Chapter 92

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 92 “You’re GAY?!” I exclaimed.

Isabella looked like she was about to shit a brick as she looked around wildly.

“Would you keep it DOWN?!” she hissed.

“Sorry, sorry,” I whispered. “But – you’re GAY?!”

“Yes.”

Again, I’m a little vain –

Okay, a lot vain –

So my ego was relieved.

No wonder she isn’t into me –

She likes CHICKS!

Now it all makes sense!

“Who is it?” I asked.

Isabella really looked at me like I was an idiot. “One guess.”

“Holy SHIT – Ludavica?!”

Isabella looked like she was going to murder me.

“Sorry, sorry,” I whispered again. “When the fuck did that happen?!”

“Years ago.”

“Years ago?!”

“I think we always had a crush on each other, but neither of us did anything until the night I turned 18.” Isabella got a dreamy smile on her face. “She kissed me on impulse, like she couldn’t control herself anymore.

“I was shocked.

“I mean, I wanted her, too – but I thought she could never, ever feel that way about me.

“When I didn’t do anything, she was terrified. She started apologizing and crying – until I kissed her back. Then... well... it just happened naturally.”

“Wait a second,” I said. “You two have had sex?!”

Isabella frowned like I was the stupidest idiot God ever created. “Of course we’ve had sex.”

“How many times?” I asked, my eyes wide.

“Why are you asking?”

“I’m just curious, that’s all.”

“Too many to count.”

“Dozens?”

“Hundreds, at least.”

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

I know it was really shallow of me, but suddenly, getting married to Isabella didn’t seem so bad.

I mean –

Threesomes, baby!

Isabella angrily put both hands on her hips. “This information is not meant for your sexual gratification, you pervert!”

“Aw, come on – you gotta admit, it’s kinda hot.”

“I thought you were in love with Cat!”

Shit.

“...yes... yes, I am,” I said grudgingly as all thoughts of threesomes slipped away.

Cat was fantastic in bed, but I knew she’d never go for a threesome – because I’d already asked.

Her response had been pretty final.

NO.

NEVER.

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

“Alright, so – you two are in love,” I said, coming back to reality. “Aren’t you worried your father will find out?”

“Of course I am. If he found out, he’d kill me.”

“Yeah,” I admitted, “he’d probably be pretty pissed.”

Isabella stared at me like I just wasn’t getting it. “No, Valentino... he’d literally kill me. Actually, he’d probably have someone else do it for him.”

I laughed.

She didn’t laugh back.

“Are you fucking serious?” I whispered.

“YES, I’m serious. My father is the most homophobic man I’ve ever met – and in the Cosa Nostra, that’s saying something. He hates gay people. Mostly gay men, but lesbians, too.

“If the other mafia families in Sicily – and God forbid, Italy – found out that his daughter loved another woman, he would be utterly humiliated – and my father will never willingly subject himself to humiliation. Which is why he’d have one of his thugs take me and Ludavica out in the fields, shoot us in the back of the head, and bury us in a shallow grave.”

I stared at Isabella in shock.

I wanted to say, He’d never do that – he’s your father –

But then I remembered what Don Vicari had said to me:

I couldn’t give a shit about my daughter. She’s the means to an end to get what I want.

And I had to admit, Yeah, he’s capable of it.

Which blew my mind. My father was old-school Cosa Nostra and pretty homophobic – but if me or one of my brothers had been gay, he would’ve still loved us. He wouldn’t have liked it, and he probably would have pretended like that part of our lives didn’t exist – but we’d still be his sons.

In fact, everybody had kind of thought Roberto might be gay, and my father never treated him one bit different.

And my brothers? None of us gave a shit about whether someone was gay or not.

Okay, okay, I guess we had some prejudices – like we thought gay guys weren’t going to be as tough in a fight as a straight guy.

But if a man who worked for our family was gay, all we cared about was whether he was loyal to us and was good at his job.

That was it.

So the idea that Don Vicari would murder his daughter...

It was unthinkable.

An infamia.

And... unfortunately... I knew it was probably the truth.

“There are honor killings in the Middle East every day,” Isabella said softly. “Fathers and brothers kill their daughters and sisters just because they had sex before marriage, and those assholes think it besmirches their honor. You think they’d be okay with it if their sisters or daughters slept with another woman?”

“This isn’t the Middle East,” I protested.

“No, but it’s not just the Middle East. It happens in America – in the UK – ”

“Yeah, with Muslims.”

“Islam doesn’t have a monopoly on men who hate gay people,” she shot back. “My father is a relic from the 19th century – he never even made it into the 20th, much less the 21st. Me being gay would be just about the worst thing I could possibly do to him, outside of betraying him to his enemies. And he might even prefer the betrayal.”

Shit.

Every single word she said rang true.

“And you were still with Ludavica, knowing he might kill both of you?”

Isabella shrugged helplessly. “What else was I going to do? I love her. Without her, this place would be the loneliest prison in the world. With her, it’s close to paradise. But it’s still paradise inside a prison where we could die any day. And I was deathly afraid the paradise might end.

“All those suitors my father brought around? I didn’t reject them because I didn’t like them... although I didn’t like them. But I never expected to like any man I had to marry.

“I said ‘no’ because they were all like my father: they hated gay people. I knew that none of them would accept me and Ludavica.

And if they found out after I was married, they would definitely kill her, and probably me. With my father’s blessing,” she added bitterly. Then she gave a dark laugh. “They wouldn’t marry me if they knew I wasn’t a virgin... and they’d kill me if they knew I was gay.”

I remembered what Don Vicari had said to me in the car:

My daughter is a virgin, and she’ll remain a virgin until her wedding night.

I guess I made a face because Isabella asked, “What?”

“Something your dad said.”

“What was it?”

“He basically threatened to kill me if I had sex with you before we got married.”

She snorted. “Besides his 19th-century views on virginity, he probably wanted a Plan B in case you didn’t work out.”

“What do you mean?”

“In case you bailed. If I’m not a virgin, no Cosa Nostra asshole my father would approve of would ever want to marry me. And if you bailed, he’d definitely force me to marry one of them.”

“But I’m Cosa Nostra,” I said. “Why’d you think I would be different?”

“To be honest, I didn’t have a choice. My father got angry I was rejecting all his picks, so he forced me into marrying you.

“But I lucked out. You’re open-minded... you’re kind... and you made an effort. When you read the Rupi Kaur book, I knew there was something different about you. None of the other men would have even considered doing that.

“And then, when I found out about Caterina, that was the first time I thought, Maybe this could work. Because you can be with the woman you love... and I can be with the woman I love. And my father never has to know.”

I rubbed the lower half of my face.

Everything she was saying made sense. Still...

“What about children?” I asked. “You know your father wants grandkids.”

Isabella made a face. “I don’t know... we can figure it out. A turkey baster or something.”

“A turkey baster,” I laughed, mostly in disbelief.

She laughed a little, too. “I’m sorry, Valentino, but I do not want to have sex with you.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious, if you prefer a turkey baster over my cock.”

She laughed harder. “I’m sure you have a very nice – thing – but yes, I’ll take the turkey baster any day.”

“Jesus, you really are gay.”

“Yup.”

We laughed together –

And suddenly, everything felt different.

Like we had a shared secret, and it was the two of us against her father.

“Do we have a deal?” she asked hopefully.

“Deal.” I grinned as I stuck out my hand. “Turkey baster and all.”

She laughed as we shook on it.