Page 108 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“Okay… so where am I staying tomorrow night?”

Vicari frowned like I was stupid. “Here.”

I stared at him in shock. “You want me to drivethree hours there,thenthree hours BACK?!”

“You won’t be driving. One of my men will take you.”

“What am I supposed to do in the car for six hours?!”

He shrugged. “Watch the scenery.”

“Can I get my phone back so I can at least have it on the trip?” I asked hopefully.

“No.”

“Then how am I supposed to be able to wake up at 4:30?”

“There’s an alarm clock in your room. Use it. We don’t take kindly to lateness or laziness around here.”

Then he turned and walked off.

I stood there in shock.

Wonderful.

Welcome to Sicily.

When I got back to my room, a black book with white drawings of two bees on the cover was lying on my pillow.

I picked it up and read the title:

Milk and Honeyby Rupi Kaur.

Ludavica had come through for me.

Although the prospect of reading poetry was about as appealing to me as eating plain oatmeal.

The title was in English, so I flipped through the pages –

Everything inside was in English, too.

Great.

I could speak English really well – Papa had made sure we had the best tutors money could buy – but I wasn’t a fan ofreading in general. Reading in English was even further down the list.

I picked up the little brass alarm clock on the nightstand and spent a few minutes fiddling with it, trying to figure out how it worked. I’d never seen one before in real life – only in movies.

Trust an asshole like Don Vicari not to have radio alarm clocks.

After setting the alarm just slightly past the current time and successfully getting it to go off(JESUS CHRIST THAT’S LOUD),I set it for the next morning and stripped down to my boxer briefs for bed.

As I slipped under the sheets – not like our luxurious sheets at home, but soft enough – I thought about what the next 24 hours held for me.

Getting up before it was dark…

A three-hour car ride…

And poetry.

---