Chapter 26

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 26 For almost half an hour, I lay curled up on the spare bedroom floor, sobbing my heart out.

I hurt so bad it felt like I might die.

Actually, I wanted to die.

I just wanted this awful hurting inside me to end.

When my tears finally slowed down, I realized I should probably clock out and tell them I wasn’t feeling well. That way, I could go back to my room and not have to try to fake it through the rest of the workday.

I didn’t think I could handle the stares and whispers once the story got out. And thanks to Marianna hearing Valentino say, “We need to talk,” I was pretty sure it would get out pretty damn quick. Especially once somebody saw me and put two and two together.

I went to the bathroom to clean up. Thank God I hadn’t worn much makeup today, because what little I had on was a mess. I washed up and did my best to look presentable, but my eyes were still red and swollen.

If I could just make it to the kitchen without being stopped...

Or without breaking down again...

That last part was the hardest. Not starting to cry again.

I kept my head down as I walked back to work.

A couple of other servants walked by, but they rarely talked to me anyway, so they didn’t notice.

But Alessandra did.

I was almost to the kitchen when she saw me. She was coming down the hallway in the opposite direction, and she called out cheerfully, “Hi, Caterina!”

When I heard her voice, my heart stopped in my chest.

I thought about turning around and running in the other direction –

But my feet froze.

I looked up the tiniest bit –

And out of the edge of my vision, I saw her happy expression turn to worry.

“Caterina?” she said as she walked up to me. “What’s wrong?”

I lifted my face – and as soon as I made eye contact with her, my lip started to tremble and the tears started flowing.

“Caterina!” she cried out in alarm as she wrapped her arms around me.

As soon as my head was on her shoulder, I started crying again. My entire body shook with my sobs.

“What’s wrong?!” she asked as she stroked my hair. Then her voice turned angry. “Did Valentino do something?!”

“N-n-no...”

She held me at arm’s length and dipped her head so she could look into my downcast eyes. “Cat, tell me the truth: did he cheat on you?”

I shook my head ‘no.’

Alessandra frowned. “Was he cruel to you? Did he hurt you?”

“N-no... it w-wasn’t his fault...”

“What wasn’t his fault?!”

“N-Niccolo said that because of the stuff going on with their uncle, they h-had to get allies... so he t-took Valentino to S-Sicily for an arranged marriage.”

On those last two words, I burst into a howl of pain.

Not as loud as the howl Alessandra gave, though.

“WHAT?!” She put her hands on my cheeks and forced me to look at her. “Niccolo forced Valentino into an arranged MARRIAGE?!”

She looked both shocked and outraged.

I nodded ‘yes.’

Then Alessandra got this look on her face.

If she’d had a gun in her hand, I would have yelled for Niccolo to run (even if he was responsible for breaking my heart).

“Come with me,” she snarled, then took me by the hand and started pulling me behind her through the hall.

I had never seen Alessandra angry before. Ever. She’d told me she’d occasionally been snippy with Dario back when he brought her to the mansion against her will – but I’d never witnessed her anger firsthand.

I could honestly say this after having seen her:

When she was pissed, Alessandra was scary.

I went with her willingly, not really thinking about where she was leading me –

Until we reached the parlor.

The room where the Rosolini men always met to discuss business.

Mafia business.

A foot soldier stood in front of the door, his hands crossed in front of his suit jacket.

He looked at Alessandra in surprise –

“Out of my way!” she yelled.

The guy’s eyes widened, and he immediately stepped back from the door.

When the mafia don’s wife yells at you to do something, you do it.

As soon as I realized what Alessandra had in mind, I dug in my heels and started trying to pull my hand out of her grip. All my tears immediately dried up as absolute terror gripped me.

“It’s okay, I’m alright, I’m fine now!” I babbled frantically.

“Nonsense – you are not alright! NONE of it is, and I plan to get to the bottom of it!”Alessandra pulled me forward with unbelievable strength as she banged open the door.

“DARIO!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Oh SHIT – oh shit, oh shit, oh SHIT –

The Don was alone, sitting at his desk and reading some papers.

As soon as he heard Alessandra’s shouting, he looked up in alarm –

And then he saw me.

Don Rosolini immediately closed his eyes like he had a migraine.

“Sir?” a voice asked off to my left.

