Page 173 of The Mafia King's Reign
The car pulls through iron gates that swing open as we approach.
The house sits on a rise above the water. Low, white, sprawling. All glass and salt-bleached wood, built so that every window faces the Atlantic. The kind of place that looks like it was designed specifically to wake up in.
Below it, a crescent of pale sand. Private. Untouched.
"Come," he says, already out of the car, opening my door, offering his hand.
I take it.
He leads me through the unlocked front door—someone has clearly been here ahead of us—through an open-plan interiorthat smells faintly of jasmine and sea air, past a kitchen with white marble and soft linen curtains moving in the breeze, straight through to the back.
The terrace runs the length of the house.
Below us, the beach. The water is deep blue in the morning sun, almost green where it meets the sand. There are no other houses. No boats. Just water and sky and the low, steady sound of waves.
"This is beautiful," I say quietly.
He doesn't answer.
When I turn, he's holding an envelope. Cream paper, unaddressed.
He offers it to me without ceremony.
"Oh no." "Just open it."
The deed is two pages. Legal language, clean and precise. Property address in the upper right corner. Lot description. Transfer of ownership.
And at the bottom, in black ink:
Valentina Vitale.
My name.
"This is in my name," I say slowly.
"Yes."
"You bought me a beach house."
"I bought you the house. The beach came with it."
I look up at him, and he's watching me with an expression I've only seen a handful of times—uncertain. Like he's not sure if this will land the way he intends.
Salvatore Vitale, uncertain.
"You can't just do these unrealistic things."
"It's yours," he says. "No conditions. No strings. Your name on the deed, your name alone. Whatever happens, it belongs to you."
The waves crash below us, steady and relentless.
"This is very excessive," I tell him.
"Yes."
"I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything." He pauses, watching me. "There's a garden. South side. Walled off from the wind. I had them put in a bench."
