Valentina Cavallaro

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**Valentina Cavallaro** (née **Aresco**) (born July 1991) is a main character in the Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles, and is a minor character in the Mafia Standalone, Fragile Longing, Camorra Chronicles, and Sins of the Fathers. She is the daughter of Giovanni and Livia Aresco. She is also the wife of Dante Cavallaro and is the mother to Anna, Leonas and Beatrice.

## Appearance and Character

In Bound by Honor, her cousin Aria describes her as tall and graceful, with dark brown, almost black hair and eyes that were the darkest green imaginable. She is described as having long legs and a wasp waist, insinuated by Dante to have a body men would be on their knees for.

## Early Life

Aria mentions in Bound by Honor, when Valentina attends her wedding in New York, that her first husband, Antonio, had died six months prior in an altercation with the Russian Bratva.

## Born in Blood

### Bound by Honor

She traveled from Chicago to New York with her parents to attend her cousin Aria's wedding festivities. Before her bridal shower, she arrived a bit early so that she could talk to Aria alone. Valentina, with Umberto behind her, knocked on her door. Aria asks Romero to wait outside as bridal showers are no place for men, which he obliges, and Umberto sits back in his chair outside the door.

Valentina notes that Aria looks sad, to which she replies that so does she. Valentina tells her that her father, Giovanni, wants her to remarry. Aria is surprised, noting that it's so soon after Antonio's death, and Valentina says that it wouldn't be right away, but that apparently Giovanni is already talking to someone. Aria asks if she can say no since she has already been married, but Valentina says that since they had no children, she is deemed too young to stay alone. She continues to say that she had to move back in with her family at her father's insistence so that she would be protected. They both agree that it is what it is, in their world at least. Valentina comments that she met Luca the day before and says that he is imposing, to which Aria adds terrifying.

### Bound by Duty

Valentina is engaged to Dante Cavallaro and a few weeks later they get married. She really wanted the marriage to work because she was excited to have a real relationship even though she had been married before, her former husband Antonio was actually gay and they were husband and wife in name only. Despite her attempts with Dante, the memory of Carla, his former wife, continued to torment him and made it impossible for Valentina to move forward in her relationship with him.

She does not give up her marriage to Dante and after having some conversations they end up consummating their marriage. Their relationship becomes more intimate and Valentina begins to have feelings for him. Four months after getting married, she becomes pregnant. When she tells Dante, he asks her if the baby is his because he and Carla were never able to have children. Valentina feels humiliated and tells him that Carla must have lied to him about being fertile and that if he doesn't plan to give her the chance for a real marriage it's over.

Shortly after, Antonio, who was actually alive, turns to Valentina. He had only intended his death so he could be with his lover but he had already gotten bored of that life and wanted to return (something he could not do because he had fled and that was betrayal). Antonio gives Valentina poison for Dante, but she refuses to kill her husband because she loves him, so she tells Dante everything and together they set a trap for Antonio.

Valentina blames herself for Antonio's death and Dante finds her crying in the shower and tells her that she did what she had to do to protect him and he would never forget that. After that, Dante kisses Val and things seem to be fixed between them, but he avoids talking about the baby.

After an afternoon of shopping with Bibi and Ines, Valentina begins to feel unwell, Dante takes her to the hospital, and the doctor tells them that the baby is fine and that Valentina just needs to stay in bed, they also discover that it is a girl. Dante promises to be a better husband for Val.

Six weeks later, their daughter, Anna, is born by cesarean section. Valentina is very happy and Dante promises to always protect them.

### Bound by Temptation

At the Christmas party organized by the Scuderi, Liliana sees Valentina and Aria chatting. At the end of the book, it is mentioned that Aria tried to contact Valentina to find out about Fabiano (after the war broke out between the Outfit and the Famiglia), but was unsuccessful.

### Bound by Love

When Aria travels to Chicago to see her brother Fabiano, she asks Valentina to help her, so Val agrees to meet her at a restaurant, but they are interrupted by Dante.

### Bound by the Past

Dante tells Valentina for the first time that he loves her. They are completely in love and love each other. Three years after Anna, they have their second child, whom they name Leonas.

#### *Years later...*

Everything seems to be going well in their family until Valentina's brother, Orazio, betrays the Outfit and flees to the Famiglia with his girlfriend Lucy, and the Camorra kidnaps Serafina, Dante's niece, in exchange they give them Rocco Scuderi, Dante accepts and they make an exchange.

Valentina, who was considering becoming the Outfit's Consigliere, turned down the position because she wouldn't know how to deal with situations like that.

She decides that Anna needs a bodyguard so she entrusts the job to Santino Bianchi, and also in her search for possible allies she proposes to Dante to ally with politicians and they commit Anna to Maximo Clark's son.

Serafina, who becomes pregnant with Remo Falcone's twins, decides to go to the Camorra, leaving her family devastated. Valentina thinks that it was Serafina's decision to leave and that it is no one's fault, but Ines, furious, throws them out of her house. Shortly after, the Miones and the Cavallaros settle their differences and become a family again.

A year later, Valentina gave birth to her third child, a girl named Beatrice.

## Camorra Chronicles

### Twisted Pride

Valentina tries to be a support for the Mione family after the Camorra kidnaps her niece Serafina.

## Mafia Standalones

### Fragile Longing

Valentina appears several times in the book as a secondary character. She is present at parties and family moments accompanied by her husband.

## Sins of the Fathers

### By Virtue I Fall

Valentina may feel that Anna's engagement to Clifford Clark was a mistake and tries to talk to her, but Anna is determined to go ahead with the wedding. When her daughter has to say yes, she realizes that Anna cannot marry so at the same time Anna says no, Val raises her voice and says "she won't."

Later, Anna confesses that she loves Santino. Valentina is a little upset because Anna is keeping secrets, but she is also happy that her daughter has found love.

## Appearances

* *Bound by Honor*
* *Bound by Duty* (protagonist)
* *Bound by Temptation*
* *Bound by Love*
* *Bound by the Past* (protagonist)
* *Twisted Pride*
* *Fragile Longing*
* *By Virtue I Fall*

## Trivia

* She plays the piano. She learned to play when she was a little girl.
* After a trip to Paris for Valentine's Day, Dante decided to make a Valentine's trip their tradition as it gives them couple time.
	+ For Valentine's Day 2023 their trip took them to Vienna.

## References

1. ↑ *Bound by the Past*
2. ↑ Cora Reilly's 02/14/2023 Newsletter