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I was going to manipulate thefuckout of her.
As I was finishing up with Rachel, my cell phone rang.
When I saw it was Roberto, I hastily answered. “Are you alright?”
He sounded surprised.“Yes – why?”
“I was worried Fausto might have gotten to you.”
“No, I’m fine – what’s going on?”
I told him about Massimo, Adriano, and Lars.
“Come home,” I begged him.
“I will,”he promised.“Money or no money, I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
He made me promise to keep him updated about Venice, then hung up the phone.
109
Sofia
Before things got started in Venice, Fausto’s cell phone rang.
It was Lau calling from Hong Kong.
Fausto put him on speakerphone so I could listen in.
“Mr. Lau, what a pleasant surprise! I’m here with Sofia, whom you met in your office.”
“Ah, yes – hello, Ms. Toscani,”the older man said with his dignified British accent.
“Good news, I hope?” Fausto asked.
“I believe so. The penthouse I put your nephew in is bugged. He just talked to his twin brother a few minutes ago. Though we could only hear one side of the conversation, it appeared to be quite urgent – so urgent, in fact, that Roberto is arranging a private jet back to Italy as we speak.”
“Really,” Fausto said in alarm.
“Yes – but things have worked out in your favor, and just in the nick of time. I withheld the 50 million euros from himas long as I could, but my primary investors voted to end the situation, one way or another. They flew in this morning to meet Roberto – but it appears he’ll be leaving for home empty-handed instead.”
“Wait – does Roberto not know about the meeting with your investors?”
“No. I was trying to stall for as long as possible, and it seems I succeeded,”the old man said drily.
“Mr. Lau… is there any chance you would reconsider my original proposition to ‘take care of’ my nephew?”
I looked at Fausto in disbelief.
Did he not remember Lau saying,It’s not every day that someone propositions me in a murder-for-hire scheme like a common street thug?
Lau gave an audible sigh of disgust.“As I told you before, Mr. Rosolini, I do not wish to become involved in a Cosa Nostra war.”
I pointed at Aurelio’s video feed on the tablet and whispered, “Roberto coming back doesn’t affect this at all.”
“But why not wipe more of them out while we can?” Fausto whispered back. Then he returned to a normal speaking voice. “What if I told you, Mr. Lau, that the situation with Roberto’s brothers is about to be resolved within the next hour?”
“Really,”Lau said skeptically.