Page 267 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“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?”

“OfcourseI 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 literallykillme. 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 theCosa Nostra,that’s saying something. Hehatesgay 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 willneverwillingly 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-schoolCosa Nostraand pretty homophobic – but if me or one of my brothers hadbeen gay, he would’ve still loved us. He wouldn’t havelikedit, 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.

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