Page 104 of Mafia Kings: Dario

The gunshots –

The screams of the crowd –

The absolute terror I’d felt –

The certainty that I was going to die…

I began to tremble uncontrollably.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I called out as I got control of myself.

I figured it was Filomena coming in to check on me –

But it wasn’t.

It was Dario.

He walked over and sat on the bed next to me. “Are you alright?”

“…I’m fine,” I said as bravely as possible.

He looked at me with his piercing gaze. “Don’t bullshit me. Are you alright?”

I tried to keep my composure…

But my face crumpled, the tears came, and I shook my headno.

He kicked off his shoes, got into bed beside me, and opened his arms. I snuggled in next to his strong chest as he wrapped me in his embrace.

I immediately began to relax.

I had been so frightened of him when I first saw him at my father’s café…

And I’d continued to be afraid of him for the next couple of days.

But now, he was the only thing that made me feel safe.

The only thing that made me feelprotected.

He held me against him as my tears subsided.

Then he began to speak.

“The first gunfight I was in, I was 15 years old. Men came to the house to kill my father. He sent my mother away with Adriano, Niccolo, Roberto, and Valentino. But he gave me a gun and said, ‘This day will come sooner or later. It’s time to face it.’”

I reared back and stared at him. “Your father put you in a gunfight when you were15 years old?!”

He smiled. “It wasn’t just me and my father – it was a dozen of his men, too. And I had been training foryearsfor that exact moment. All of us had been… but Adriano was only 13, Niccolo and Roberto were 10, and Valentino was only 7. They were still children.”

“You werestill a child, too,” I insisted.

“Not in this family, I wasn’t. My father had been preparing me to take over for him since I was born. That gun battle was the first time I realized how terrifying life could be.” Dario gently pushed a strand of my hair away from my face. “All I’m trying to say is that I know it was awful for you today. I’m sorry it happened… and I regret ever putting you in that situation.”

“You didn’t know… did you?” I asked, suddenly uneasy.

“I had no idea, or I never would have let you leave the house.”

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