Page 88 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“No,” I snarled.

“Then I’ll make it clearer for you.” Nic looked me dead in the eyes. “Do your duty to your family, whatever the cost.”

Then he hugged me briefly…

Walked out of the room…

And never looked back.

29

Caterina

Iwas crying in bed when I heard a light knock on the door.

“Go away,” I sniffled.

“Caterina, it’s me,” Alessandra’s muffled voice said.“Pleaselet me in.”

I still loved Alessandra just as much as the first day she walked into my kitchen…

But the fact that she was now my boss’s wife kind of complicated our friendship.

I thought about telling her again to go away…

But I gave in, dragged myself out of bed, and unlocked the door.

Then I collapsed back onto my bed and buried my face in my pillow.

Alessandra closed the door, sat at the foot of the bed, and put a consoling hand on my leg.

“…you listened in, didn’t you,” she asked sadly.

I didn’t look at her. Icouldn’t. I was too humiliated by what Don Rosolini had said.

“How much did you hear?” Alessandra asked.

“Enough,” I said miserably.

“Caterina, listen to me: you have to go to Sicily.”

Of all the things I’d been expecting her to say,thathad not been one of them.

I looked up from the pillow in shock.“What?!”

“You have to go to Sicily.”

“Why?!”

“To get him back!”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Your husband gave Valentino a choice between me and an arranged marriage… and he chose thearranged marriage.”

“Dario didn’t want to marrymeat first,” Alessandra said. “He didn’t change his mind until he almost lost me.”

“That was different,” I protested.

“How was it so different? Two brothers – one sleeping with a café waitress, the other with a kitchen worker – ”

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