Page 51 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

Niccolo

T he morning after Adriano’s wedding, things went from bad…

To worse…

To absolutely terrible.

It was a litany of horrors, one after the other.

First was the news that Massimo and the Widow had been attacked by mercenaries in Venice.

It stunned me – but it was equally bewildering. After all that effort to get the Cosa Nostra to ostracize us, Fausto had squandered it by doing something reckless. Now the other families would realize we hadn’t killed the Agrellas.

Despite the stupidity of the attack, if it had worked, it could have been a disaster for us.

But it hadn’t worked, thanks to Massimo.

Sofia – is this your first monumental fuck-up?

I barely had time to contemplate that question because then came the attempt on Dario’s life.

That was a terrifying moment.

One moment, we were standing in the kitchen, talking about Venice –

And the next, my brother was nearly killed.

Only Lars’s quick action saved Dario from having his brains pasted across the wall.

While Lars pursued the would-be assassin, the rest of us huddled in the panic room.

That was when I got the call that our family’s jet had been partially blown up. We would have to get Massimo out of Venice another way.

Then Valentino came in, stinking of pussy. I knew he’d been banging Caterina, the girl who worked in the kitchen, despite my orders to leave her alone.

Val acted like a petulant child and demanded to go play soldier with Lars.

Despite the danger, I kicked him out after he intentionally frightened Alessandra and Bianca with talk about bomb scares.

Fuckin’ prick.

And then… the worst blow of all happened.

“FAUSTO WHAT?!” I screamed.

“He’s stolen almost all our money,” my twin said as Dario stared at him in disbelief.

Roberto had pulled me and Dario into a room away from Bianca, Alessandra, and Adriano.

Thank God he had, because I was about to have a coronary. If Adriano had heard the news, he might have gone on a murderous rampage.

It was devastating: fraudulent wire transfers had drained all our bank accounts to the tune of 28.3 million euros.

The only money remaining was in some Bitcoin accounts, and that was only worth about 5 million euros – enough to last us a few weeks.

Worse, there was no way to get the money back, at least not quickly.

Roberto believed Fausto had blackmailed or extorted bank employees into executing the transfers. Once the cash went out, it was likely funneled into offshore accounts and was completely unrecoverable. Our only alternative was to sue the banks, and that could take months.

Roberto had removed Fausto as a co-signer when Papa died. However, Fausto still knew which banks held our accounts – which was how he had targeted them so precisely.

I initially got furious, but Roberto reminded me that we’d only found out about Fausto’s treachery last night.

I couldn’t exactly blame him for something I had failed to figure out until it was too late.

We were now in a war with our uncle –

And we were broke.

And whether you were a nation, an army, or a mafia family –

If you were broke, you were going to lose the war.

However, no matter how stunned or angry I got…

Professionally speaking, I was in awe.

Impressive, Sofia.

VERY impressive.

For a moment, I thought we were done for –

But Roberto came up with a plan.

Months before, with Dario’s blessing, Roberto had invested 50 million euros in a global gaming syndicate out of Hong Kong. International casinos, online gambling, that sort of thing.

The idea was that the revenue we earned from the investment would be enough to get us out of ‘the business’ within five years. No more political corruption, no more crime. That 50 million was supposed to be our ticket to legitimacy.

Roberto thought he had a chance of getting it back… but he insisted on going to Hong Kong to meet the head of the syndicate face to face.

Dario said no, it was too dangerous –

Which started a back-and-forth between them.

While they argued, I remembered something I’d seen last night.

Sofia had attended poker tournaments in Paris, London, and Amsterdam…

And she was registered for one in Macau…

Which was happening in the next day or two.

“How far is Hong Kong from Macau?” I asked Roberto.

My twin looked at me in surprise, like What the fuck does THAT have to do with anything? “They’re practically right next to each other, just across the bay. Why?”

Hmmm…

“Give me and Dario a minute alone, will you?” I said.

“Whatever you’re going to say, why can’t you say it in front of me?” he asked in irritation.

“Just give us a minute, alright?”

“Fine,” Roberto grumbled, then went out into the hallway.

“What was that all about?” Dario asked once the door was closed.

As I talked, I pulled out my cell phone to check something.

“I think there’s a chance Fausto’s consigliere might be going to Macau.” I found the poker site in my search history and clicked the list of players. “Aha – yes – she’s registered for a poker tournament at the El Dorado Macau, which starts tomorrow.”

“What?!” Dario exclaimed. “Why would she do that?!”

“That’s what she was doing when Fausto recruited her.”

Dario looked at me like I was insane.

I hadn’t told him about the poker part yet, and I didn’t want to bring up vibrating anal beads, so I just said, “It’s a long story.”

“But they could potentially finish us off in days – why the hell would she go to Macau?!”

“Because Fausto’s a cheap motherfucker and won’t pay her till we’re dead. She’ll go there for the money, or to spite him – maybe both.”

I explained my reasoning, given her participation in past tournaments.

“But now that they’re executing the attack, it makes no sense,” Dario protested.

“I agree, but it’s worth a shot. We have to send Roberto to Hong Kong anyway, so I might as well tag along.”

Dario shook his head. “Given the circumstances, I don’t think it’s wise to let him go.”

“I would ordinarily agree, but we’re out of options. We need the money. And if he thinks he can only get it back by begging them in person, I trust his judgment.”

“And you – you’d abandon your duties as consigliere to try to seduce this woman?” Dario said coldly.

“No, I’ll be acting within my duties as consigliere in trying to seduce her.

If I win her over to our side, we have an incredibly powerful ally, and we deprive Fausto of his single greatest asset.

Besides, it’s not like I’m a physical powerhouse like Lars.

My strength is the advice I give you, and I can do that over a cell phone just as easily as I can in person. ”

“And what if this woman says no?”

I paused.

I didn’t want to answer, but I knew I had to.

“Then I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave Hong Kong alive,” I said quietly.

Dario looked at me sideways. “Are you sure you’re capable of that?”

No.

“I’ll have to be,” I replied.

“Realistically, what are the odds she’s there?”

I shrugged. “Probably only 25%. Maybe less.”

“And what are the odds you can sway her?”

“Fifty-fifty.”

He gave me a look.

“Fifty-fifty,” I repeated indignantly.

“So, combined, you have a 10% chance of success. Maybe.”

“That’s better than what we have now,” I shot back.

Dario looked at me grumpily. “I hope you know what you’re doing, consigliere.”

“So do I,” I said. “So do I.”