Page 20 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“Valentino – ”

“See ya!” I said as I exited the room.

“VALENTINO!” he yelled as I closed the door. “Do NOT make me regret hiring her!”

Whether Niccolo would ever regret hiring her…

I was damn sureIwouldn’t.

7

Caterina

Imoved into the Rosolini mansion later that afternoon. The planhadbeen to wait until next week – after I could retrieve all my clothes from my apartment in Florence – but a couple of things sped up the schedule.

My ex drove me home. The entire time, he complained bitterly about having to wait three hours and being dissed by a bunch of ‘mafia goons.’

“I could’ve taken ‘em,” he boasted.

Yeah. Sure, buddy. Keep dreamin’.

He was evenmoreresentful when I didn’t want to hook up afterwards.

“I drove you all that way and waited around fornothing?!”he fumed.

In the old days I might have given in, but all I could think about now was Valentino.

Why settle for hamburger (my ex) when you could have filet mignon?

He drove off in a huff like a spoiled child when I didn’t give him what he wanted.

When my parents found out where I’d been, they were ten times worse.

My mother saw the gigantic smile on my face and asked what was going on.

“I got a new job,” I announced happily.

When I told her where, she blew her lid and went and got my father.

The two of them started screaming at me about how stupid I was being.

“What kind of a fool goes to work for a mafia family?!”

“You’ll shame us in front of the entire town!”

“Just watch – you’ll end up in a shallow grave somewhere!”

I decided I couldn’t hang around for an entire evening of this, so I shut myself in the bathroom and used my cell phone to call the number Niccolo had given me in case of emergencies.

“Yes?”a man answered on the other end.

Not Niccolo’s voice, and definitely not Valentino’s.

“Uh, hi – I’m Caterina Martinelli. I just got hired this afternoon to work in the kitchen. My parents, are, uh, freaking out. Is there any way someone could come to pick me up, like, right away?”

“Someone will be there in 30 minutes.”

“Thanks. The address is – ”

---