Page 287 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

I laughed. “Well… I kind of already desecrated it.”

“What are you talking about?”

When I told her, Alessandra gasped.

“YOU DIDN’T!”

“I did.”

“OH MY GOD!”

“Maybe it won’t count. Them getting married, I mean.”

“I wish that were the case.”Then she joked,“Well… I guess a part of you will be there, anyway.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “My ass-print on the floor.”

I began to giggle.

So did she –

And we laughed until we cried.

I told Alessandra I would call her after I left Sicily. Maybe we could meet in Florence once everything was over.

What Ididn’tsay was that I was afraid it wouldneverbe over.

Not for me.

I thought about leaving Resuttano immediately – getting a taxi to Catania and flying out that very afternoon –

But I couldn’t.

I was exhausted. Utterly spent.

And the idea of trying to figure out what to do – where to go – paralyzed me.

I think, too, that in the back of my mind, I was hoping Alessandra was right.

That some disaster would occur…

So the wedding wouldn’t happen…

And Valentino would finally come for me.

If I wasn’t physically nearby, he wouldn’t be able to find me. So I couldn’t leave.

Not yet.

I knew it was all just a fantasy –

But I didn’t have anything else to keep me going.

I’d told Alessandra that girls like us didn’t get fairytale endings.

Shedid, though.

Apparently, all I got was a fairy tale…

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