Page 136 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

Sofia

M y taxi got back to the palazzo near midnight.

Two of Don Severino’s foot soldiers stood guard at the front door.

“Where were you?” one asked gruffly.

“Out,” I said.

I attempted to brush past him –

But he put a hand on my arm.

“Get that off me now, or draw back a bloody stump,” I snarled.

He looked at me…

Then shook his head contemptuously and let me pass.

“I’m telling Don Severino,” he said.

“So tell him,” I sneered as I closed the door behind me.

Asshole.

Dante was waiting in the foyer. I guess he was on duty, standing guard against the guards outside.

“The boss wants to see you,” he said, motioning with me to come with him.

“Good or bad?” I asked.

“I think he wants a report on where you went.”

Of course he does.

I followed Dante up the grand stairwell to the second floor, where he took me to a bedroom and knocked.

“Come in,” Fausto’s voice said.

Dante opened the door for me to walk inside and then closed it behind me as he remained out in the hallway.

The bed was empty. Fausto was sitting in a plush chair by the window with his feet up on an ottoman, reading a newspaper in the dim light of a lamp. He was dressed in silk pajamas, slippers, and a satin dressing robe.

He didn’t look like a mafia don at all. More like a fat, pampered businessman.

“Well?” he asked as he looked up from his paper.

“Niccolo’s planning to kill you,” I said evenly.

“He’s been planning that all along,” Fausto said drily. “Anything more specific?”

“He wouldn’t tell me everything, but he laid out the broad strokes.

He thinks that the odds of them winning against you in the Council are 50/50 at best, so he’s planning to have you assassinated.

He asked me where we were staying. I told him I didn’t know the address, but it was south of the Colosseum. ”

“We’re north of the Colosseum,” Fausto said.

“Exactly.”

He chuckled. “Go on.”

“He’s going to have Lars kill you with a sniper shot.”

“And risk Severino’s wrath?!” Fausto exclaimed in shock.

“He said, ‘Ask forgiveness, not permission.’”

Fausto laughed. “Ahhhh, Machiavelli… I taught him that, you know.”

Figures.

“When is he planning to do this?” Fausto asked.

“Since I didn’t have an address, he’s thinking of tomorrow after the Council. He said he would see how it went. If he thinks the Council won’t rule in his favor, then Lars will kill you as you’re leaving the building.”

Fausto scoffed. “If he does it then, Severino will know it was my nephews!”

“Not if Lars escapes first. And Niccolo suggested he was planning to drag some skeletons out of your closet tomorrow at the Council that would suggest another party might have done it.”

Fausto stroked his beard, deep in thought. “Hm. I’ll have to come up with a workaround, then. Did he ask if I knew where you were tonight?”

“Yes. I told him you did.”

“Probably best,” Fausto conceded. “He’s excellent at spotting a lie. Did he ask you to leave me?”

“Yes, but I told him it would be better if I came back and made you believe I was loyal. That way, you wouldn’t think anything was up – the better to take you by surprise. He agreed.”

Fausto narrowed his eyes. “Are you loyal to me, consigliere?”

“I want my 20 million euros,” I said coldly, “so I’m never under another man’s thumb again.”

“Good. What did you tell Niccolo?”

“I told him I’d think about it.”

“And did you?”

“I did, for about five seconds. Then I decided I wanted the money.”

Fausto laughed. “Good. Well, we’ll have to make sure Lars can’t get at me.”

“How?”

He smirked. “I’ll think of something.”

When I left Fausto’s bedroom, Dante was standing at the end of the hallway waiting for me.

I gave him a warning look – Not here – and he accompanied me down the hall until my paranoia lessened.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“We’re going to see Dario and the others tomorrow at the Council?” he asked tensely.

“Probably.”

Dante didn’t look happy.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Fausto already tried to kill him, didn’t he?” Dante asked. “He hired that British chick who came to the place in Tuscany to take him out – right?”

“Did Fausto tell you that?”

“No, but I can put two and two together. We got her a sniper rifle to practice with. Twenty-four hours later, we were all on the run to Modena.

“Three weeks after that, Massimo killed Aurelio. Why? He wouldn’t have done it out of nowhere. But he might’ve done it as revenge for Aurelio trying to kill Dario. Or because Aurelio tried to kill Massimo first.

“Not to mention it was Dario who called the Council, not Fausto. So Fausto either tried to kill Dario, or he had Aurelio try to kill Massimo – or both.”

I looked around us, searching for eavesdroppers. Satisfied we were alone, I turned back to Dante.

“You knew we were going after Dario and the others,” I whispered. “You told me that the first time we talked.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know we’d ALREADY gone after them,” Dante snarled.

“Does that change anything?”

“It changes a hell of a lot. A couple days ago, you said you wanted to know what the rank and file thought.”

“And?”

“The rank and file think it fuckin’ blows,” he said savagely.

“What are you going to do if Fausto orders you to kill Dario and his brothers?” I asked.

Dante clenched his jaw, obviously struggling with the answer.

Finally, he said, “What else can I do? If I say ‘no,’ Fausto will just have me whacked and give my job to somebody else who’ll do what he wants.”

“What about the other foot soldiers? Do they dislike Fausto as much as you do?”

Dante glared at me, his eyes narrowed in distrust.

“On my mother’s life,” I whispered, reminding him of my oath.

Dante hesitated…

Then spilled his guts.

“They fuckin’ hate him. We didn’t in the beginning… but after jerking us around for six months and not paying us – and now this bullshit – we all hate him.”

I thought about it for a few seconds…

And then I told Dante a bit of what Niccolo had told me earlier.

Asked him a few questions, like where his loyalties would come down when the shit hit the fan…

And if he’d be willing to betray Fausto… for the right price.

What can I say?

I like to keep my options open.