Page 13 of Vita Mia

“Yes! It’s what this is! Don’t deny it.”

MiaBella shook her head slowly. “Oh sweetheart, you are stupid. And guess what stupid could get you here? It could get you killed.”

“I don’t expect you to confess,” Ryder said.

“Sta'zitto!” she said. “Let me think.”

MiaBella paced.

“If they find that video then you’re dead. And I’m dead. We’re both dead. But not the same kind of dead, trust me. They’ll kill you, I’ll be locked away back home for the rest of my life—”

“The Illuminati?”

MiaBella stopped. “You really don’t know who I am? Where you are?”

He glanced around the room and then back to her.

“I’m Leeza MiaBella Battaglia. I’m the daughter of Don Giovanni and Mirabella Ellison Battaglia.”

“Battaglia? The fashion designer? Eve Battaglia?”

“She’s my sister. And this isn’t the fucking Illuminati you idiot. It’sla Camorra, la cosa Mafiosi. Cosa nostra. Do you get it!”

Ryder eyes stretched. “The mob?”

“Now, do you understand. They don’t sell people or women for sex here. They buy and sell souls. Your actor friend wants a producer to put him in a movie. That producer wants a politician to sign off on legislation that gives him more media buying power, and that politician wants his interest in another country supported, and that third world country wants guns to fund it. The buying and selling of that greed is where the mob fits. Fuck your prostitution bullshitIlluminatitheory. It’s much deeper than that. And dangerous!Sei un fottuto idiota!I’m so stupid. I should have never done this. We have to fix this before my family finds out.”

“Wait... this is just the mob?” Ryder repeated.

“Where does that video go? To a cloud account? You saving it somewhere? It said memory full. Is that true? And don’t lie to me!” MiaBella raised the gun. “Your life and mine depend on the truth. Where is it stored?”

“I have an iCloud account. It’s an Apple account.”

MiaBella wiped at her tears and went to the closet. Ryder sat there with his hands to his head. He came all this way to find the mafia? He only knew of the Camorra because his family in Staten Island talked about the old days in the Amalfi. They were more like ghost stories to Ryder. He never believed in the ‘Big Bad’ Camorra and their reign of terror on the lives of the people in southern Italy. Why the hell didn’t Jason Harris just tell him it was some mafia bullshit?

“Here!” Mia tossed a laptop to the bed. “Log into your account. Show me the video. And delete it in front of me. Now.”

“This is all a misunderstanding—”

“Now!”

He nodded and did as she asked. He turned the laptop around so she could see the video. He then deleted all of the priceless footage.So he fucked a mafia princess?His vlog audience wouldn’t care. It was a big waste of time.

“It’s done,” he said.

“Get dressed so I can walk you out.“

“Mia!” a woman yelled from the other side of the door. It was followed by desperate pounding.

Ryder glanced to the bedroom door and then to her. MiaBella looked petrified. She turned to him and put her finger to her mouth for him to be silent. Then she gestured that he must put on his clothes fast. Ryder tripped and fell with the sheets tangled around his feet. He scrambled to pull up his pants and collect his shoes but she was wearing his shirt.

“Open this door right now!” a different woman’s voice said over the other woman’s.

“Closet, she whispered.

“Where?” he asked.

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to the closet then shoved him in.

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