Salvatore Dalla

Irritated was the least I could say to describe my mood. Who does Carlota think she is, barging into my office and practically demanding that I join her for lunch? And worse, who is she to speak to Amapola like that?
I didn’t defend her to avoid drawing attention, but I felt uncomfortable with the situation. Seeing her shrink in the chair made me feel something I had never felt for anyone before—I wanted to hold her in my arms and comfort her, or better yet, I wanted to put a bullet in Carlota’s head. But the famiglia must protect those who belong to it. For us, blood ties matter a lot, and Carlota should be grateful for that.
As the elevator doors closed, I saw the disappointment in Amapola's eyes. Carlota had made it clear about her past with me, and I couldn’t do anything. Amapola would surely imagine that Carlota and I were going to do much more than just have lunch; I would have thought the same. But I don’t know what to do. Right now, I can’t commit to anything formal with Amapola. I need time for the famiglia to adjust; Amapola dropped into my life out of nowhere, and I still didn’t understand the role she would play.
"Are we having lunch here?" Carlota asks as I park in front of one of the best restaurants in Rome. I insisted on driving myself so I could have something to distract me and not give her space for conversation.
"Yes. Any problem?" I ask coldly.
"I thought we were going somewhere more intimate," she says, sliding her hand over my crotch, probably surprised that I wasn’t hard like I always used to be in her presence.
"No, Carlota. I don’t have time. We’ll have lunch and talk about business, that’s all." I make it clear as I push her hand away from me.
"Salvatore, what’s going on?" Her voice takes on a whiny tone, and I start to get annoyed. "You know that Papà was waiting for a proposal, don’t you? What happened? Why didn’t you go?"
"I didn’t go because I didn’t want to, Carlota. I had other, more important commitments."
"More important than the famiglia?"
"More important than this engagement the capos are trying to force me to formalize as soon as possible."
"But I thought we..."
"You think too much, Carlota, just like Graziela Rossetti and all the other mafia daughters I’ve visited lately."
"You’ve looked for other brides?" she says, shocked, her eyes suddenly filling with tears that I knew were faker than some men’s loyalty to me.
"You think your father is the only one trying to marry off his daughter to the Don?" I raise an eyebrow, questioning her.
"But I’m your..."
"You’re nothing, Carlota. Let it be clear that I won’t be getting married now or anytime soon. If necessary, I’ll schedule a meeting to make that clear to everyone."
"Meanwhile, we could get to know each other better, Salvatore, go out more often. You’ll see that I’m the ideal person to be by your side. None of the other candidates are as suitable for you as I am."
"Don’t fool yourself, girl. Now let’s go. We need to be quick; I still have other commitments today."
During lunch, I tried to focus on what really mattered: the casino situation and the police’s efforts to incriminate us. I found out that one of our employees had given more information than they should have, and I would make sure he was in my hands by tomorrow to teach him to keep his mouth shut.
Carlota brought up the engagement several times, but I cut her off each time. I had made my decision, and no one would change my mind.
As I was tracking down the employee and the Carbone family was leading the hunt, after lunch, Carlota returned with me to the office. I was going to ask Amapola to arrange a room for her to use this afternoon, or maybe even the meeting room.
"Oh dear, thank you for giving us such a pleasant lunch," Rico, Fabrizio, and Amadeu were standing in front of Amapola’s desk, and I didn’t miss the relaxed atmosphere. I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention.
"Am I interrupting your little work-hour interaction?" I practically growl, and Amapola is the first to respond, after locking eyes with the woman beside me.
"No, sir. We were just saying goodbye, we’ve just finished lunch," she says with a smile on her lips, but her eyes burn in my direction. "Gentlemen, I’m sure we’ll have other opportunities like this. I appreciate your company." She says goodbye to them and settles back at her workstation.
"We’re the ones who appreciate it, Amapola. You were incredible," Rico says, holding her hand and placing a kiss on it like a reverence. What the hell is going on?
"You two, follow me. Amapola, please arrange a room for Miss Carbone. She’ll be staying with us this afternoon," I inform as I head to my office.
"Yes, sir," I hear her say as I walk away.
"You go out to screw Carlota Carbone and come back in this shitty mood? I think she needs to work on her techniques." Rico says as we enter the room.
"First, I didn’t go out to screw; I went to have lunch and talk about the casino situation."
"I thought..."
"That’s the problem. The people around me are thinking too much, getting too distracted from what really matters," I growl at him.
"Hey, brother, you weren’t in this devilish mood this morning," Fabrizio tries to calm things down.
"I wasn’t, but I also hadn’t been overloaded with problems. What’s that smell? Wine? Have you been drinking?" I ask, even more irritated. "If you didn’t know, Amapola doesn’t usually drink. What did you do, you irresponsible idiots?"
"Hey, calm down, Salvatore. She only had one glass, and for your information, we came to have lunch with you. She said you’d gone out with Carlota. We found out she had ordered lunch for the two of you, so we decided to stay," Rico explains.
"And the wine?"