “I’m sitting here with my future father-in-law.”

“Oh… hello,”Alessandra replied.

“Mrm,” Vicari grunted.

“Tell me the truth: is everyone okay?” I asked.

“Well – I mean, I’m sure Massimo will be okay – the doctors said – ”

“But everybody else – everybody we love – they’re okay? You’ve talked to Adriano and Lars and everybody else?”

There was a short silence.

I didn’t know if she was confused –

Or if she was just shocked to hear me use the word ‘love’ in connection with Cat.

“Yes,”she finally said.“I promise you, everybody you and I love is alright.”

I exhaled.

Cat’s safe.

“…thank you,” I murmured.

“Do you want me to pass on a message?”

“Yeah. Tell them I can’t wait until I see them again. And that I love them.”

Another pause.

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