Chapter 69

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 69 Back in my room, I considered exactly what the fuck I had gotten myself into.

Should I continue to see Cat?

The smart answer was No –

But I’d never been one for the smart answer.

The truth was, I had nothing else but her –

And the idea of never seeing her again was fucking torture.

Speaking of torture, the only things that blotted out the horror of what I’d seen in the barn were my memories of Cat’s face –

Her eyes –

Her smile.

She was the angel who saved me from visions of Hell.

But if I kept seeing her, I was endangering her.

If Don Vicari found out about her...

However, if I didn’t continue seeing her, I was letting that fucking psychopath win.

The real truth?

I needed her.

It had been the truth back home – and it was especially true now.

Every waking minute without her, I plotted and I schemed to see her again.

To fuck her again.

To be with her again.

She was my drug. My addiction. My heroin, my crack cocaine.

Especially now, when the rest of my life was destroyed.

As far as real drugs go, my brothers and I had indulged every now and then – in Ibiza, Amsterdam, Barcelona.

Cocaine, ecstasy... party drugs. None of us had ever gotten addicted. We’d been able to ‘hit it and quit it.’

Part of that was because my father had always spoken about drug addicts with contempt, and none of us wanted to be the son who disappointed him.

However, Niccolo argued that some people were just trying to blot out the horrors of the world.

Abuse... grinding poverty... hopelessness.

Funny that it was Nic – the brother I hated – who’d argued for compassion.

But now I totally understood what he’d meant.

I’d seen something I’d never be able to unsee...

Something that would follow me to my grave...

And all I wanted was to blot out the memory with something pure. Something beautiful. Something wonderful.

But I couldn’t endanger her... I couldn’t lose her...

So the decision would have to be hers.

I would let her know the dangers, and I would let her make the final decision.

If it was No, I can’t take that chance, then I would accept it and tell her to run far away from Sicily.

But if she said Yes...

Then I was going to have to see her again.

I wanted her too badly.

I ached in my bones to see her again...

To fuck her again...

To simply hold her again.

However, I couldn’t talk to her until I had Paolo’s phone tomorrow morning.

Until then, I had another problem.

If any of this was going to work, I was going to need to get somebody else on board...

Or, sooner or later, I’d be completely fucked.

I was careful to avoid Don Vicari, the old lady, or any of the servants as I crept to Isabella’s room.

When I finally got there, I knocked lightly on the door.

A girl’s voice called out, “Who is it?”

“Valentino,” I said in a quiet voice.

There was a long pause.

Then –

“...what?!”

“I need to talk to you,” I whispered.

I heard the lock unlatch. The door opened an inch, and one eye stared through the crack.

“What are you doing here?” Isabella whispered frantically. “If my father catches you – ”

“Trust me, I know. Let me in, I need to talk to you.”

She looked panicked. “I can’t – ”

“I’m not going to touch you or make a pass at you, but I need to come in. Please.”

Isabella paused...

Looked behind her at something...

Then opened the door.

“Hurry,” she whispered.

I stepped into the room, and she shut the door behind me.

As I passed by her, I noted what she was wearing: a long, light blue, shapeless nightgown that stretched from her collarbones to her ankles. It was sleeveless, which was the only thing remotely sexy about it. In fact, it looked like it might have been in style 30 years before I was born.

But as soon as I was inside, I got a surprise.

Ludavica was standing on the other side of the room, wearing a nearly identical nightgown in pink.

“What are you doing in here?” I asked, confused.

“Helping her get ready for bed,” Ludavica snarled. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

Whoa.

Touchy servant girl.

I turned back to Isabella, who had locked the door again. “Can we talk in private?”

“Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Ludavica.”

“This is private.”

Isabella crossed her arms and looked at me sternly. “I’m not sending her out of the room.”

“I’m not going to rape you if that’s what you’re afraid of,” I said angrily.

She recoiled at the word but shook her head. “I don’t care. Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of her.”

I looked over at Ludavica. It was obvious she wasn’t going anywhere.

I had no intention of gambling my life on her silence –

But at some point, I was going to have to take a chance. I didn’t have any other choice.

I decided to give them just enough information that I could figure out how they might react.

