Page 276 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“If I stay with him, I’ll always be the other woman. I’ll always be the dirty little secret he keeps hidden.”

“Oh, Cat… I HATE Niccolo for doing this to you,”Alessandra said, real anger in her voice.“And I hate that Dario went along with it – ”

“It’s not them, Alessandra. It’s Valentino. He’schoosingto do this. He’schoosingto marry her. I just… I just don’t think he wants to be with me enough to say ‘yes’ tome.”

“Oh, Cat…”

I sobbed. “I want him so badly… but I can’t keep doing this.”

She let me cry for a minute. When she finally spoke, I could tell her heart was breaking for me.

“Whatever you do, you should go see him tomorrow… even if it’s only to say goodbye.”

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So I went.

Like the stupid, pathetic fool I was…

I went.

Right after I talked to Alessandra, I packed and checked out. Then I hailed a taxi.

The driver hadn’t evenheardof Resuttano before. He had to look it up on Google Maps.

We drove for three hours. Then he dropped me off at a bed and breakfast – the only inn in the village.

I spent a sleepless night tossing and turning…

And then, the next day at 11:30, I walked through the town towards the chapel, with Alessandra’s words echoing in my ears:

You should go see him tomorrow… even if it’s only to say goodbye.

I made my decision.

If he would run away with me, then everything would be perfect.

It would be a fairy tale come true.

But that wasn’t what I thought would happen.

Though it made me sick to my stomach, I promised myself that he if refused to leave with me…

That if he was actually going to go through with marrying her…

Then this would be the last time I saw him.

I would leave Sicily and probably die of a broken heart…

But I would end it.

So when I was walking towards the church and saw him in the distance, my heart stopped.

I froze as I watched him walk into the church.

Half of me wanted to rush to him, to fling myself into his arms, to kiss him madly –

But the other half wanted to run away.

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