Page 145 of Mafia Kings: Dario

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back as hard as I could.

“Hey – get a room!” Niccolo’s voice called down from the second floor.

Dario and I broke off the kiss and laughed.

I looked up to see Niccolo, Massimo, and Roberto on the second floor, dressed in black and beaming. Behind them were another dozen armed men, the foot soldiers of the Rosolini family. They were cheering and giving each other high-fives.

Another figure came down the stairs, a high-powered rifle slung over his shoulder. He pulled off his black balaclava to reveal a shock of blond hair.

“Are you alright?” Lars asked me worriedly.

“What, you couldn’t see that from the kiss?” Niccolo shouted from above.

“I’m fine!” I assured Lars.

He looked strained and haggard. “That was the most stressful shot of my entire life.”

Dario put his hand on Lars’s shoulder. “I knew you could do it. That’s why I entrusted it to you.”

Lars nodded, and I hugged him. He finally relaxed and laughed as he hugged me back.

“Can we bring everyone out?” Valentino asked.

“You just want to look like the big hero,” Niccolo teased him.

“Hey, you heard her earlier,” Valentino said as he pointed at me. “Shetoldme to take care of my lady!”

“Fine, whatever,” Niccolo said.

Valentino went down the hall and opened up a door. “It’s alright – you’re safe – you can come out now!”

Two dozen servants streamed into the hall, including a handful of armed foot soldiers who had been guarding them.

The servants were all dressed in pajamas like they had been pulled out of their beds just moments before.

Caterina was among them. She ran into Valentino’s arms, and he kissed her as he swung her around in the air.

Lars went over to control the crowd.

“What happened?” I asked Dario as I stared at the servants.

“When we saw you were coming on the surveillance cameras, we got everyone out of bed,” he explained. “But we couldn’t risk taking anyone outside in case the Turk noticed… so we hid them and had my men protect them.”

In an instant, I remembered my role in all of this. “I’m sorry, Dario – I’m so sorry – they had my father – ”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” he whispered. “None of this would have happened if I’d hadn’t been a fool and let you go.”

I broke down sobbing in his arms as he held me.

“It’s alright,” he murmured in my ear. “I’m never letting you go ever again.”

Then I thought of something else. “My father – he’s in the trunk of one of the cars at the base of the hill!”

“We’ll send someone right away,” Dario promised, then turned around. “Adriano, her father’s in one of the Turk’s cars – take some men down there and free him.”

“Should I search the bodies up here for keys?” Adriano asked.

Dario moved away from me as he and Adriano discussed searching the Turk’s men for keys.

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