Page 264 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“So you are?” she prodded.

“…yeah,” I admitted as we started walking again.

“When?”

I looked at her, trying to figure out if she might possibly betray me.

“I won’t try to stop you,” she promised. “And I won’t tell Papa. I swear on – ”

She paused as she tried to think of something sacred to her.

If she saidmy father’s life,I was going to tell her to go fuck herself.

“On every book I’ve ever loved,” she said, “and all the ones I’ll read and love in the future.”

…oh.

Okay.

For Isabella, I knew that was the equivalent of swearing on the souls of her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren.

“Tomorrow at noon,” I said.

Isabella looked at me in alarm. “She’s not cominghere,is she?”

“God, no. I’m meeting her at the chapel.”

“How are you going to get there?”

“I’ll walk.”

She nodded thoughtfully.

Then she asked, “You’re not thinking of… running away with her, are you?”

I looked at her in surprise. “What? No.”

She looked at me sideways. “Really?”

“I can’t. I’d be betraying my family if I did.”

Isabella exhaled like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. “Good.”

“Did you think I was going to run off?”

She smiled sadly. “I was afraid you might.”

“Why? You don’t want to marry me, either.”

“No, but… we might be able to help each other get what we want.”

“Okay, no more vague bullshit,” I said. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She hesitated…

Then finally spoke.

“Before the…problemin Ortigia,” she said, by which I knew she meant Paolo, “I got to taste freedom for the first time in my life. The days you took us to those cities? Those were some of the happiest times in my entire life.

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