Undressed By The Mafia God novel Chapter 428

Chapter 428: I Cannot Lie To You

"I don’t know what to say, Val," he admitted quietly. "I cannot lie to you."

She cried harder at his honesty. Maybe some part of her had wanted a lie. A beautiful one. A soft one. Nothing will happen to me. I will always come home. We will be fine. She wanted him to say it with enough confidence that she could pretend to believe him.

"I would have been dead long before this," he said, "so my life isn’t mine. It’s owed to another."

Val’s fingers tightened in his shirt.

"But you..." He pulled back just enough to look at her face, wiping at her tears with his thumb. "You give me the happiness that had been missing in it."

Her lips trembled.

"And I am sorry," he continued, "that I cannot assure you of a long life. I swore to protect Luca with my life, and I intend to keep that promise until my last breath."

Val slowly lifted her head, eyes wet and wounded. "I don’t factor into this?" she asked.

"Of course you do," Marco said quickly. "You do, sweetie... you do." His hands came up to cradle her face, thumbs brushing away tears that kept falling no matter how gently he wiped them. Seeing Val like this made him feel terrible. Valentina was always so strong, so ready to fight the world. She could make him feel ten feet tall with one smile.

"I’d give up my life for you in a heartbeat," he said.

Val shook her head immediately, her face crumpling all over again. "I don’t want you to. I don’t want you to give up your life!" she cried. "I want you to be here with me and grow old with me and be frustrated with me, and complain about me and... and..." Her sobs swallowed the rest.

Marco pulled her back into his arms, holding her carefully. "Hey... hey..."

She clung to him like she was afraid he might disappear if she loosened her grip. "I don’t want heroic," she choked out against his shirt. "I don’t want brave dead Marco. I want exasperated living Marco."

Despite the ache in his chest, a rough little laugh escaped him. "Exasperated?"

"Yes," she sobbed.

Marco held her tighter. "How about I make you a promise of your own?"

Val sniffled against him.

"How about I promise to be careful," he said. "To be even more careful?"

She lifted her head slightly. "You mean it?"

"I mean it."

"No unnecessary risks."

"No unnecessary risks." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I’ll always call. I’ll always update you about my whereabouts when I can. I’ll come home whenever I can. And when I cannot tell you everything, I’ll at least tell you enough so you don’t sit here imagining the worst."

Val nodded into his chest.

"We’re gonna be okay," he assured her.

She nodded again, though her hands still held his shirt tightly.

"Come get some sleep," Marco whispered, guiding her gently upstairs. "I’m sorry I kept you up."

"I promise not to worry so much," she whispered.

"Thank you," Marco said.

Valentina sniffed, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand as he guided her toward the stairs.

Marco’s arm stayed around her waist, his body angled toward hers so she could lean on him as they walked.

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you mocking me?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

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