Page 146 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

Sofia

F austo and I sat in silence as we rode back in the limo to the palazzo.

His outburst at the Council had been shocking.

Even more shocking was how easily Niccolo had played him –

Like a violin.

He knew the old man’s weakness, and he’d dug in with a knife.

After a while, I figured I should say something.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

Fausto turned his head slowly to glare at me. “No. I’m not.”

“You need to talk to me and tell me what you’re thinking. I can’t advise you unless you do.”

Fausto bared his teeth like a wolf. “Thanks to that son of a whore, my credibility in the eyes of the entire Cosa Nostra has been compromised.”

I frowned. I hadn’t thought it was that damaging. “I don’t understand. So you lost control for a second – ”

“It wasn’t that,” he snarled. “Everyone in that room knew that Dario took the fall for the family. It was a huge embarrassment for me at the time, but it was forgotten… until now. Niccolo basically just shamed me in front of the entire Cosa Nostra and called my integrity into question.”

And he was 100% correct, I wanted to say, but I bit my tongue.

“Not only that,” Fausto continued, “but he planted the idea that I was either a coward or a conniving weasel with Dario… then suggested it was the same with Aurelio. Now they’re all thinking I’m too much of a pussy to admit I was the architect of the plan – or that I’m using my son as a cover-up in the most heartless way possible. ”

“Aurelio did go rogue,” I pointed out.

“THEY don’t know that!” Fausto roared. “Or at least, they don’t believe it anymore! And if they don’t believe it, they’ll begin to think I really did order the assassination on Dario and that I really did steal their money!”

Again, 100% correct.

“It’s a minor setback,” I said, trying to be reassuring. “We can salvage this.”

“How?” he asked angrily. “Are you going to devise a time machine to take back the last 30 minutes?”

“Actually, that’s not what I meant. We can use this for the overall plan – to get them before they get us.”

Fausto looked over in confusion. “How?”

“Contact Don Severino and say you want to negotiate a settlement with your nephews.”

“What?!”

“Just trust me – but we have to meet them in a neutral area. Can you persuade Don Severino to get Dario and Niccolo to meet you?”

“Why?!”

“Because I need to get word to Niccolo that I’ll go along with his plan and betray you.”

A smile crept across Fausto’s face. “Ah. Are you planning to kill them at the meeting?”

“No.” I smiled in return. “Tomorrow.”