Page 270 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“Isabella realized you probably didn’t know where to go, but she thought it would look a little obvious if she came after you. So she sentmeinstead.” Then Ludavica got a little pissed. “For the record, I was totally against telling you. But for some unknowable reason, she trusts you.”

“And you don’t?” I asked, annoyed.

She sighed. “Youseemokay… but let’s be real. She’s from a mafia family, but she’s naïve. You’re from a mafia family, and I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re capable of. I know what herfather’scapable of, though, and it scares the shit out of me.”

“…yeah,” I muttered, thinking back to the barn.

“Please don’t fuck us on this one,” Ludavica whispered desperately.“Please.She’s all I have.”

I nodded. “I understand. And I won’t – I promise.”

Ludavica looked into my eyes as though searching for the truth…

And then finally relented.

“See that old ruin on the horizon, about half a mile away?” she said, looking over at the left side of the property. “Walk towards that and keep going. After about three miles, you’ll be on top of a ridge. You’ll see Resuttano in the distance. The chapel is on the outskirts of the town – you’ll reach it before you get to Resuttano.”

“Thank you.”

Ludavica nodded glumly, like she was sealing her own fate, and walked away.

94

Iwent back to the kitchen and got an old wine bottle filled with cold water. It was a hot summer’s day, and I didn’t want to walk ten miles round trip without something to drink.

I ambled around the property for almost an hour, trying to make it look like I was lost in thought.

The point was to see if any of the foot soldiers were watching.

None of them paid me the slightest attention, so I headed for the ruins Ludavica had pointed out.

It was an old farmhouse made of stone, long since abandoned and caved in. Vines had covered the walls, and birds nested in what was left of the wooden rafters.

In the distance, Don Vicari’s compound looked like a dollhouse.

I waited on the opposite side of the ruins, waiting to see if someone would come after me –

But no one did.

So I kept walking.

I ambled through fields of grain and over hills until I reached a hilltop, just like Ludavica had said.

Down in the valley was a tiny village. Maybe a hundred small buildings.

And there, about a quarter mile from the village, was a tiny chapel. I could tell by the cross on the roof.

That’s what I headed for.

As I got closer, my heart beat faster and faster. I was nearly overcome with nervousness.

It felt like I was getting close to the actual,realbeginning of my life –

IF she shows up.

I wasn’t much of a praying man, but I prayed to God that Cat would be there.

I finally reached the chapel. It stood alone in a field, with an ancient graveyard off to the side filled with weathered tombstones.

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