Mafia Kings: Valentino: Dark Mafia Romance Series #6

I was working in the kitchen when Valentino walked in.

I saw his body out of the corner of my eye – I could identify him from his broad shoulders and muscular arms a hundred feet away – and I smiled automatically as I looked over at him.

My smile died when I saw his expression.

He looked like death warmed over.

I wiped my hands off on a dish towel and quickly walked over to him.

Marianna was making pasta at the other end of the kitchen island. She tried to act like she wasn’t going to eavesdrop, but I ignored her.

“Did something happen to your brothers?!” I whispered, my heart beating faster with fear.

“…no… not exactly…” Val muttered, his voice a croak. Then he took my hand. “I need you to come with me.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Marianna. She was openly staring now, but looked away when I caught her eye.

“I’m working,” I whispered.

He grabbed my hand. “We need to talk.”

His words were as frightening to me as a moan from a graveyard at midnight.

“O-okay,” I stuttered, and let him lead me out of the kitchen and down the hall.

Valentino didn’t say anything, and I didn’t ask, but I felt absolutely sick with dread.

If it wasn’t something about his brothers getting hurt, then it could only be one thing:

Niccolo had finally ordered him to stop seeing me.

Or… even worse… maybe Don Rosolini had given the order.

Niccolo had always looked down on us sleeping together. Val told me it was because his brother thought it was bad for morale.

I had to admit, Niccolo had a point. The gossip about me and Val was non-stop. A lot of times when I entered a room, my co-workers would abruptly quit speaking and look away, like they’d been talking about me behind my back.

The gossip I could deal with.

Niccolo was a much bigger problem.

I never told Valentino, but I secretly believed that bad morale wasn’t Niccolo’s only objection.

I figured Niccolo thought I was unworthy of his little brother.

Me – a lowly servant – and Val, a Rosolini. The richest and most powerful family in Tuscany.

It didn’t matter to Niccolo that Alessandra had worked in a café when Dario met her (probably because she turned out to be a long-lost mafia princess).

It also didn’t matter that Alessandra’s father had been a servant before he’d run off with Alessandra’s mother.

No. Valentino was Niccolo’s brother, and I was a nobody who worked in the kitchen.

Thank God Valentino had ignored Niccolo’s objections up until now –

But it was only because no one had given him a direct order.

I knew that if Don Rosolini told Valentino to stop, he would have no choice.

I’d feared all along that this day was coming, and it broke my heart.

Valentino led me into a deserted bedroom and closed the door.

For a moment, I held out hope that maybe something bad had happened – that Val just needed comforting – and I glanced at the bed.

I fantasized about taking him tenderly into my arms… holding him… kissing him… and making love to him to make him forget all his troubles.

Unfortunately, none of that happened.

Not even close.

“What is it, baby?” I whispered as I caressed his cheek with my hand.

He stared at me for what seemed like forever, looking like a condemned man about to be hanged…

And then he brought my world crashing down.

“My brother Niccolo set up an arranged marriage with a family in Sicily. I… I have to marry some girl.”

Of all the things I had been expecting to hear, ‘arranged marriage’ would never have made the list. Not in a million years.

I staggered backwards like he’d punched me.

“W-what?! Why?!”

“It’s this war with Fausto I told you about. We need allies, and apparently this is the only way to get them.” Val scoffed bitterly. “According to Niccolo, anyway.”

I looked back at the bed.

Just a second ago, I had thought maybe we would tumble into it.

Now I wondered how many nights we had left.

“When is all this supposed to happen?” I asked, tears blurring my eyes.

He winced. “I… I have to leave as soon as I walk out of this room.”

Horror flooded my body.

“WHAT?! NO – tell them no!”

“…I can’t. Dario gave me a direct order.”

When he said that, my heart stopped for a second.

I tried to pretend I just worked for a rich family in the countryside…

But I knew the Rosolinis were mafia.

And whatever else you did in a mafia family, you never went against your don. That was a guaranteed death sentence.

Valentino had never told me that; no one in the house had. It was just common knowledge from growing up in Italy. You absorbed the lesson in childhood, like Boys do this and girls do that.

If Don Rosolini had given Valentino a direct order… then it was hopeless.

If he’d just told us not to see each other, we could have cooled things off for a couple of weeks. After that, I knew I could count on Alessandra to argue my case for me. I was sure she could get me back in Don Rosolini’s good graces.

Even if the situation was worse – if Valentino had broken up with me of his own accord – that would have been horrible, but there would still be a chance we could get back together.

But this?

Marriage?!

And in Sicily?!

There was no coming back from this.

This was the end –

There was absolutely no hope.

I still tried to bargain, though.

“We can leave – we can run away together,” I said desperately.

Valentino looked at me like I was insane. “I can’t do that. I can’t go against my family.”

“Baby – ”

He grabbed my hands and held them tight. “I’m sorry. I’m more sorry for this than anything else in my entire life… but I have to do what they tell me, Caterina. I’m sorry.”

That was when I broke down.

He held me in his arms as I sobbed uncontrollably.

We stood like that for nearly five minutes, me crying against his chest…

Until there was finally a break in my tears.

Then he tilted my face back gently with his fingers so he could look me in the eyes.

“…I’m sorry,” he whispered, then kissed me gently on the lips.

It was the most tender kiss he had ever given me –

And I drank it in like wine.

Then… it was over.

“I have to go,” he whispered again…

And with one tortured look back at me, he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

For a second, I just stood there trembling –

And then I collapsed on the floor in a heap, wailing like a dying animal.

I was in more pain than I had ever felt in my life.

Amidst the agony, the truth became crystal clear to me –

A truth I had tried to ignore from the very first time we were together.

I was in love with him…

And now I had lost him forever.