Married to the mafia King

Adriano

I sat at the outdoor table with my brothers and Lars, sipped a cup of espresso, and wished I was back in bed with Bianca.

It was time for business, though.

Niccolo had called an emergency meeting. He struck an ominous tone from the very beginning. “I think we should temporarily retreat from Florence.”

“Fuck that,” I snarled. “We’ve spilled blood there no fucking way we abandon it now.”

“I said ‘temporarily retreat,’ not ‘abandon,'” Niccolo said in irritation. “You may be capo of Florence, but I have to look at the bigger picture.”

“I seem to recall you telling me I should ‘temporarily retreat’ from Florence on Friday night. But if I had, we wouldn’t have Lettieri right now. And we sure as hell wouldn’t know about Mezzasalma or what’s going on with Rome and Venice and ”

“Adriano,” Dario said in a tired voice.

It was a warning from my don.

I immediately stopped talking.

“Thank you,” Niccolo said tartly.

Although I wasn’t sure if he was thanking Dario for interceding, or thanking me for shutting up.

“As I was about to say, I got to thinking last night. At first blush, it seemed that wiping out the Agrellas might be a tactic to turn the cops against us.”

Valentino frowned. “Why couldn’t it just be about taking over Florence? After all, once this Mezzasalma guy got rid of the Agrellas, we’re the only thing standing in his way.”

“Taking over Florence is the obvious benefit, but it doesn’t make sense strategically.”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“And why’s that?”

“Because now Mezzasalma has a shitstorm on his hands. He’s brought worldwide attention to what he’s done. Not exactly optimal for someone trying to run things from the shadows.”

“I don’t know,” I said doubtfully. “He chopped off the head of the snake with one blow.”

Niccolo smiled sarcastically. “And that’s exactly what the Cosa Nostra does, right? Blow shit up and get on the front page of newspapers around the world.”

He had a point. The Cosa Nostra was extremely secretive. We didn’t like to call attention to ourselves.

But Mezzasalma had gone 180 degrees in the exact opposite direction.

“Sounds like you have a theory,” Massimo said.

Niccolo grinned. “You know me so well.”

This was my brother’s favorite part of being consigliere: trying to figure out the enemy’s thinking so we could beat them at their own game.

“Like I said, at first I thought the real purpose of the massacre was to turn the authorities against us. If Mezzasalma makes them think we did it, they’d run us out of Florence. Once civilians start talking about voting politicians out of office, we become more trouble than our bribes are worth.

“Except… I don’t think that’s what’s actually going on. Not after what Lettieri told us. I think Mezzasalma wants us to believe he’s trying to turn the cops against us… but it’s all a smokescreen.”

“So what’s his actual play, then?” Lars asked.

“Rome, Venice, Sicily, Naples, and Milan.” Niccolo paused dramatically. “I think he’s trying to turn the five most powerful families in the Cosa Nostra against us.”

Almost everybody at the table Roberto, Massimo, Lars, and Valentino looked at Niccolo in shock.

Dario was the only one who didn’t react. Niccolo had probably already told him before the meeting, seeing as he was the don.

I raised my eyebrows. “And why do you think Mezzasalma’s trying to turn them against us?”

“If the five families think we murdered our business partners of two decades, imagine what we’d do to them given the chance.”

“That’s crazy,” Valentino protested.

“Crazy to us,” Niccolo replied. “Not so crazy to anyone watching from the outside who has no idea what we’re up to.”

I shrugged. “Interesting theory, but that’s all it is until you’ve got something to back it up.”

Niccolo gave me a dangerous smile. “How about this? I tried to contact every consigliere from the five families this morning… and not a single one of them would take my calls.”

There was shocked silence from everyone around the table.

Only Dario looked unsurprised, though he did look somber.

If what Niccolo just said was true, we were in deep shit.

“No one?” I asked in astonishment.

“No one. The five families have effectively cut off all diplomatic relations with us. As of this moment, we are the North Korea of the Cosa Nostra a hermit kingdom shunned by all. But unlike North Korea, we don’t have any nuclear weapons to dissuade a first strike against us.”

“Fuck,” Valentino said quietly.

“Yeah,” Niccolo agreed grimly.

I was about to ask what we were going to do

When suddenly I was interrupted by the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

Bianca had just walked out of the house and onto the patio.

She was smiling…

Her perfect skin was almost glowing…

And her hair looked like we’d just finished having sex.

She wore something that looked like a short sundress but was the color of red wine.

It hugged her breasts, showing off her curves and tiny waist…

And revealed her toned arms and amazing legs.

Alessandra was walking with her, but I barely even noticed my sister-in-law.

I only had eyes for Bianca.

As they approached, I stood up without thinking.

Bianca grinned when she saw me, then bashfully looked at the ground.

“We thought we’d join you for breakfast,” Alessandra said as she walked over to Dario. “But with the exception of Adriano, everyone looks like their dog just died.”

Dario took her hand and kissed it. “We were just finishing up, amore mio. Can you give us another ten minutes?”

“Of course,” Alessandra said and kissed him on the cheek. “Although we’re going to steal a couple of things from you.”

She took a pastry from the table along with a bunch of grapes.

