Mafia Kings: Valentino: Dark Mafia Romance Series #6

I watched nervously as Niccolo and Valentino walked off. I was incredibly scared for him.

I tried not to be a busybody –

But I kept glancing over at the alleyway.

They kept their voices down, but from their body language, it looked like they were going to come to blows.

“Excuse me,” Don Rosolini announced as he stood up, then strolled towards the alleyway.

Alessandra gave me a reassuring look – It’ll be alright – but my heart was racing.

When Niccolo stormed out of the alleyway, I couldn’t take it anymore.

I hurried over to my new brother-in-law –

The man who had always terrified me.

He stopped short when he saw me coming towards him, and confusion replaced some of the anger on his face.

“Signor Rosolini,” I pleaded, “I know it’s not my place – ”

“You don’t have to call me ‘Signor Rosolini’ anymore,” he said with a darkly humorous smile. “I’m your brother-in-law now.”

I swallowed. “…Niccolo…”

It felt very strange to call him that to his face, but I soldiered on.

“I know you’re very angry at him, but it was my fault,” I said. “I was the one who followed him to Sicily. I was the one who – ”

“You weren’t the only one involved, though, were you,” Niccolo asked sardonically as he glanced over at the table.

I followed his gaze to Alessandra, and my heart skipped a beat.

He’d probably figured it out long ago, but still –

“Sir – uh, Niccolo – I’m asking you to place the blame on me and me alone,” I pleaded. “It was my fault. Please don’t punish anyone else for what I did.”

Niccolo looked down at me in silence…

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. The only options. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t.

“But what I didn’t intend 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.noveldrama

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 absolutely exquisite taste 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.