Mafia Kings: Valentino: Dark Mafia Romance Series #6 by Olivia Thorn

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 72

Teaching Isabella and Ludavica how to use an iPhone was like trying to teach two time travelers from the 1800s.

It astounded me how little they knew –

But it wasn’t their fault. They’d been closed off from the outside world ever since they were little. Maybe even since they were born.

Anyway, they marveled over how they could see almost anything.

I thought they might start Googling porn – dick pics, maybe –

But they didn’t.

I guess they were too innocent.

Instead, it was all about works of art. Paintings, statutes, that sort of thing.

And pictures of cities – Tokyo, Athens, Moscow.

And cat videos.

They seemed to like those.

“It’s so cute!” Isabella cried out – a lot.

When we finally got to Cefalù, I took the phone back.

“Awwwww!” both girls whined.

“Time to go see the world in person and not on a fuckin’ phone,” I said as I handed it to Paolo.

“…okay,” Isabella grumbled.

Cefalù was a beautiful medieval town on the seaside.

Narrow, winding streets made of cobblestone.

Apartment balconies overhead with brightly colored laundry drying on the railings.

And everywhere you looked, shops for tourists: cafés and restaurants, clothing stores, knick-knack stalls full of tchotchkes.

There were all those shops for tourists because there were tourists everywhere. They thronged the streets, snapping pictures, and stopped off for cappuccinos or glasses of wine.

Isabella and Ludavica alternated between staring at everything in openmouthed wonder and shrinking away from the crowds of people.

It was no wonder they shrank away: there were probably more people in the streets of Cefalù than they’d seen at any one point in their entire lives – except maybe at mafia weddings. Maybe.

I got on one side and positioned Paolo on the other. We ran interference for the girls, acting as bodyguards as we pushed our way through the crowds.

We finally reached a place where the tourists thinned out, and I herded the girls over to a streetside restaurant. We took a table and gave the server our orders, which came out a few minutes later. I had a beer, Paolo had coffee, and both Isabella and Ludavica got glasses of white wine.

“Wow,” Isabella said, her head swiveling around to take it all in.

“What’s it like getting out of the house for the first time?”

murmured as she

the people, I could see in her eyes that she was taking in

it’s a Testa

a Moor’ in

term for any Muslim from North Africa

what?” I asked,

I’ve read about them, but I’ve never actually seen

nearby shop with a bunch of ceramic pots sculpted to look like

with a mustache and a turban, and

in Pozzallo and Gela but hadn’t thought to ask about them.

are they?”

Sicilian thing,” Paolo

is that back when Sicily was under Arab control – in the 9th and 10th centuries – a Sicilian woman of noble birth had an affair with an Arab man. When her family found out about it, they executed them both and turned their heads into vases as

“Jesus,” I said, appalled.

said with a sigh. “Not looked upon highly by

the other

what?” I

back to North Africa – and that he has a wife and a kid he forgot to tell her about. So the Sicilian chick kills him and chops off his head,

“Why?!”

just the guy getting his head chopped off instead of

“Ugh,” I said.

awful squeamish,” Ludavica teased

hits pretty hard after

instead I said, “No, you Sicilians are

“I won’t argue with you

this is a Sicilian

use them in their homes for

haven’t you ever

made a wry face.

laughed darkly. “THAT’S pretty fuckin’

are you

at her like

for a living?” she asked, then gave me

might wanna ask your father’s former consigliere

went pale.

poor bastard’s name?” I

do

wanted to say, What’s left of him is out in your barn being

But something was off.

a horror movie, standing in front of a door in a dark

in the next room and knew it might destroy

still trying to build up

Ludavica’s expression confirmed it.

begging me with her

don’t say anything –

off. “Why

he embezzled a bunch of money and ran off,” Isabella said

what I heard from Rocco,” I muttered. “That he ran off. But your dad’s trying to find

back

Ludavica looked grateful.

Paolo just seemed confused.