Page 39 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

F austo was in the receiving line for the bride and groom.

He said something to the bride, who smiled politely.

I could see the confusion on her face, though, as she tried to figure out who he was.

Bianca’s face was quite expressive. You could practically read her thoughts.

She would’ve made a terrible poker player.

Fausto said something to Adriano, then moved on to hug his other nephews.

I marveled at how duplicitous he was –

When the bride’s eyes suddenly widened, her whole body stiffened, and the blood drained from her face.

She turned white as her dress and her namesake (‘Bianca’ means white in Italian).

Confused, I followed her gaze –

And realized she was staring at Aurelio.

Something was dreadfully wrong.

Aurelio had rudely skipped past her and gone straight to Adriano.

Neither of them was aware of Bianca’s reaction as she continued to stare at Aurelio.

No one else was acting like her.

Why was she so alarmed?

What was it about Aurelio that made her react like that?

Aurelio glanced over at Bianca and said something.

She just nodded and forced an obviously fake smile.

I could see the fear in her eyes, though –

Panic, almost.

What in the WORLD?!

I ticked through the things I knew about her.

She had been the one who had yanked the steering wheel and wrecked Mezzasalma’s car, risking her life to save Adriano.

She was from Florence.

She’d been the girl the Agrellas had hired to lure Adriano into… an ambush…

The Agrellas.

Aurelio had been our go-between with the Agrellas.

Oh no…

Oh no, no, no, no, NO –

“Bellaaaaa?” Niccolo said playfully. “Earth to Aurora – come in, Aurora.”

I turned back to Niccolo.

He was handsome and charming as ever –

But the fear coursing through my body had doused my desire like ice water.

I needed to ditch him, and fast.

“Americans have a saying,” I responded. “‘Dance with the one who brought you.’”

Niccolo frowned as he smiled, obviously sensing that something had shifted dramatically – but he tried to salvage the situation with humor.

“I think it’s specifically people from the region of Texas, and I believe the saying is, ‘Dance with the one who brung you.’ Lucky for both of us, then, that you’re neither American nor Texan, hm?”

Somewhere behind me, voices raised in anger.

I turned back to the wedding party, my stomach twisting with fear –

And saw Aurelio and Valentino squared off as though about to fight.

Massimo grabbed Valentino’s shoulder and said something to him.

At the same time, Lars seemed to materialize out of nowhere and put his arm around Aurelio’s shoulders.

Aurelio violently shook him off.

You fucking fool, that’s a Special Forces operative you’re antagonizing!

Fausto stepped in with a smile and grabbed his son’s elbow. He laughed and waved at everyone, then called out, “Aurora!”

I turned back to Niccolo. “Time to go.”

Niccolo frowned and put his hand out as though to stop me. “Wait – ”

I grabbed his hand and awkwardly shook it. “Goodbye.”

Then I turned around and hurried away.

I left him there, stunned speechless –

A first for the Rosolinis’ consigliere, I’m sure.