“No offense, but I need to tell you something that could get me killed, and I need to know she’s not going to go ratting to your father,” I snapped.

Isabella’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

“I think I can trust you since we’re going to get married. Her, I don’t trust at all.”

“She won’t tell my father anything. Neither will I.”

“That’s not going to do me any good if she – ”

“I swear on my mother’s soul that I won’t tell,” Isabella interrupted, then looked over at Ludavica. “Lu?”

Ludavica didn’t look happy, but she muttered, “I swear on my mother’s soul I won’t tell.”

“There? Satisfied?” Isabella asked.

They’d both gone full Cosa Nostra and sworn on something holy to them.

“Yeah... okay,” I relented.

I started to speak –

Hesitated –

“...well?” Isabella prodded me.

“I don’t want to get married to you.”

She didn’t react the way I thought she would.

She gave an amused smile and raised one eyebrow. “You risked a beating from my father just to tell me that?”

I stared at her in shock. “You don’t care?”

She chuckled. “I don’t suppose this ever crossed your mind: do you really think I wanted to marry you?”

I know it was kind of arrogant of me –

Okay, really arrogant –

But I was a little offended.

I was all like, WHAT?!

Hot chicks all over Italy throw themselves at me, and you’re not interested?!

“I... uh, okay,” I said, my pride bruised.

“My father thinks I’m going to be an old maid,” Isabella said sourly, “so he decided to go back to the 19th century for a solution, which was to marry me off to another family for his own business interests. So, if that’s all you wanted to tell me, I suggest you go back to your room before somebody comes and – ”

“There’s another girl,” I blurted out.

Isabella blinked. “...oh.”

She didn’t seem hurt – just surprised.

So I kept on going.

“She’s here in Sicily. She followed me after my brothers forced me to come here. I didn’t work with your brother today; I was with her.”

Isabella stared at me, wide-eyed –

And then comprehension dawned on her face.

“Ohhhhhhhhh,” she said, then laughed. “So this whole ‘taking me to see other towns’ is just a ruse to see her.”

“...yeah,” I admitted, stunned that she didn’t sound angry.

“Pretty clever.”

“You’re not pissed off?”

She smiled. “Like I said, I didn’t want to get married to you in the first place. At least this way, I’m getting to do something I always wanted to do.”

I had to admit, I was completely thrown for a loop.

I’d expected to have to convince her, or plead with her, or bargain –

But she didn’t seem to care.

“Then you’re okay with me seeing this other girl?” I asked incredulously.

“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “As long as you get me out of this house.”

“...okay,” I said, stunned. “It’s a deal.”

Then I remembered there was another party to this agreement.

I turned and looked at Ludavica. “And you’re not going to tell?”

She looked amused. “I could give a rat’s ass who you’re banging.”

Damn.

Okay...

I looked back at Isabella. “So... we’re cool?”

“We’re fine,” she said in amusement. “Have you sufficiently unburdened your conscience?”

“I guess...”

“Then you should probably get back to your room.”

“Yeah – okay,” I said as I headed for the door.

“One question, though.”

I looked back warily. “Yeah?”

“Do you love her?” Isabella asked in a soft voice. She sounded genuinely curious.

Despite her complete lack of anger, the question struck fear inside my gut.

“I... I hadn’t thought about it,” I muttered.

Isabella’s eyes widened. “You hadn’t thought about it?!”

“I just – I – it’s complicated.”

Now Isabella looked irritated. “A woman comes all the way here for you – you risk my father beating you within an inch of your life – and you hadn’t ‘thought about it’?”

I flashed back to the barn.

I think it’d be a lot worse than beating me within an inch of my life.

“...no,” I said lamely.

Isabella frowned. “You should probably start to think about it, then.”

I didn’t know what to do –

So I just nodded like an idiot.

When she didn’t say anything, I asked – like an even bigger idiot – “Can I, uh, go now?”

Isabella sighed, then said, “Lu, check the hallway, will you?”

Ludavica crossed the room, unlocked the door, and peered outside.

“Coast is clear,” she whispered.

“Goodnight, Valentino,” Isabella said in mild exasperation.

“Goodnight,” I said, then crept out into the darkness.

It was at that point I realized something:

I was never going to understand women.

Ever.