The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico

Author:Maria DiRico [DiRico, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2023-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

Piero’s, the Boldano Family’s go-to hangout, was a nondescript Astoria restaurant whose paneled walls, red Naugahyde tablecloths, and Chianti bottles-turned-candlestick-holders screamed old-timey Italian restaurant. Piero had been Donny Senior’s chauffeur until a bout with bone cancer cost him a leg. Rather than cut him loose, the Family patriarch funded Piero’s dream of opening his own restaurant. The food he served was world-class, especially his signature dish, Pasta alla Mushroom Carbonara.

At the moment, an untouched plate of it sat in front of a distraught Tulio Longella, who sat slumped in a chair. Mia was surprised to see Orlando Maladugotti standing guard behind him. She cast a questioning glance at her fiancé. “Maladugotti found him,” Shane said under his breath. “Longella had camped out in his mother’s old basement furnace room. She didn’t even know he was there.”

Shane, Boldano, and Maladugotti pulled back, ceding the floor to Mia. She faced Tulio head-on, arms crossed in front of her chest, one leg crossed over the other, a position that telegraphed she meant business. “Glad you’re over that bug you had. What was it again? Oh, right. A bad case of Avoid-Mia-itis.”

Tulio placed his elbows on the table and dropped his head onto his hands. He said something, but it came out muffled. Boldano walked over, placed a warning hand on Tulio’s shoulder, and the young don’s head shot up. “It’s all my fault,” he blurted. “Adam slipped me a C-note to introduce him to you. If I hadn’t done that, none a’ this would’ve happened. You wouldn’t have married, he wouldn’t have cheated on you, Adam wouldn’t have come back to life and then died again, and none of us would be suspects in his murder.”

“Not gonna lie,” Mia said. “Some of this is on you. But Adam was a flirt and a professional con artist. He really didn’t need you to be his wingman. He knew how to fly all by himself.”

Tulio sniffed. He ran a tattooed hand over his shaved head, where another tattoo read, Bald Bro. “I feel a little better.”

“Don’t.” Mia uncrossed her legs and planted both feet on the floor. She leaned into him. “I’m not done with you. I wanna know everything about every single contact you had with him after we got married. I know you did, so don’t try and tell me you didn’t.”

“I won’t.” Considering the hulking brute of a guy Tulio was, Mia took silent pride in the fact she seemed to intimidate him. His passive-aggressive tactic of disappearing until tracked down ticked her off. “I was as shocked as anyone when Adam suddenly showed up again in Astoria,” the lug continued. “I heard he was here but didn’t see him until the night of the Mets game. He called and said he was gonna get back with you if it was the last thing he did. Which it kinda was.”

“No kinda about it,” Boldano pointed out.

“He said if I didn’t help him, he’d tell everyone he paid me to introduce the two of you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.