Page 331 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

Then all the anger left his face, and he just looked sad.

“I want to apologize to you,” he said.

I stared at him. “Uh – what?”

“The choices I made, I made for the family,” he said quietly. “At the time, I thought they were the best options we had. Theonlyoptions. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t.

“But what Ididn’tintend was for you to get caught up in all this. If I could have prevented it, I would have – but I had no idea how deep your feelings for my brother actually were.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this. More than that… I’m sorry I hurt you.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

I just stared at him in open-mouthed wonder.

Niccolo smiled sadly. “I hope that one day in the future, you can forgive me… and that we can put this behind us.”

Tears sprang to my eyes, and I smiled. “Why not put it behind us now?”

Before he could say anything, I hugged him.

He seemed shocked at first –

But then he hugged me back.

When I pulled away to look him in the face again, Niccolo said, “You know, in years past, I always thought my little brother had terrible taste in women.”

I flinched, unsure why he would say something so cruel –

Especially now, after such a beautiful moment between us.

Then he turned it all around.

“But he showed absolutelyexquisitetaste when he chose his wife,” Niccolo said with a gentle smile.

I smiled, and my eyes filled up with tears.

It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me.

“Will you have a glass of champagne with me?” I asked as I offered him my arm.

“I think I could use several,” he replied drily.

He took my arm, and we walked back to the party.

126

The rest of the day was wonderful.

The other couples regaled us with stories from the last two weeks.

Lucia showed off a little plastic ring and told us the absolutely adorable story about how Massimo had proposed in a grocery store.

Lars and Rachel talked about how they’d nearly killed each other before making up.

And Roberto…

Well, Roberto had one of the most surprising stories of all.

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