“I know, I know.” He flashed me his handsome smile. “But you gotta admit, you were sending some mixed signals. I mean, what kind of billionaire’s daughter is looking for jobs on Craigslist and applying for jobs at Starbucks and riding aroundin Ubers?” His face drained. “Wait a minute. Thatwasn’tan Uber, was it?”
“Nope! That’s my driver. His name is Florin.”
“She has her own driver.” He shook his head in disbelief. “What the fuck.”
“Hey, I’mjust as shocked as you are that you play pro hockey for a living.” I smiled at him. “I think that’s really cool, Dakota.”
“Yeah, well … don’t get too used to it …”
I patted his leg. “All you have to do is train hard this summer, and you’ll get traded, right?”
“And try to survive the assassination,” he joked.
I cocked my head at him. “Assassination?”
“You know your dad is a mafia boss, right?” he asked. “And with this stunt tonight, I basically rolled into The Godfather’s mansion, slapped him across the cheek, and told him I’m boning his daughter.Then, after he warned me to stop seeing you, I left with you.” He stole a side-eyed glance at me. “Worst part is? He’s gonna kill me … and we never even boned.”
“Dakota!” I howled with laughter. “He’s not going to kill you. My dad isn’t in the mafia.”
“Then how come the whole world thinks he does?!”
“Because he’s rich and Italian, and he owns casinos in Las Vegas. Also, he enjoys the rumors, so he sort of fosters the image that hemightbe connected.”
“HMM! And why would he do that, Ottavia?”
“Because it gives him a certain power when everyone’s afraid of him.”
“You know what else gives him a certain power? Whacking people who piss him off!”
I laughed. “Oh, please! Look, my dad might be an asshole, but he’s not in the mafia and he’s never ‘whacked’ anybody in his life.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m his daughter.”
“So?”
“So I think I’dknow,Dakota.”
“Ever seen The Sopranos? Meadow had no clue Tony was the mob boss.”
“That’s not true!” I said. “Meadow didn’t want to believe her dad was in the mob, true, because she grappled with her dad being a bad person. But deep down? She knew.”
“Hmm.” Dakota briefly took his eyes off the road to give me a piercing look, his eyes filled with unspoken implications. “Ya don’t say.”
I clicked my tongue. “Iknowwhat you’re thinking. And no.”
“But be honest.” Dakota paused. “Deep down. Do you have any suspicions about Sal? Any at all?”
I hesitated to answer, letting the silence between us grow charged.
Slowly, I turned to him, my eyes troubled and wary.
“Well …honestly…?” I began, speaking gravely. Dakota’s anxiety seemed to grow by the second, his breath caught in his throat. “Let’s just say, the less you know about it, the better.”
