Page 32 of Massimo

Roderigo, one of Nona’s dumbass minions, came running up next to us.

“I got here… as fast as I could… when I heard the screaming,” he panted.

“Would you please tell her that I’m here as a friend?” the big guy said, obviously annoyed with me.

Roderigo wiped a bead of sweat off his brow. “It’s true – he saved your grandmother, Lucia.”

“If he didn’t fuckin’ set her up in the first place,” I snarled.

“You have to come back to the palazzo,” Roderigo said.

“WHY, exactly?”

“Because it’s not safe out here.”

I rolled my eyes.

“It’s never fuckin’ safe ‘out here,’” I said, using my fingers to make air quotes. “You people are always saying that.”

“Men tried to kidnap your grandmother,” Massimo snapped.

“Who, your men?” I asked sarcastically.

Massimo was getting even more irritated.

Not gonna lie, I kinda liked pushing his buttons.

“NO, not my men – ”

“Please, Lucia,” Roderigo asked in the voice he used when he was afraid I was going to make a scene.

Which he tended to use pretty often, because I had to make a lot of scenes to get even a speck of freedom.

If Nona had her way, I’d spend my life on a ten-foot leash… and she’d still want eight feet of slack in her hand.

“No,” I said.

“Lucia – ”

“What are you going to do, lock me away in the castle for a week? A month? How long?”

“Probably just for a day or two – ”

“That’s what you said last year. ‘Just a day or two, Lucia! Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon!’ And then two days turned into two weeks, which turned into two months – ”

“Lucia – ”

“NO. I’m not fuckin’ Rapunzel, and I’m not staying in your goddamn tower. If Nona’s so worried about my safety, tell her to get out of the fuckin’ Cosa Nostra.”

I turned to leave –

But the big guy was faster.

“Fuck this,” I heard him mutter –

And then he picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder.

Like, literally picked me up in the air and tossed me over his shoulder.