Page 92 of Mafia Kings: Dario

“What’stoo expensive?”

I showed him the price tag of 700 euros.

“Wait – hold on for a moment,” Massimo said.

Then he proceeded to stare at me with a bored face.

I waited for about 20 seconds before I asked, “What am I waiting for, exactly?”

“THAT,” he said as he punctuated the air with a stab of his finger.

“…what?” I asked, mystified.

“That’s how long it takes for our family to make 700 euros.”

My eyes went wide. “Itis?”

“That’s not true,” Valentino said to Massimo. “That’d be over a thousand euros a minute – 60,000 euros an hour! That’s a million dollars a day – 356 million a year – ”

“Shut up,” Massimo told Valentino, then turned back to me. “I’m hungry. Go buy some clothes so we can get out of here and eat.”

The saleswoman had me try on dress after gorgeous dress. Massimo watched me every time I came out, though whenever I asked his opinion, he would only say, “It’s nice.” Occasionally he would throw in a “Get whatever you want.”

Valentino got bored after the first dress and proceeded to flirt with every pretty woman in the store.

I got irritated with him on Caterina’s behalf but held my tongue.

I finally settled on a couple of subdued dresses that were still absolutely beautiful – one in emerald green and another in rose. I also got two blouses and two patterned skirts.

“That’s it?” Massimo asked when I brought him the clothes.

“‘That’sit’?!”I exclaimed in a whisper. “All of these together are over 6000 euros!”

He picked up a couple of items I’d had trouble deciding on. I’d eventually discarded them because of the price.

“Do you like these?” he asked.

“Yes, but – ”

Massimo handed them to the saleslady along with a black credit card. “Ring these up, too.”

“Gladly,” she said as she took everything to the register.

“Massimo!” I exclaimed.

“What?”

“I can’t accept these things!”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t!”

“Yes youcan,because I like my balls where they are.”

“I thought he’d only castrate you if I came back wearing H&M.”

“If he finds out I didn’t let you buy as much as you wanted because of the price, he’ll probably take my pecker, too.”

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