“Take whatever you want, Bianca,” she said. “We’ll get something better once the men finish their little tea party.”

Bianca smiled at me as she reached over to take a pastry.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked, like an idiot.

“I did,” she purred, then leaned in close and whispered, “But I missed you.”

“I’ll see you soon,” I murmured.

She gave me another smile, then looked at my brothers at the table. “Thank you for taking care of my parents.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Dario said with a smile. “I think they’re out in the gardens.”

“That’s exactly where we’re headed,” Alessandra announced. “Goodbye, boys!”

Everyone said their goodbyes, and I watched Bianca follow Alessandra across the grass.

She looked at me over her shoulder one last time…

Smiled shyly…

And then turned around and kept walking.

I watched her go.

In particular, I watched her wiggle back and forth under the dress.

Madonn, what an ass…

“Somebody got hit by the thunderbolt,” Valentino said, and the entire table laughed.

The ‘thunderbolt’ was an old Sicilian saying for when someone was suddenly struck with overwhelming passion for a woman.

It was similar to ‘love at first sight.’

When you got struck by the thunderbolt, reason abandoned you. You lost all sense of everything else, and an overriding obsession took hold of your brain.

I scowled at Valentino. “Give me a break. I’ve barely known her for two days.”

Valentino grinned. “So? The thunderbolt don’t care.”

“Was he like this back in Florence?” Roberto asked Massimo.

“Oh yeah,” Massimo said with a chuckle. “He just didn’t want to admit it.”

“Fuck off,” I snapped at him.

“Doesn’t seem like he wants to admit it now, either,” Roberto said.

“Keep on talking, smart guy,” I warned him, “and they’ll have to take you to the hospital.”

The entire table laughed at my expense.

I gritted my teeth and glared at Niccolo. “The one thing you haven’t explained is why Mezzasalma wants Bianca’s father.”

Suddenly Niccolo was all business again. “Because her father accidentally figured out about the five families. He didn’t understand the significance of it, though.”

“Wait a second the Agrellas moved those cops into Florence, right?”

“Probably.”

“So were the Agrellas in on it, too?”

“I think they partnered with Mezzasalma because he convinced them he had a plan. They just didn’t realize the plan involved them getting wiped out.”

My head was hurting with all these twists and turns, but I soldiered on.

“Okay, so Mezzasalma works with the Agrellas… then he double-crosses and murders them… then he frames us so the five families turn against us. Bianca’s dad figured it out by accident but so what? Why should Mezzasalma care?”

Niccolo leaned forward in his chair excitedly. “Because Mezzasalma is manipulating the five families into moving against us. And they have no idea that they’re being played.”

“What if he’s not tricking them, but working with them to take us out?”

“Why wouldn’t they talk to me, then, and just lie to my face? No their reaction is like someone who’s been betrayed. Who doesn’t trust us anymore.”

I frowned. “If he really is manipulating the five families, isn’t that something you should tell them right away?! So we can make sure they don’t declare war on us?!”

“You mean, once they answer my phone calls?”

“Leave ’em a fuckin’ voicemail and tell ’em what’s going on!”

Niccolo gave me an enigmatic smile. “Eventually. But for right now, we’ve got an advantage we can use to flush Mezzasalma out into the open.”

“What’s that?”

“He needs to make sure the five families don’t realize he’s playing them. But Bianca’s father figured it out. He told Sergio, and Sergio told Mezzasalma.”

“Wait Sergio worked for the Agrellas.”

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure he was also a mole for Mezzasalma. Sergio was a low-level thug in the Agrella family. He was way too scared of some guy nobody had ever heard of before. I mean, none of us knows who he is. The only reason for Sergio to be so terrified was if he knew Mezzasalma and what Mezzasalma would do to him if Sergio crossed him.”

“Okay, so what’s this big advantage we’ve got?”

“We have Bianca’s father but Mezzasalma doesn’t know that.”

“Won’t he find out from the cops after I sprung Bianca’s dad last night?”

“Not yet because the police don’t realize who they let go! They think he was some drunk name Fabio Flambeur.”

“Maybe that’ll hold for a little while. But once Mezzasalma hears I escaped and then finds out a dirty cop sprang some random girl and an old guy at the same time he’s gonna put two and two together.”

“Eventually, yes,” Niccolo agreed. “Which is why we need to act quickly while we’ve still got the advantage.”

“And do what?”

“I’m still working on that.”

“Great,” I said sarcastically.

“I can’t figure out everything in the blink of an eye,” Niccolo snapped. Then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly. “It’s not like I got hit by the thunderbolt.”

“Fuck you,” I snarled as everybody laughed.

Niccolo flapped his hand dismissively. “Go see your little girlfriend and leave the planning to me.”

“You can take your planning and shove it up your ”

“Adriano,” Dario interrupted. “Let’s go find Alessandra and Bianca.”

I looked at him warily.

I was pretty sure this was a way to have a ‘private talk’ with me.

My brothers figured it out, too and went Oooooooooh! like I was five years old and had just gotten in trouble.

I flipped them all the bird which made them laugh even more.

“Come on,” Dario said. He put his arm around my shoulder and led me away from the table.

“Go take care of that thunderbolt!” Valentino called out, prompting the table to burst out laughing all over again.