Page 61 of Beauty and the Mafia Boss

“Do you like horses, Gabriella?” he asks, and the animal moves its head, as if he knows we are talking about him. Vittorio raises his hand and caresses the animal's neck.

“Until today, I had only seen the ones on the street, the ones at the zoo, or on television. I don't know if I like them, but they are beautiful animals.”

“And intelligent” he says and, as if to confirm, the horse stands up, showing off. I laugh.

“What's his name?”

“Galard.”

“Galard.” I repeat, testing the sound. “What does it mean?”

“I don't know,” he answers simply, and I blink before laughing. Vittorio looks at me like I'm crazy.

“Don't you know what your pet's name means?”

“Why should I?” I open my mouth to respond, but when I realize that the answer I'm about to give is because people generally know, I close it. Vittorio is not like other people, nothing about him is. “What are you doing here, Gabriella?” he asks, without looking at me when I remain silent. The Don gives guidance to the animal that trots around the edges of the circle where it is confined.

“I was just walking. I ended up here by chance. Is he angry?” I ask the same question about a horse as I would about a dog, but I don't know if there's another way to ask that just because the animal is different.

“Galard is still not the most sociable. I don't even think he will become one, actually.”

“And why would he need to?” Vittorio turns his face, previously focused on the horse's movements, towards me. He stares at me for two of Galard’s entire laps. “Not everyone was born to be dominated,” I explain, and the corner of the Don's lips gathers a small smile.

“Some people, however, seem to be made for just that,” he says, and an unexpected shiver runs down my spine. “Would you like to meet the others, Gabriella?”

“Are there others?” My shoulders rise with the deep breath I take.

“Five.”

“Are all of them like Galard?” I avert my eyes to the horse again.

“In their own way,” he replies, and I understand perfectly what he means.

“I would love to meet the others.”

PART II

LA SALVEZZA[76]

CHAPTER 31

________

Gabriella Matos

I tilt my head when I come across a newspaper on the kitchen counter and then I look around. Because although I saw a copy in Vittorio's hands in Rome, I still hadn't seen one around the house, even though watching the Don eat breakfast every day became another of my rituals.

Also, I've been in the kitchen today and I'm pretty sure this wasn't here before. I shrug and continue walking towards the fridge without any intention of picking up the pages, the photo on the cover of the newspaper however makes it impossible for me to stick to my original plan.

It is me. My face is on the cover of an Italian newspaper and in double doses. I blink, stunned, but still without stretching my fingers towards the papers. There's a photo of me at the Rome event and another at the restaurant a few nights ago, in the last one I'm walking into the bathroom.

I look at the newspaper as if it had grown legs and walked here alone, as if it had hidden intentions in placing itself in the way of my eyes. When the inanimate object obviously doesn't react anyway, I finally pick it up.

I unfold the pages and start reading the text organized in columns. I frown when too many words I don't know makeit difficult to read. What I understand from the text is that everyone is wondering who I am, where I come from and, above all, what my relationship is with the grape magnate, Vittorio Cataneo.

I keep scrolling down the lines and the more I read, the more bizarre the situation becomes. Because as if photos of me on the covers of newspapers weren't enough, I realize that even though I don't understand everything that's being said, people are speculating about my life as if I were some kind of celebrity.

A subtitle, still on the cover of the newspaper, announces: Discover how much Vittorio Cataneo's company's look for theRoma Expo Galacost and, further down, there is another: Buy the look of the mysterious woman who stole the heart of the Italian millionaire.

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