Page 24 of La Dolce Vita

Mirabella didn't respond.

“Che cosa?”

“I want you to stop seeing Rosetta," Mirabella said.

“Seeing Rosetta?" Armando asked. "I don't get this term? What is the secret American meaning of 'seeing' someone?"

“I know you two have been sneaking around. Her mother called me. Vito is ill, and she needs Rosetta to help her. She says there are rumors that she's been visiting you in Palermo. Rumors that I can't have getting back to my husband.”

“What makes you think he doesn’t know?” Armando asked.

“You’re still breathing aren’t you?”

Armando laughed.

"Rosetta is a young girl. I prefer women," Armando lit his cigar.

"I am serious. Stop meeting with her. She's very impressionable and--"

“Lonely?" Armando asked as he exhaled smoke. "I hear you've banned her from the family. What future does she have stuck here on the island with me? She doesn't have a husband. All of her cousins are married with their own families. It's not me you should be worried about, Mirabella. Her wandering is not my fault."

“Are you implying it's mine?" Mirabella asked.

"You're the Donna. Catalina travels the world. A little fashion designer in your image. Rosetta? She doesn't have the opportunity to be a seamstress for the local shopkeepers here. A night in my bed is a reward to her."

"Bed! You're having sex?" Mirabella asked.

"I'm a man, dear sister. We men like sex."

"I'll handle my family. You just stay away from her."

"Va bene, no more sex. No more 'seeing' Rosetta. I'll keep my distance. Give Giovanni my respect, and Marietta my love. Oh wait, isn'tla piccoletta’sbirthday approaching? Should I send her a gift? Or can I ask you for a favor to attend?"

The call ended by Armando's hand with Mirabella still making her threats on the other end. Armando chuckled. He reclined in his chair, and his smile broadened. He was having so much fun.

Present -

"Careful, staring too long at that one could get a man killed."

Armando exhaled a long strand of smoke from his nose. Catalina danced to some raunchy rap song in the middle of the gyrating bodies of the young crowd. However, no one could steal her shine. She was the sexiest morsel in the entire place.

"Why are you here?" Mateo Benicia asked.

Armando cut his gaze over to his left. The Don, Mateo’s brother, now had to use a breathing mask to help him speak, courtesy of Giovanni. Like the unruly dogs of theCamorra, they still ate scraps from Giovanni's table after the show of disrespect to their individual clans.

"I could ask you the same thing," Armando said.

"I'mCamorra. You are not. That simple," he said.

"Nothing in our world is ever that simple. Hasn't Giovanni broken you into the rules yet?"

"Giovanni doesn't own me! Or make the rules. In fact, he isn'tcapo di tutti capiany longer. We gain more territory from day to day. He's in debt to half of the Campania for having us save his wife’s life."

Armando chuckled. "I may not be a fan of Giovanni's, but I'm not stupid enough to think that the freedom and gratitude he gives you today won't be the leash he hangs you with tomorrow. Good luck, Benicia," Armando said. He stepped away. Again his gaze cut across the party to where Giovanni sat with his Mirabella. Giovanni stared directly at him. Armando nodded out of respect and signaled to his men it was time to leave.

He'd seen enough.

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