Page 60 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

Niccolo

I went down to the steakhouse and got a booth. The whole thing about dinner hadn’t just been a ruse; I was actually hungry. I hadn’t eaten for hours… and if everything went according to plan, I had a long night ahead of me.

Best to keep my strength up… along with other things.

And then inside her shortly after that.

I scanned the wine list and found a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, an excellent red from Italy. Then I ordered a filet mignon rare.

When the wine came, I sipped at it and thought about Sofia.

She’d known that I was coming to Hong Kong. She hadn’t even bothered to pretend otherwise, which was smart on her part. I would’ve known immediately and doubted every word out of her mouth from that point on.

If she knew, that meant my family either had a mole in our organization or the house was bugged.

I’d made a big to-do about Fausto having contacts in private jet companies, but I didn’t believe it. A bug or a mole was a thousand times more likely.

The room where I’d told Dario about Macau was such an unusual place for us to talk, I didn’t believe it could possibly be bugged.

Which suggested a mole.

Did they overhear us talking?

Or did they learn about our plans after we left for Hong Kong?

If that were the case, the mole could be anyone who worked for us: foot soldiers, administrative people, kitchen staff…

Christ.

It was a fucking headache trying to untangle the possibilities.

I was going to have to go to extraordinary lengths to root out the truth when I got home.

What bothered me most was that Sofia wasn’t surprised my brother was coming to meet me at the casino.

In fact, she’d accidentally revealed that she knew it was Roberto.

I’d said, My brother’s heading here right now.

A second later she’d asked, So even your twin brother doesn’t know about me?

I hadn’t mentioned that the brother in question was my twin.

Which meant she knew Roberto was in Hong Kong.

And if she already knew that, then she probably knew why …

Which meant she’d probably gone to see Lau on her own.

It made perfect sense.

Sofia hadn’t been playing in the tournament, and it would be idiotic for Fausto to let her go during such a crucial phase of his plans.

So…

Most likely…

She knew why we were going to Hong Kong…

And she was here to try to sabotage us.

After all, if we got the money, we could continue waging war against Fausto.

But if we didn’t, things would end pretty fucking quickly.

Roberto had told us it would be difficult to get the 50 million back from Lau…

But it might have just become well-nigh impossible.

Still, all that was conjecture.

I would try to tease some information out of her later that evening…

After I did a few ‘other things’ with her beforehand.

I was nearly done with my steak when Roberto and Han showed up.

My brother sat down opposite me.

Mr. Han, after hesitating for a moment, sat down next to Roberto.

“So, how did the meeting go?” I asked cheerfully.

“Nothing’s been determined, so I’ll be staying in Hong Kong for at least another day,” Roberto said.

Shit.

Then Han added, “Probably longer.”

GOD DAMMIT.

If Lau’s right-hand man knew Roberto wasn’t going to get the money anytime soon, then the fix really was in.

Sometimes I hated being right.

Roberto looked surprised. Poor boy hadn’t yet figured out how badly he was screwed.

Han mentioned two men named Gota and Xi, and Roberto said glumly, “Sounds like I might be staying in Hong Kong for a few days.”

“I’m flying out tomorrow morning,” I said, “so if this isn’t resolved by then – ”

“It won’t be,” Han said.

Motherfucker –

Was he taunting me, or was he just an asshole?

“Then I’ll have to leave you here by yourself,” I said to Roberto.

“I’ll manage,” he replied. “Did you find what you wanted here?”

He knew I’d come here to the El Dorado for a reason –

But I had no intention of revealing what had happened.

Especially not in front of Han.

“I did,” I said. “An excellent filet mignon. I recommend the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo to go with it. I swear, they have better Italian wines on the menu here than most restaurants back in Florence.”

“By the way,” Roberto said, “we’ll be staying at the Continental Hotel in Hong Kong. Mr. Lau offered us the penthouse suite.”

“Sounds lovely,” I replied, “but I already booked a room here.”

A lie, but Roberto didn’t need to know where I’d be spending the night.

He stared at me in shock. “You’re not coming back to Hong Kong?”

“Not tonight.”

“Why not?”

“I have other business to attend to. I hate to be rude, gentlemen, but I must take my leave of you. Would you cover my bill?”

I could have paid with the poker chips I still had in my pockets, but I was hoping to stick Han with the bill. The least the bastard could do after stabbing us in the back.

“…uh… sure,” Roberto muttered.

“Excellent. If I don’t see you before I leave, I’ll see you back home. Give me a call and keep me updated on your progress.”

“…alright…”

“Mr. Han – a pleasure.” I didn’t offer my hand since he’d refused it earlier when we’d met at the airport. Plus, now I knew he was the enemy. “Arrivederci.”

I walked out of the restaurant and disappeared into the gamblers and tourists crowding the casino floor.

I had another very important meeting to attend to.

I checked my watch.

Seven minutes to spare before my hour was up.

Perfect.