Chapter 102

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 102 After the chapel, I ran back to my room at the bed and breakfast. I sobbed openly in the streets.

People looked at me in concern as I passed, but I hid my face and ignored them.

As soon as I was back in my room, I texted Alessandra.

I did it. It’s over.

She immediately called, and we cried together.

I told her everything Valentino had said –

Including the part about Isabella.

“She’s GAY?!” Alessandra gasped.

“Yes.”

“Maybe that’s grounds for stopping the wedding!”

I thought about how nice Isabella had been when I met her in Ortigia...

And realized that if she was hiding it from her family, there was probably a damn good reason.

“Would she be in danger from her father if he knew?” I asked.

Alessandra paused. “...yes. She probably would.”

I remembered what Valentino had said about Don Vicari.

Her father’s a fucking psychopath, and yesterday I saw what he did to somebody who crossed him. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was pretty fucking horrible.

“No,” I murmured. “Forget about it. Besides, it’s over.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“...yes.”

I paused.

“No. I don’t know,” I whispered.

And it was true.

I had no idea if I would ever be alright again.

It sure as hell didn’t feel like it.

I’d told Valentino, I have to start loving myself.

But I didn’t feel like I was loving myself.

In fact, it didn’t feel like there was anything left to love.

I’d left my heart and soul back in that chapel...

...with him.

“We’ll be flying in tomorrow just before noon,” Alessandra told me. “Do you want me to come find you after the – afterwards?”

I knew she’d almost said ‘after the wedding.’

I was glad she hadn’t.

The words – even unsaid – felt like a needle through my heart.

I didn’t know if I could bear to hear them aloud.

“No. I don’t want Don Rosolini or Niccolo to find out you helped me.”

“I don’t care if they know.”

“Well, I do. I don’t want to get you in trouble – not after everything you’ve done for me.”

“It feels like I haven’t done anything,” she said angrily. “I almost want to help you burn down the chapel, or – or create some kind of disaster so it can’t happen.”

I laughed. “Well... I kind of already desecrated it.”

“What are you talking about?”

When I told her, Alessandra gasped.

“YOU DIDN’T!”

“I did.”

“OH MY GOD!”

“Maybe it won’t count. Them getting married, I mean.”

“I wish that were the case.” Then she joked, “Well... I guess a part of you will be there, anyway.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “My ass-print on the floor.”

I began to giggle.

So did she –

And we laughed until we cried.

I told Alessandra I would call her after I left Sicily. Maybe we could meet in Florence once everything was over.

What I didn’t say was that I was afraid it would never be over.

Not for me.

I thought about leaving Resuttano immediately – getting a taxi to Catania and flying out that very afternoon –

But I couldn’t.

I was exhausted. Utterly spent.

And the idea of trying to figure out what to do – where to go – paralyzed me.

I think, too, that in the back of my mind, I was hoping Alessandra was right.

That some disaster would occur...

So the wedding wouldn’t happen...

And Valentino would finally come for me.

If I wasn’t physically nearby, he wouldn’t be able to find me. So I couldn’t leave.

Not yet.

I knew it was all just a fantasy –

But I didn’t have anything else to keep me going.

I’d told Alessandra that girls like us didn’t get fairytale endings.

She did, though.

Apparently, all I got was a fairy tale...

And one that would never come true.

But it was all I had.

I didn’t sleep – not one wink.

I just lay in bed and cried.

At some point in the middle of the night, though, I started thinking about things Alessandra had said.

I guess a part of you will be there.

Maybe that’s grounds for stopping the wedding!

Some kind of disaster so it can’t happen.

Maybe it was my exhaustion...

Maybe I’d gone insane from sorrow...

Or maybe after what I’d done in the chapel, a demon got hold of me.

But I began to realize I could stop the wedding all by myself.

I wouldn’t ‘out’ Isabella – there was no way I would do that –

But there was something else I could do that would stop everything in its tracks.

I was raised Catholic, but I’d been to a couple of Protestant weddings – and it had always shocked me when the priest (or preacher, or whatever Protestants called them) said, If anyone present knows of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I’d always looked around, holding my breath to see if anybody said anything.

My Protestant friends were kind of wild, so there was always a chance –

But nobody ever spoke up.

But there’s always a first time, I thought excitedly.

The only problem was that Catholic priests never said the part about ‘If anyone knows of any reason.’

Maybe it’s time they did, I thought grimly.

Or I can just say it my own fuckin’ self.

When the morning light peeked through the window, I hopped out of bed.

I had to get ready to go to a wedding.