บททั้งหมดของ Indebted to the Mafia King: บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

EleniA couple days later, I close one of my assigned readings and check the time. Too early for lunch. Too late to start something new. I glance at my phone, sitting on the couch next to me in the living room. I’ve been missing Mama a lot lately. Maybe… Maybe one call won’t hurt.I’m dialing almost before I finish the thought. My heart hammers. What am I going to tell her if she asks about Christos? Or Dante?She picks up after a few rings. “Hello? Who is—”“Mama!” I squeal.“Zouzouni?” she asks disbelievingly. “I thought—I mean, I feared—”“I’m all right, Mama,” I say. “Safe and sound.”Her broken sob crackles through the phone. “Why did you not call sooner? Oh, I was so worried.”“I’m sorry, Mama.” Tears sting my own eyes, and I wish she was here to hug. “It wasn’t safe.”“To call? That Dante lies to you,” she says. “It is always safe to call your mama.”I know that’s not true after my weeks in the boss’ chair, but I don’t disagree with her. “How are you? I want to hear everything.

Eleni“Wait, there’s seriously a ceremony?” I ask as I pick through a wooden tray of pears for the best ones.Seb glances at the stall owner. “Yes. Do you know you talk very loud?”I roll my eyes and pay for the three pears. “We’re in the middle of one of the busiest farmer’s markets in Brooklyn on a Saturday afternoon. I’d discuss the nuclear codes here if I had them. Now tell me, what exactly does the ceremony for becoming a capo entail? I skipped that step.”He laughs and accepts the bag I hand him. This has become something of a routine for us. Dante said being a boss, even a part-time one, means having at least one bodyguard at all times, and Seb was an easy pick. He’s actually fun to talk to and hangs out instead of hovering three feet behind me at all times.“It’s not like a graduation ceremony, if that’s what you’re picturing.”“I was picturing something much more Arthurian,” I say. “Like Dante with a big sword, knighting you.”He shakes his head. “Try again.”“It’s a big gun!

EleniI take one last bite of the airy sorbet that the stuffy waiter brought for dessert and look at Dante. He’s barely glanced away from me since we stopped talking about work, and my body burns with it. I slide my leg out from under the long tablecloth, letting it catch my skirt and exposing inch after inch of skin. He watches me with darkening eyes.“Put that away,” he says.I smile. “Why?”“Because I don’t share well.”I tuck my leg back under the table. Seeing him relax after days of walking around in a fog is satisfying, though, and I’m not sure I want to give everything up yet. I toe out of one heel and run my foot up the inside of his calf.“How sure are you that you can wait?” I ask.He grasps the edge of the table. “What are you doing?I chuckle and keep running my foot smoothly up and down. “That’s not an order.”He meets my gaze. “Don’t expose yourself here, pet.”My skin goes hot. We’ve never played like this in public before. I don’t even know if he sees the loophole he’

EleniA few weeks after the hotel date, I look over the table of classes on my laptop one last time and shut it with a smile. My first registration at Tandon, and I got all the classes I wanted! I text Dante about my success and laugh when he responds with a huge thumbs-up. He texts like he protects his data, but I’ve grown used to the labyrinth of old-timey habits and emoji usages. He’s thrilled. And, with any luck, bored out of his mind at Piacere. He put out the hooks for potential rats to snap up a little while ago, and nothing has caught yet. That means a full day of sitting around waiting for disaster, which makes him feel, in his words, “like a fireman without a fire,” so he’s been coming home a little grumpy, but watching his mood improve as soon as he sees me makes it really easy not to take personally. Plus, we’re now going on—I check the date—just about two and a half weeks without any deaths in the organization. The quiet made getting ready for school a lot easier. Dante

DanteI adjust my tie in the pale moonlight slanting in through the window and glance at Eleni over my shoulder. She’s sprawled across the bed, as always, with her hair everywhere. I pull my attention back and tighten it a little more. Sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night like this feels oddly like a betrayal after the fight this afternoon, but it’s not as though I’m going to see Camila. And, truth told, I’ll do just about anything to keep as much space between Cal Duncan and Eleni as possible. I pat the gun already holstered on my hip and creep out of the room.Tony waits for me in a car outside, not idling in case that draws the attention of the neighbors. They tend to have their ears a little extra pricked in the weeks after the barbecue. All the accountants and lawyers around here aren’t exactly subtle about wanting an invite, but I don’t think they’d blend with the crowd. I slide into the passenger’s seat, and Tony turns on the car.“It’s my job as your caporegime to sa