Page 312 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

Behind her, Ludavica looked like she might faint.

Suddenly, I remembered what she’d told me two nights ago:

All those suitors my father brought around?

I said ‘no’ because they were all like my father: they hated gay people.

I knew that none of them would accept me and Ludavica.

And if they found out after I was married, they would definitely kill her, and probably me. With my father’s blessing.

SHIT.

I hadn’t just ruined Cat’s life and my own –

I might’ve fucked up Isabella’s and Ludavica’s lives, too.

If Isabella was forced to marry somebody else –

And the new guy found out about her and Ludavica and didn’t like it –

GODDAMN IT!

Ihad to live with the consequences of my actions –

But I couldn’t makethemsuffer, too.

So I did something I didn’t exactly think through.

All I remembered was Isabella saying,If I’m not a virgin, no Cosa Nostra asshole my father would approve of would ever want to marry me. And if you bailed, he’d definitely force me to marry one of them.

If I just fixed it so nobody would marry her –

Problem solved.

I turned back to Don Vicari and said, “I have a confession to make. In my anger and – and my feeling powerless in all this – I took it out on your daughter. I – two nights ago – I forced myself on her in the garden. Isabella’s not a virgin anymore – because I raped her.”

That’s when all fucking hell broke loose.

Like I said: I didn’t exactly think it through.

118

Caterina

Everything turned around in a second.

My tears of heartbreak turned to joy –

Because Valentino reallydidlove me.

“I’m in love with another woman. I have been for half a year now, but I was too stupid to admit it. Her name is Caterina Martinelli.”

I gasped out loud.

He said it!

He’d said my name aloud to his family and told them that he loved me!

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