Page 122 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

F ortune had turned in our favor, and the good news kept piling up.

Massimo woke up in the hospital that morning –

And proposed to Lucia just a few minutes later.

Before he did, he asked the Widow for her approval. Thank God.

I was afraid the old lady might refuse him – there were better long-term alliances to be made in the Cosa Nostra if she was trying to be strategic about it –

But Signora Fioretti was incredibly fond of Massimo for rescuing her granddaughter. She beamed and said yes.

That was when I finally saw the Lucia that Massimo had fallen in love with.

He barely got out the question Will you marry me when Lucia screamed out ‘Yes!’ and kissed him passionately.

I wondered with an ache in my heart if Sofia would have ever displayed that level of enthusiasm towards me.

I guess I’d never know.

However, I pushed her out of my mind. Everything else was going great –

Until the subject of Valentino’s impending marriage in Sicily came up.

Apparently, Alessandra was back to icing out Dario over the matter. The cold shoulder she gave her husband was positively Arctic.

I knew I was going to have to help Dario smooth it over –

But there was another conversation I had to have first.

I walked around, trying to find a quiet place to make a call. I finally settled on the hospital’s chapel, which was deserted at the moment.

A picture of the Virgin Mary with the Christ child hung on the wall at the front.

“Wish me luck,” I muttered to them, then hit a button on the screen.

Don Vicari answered. A moment later, he brought Valentino to the phone.

“He’s fine!” I told my youngest brother. “Massimo just woke up and he’s going to be fine!”

“Thank God,” he said weakly.

I gave him the details, then decided to play the sympathy card with Vicari. “Given the circumstances, can we postpone the wedding?”

“No,” the asshole said.

“Don Vicari, it’s only five days away. I’m not sure Massimo will have recovered enough to attend – ”

“Then let him stay in the hospital.”

Seriously, fuck this guy.

We argued back and forth, with me putting forward every reasonable argument I could think of, but Vicari refused to budge.

Valentino must have gotten tired of the back-and-forth because he butted in and asked, “What about Roberto?”

“Good news there, as well,” I said, though I was still pissed at Vicari. “He’s returning from Hong Kong around 8 o’clock tonight.”

“Did he – was he successful?”

Translation:

Did he get the 50 million euros back?

“VERY successful,” I said with a huge smile.

I should’ve anticipated what came next, considering who I was talking to –

But in my joy over Massimo and Roberto, I let my guard down and got blindsided.

“I want to call off the wedding,” Valentino announced.

“Uh – what?”

“Everybody’s alive. We got what we needed from Hong Kong. There’s no need to go through with the wedding anymore.”

OH SHIT –

“Don Vicari – may I speak to my brother in private?” I asked, unconsciously forcing a smile as though he was there in the room watching me.

“No,” the bastard growled.

Valentino started in on him. “I don’t want to marry your daughter. You know that. And she doesn’t want to marry me.”

OH SHIT, OH SHIT –

“Don Vicari – ”

“Shut up, consigliere,” Vicari snarled.

Okay –

FUCK this guy.

Somehow, though, I managed to bite my tongue and not say anything that would start a war with the Sicilians.

Vicari and Valentino went at each other, with the mafia don being just as big an asshole to Val as Vicari had been to me a moment before.

The difference was that Valentino was too stupid to know when to quit. He kept antagonizing Vicari more and more until the don said mockingly to me, “If you want out of the deal, consigliere, fine – but you’re going to be down one brother after I put a bullet in this one’s head.”

If I had been the don of the family, I would have told Vicari exactly how hard he should fuck himself right then and there.

Except… then he would’ve killed Valentino.

And as much as my little brother enraged me sometimes, I still loved him.

I had to keep reminding myself of that.

Plus, we still had Fausto to content with.

I didn’t need this bullshit right now.

So I played the diplomat, even though I would’ve loved nothing more than to shoot Vicari between the eyes.

“The wedding will proceed as planned,” I said coldly.

Val immediately started to whine. “Nic – ”

“Valentino, when I left you in Catania, I told you to do your duty to your family. THIS IS NOT DOING YOUR DUTY TO YOUR FAMILY.”

“But – ”

“You WILL marry Don Vicari’s daughter, and there will be NO more discussion about it. Am I understood?”

“Fuck you, Nic.”

OH.

NO.

HE.

DIDN’T.

This little fucking PISSANT –

Disrespecting me?

In front of another family?

He’d basically just committed the unforgivable sin.

In fact, if it had been a foot soldier who’d said it, I’d have immediately executed him.

If we were all back home in Tuscany, there might have been another body in the olive groves along with Lazaro.

But if Val wasn’t going to respect me –

I knew who he would respect.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go get Dario.”

The little shit panicked at that.

“What?! No – wait – ”

“Since you won’t listen to me, I think it’s time we involve him.”

All my brothers loved and respected Dario, but Valentino idolized him.

Val had only been 17 when Dario went to prison.

During that impressionable time, Dario became a legendary figure in Val’s eyes: a complete badass who made an incredible sacrifice for the family – and quite possibly the ultimate sacrifice if our enemies had their way.

To Valentino, Dario was the definition of what it meant to be a man.

And to risk being shamed by the very person he held in such high regard…

It was too much for him.

“ALRIGHT!” he yelled. “Alright, goddammit, I’ll marry her! Okay?! I’ll marry her.”

I waited a moment to give the impression I was still willing to involve Dario…

And then I hissed, “Don’t you EVER disrespect me again. Am I understood?”

“…yes.”

His spirit was broken.

That was enough –

And then Don Vicari just had to pour salt in the wound.

“Make him apologize to me,” the asshole gloated.

I’d heard quite enough from the Sicilian peanut gallery today.

“No,” I said coldly.

Vicari sounded both shocked and furious. “What did you say?”

“You’ve won your battle,” I snarled. “You get to marry your daughter off and secure our participation in your future expansion, all at my brother’s expense. No – I will NOT require him to apologize.”

Now Vicari was enraged. “I’m warning you, consigliere – ”

“Or what? You’ll call off the wedding? We both know THAT’S not going to happen. You’d never jeopardize your plans. Or maybe you’re threatening me with killing my brother? If it hasn’t been made obvious to you yet, I’m not terribly fond of him at the moment.”

I put fire and brimstone into my next words.

“But if you DO harm Valentino in ANY way, rest assured – as soon as we’re finished with Fausto, we’ll come knocking on YOUR door. In fact, maybe we’ll deal with you FIRST, just for the hell of it.

“Trust me – you do NOT want that.

“So no, you’re not getting an apology from Valentino, from me, or anyone else. Either continue with the wedding, or don’t. But that’s the end of our business today.”

There was a long silence.

Part of me wondered if I’d overplayed my hand…

And if the next thing I heard would be a gunshot.

It wasn’t.

“Fine,” Vicari seethed. “Our business is complete.”

And then he hung up.

“Goddamn motherfucking son of a whore,” I snarled, then turned around –

Only to see a little old grandmother sitting in a chair at the back of the chapel.

She stared at me with eyes wide as saucers.

“Sorry,” I said to the old lady.

I turned to the picture of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus.

“Sorry,” I said.

Then I crossed myself and hastily walked out of the chapel.