Page 70 of A Madness of Crows

Just a minute. A few minutes of peace.

“I did. You don’t want to know what he said.” Another yelp as my shot cracks the top of a boulder, and we begin to follow.

“If it was about the stripper, I didn’t know she was my cousin.”

I stop to stare at him.

He takes another drag on his cigarette. “Oh. You were joking.”

Distraction. I embrace it, grateful for a single moment of empty banter.

“I was. But now I really want to know about the stripper.”

Day 75 – Dante

“I’m getting a little bored of this, V’Arezzo.”

My every breath is harsh, as I glare at the phone sitting on the desk in front of me. “I’d like to make a deal.”

Matteo sniggers. “By all means, go ahead.”

My eyes travel around the familiar office. Nothing much has changed. The floor-length windows still show the same familiar sights of the strip. The walls are still a deep blue, the large, gilded mirror opposite reflecting my strained face back at me.

My father’s belongings still sit on this desk. This room ishis. A photograph of my mother sits, carefully placed in my line of sight. An old, curled photograph of me is tucked into the edge of the frame.

I grew up here, watching my father manage hundreds of men and thousands of miles of territory. Learning from him. My whole life, working toward this. To become the V’Arezzocapo, to take our family forward, toserve.

God, I wish you were here.

Although he would probably shoot me in the head himself for what I’m about to do.

“Everything.” My voice is hoarse. “I will give you everything. Every asset, every dollar in our accounts. The entire V’Arezzo fortune, the casinos, the clubs. All of it, signed over and in your name by the end of the day.”

My desperation bleeds through the line.

There’s silence. It stretches on for so long that I check the connection.

“Well,” he says finally. “This is a surprise, V’Arezzo. I must confess that I didn’t think of you as a family man.”

Then you don’t know me at all.I bite back the words, waiting.

I have nothing else to give, but this.

He hums. “Tempting… but no. I find that I rather like having you on my leash. And I’m becoming quite attached to your daughter. Sweet little thing. Quiet. She’s crawling now, you know. And such pretty eyes she has, too.”

My throat burns. “Please.”

I will beg. Ihavebegged, every day. In messages, voicemails, letters, visits to the Corvo house, only to be blocked at the gates. At the Cosa Nostra meeting, on my fucking knees as he laughed in my face.

I will get down on my knees as many times as I need to. Flagellate myself if I have to.

Whatever he fuckingwants.

“Take me instead, then. I’m a valuable hostage in my own right, Matteo. Lock me up, do whatever the fuck you want. Just give herback.”

“Now, then.” His voice is chiding. Mocking. “This is why you’re in your current position, V’Arezzo. Sentimentality will get you nowhere, not in our world. Take it from me.”

My phone beeps. “A gift for you, since I’m feeling particularly benevolent today. Don’t call me again, or the gift will look a little different next time.”