Page 103 of Mafia Kings: Dario

Valentino acted like he was brushing off the compliment… then grinned. “I know.”

Dario came back and put his arm around me.

I was shocked at his open show of affection for me in front of his brothers…

…but I welcomed it all the same.

“Well,consigliere?”Massimo said. “You’re uncharacteristically silent.”

“That’s because Dario thinks we may be at war,” Niccolo said.

“Yeah,” Massimo sighed, “that’s what we figured.”

“What happened in the meeting?” Valentino asked.

“Let’s go inside to trade stories,” Niccolo said. “There’s a lot to talk about.”

As he led the way back inside the house, Dario kept his arm around my waist and never let go.

32

After we went inside, the brothers talked for over an hour.

I sat by Dario’s side the entire time with his arm around me.

It was the only way I felt safe.

I barely even listened to their talk of the Agrellas and some mysterious figure they referred to as the Turk.

“Bastard has a scar from his ear all the way down to his mouth,” Adriano said. “Looks like he was on the losing end of a knife fight.”

“Let’s make sure he’s on the losing end ofthisfight, too,” Niccolo said.

At one point Roberto looked over at me warily and asked, “Should she be here for this?”

“She got shot at, too,” Massimo replied. “Anybody who got shot at can stay, as far as I’m concerned.”

I was touched by his response.

Nothing else about my presence was brought up for the rest of the evening.

We finally retired to the dining room, where a simple meal of pasta and cold cuts was laid out for us.

However, I was exhausted and not hungry at all.

“I really don’t have an appetite,” I said. “I think I’m going to go upstairs instead.”

“Are you alright?” Dario asked with real concern in his eyes.

“Yes, I’m just… it was a lot.”

“Sleep well, Alessandra,” Niccolo said, and everyone else in the room repeated it.

Dario watched me go. His eyes were the last thing I saw as I left.

I went to my room, undressed, and put on my negligee.

As soon as I lay down in bed, though, images and sounds from that afternoon came crashing back.

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