Page 87 of La Dolce Vita

"Malvo tells me you've been sniffing around him for about a week. Wanting a job. He says you aren't from around here. Not one of the regular Baldamenti girls."

"Then why are you letting me go?" she asked.

Carlo glanced over to Umberto. The two men exchanged a look that was hard to miss.

"Who said I was letting you go?" he stated.

"I don't understand," Adara replied.

Carlo chuckled. "You're coming with me."

"Wait. Wait, okay? I will tell you the truth," she said.

"I'm listening," said Carlo.

Umberto rolled his window down a bit and lit a cigarette. He seemed disinterested in the story. These men were toying with her. She knew it. It was time to be clever. Her life depended on it. She didn't have much intelligence on the man named Umberto. Out of all the men under Battaglia, he was the one who had no recorded past. The only distinct characterization thepoliziahad of him was the gold tooth to the bottom left the side of his mouth. Carlo, however, was different. As The Butcher, he had left a brutal trail of evidence of his savagery. And he had escaped prosecution for every one of his crimes. Adara would use the only card her superiors gave her to gain his trust. And she prayed it worked.

"I... ah," Adara couldn't keep the fear from her voice. It kept pitching when she tried to speak.

"Adara? That's your name?" he asked as if to help her. "You Italian or Greek?"

"Italian," she said.

He stared at her from the rearview mirror as he drove. She kept her eyes glued to his.

"So, you were going to tell me the truth?" Carlo said.

"I work for Baldamenti?"

"Convince me," he said.

"How?"

Carlo kept driving. Adara sighed.

"Alek Baldamenti hired me. He hates Antonio Malvo."

"Hired you for what?" Carlo asked.

"I don't know. He found me in Lunigiana. Brought me to Versilia and gave me the job. This job. To go to Malvo's club in Firenze. I was to be friendly with the girls and listen for a job of importance. Alek knows Malvo has girls who work for the rich. I didn't know it would be the senator. I thought that girl was dead. You put her in the trunk of the car. She looked dead to me."

"What does Alek Baldamenti want from Senator Banfi?"

"The same thing your boss evidently wants. Leverage. I was supposed to sleep with him, and then in the morning cry rape. Alek would get Malvo's business shut down, and probably a big payoff for my silence. That was the job."

Carlo kept driving.

Adara closed her eyes and waited. The one thing the Battaglias couldn't verify would be the motives and dealings of the Baldamentis. They hated each other. She had conveniently given the Butcher a story he could not confirm. After a ride in silence, she cleared her throat. Carlo never looked up to the rearview mirror to address her.

"Will you let me go?" she asked.

"Not my call. No worries, lovely. I will run your story past the boss. Until it's decided, you stay with me."

"What?" she frowned.

"You heard me. You were Alek Baldamenti’s, and then you were Malvo's. Now you're mine," Carlo smiled.

"The hell I am. I don't know that Delilah person. I don't know the senator. I just want this night to end."

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