I looked over to see one of the family’s foot soldiers standing guard.

“It’s alright, Onofrio,” the Don said wearily. “Please give us a minute.”

The guy quickly left the room.

I would have given just about anything to go with him.

Especially when Alessandra started yelling.

“What is this I hear about Niccolo taking Valentino off to Sicily for an arranged MARRIAGE?!” she shouted.

I mentally crossed myself as I watched the Don. He did not look happy.

Mother Mary and all the saints in heaven, please protect me –

Don Rosolini scowled. “We need to talk about this in private.”

“No, we don’t – we need to talk about it RIGHT NOW!” Alessandra yelled. “Did you really send Valentino off to Sicily to get married?!”

“Niccolo came up with the plan, but yes, I agreed to – ”

“HOW COULD YOU?!” Alessandra shouted. “You know he and Caterina are in love!”

Oh shit!

I didn’t know if I’d go quite that far.

Well...

Actually...

After the way my heart had broken into a thousand pieces...

I knew I was in love with Valentino.

But I had no idea if he felt that way about me.

I knew he was amazing in bed...

And I knew he always made sure I had at least five or six orgasms for every one of his...

But love?

He’d never told me he loved me.

So for Alessandra to say that he was in love with me...

I wasn’t sure that was the truth.

But all that was forgotten as Don Rosolini stood up from his desk.

If I ever walked by a graveyard at midnight and saw the Grim Reaper rise up from amongst the graves...

I was pretty sure he would look like Don Rosolini at that moment.

His face was dark, and his eyes were furious as he walked slowly around the desk and came towards us.

Alessandra, though?

She didn’t seem fazed at all.

She just scowled right back at her husband.

Me?

I would have been running in the other direction if I hadn’t been frozen to the spot in terror.

He stopped right in front of Alessandra, looming over both of us.

Without looking at me, he said coldly, “Caterina, if you would wait outside.”

I whispered, “Yes, Don Roso– ”

“No!” Alessandra snapped. “She deserves to be here to hear whatever you’re going to say!”

Don Rosolini stared down at Alessandra.

If he ever looked at me like that, I think I would have crawled off into a corner to die.

“Let go of her hand,” he said to his wife. “Now.”

His voice was eerily calm, but it was scary.

Alessandra glared at him for a second –

But she finally relented and let go of my wrist.

I was too frightened to move.

“Caterina,” he said calmly, though he never took his eyes away from Alessandra’s face.

“Yes, Don Rosolini,” I whispered and nearly fell over my own feet as I scurried away.

“Don’t go far, Cat!” Alessandra called out to me.

I didn’t have it in me to answer. I just opened the door and stumbled out.

When I got into the hall, Onofrio and the other foot soldier – the one Alessandra had ordered out of the way – were standing on either side of me...

With their ears pretty close to the door.

I realized they were eavesdropping.

Mother Mary and Joseph – did everybody in this house gossip?

Onofrio closed the door gently behind me.

That was when the yelling began.

At least from Alessandra.

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!”

“Lower your voice,” the Don said coldly.

“Alright – what the hell were you thinking?!” she said in a quieter but no less angry voice.

I knew I should leave.

I knew this was a private discussion between the two of them –

And I would get in so much trouble if the Don caught me –

But I desperately wanted to know what had happened with Valentino.

I looked at Onofrio, waiting for him to shoo me away –

But he just cocked one eyebrow and put a finger to his mouth.

Shhhh.

Alright... if he was going to let me stay, then I had to hear.

“We’re in a war with Fausto,” Don Rosolini said. “We need allies. Niccolo thought that the Sicilians were our best bet. Our only bet.”

“Niccolo, Niccolo, Niccolo,” Alessandra spat. “Just because he comes up with some cockamamie idea, you think you have to go along with it?!”

“You don’t understand.”

“I understand that they love each other!”

What Don Rosolini said next made me cringe – partly because I already feared it was true.

“Valentino doesn’t love her.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I offered to let him out of the arranged marriage if he married Caterina instead... and he said ‘no.’”

The Don’s words...

They simultaneously knocked the wind out of me and ripped what remained of my heart out of my chest.

Onofrio winced sympathetically...

But I barely noticed.

I just stumbled away from the door, stunned...

And then burst into tears as I ran for my room.