At least one of us Valenti siblings was happy.
Chapter 2
Dante
“We are having a bachelor party.” I placed my hands on my hips, glaring at Antonio, trying to mentally convey the message that I would not budge on this one. He might be the underboss, the second in command—or whatever—but passing on a chance to have a bachelor party was fucking blasphemy.
Antonio got up from behind his desk. “Do you really think having a bachelor party should be on our priority list right now?”
I blinked. “Is that a trick question?”
“For God’s sake, Dante. We have other more important shit to worry about.”
“Like what?”
“Like heroin being handed out like fucking pamphlets at every corner.”
I snorted. “Still not reason enough not to take Lorik to a bar, force him to consume his weight in alcohol, and then watch him pass out between barfing sessions.”
Antonio stared at me. “You need help.”
“Oh, come on. The man keeps going on about how much alcohol he can drink without passing out. This is our one shot to prove him wrong, to make him pass out twice in one night. Once that ring is on his finger, his independence and freedom fly out the fucking window.” I clenched my jaw as I kept my gaze on Antonio. I was desperate. I had one shot to get something really embarrassing on my future brother-in-law. Something I could torture him with for the rest of my fucking life. Who in their right mind would pass on such a glorious opportunity?
Antonio sighed. “Fine.”
“Yes!”
“But we keep it simple. No funny business.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And by funny business, you mean strippers, right?”
“Yes. And by simple, I mean a night out at Vertigo.” Antonio pulled on his jacket. “I’m going down to the restaurant to make an appearance. You want to join me?”
No.“Sure.”
Going to Paradiso was one of my least favorite things to do. Sure, it had a bar, pizza, and its fair share of fuckable booty. But it was also the family restaurant, which meant we had to behave whenever we were there. We had to uphold the family name by acting like sophisticated snobs. Now, Antonio had that down to a fucking T. Me, on the other hand…I’d been struggling with the behaving part for quite some time.
My phone vibrated in my jacket pocket, and I pulled it out. “Yeah.”
Nothing.
“Hello?”
Silence.
“Who the fuck is this? Listen, fucker, stop wasting my goddamn time. I swear to God, if I find out who you are, you’ll wish you chose someone else to play your pissy phone call pranks on.”
“Dante?”
Holy shit.“Layla?” My heart stopped. My gut turned inside out when I heard that voice. “Layla? Is that you?”
Silence.
“Layla, is that you? Talk to me.”
I needed her to talk, to make sure the voice I heard was hers. The shock caused my palms to sweat and my mind to race. Was it her voice? Was it Layla?
“Layla?”