Page 49 of Mafia Kings: Dario

“This is part of the servants’ passageways,” Filomena explained. “They were used for centuries so servants could come and go without bothering the masters of the house. I was shown them when I began work here, but they also told me there is a way off the property if we were ever attacked.”

I didn’t have to ask who might attack the estate because I already knew:

Othermafiosos.

“Why couldn’t you bring me here yourself?” I asked.

“Because the Rosolinis have eyeseverywhere…and they’dkillme if they knew I brought you here.”

I wanted to protest that they wouldn’t… but the words died in my throat. I feared she was right.

Filomena led me down the small corridor to another door and opened it. There was nothing but yawning black until she hit a light switch. Suddenly, dozens of light bulbs spaced every 20 feet lit up a stone passageway stretching off into infinity.

“Follow the passageway,” Filomena said. “It ends with an iron door that locks from the inside. Once closed, it will not open again. You will find yourself in a field. Go straight ahead through the forest, and you will eventually reach a wall. Travel left along the wall until you find a break in the stones, and you’ll see a small town on the other side. There is a church in the town where you can say confession.”

Suddenly she grasped my hands.

“My child… I beg you, take this opportunity to escape. This is a house of murder and sin… leave it and never come back.”

“What about you?” I asked. “What will they do when they find out I’m gone?”

“They’ll never suspect me,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“Why don’t you come with me?”

She smiled sadly and shook her head. “I’m an old woman. There is no place for me out there. I would die in misery. But you –youstill have a chance. Go, before they realize you are gone.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

She kissed my forehead. “May God bless you.”

Then she turned back and closed the door behind me.

I stood there for a moment, overwhelmed by fear –

And then joy exploded through my body.

I was free!

I ran down the stone passageway as fast as I could, guided by the dim lightbulbs strung along the ceiling.

I finally reached the end of the corridor and found the iron door she had mentioned.

It took all my strength to turn the handle. It shrieked – but the door opened.

Stone steps led up to a dense canopy of underbrush. Daylight peeked through tiny gaps in the vines.

I held the heavy door open and remembered Filomena’s words:

Once closed, it will not open again.

Once I let go of the door, my choice was final.

Fear raced through me –

But I thought of Dario in the chapel and what he had said:

I will do whatever else I LIKE with you… and TO you. I will make you my whore… and when the time comes, you will beg me to take you.

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