Page 122 of Mafia Virgin (The Kings of Italy)

“Give up your claim to her and any child she might be carrying.”

I didn’t like to be threatened, even by Emma’s brother-in-law. Ravazzani might have all the power in Calabria, but this was Sicily. I wouldn’t be cowed by him. “Or?”

His voice lowered until it was a smooth menacing rumble. “Or I kill you. Painfully, slowly. You will beg for death.”

“Save your threats. She left me. I’ve already given up my claim.”

“I want the marriage dissolved on paper and filed officially. Then I don’t want you anywhere near her ever again.”

“I don’t have time for this, Ravazzani. Emma wanted to leave and I let her go. Your interference is unwarranted.”

“Listen to me, stronzo. I want your word that you will stay out of Emma Mancini’s life.”

“Buscetta,” I snapped, irritation twisting like a vice around my shoulder blades. “Her name is Emma Buscetta.”

“Interesting. Because if you gave her up willingly, then you wouldn’t give a fuck what last name she uses.”

He’d tricked me, the clever motherfucker. “I give you my word that I’m letting her go.”

“Your word doesn’t mean shit to me. Hear me now: if you try to take her from Toronto, I’m coming after you with everything I have.”

My muscles swelled and I was growing angrier by the second. Zani put a hand on my shoulder and mouthed,Calm down.

I exhaled slowly and did my best to sound unbothered. “I’m not a man who takes women against their will—or locks them in beach houses,” I said, reminding Ravazzani of the way he’d reportedly treated his wife. “I believe women should be allowed to make their own choices.”

He was silent for a long beat. I’d obviously hit a nerve.Good.

Finally, he said, “Then you shouldn’t mind signing whatever paperwork I have drawn up.”

Gesù, the dramatics. “Stop talking about it, then, and have the papers sent. I’ll sign them.”

“The first sensible thing you’ve said.”

I ignored the dig. “You know Virga is working with Reggie Mancini to undermine Roberto, no?”

“Yes, we are aware. It would have been nice to learn of this earlier, however.”

“That was Emma’s decision to keep it from you, not mine.”

“Have you lost your balls, Buscetta? Are you not the man in your house?”

He sounded like my father, always questioning whether I was man enough. Fuck this. I disconnected and stared at the floor. I wondered if Emma knew about the annulment paperwork. Had it been her idea?

My chest drew tight, a familiar strangling sensation returning in the vicinity of my heart.

“You okay?”

I shoved thoughts of Emma, Ravazzani, and an annulment aside and gave the phone to Zani. “Of course. We should get back in there. I want to know where Virga is hiding.”

“You didn’t ask Ravazzani about Emma.”

“I assume she’s in Naples with her twin, while D’Agostino decides what to do about Toronto. They have to move quickly. If Virga hears she’s left Palermo, Roberto Mancini is a dead man.”

“Wonder if Reggie Mancini knows where Virga is hiding.”

I had considered this already and discounted it as a waste of time. “Maybe, but it’ll be faster to get answers out of Virga’s men. Let’s get in there.”

In the other room the men were dangling from hooks, bloody but conscious. I could tell they’d been talking while we were gone, because they both wore sly smiles. I picked up a claw hammer off the table. “What do you fucks have to be happy about?”

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