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“Yes, I can understand how hard that would be for you.”
“I see you’re doing well.” He took my hand and admired my ring. “You know, I could have given you one just as big. Well, I could have back then, anyway.” He gave a shrug when I shot him a look.
“It’s not about the ring size, Salvo.” I pulled my hand away. “It’s that I love Elio.” I hated that he thought material things like a ring would be what I wanted.
“Do you love him for him or who he is? Some women just need powerful men.”
“Be careful,” I warned. “You obviously don’t know me that well.”
“Sorry,” he stopped himself, “that was out of line.”
“Way out of line,” I corrected. “Are you sure you can do this? You pointed out that you gave a lot of your life to the Coppolas, to my family. Now I’m the Coppola Donna, but I’ve joined Elio, and he’s the Capri Don now. I need to know where your loyalty will lie. Will you be able to take orders from us as the Capri syndicate?”
“Yes.” He nodded, but I could tell he was holding back.
“Good. Now, for good measure, give me something good that I can take back to Elio to show him you can be useful to him, to us.”
“Good measure?” He chuckled. “Elio wants something for good measure?” He nodded and thought for a moment. “Rosa has been staying in churches, working her way northwest toward Spain.”
“Why Spain?”
“I know she has some family there.”
“Where in Spain?”
“Badajoz.”
“Has she left Italy yet?”
“Not the last I heard.”
“Where was she when you heard from her last?” I shot him another question.
“Parma.”
“Why is it you know she’s in Parma, yet you told me you hadn’t heard from her since the night of the fire?”
“I didn’t know if I could trust you before.”
“Trust goes both ways, and right now you lost a little of mine.”
His lips pursed, and he swiped a hand through his hair as he thought. “You think I asked for this?”
“You think I did?” I challenged, not letting him off that easily. I wanted to keep him talking about what he might know. “Do you have anything else you can share with me? Like the name of one of the churches she stayed in? Who’s helping her? Anything?”
“The minister, the one who swore you in, he’s helping her.”
“Okay. Let me text Elio and let him know you want to talk. He’ll trust you if I tell him I do. You can give him the information you just told me.” I pulled out my phone to text Elio, when suddenly Salvo stepped close.
“What about what I want?”
“I’m not following. You told me what you wanted, and that’s why I’m here trying to help you.”
“I gave you something. Now what do I get?”
“What do you want? I thought it was a job.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He took me by the tops of my arms, and I shook my head. This wasn’t good with Elio hidden close by. “I want you.”
