Three of my favorite fuckin’ things in the whole wide world.

That was sarcasm, if you didn’t catch it.

Then my mind drifted to getting up early back at home for an entirely different reason, and I thought about my actual favorite thing in the world:

Fucking Cat.

Looking into her eyes as she came.

Hearing her scream –

The way it felt to bust inside her without a condom –

FUCK.

I had to stop thinking about her…

Otherwise it was going to be a long fucking night.

35

Caterina

Ilay there in the dark, staring up at my ceiling, unable to sleep.

Alessandra had asked her grandmother for help, and Signora Oldani said yes.

Apparently, she had contacts in other families’ households and was going to reach out to someone she knew in Sicily – a nephew of one of her longtime servants.

Signora Oldani said there were no guarantees, but she would have an answer for us tomorrow.

As I lay there in bed, my mind racing, tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

But the idea of what lay ahead terrified me.

I’d never been outside of Tuscany before.

The idea of going to an island 700 miles away where I didn’t know a single soul –

And trying to find Valentino while he was living with a mafia family –

It was inconceivable to me.

But like Alessandra said,If you want Valentino back, this is how we do it.

There didn’t seem to be another way…

And to be honest, I would doanythingif I could just see him again…

Justkisshim again.

So I tried to quiet my mind and fall asleep…

Because tomorrow could potentially be a long,longday.

36

Valentino