Chapter 99

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 99 Val’s face was buried in my neck as he murmured, “Oh my God... holy shit...”

I giggled. “You shouldn’t curse in a church.”

“Considering what we just did, I think cursing in a church is the least of my sins.”

“Mm... probably so.”

He turned his face to mine –

We kissed –

And then he broke it off excitedly.

“I forgot to tell you the good news!” He chuckled. “Well, I guess I didn’t forget so much as I got distracted.”

My heart leapt in my chest.

You don’t have to marry her!

Say you don’t have to marry her –

Please, tell me you don’t have to marry her!

But when I spoke, I kept my voice neutral and calm. “What?”

“Isabella’s gay!”

I stared at him.

Not what I’d been hoping to hear.

He kept talking. “Remember that other girl in Ortigia? Ludavica? Isabella’s with her! So they’ll be together, and you and I can be together!

“Then why is she marrying YOU?” I asked, horrified.

“Because her family doesn’t know.”

Pain flooded my heart, and I pushed him off me as I turned my face away.

“What?” he asked, confused.

I couldn’t say anything.

I felt sick.

“What?!” he repeated. “I thought you’d be happy!”

I looked at him in horror. “Happy about what?”

“That you and I can keep on sleeping together after the wedding! Isabella knows, and she doesn’t care!”

I wanted to vomit.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?!” he asked.

I didn’t answer.

I couldn’t – not without screaming.

“Say something!” Valentino demanded angrily.

I tried to keep my voice calm as I answered. “You’re going to marry a girl you don’t want... who doesn’t want you... and who’s actually in love with another woman... and you’d rather do all that than be with me. And you thought I’d be happy about that?”

He looked as though I’d slapped him.

I stood up, walked over, retrieved my panties from the chapel floor, and stepped into them.

“It’s not like that,” he said as he got to his feet and zipped up his pants.

“What’s it like, then?!” I asked angrily.

“Babe – ” he said, reaching for me –

“Don’t!” I half-whispered, half-sobbed as I backed away from him.

“I have to do this. You know that. I have to do what Dario ordered me to. I have no choice.”

“You always have a choice.”

“But we can be together now!”

I swear to God, he sounded happy as he said it.

I stood there in agony.

I fucked him in a church...

And now I really AM in hell.

I didn’t say anything for a long while.

When I did, it was a whisper.

“...no.”

I could hear the disbelief in his voice. “...what?”

Tears started streaming down my cheeks. “Leave her. Come with me. Let’s run away and never look back.”

“Didn’t you hear anything I just said?!”

“Yes. I heard, and I’m still asking you. I’m begging you. Please.”

He stood there, caught between indecision and despair.

Then, finally:

“I can’t.”

That’s when I knew it:

This is it.

This is the end.

It’s over.

I sobbed, my entire body wracked with pain.

“Babe,” he whispered, and reached out again –

But I put up a hand to ward him off.

Eventually, I got enough control of myself to speak.

When I did, I smiled sadly.

“I love you,” I whispered. “I’ve always loved you – from the first moment we were together. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now.

I want to be the one to marry you. I want to be the one to have your babies. I want to be the one you grow old with.

“But... you don’t want that. Not enough to actually do anything about it.

“And that’s... it sucks. It really, REALLY sucks. But it is what it is. You never promised me forever. You never lied, not once.

“But here’s the thing, Val: 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.”

His face contorted in pain. “Cat – ”

“Just – let me finish, alright? I need to say this – for me – so let me finish. Please. Just give me that.”

He stood there in silence, waiting.

I looked down at the floor... sobbed again for a few seconds... then looked up and forced myself to say it.

“I can’t do it anymore. I can’t go on being the second choice... the dirty little secret you’re ashamed of.

“I love you. A part of me will always love you. But... now I have to start loving myself.”

I went up to him...

Kissed him softly on the cheek...

And walked out of the chapel, sobbing my heart out.

But I never looked back.