PATRIARCHAL MAFIA NIGHTMARE~~~~

Valentina POV

Even if I didn’t want to admit it, I was excited to go out tonight. I told myself it was because I wanted to see Siderno, to look for possible escape routes.

It was definitely that, but it was also the chance to get out of the castle. I hated being cooped up there, and a night in a fancy dress, at a fancy restaurant, sounded like heaven.

That was how far I’d fallen in just a few days. Dimitri was chatty during the drive into town, pointing out places and things, sharing funny stories about his childhood. The more I was around him, the less he seemed like a hardened gangster like his father.

Dimitri was thoughtful and smart, playful and entertaining, basically everything Vincenzo was not. If they didn’t look so much alike, I wouldn’t guess they were related.

At the restaurant, everyone fawned over us like we were Kate Middleton and Prince William. I supposed we were sort of royalty, considering Dimitri ’s last name.

We were seated in a private room, the table covered w