“Two and a half hours.”

Good to know.

When we got to the car, I got in the backseat and demanded Paolo’s phone.

“Why?” he asked angrily.

“Because I need to tell Cat where we’re going.”

He was sullen as he gave me his phone… but he still gave it to me.

When I called, Cat answered sleepily – because it was still 6 o’clock in the fucking morning.

She also sounded apprehensive – probably because she thought it was Paolo calling her.

“…hello?”

“Hey, babe.”

“Hey!”she said brightly, now fully awake.“What’re YOU doing calling me?”

“I wanted to hear your beautiful voice.”

“Awwww…”

I could practically hear her blushing over the phone.

“And I wanted to tell you where to meet me today. We’re going to Ragusa.”

“Ragusa?”

“Yeah. I won’t be there for another two and a half hours, and I’ve still got to deal with Rocco. I might not be able to get away early. But whether I do or not, go ahead and get us a really nice hotel room. Like, agreatroom. Then text the details to Paolo, and he can tell me where to meet you.”

“Okay!”There was a pause for a few seconds – then she said,“Google Maps says Ragusa’s only an hour away from me.”

“Good – go back to sleep if you can. Get some rest, because I’m going to give you a good workout later on.”

She giggled.

Paolo rolled his eyes in the rearview mirror, which annoyed me.

“Alright, babe, I gotta go. I got Paolo listening in, and I don’t want him hearing all the stuff I’m going to do to you later.”

She giggled again.“Alright… I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.”

I hung up and handed the phone back to Paolo.

Neither of us said a word to each other the rest of the way.

58

Ihad to admit, Ragusa was pretty fucking spectacular.

We came in across a 200-foot-tall bridge that stretched for nearly a mile. A whole other town was down in the valley below.

Ragusa was a medieval walled fortress that rose up out of the steep hillside. The lower part of the town was newer (as in, built in the last 300 years); we were headed for the older part at the top.