Page 66 of Mafia King: Matteo
I lift my phone from my purse in the kitchen and crawl into bed with it. I phoned Izzy.
“What’s up? Is everything okay?” she asks first.
“Oh, yeah. I hope it isn’t too late to call.”
“Not at all. How are you? How is the working girl?”
“Fine. I mean, I’m new, so what can I complain about? I can’t stay up all night at clubs?” I chuckle at the irony of my life.
“Clubbing grows old after a while. I could tell you were looking for something more. You hid it well, but I could tell you wanted more out of life.”
“You did?” I’m surprised she never mentioned this before.
“Sure. You’re young, and you earned a degree. That’s an accomplishment. Why wouldn’t you want to use it? You’re smart, pretty, and talented. It would be a shame to sit on it.”
“I didn’t think that much about it, then.”
“And now?”
“My life has changed. I’m learning the job, and I ate dinner with Matteo at The Godfather’s Kitchen tonight. Did you ever eat there?”
“I could never have afforded that, but it sounds interesting.”
“It was,” I reply, filling her in on the mansion’s ambiance and describing the most incredible pasta I’ve ever eaten. “I hear you have a table at Councilman Addler’s gala that’s coming up.” I decide to get to work and create an opening to do Matteo’s bidding.
“We do. It’s one of those things we have to attend. We must mingle at these affairs. How did you know? It slipped my mind. I hope Dmitry figured out what we’re wearing. We need costumes.”
“Do you have room left at your table? Matteo and I wanted to go. It would be fun to be out with you again. And you have to meet him.”
“I definitely need to meet this man who has met your insatiable sexual appetite,” she jokes.
“It was only a matter of time,” I reply, playing it off. Gee. I’m pretty good at rolling with life as it comes. Is that how it happens? Will my lies continue to flow to the point I won’t know what reality is?
“We haven’t filled our table yet. Access to Addler comes at a significant cost. I can tell you that. This could very well have been called a Presidential fundraiser.”
“Who knows where he’ll be in a few years? Be careful what you wish for,” I tease. I store this information in the back of my mind. Is Addler going to be running for president?
This would make sense to me because he’s from a family of politicians. If he’s so picky with whom he takes money from, perhaps he’s intent on looking like an angel when he has the scrutiny of every critic in the country running a microscope up his ass before he hits the presidential campaign trail.
What do Dmitry and Matteo want from the councilman?
“I don’t think he’s all that bad. He wants to keep the city unique,” Izzy says.
“Opposed to change, you mean?”
“Just a bit,” she chuckles.
“Have you mentioned my engagement to your dad?” I ask to know where I stand.
“No, you told me not to. I have to tell Dmitry before he hears it from someone else. I was waiting for Matteo to talk to my father—” She leaves the sentence hanging for me to fill in the gap.
“Please tell Dmitry because I don’t want it to become an issue between you. I’ll have Matteo meet with your father. I’ve been deluding myself with the notion that this is a normal engagement. However, I’m marrying the don to the Italian mafia, and it would be weird for us to share a table, wouldn’t it?”
“My thoughts exactly. You know how the men get prickly over these types of things.”
“I know. It would make it look like we’re working together when we happen to marry men from the opposite...”
“Sides of Europe only, we’re all in New York City,” she finishes my sentence so eloquently.
