Undressed By The Mafia God novel Chapter 366

Chapter 366: Carry Yourself More Carefully

"And please," Carol added, "carry yourself more carefully. You are carrying a baby."

Valentina let out a soft chuckle. "I thought that would be a problem for you."

"Why?" Carol asked. "My son loves you. That’s all I need to know...Say goodbye to Vee for me," she said.

With that, she turned and walked back inside. Val stood there smiling after her for a long moment.

The night was beautiful, yes—but mostly because someone had paid an obscene amount of money and employed an excellent decorating team.

The moon, frankly, was getting far too much credit. Val let out a breath and rested a hand over her stomach.

She was nineteen. Pregnant for one man. Completely in love with another. Marco, whom she had once thought of as the brother she never had. Her life, when laid out plainly, sounded insane.

Complicated was the polite word for it. A disaster was probably more accurate. And yet— Right now, the future did not look like disaster.

It looked... possible.

She felt arms wrap around her from behind. Val leaned back into him without thinking, fitting into Marco’s body as though some part of her had always known exactly where she belonged. The heat of him settled instantly along her back, his chest solid against her.

Marco lowered his head slightly, close enough that his breath brushed near her hair. "What’s on your mind?" he asked.

"Us," she replied.

"What about us?" he asked.

"It’s nothing," she said. "Just the torture we have to endure."

He understood exactly what she meant. The waiting. The rules. The child. The love they had already admitted and were now expected to carry carefully, quietly. "It’s going to be fine," he said. "Ricardo will be back."

Valentina turned then, shifting in his arms. "What if he doesn’t come back?"

"It’s up to you," he said, "to decide how long you want to wait for him." He shrugged slightly. He wasn’t pushing, wasn’t trying to steal a future simply because Don had, apparently, given him permission to pursue it without consequences.

Permission was not the point. She was. Her choice. Her timing.

"And how long," she asked softly, "are you willing to wait for me?"

"I’ll always wait for you, Valentina," he said. "Always."

Marco wanted to kiss her. God, he wanted to. The urge was there immediately, written in the way his eyes dropped briefly to her mouth before lifting again. But he stopped himself. He had already said his part. Already pushed the truth into the open. Now he was determined to follow her lead on this, no matter how badly it tore at him.

It was entirely up to her now. He had spoken to the Don. Massimo had given him leave to pursue her without fear of consequences, and that should have felt like freedom. Approval changed nothing essential.

Ricardo was still missing. And until that changed, everything between them remained suspended—wanted, undeniable, and unfinished.

So Marco kept his hands where they were, steady at her waist, and said nothing more. She had to decide for herself when to stop waiting for him.

No one could make that decision for her. At some point, she would have to choose where loyalty ended and her life began.

"Come on, love," Marco said gently. "It’s dinner time."

The way he said love did not help her think clearly at all. He took her hand and walked her back inside.

The ballroom had shifted again in their absence. The music had softened, the mingling had thinned, and now the great banquet table at the far end of the hall had become the center of gravity.

Massimo took his place first. But just before he sat, his eyes searched the room briefly for Carol.

And when he realized she had left the party, there was a slight dimming in his face. A private disappointment swallowed before it could become visible weakness.

Luca chose his place. He left his mother’s chair vacant beside him in case she returned. Veronica sat to his right, glowing and tired and still visibly a little overwhelmed by the scale of this world. Valentina took the next seat, with Marco beside her. One by one, everyone settled in after them, conversation rising and falling in low waves.

The staff arrived with the food. As expected, Nonnina appeared separately with Luca’s plate.

While he was close—while his guard was down just enough—her hand shifted to finding his belt and unbuckling it with just one hand. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

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