Chapter 108

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 108 Ludavica emerged from the back seat of the last car.

She did not look happy – and I knew exactly why.

She and I were in the same boat:

Neither of us was going to get to marry the woman we loved.

“Where’s Isabella?” I asked.

Ludavica gestured towards the car. “Waiting for you to go inside.”

“Why?”

She looked at me like I was stupid. “Because you’re not supposed to see the bride until she gets to the altar.”

“Oh... right.”

The bride.

Knowing that the next time I saw Isabella, she would become my wife –

It made my stomach hurt.

I tried to distract myself with chitchat.

“You look nice,” I told Ludavica.

“Thanks,” she said glumly.

She was dressed in a pale pink dress, looking all the world like a bridesmaid –

Which is when I realized that’s exactly what she was.

“Wait – are you the maid of honor?” I asked, shocked.

“Duh,” she said in irritation.

“But I don’t have a best man!”

She glanced past me at my brothers. “Looks like you have plenty of options.”

I turned to look at them.

Dario?

No. He was the Don. I couldn’t ask him – it just wasn’t done.

Niccolo –

FUCK no.

Adriano or Roberto would have been a good choice –

But in the end, I knew who it had to be.

“Hey, Massimo,” I called out, “would you be my best man?”

“You’re asking me now?”

“Yes or no, asshole?”

He grinned. “It’d be my honor. Where are the rings?”

I froze.

I had no idea.

“Here,” Don Vicari said as he walked over and held them out in the palm of his hand.

Massimo struggled to pick them up with his giant fingers.

“How did you know my ring size?” I asked Vicari.

“I didn’t. My daughter’s will fit – you can get yours resized later,” he said dismissively.

Massimo looked at me like Jesus.

Vicari leaned in close and said in a voice only I could hear, “Don’t fuck this up.”

“I won’t,” I snarled.

He glared at me, then turned to the crowd and spoke loudly. “The rest of you can take your places. I’ll escort my daughter inside once you’re settled.”

Everyone filed inside the church – Dario and Alessandra, Adriano and Bianca, Lucia, Roberto and Mei-ling, Lars and Rachel, and Niccolo.

Not to mention a dozen of Don Vicari’s foot soldiers.

As Massimo began to limp inside with his cane, I paused at the doorway and thought of Cat.

Of everything we’d done in the chapel yesterday –

And what she’d said right before she walked out.

I’ve always been your dirty little secret.

The servant girl you fucked in the pantry.

The one you wouldn’t admit to your family you were sleeping with.

The one you didn’t want to marry.

I must have been staring off into space, because Massimo turned and looked back at me.

“You ready?” he asked gently.

I took a long moment to answer.

“No,” I finally muttered. “But let’s fuckin’ get it over with.”