Page 41 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

Sofia

W hen I reached Fausto, he was propelling his son forward with a hand on his back.

Aurelio, predictably, was being a little bitch.

“Let me go! I can kick all their fucking asses!”

“Oh yes,” Fausto said sardonically. “All seven at once, and one of them Special Forces. I’m quite sure.”

“I don’t need you to – ”

“With everything that’s going on, you chose now to pick a fight?”

“I – ”

“Be quiet!” Fausto hissed, then turned as I walked up next to him. “There you are – did you – ”

He stopped talking as soon as he saw my expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Wait until we’re in the car,” I murmured.

“If Sofia hadn’t been humiliating me by dry-humping Niccolo – ” Aurelio complained.

“BE. QUIET,” Fausto whisper-shouted at his son.

Thank God Aurelio shut up.

At least until we got inside the Rolls, anyway.

“What happened?” Fausto asked as soon as the doors shut.

“They know,” I said. “Or they will, shortly.”

Fausto frowned. “Know what?”

“When Bianca saw Aurelio in the receiving line, she acted like she’d seen a ghost. I think she must have seen him back in Florence and somehow made the connection between us and Mezzasalma.”

Fausto’s eyes widened. “What?! Impossible!”

“I’m telling you – ”

“I never even saw her in Florence!” Aurelio shouted indignantly.

“You might not have seen her, but she undoubtedly saw you.”

“Fuck you – that’s not – ”

“QUIET!” Fausto roared, and Aurelio was cowed into silence. Then Fausto turned back to me. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

I described precisely what Bianca had done when she saw Aurelio.

“The only reason she would’ve reacted like that,” I said, “was because she was terrified of him. And there’s only one reason I can think of that would explain her terror.

I’ll bet you she’s already told Adriano, and he’s telling Dario right now, and all of our plans are about to get blown out of the water. ”

Fausto slumped back in his seat, a stunned look on his face. “God damn it…”

“This is bullshit!” Aurelio shouted. “Sofia doesn’t know any of this – she’s making shit up! She just wants you to think she’s smarter than she is!”

I’d had enough.

“You know,” I said savagely, “you remind me of the fools running the chess tournaments. They couldn’t stand a woman being smarter than them, either.”

“FUCK YOU!” Aurelio yelled.

“Aurelio – shut up,” Fausto said quietly.

“IT’S NOT MY FAULT! SHE’S – ”

Without warning, Fausto suddenly hauled off and slapped his son.

Smack!

I gasped as Aurelio’s head whipped to one side.

“FOR CHRIST’S SAKE,” Fausto roared, “SHUT THE FUCK UP SO I CAN THINK!”

Aurelio sat there, his hand to his reddening cheek, and stared at his father in shock. “You – you hit me – ”

“I’ll do a hell of a lot more than that if you don’t shut the fuck up!”

Fausto tapped on the wooden screen between us and the driver. It rolled down electronically like a car window.

“Yes, sir?” the driver asked.

“Hand me the blue phone,” Fausto instructed.

The driver passed back a blue cell phone – a burner, I was assuming.

Fausto opened the lock screen as the wooden screen between us and the driver slid back into place.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Playing the ace up my sleeve,” Fausto said as the phone rang.

A man’s voice answered on speakerphone. “Hello?”

“There’s going to be an important meeting in the parlor in the next 10 minutes. I need to hear what happens.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Keep me on the line while you do it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Fausto put the phone on mute so the man on the other end couldn’t hear us.

“Who’s that?” I asked, stunned.

“One of their foot soldiers who’s still loyal to me.”

“A mole,” I realized.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” I snapped.

“Or me?!” Aurelio asked, sounding almost wounded.

“I couldn’t take any chance of him being burned,” Fausto replied unapologetically, “so no one but me could know.”

“Who is it?” Aurelio demanded.

“You don’t need to know.”

Aurelio looked like he was going to throw a fit. I spoke before he could start. “What’s the mole going to do?”

“Place a tiny microphone in the study, in a spot I prepared before I left. The mic is linked by Bluetooth to his phone. Even though he’ll be outside the room, we’ll hear exactly what they say.”

“What happens if they find the microphone?”

“They won’t, because he’ll remove it immediately after the meeting.”

“What if they check before the meeting?”

Fausto smirked. “That thought hasn’t even entered their heads yet.”

A crackling noise came from the phone, like someone rubbing the surface of a microphone.

“It’s done,” the man whispered –

Followed by receding footsteps and a door closing in the distance.

We waited breathlessly…

But nothing happened.

“Wow,” Aurelio said sarcastically. “So dramatic.”

Fausto shot him a hateful look.

Aurelio shut up again.

“Maybe they’re not going to meet in that room,” I said.

“We always met in that room,” Fausto said. “Give it a minute – it’ll take a while for everyone to arrive.”

“In the meantime, we should discuss what we’re going to do,” I said.

“If they really do know, then we have to move the hit up to tomorrow morning,” Fausto said. “Actually, whether they know or not, we might as well do it anyway. Our assassin is ready, so – ”

“We should send in Wagner NOW!” Aurelio insisted. “Before the wedding is over!”

“No,” Fausto said. “I told you, I can’t risk the rest of the Cosa Nostra turning against me.”

“If there aren’t any survivors left to tell them – ”

“You fool!” Fausto snapped. “Think about it: it will take hours for Wagner to arrive. They’ll have to approach the mansion on the ground or come in via helicopter.

Either way, Dario and the others will hear them coming and retreat inside the house.

Wagner is for when we draw them out into the open, not for an assault on a fucking castle. ”

Aurelio looked at his father with a little more hatred but kept quiet.

“What about the financial piece of the puzzle?” I asked.

“It’s ready to go,” Fausto said. “I’ll put it into action as soon as we confirm my nephews know what’s going on.”