Page 87 of Niccolo (Mafia Kings #7)

I called Vicari back and accepted his terms.

He agreed to send his private jet to our estate’s private airfield, pick up me and Valentino, and fly us to Sicily.

Once that was settled, I baited my trap for the mole.

I made a list of every foot soldier who worked for us.

Then I looked at a map of Sicily and wrote down the name of a town next to each foot soldier.

Giorgio – Catania

Vincenzo – Trapani

Gerardo – Agrigento

And so on, for every man in our employ.

In the end, I had almost 80 names and 80 towns.

And then I went to each man separately and spun a little tale.

I need to tell you something, and I need you to keep it absolutely quiet.

This is top-secret; I’m trusting you because of everything you’ve done for the family.

I’m flying with Valentino tomorrow to negotiate a deal with the don who runs Sicily.

We’re trying to get Don Vicari to back us against Fausto. We’re meeting him in…

And I’d say the name of the town I’d assigned to that foot soldier.

If things go south – if this is Don Vicari laying a trap for us – then Don Rosolini might need you to go to –

Insert name of town again.

– and help get me and Valentino out.

We’d normally get Lars and Massimo to do it, but they’re both gone.

Adriano will go, but he’ll need help.

When I asked Don Rosolini who he trusted out of all of our men, he told me YOUR name.

So – if Valentino and I need you – are you up to it?

Let me repeat, you cannot tell ANYONE about this, on pain of death.

This is between you, me, and Don Rosolini.

Capiche?

The point wasn’t that we needed their help.

The point was to see if the information got leaked…

And if it did, which town got mentioned.

If things went the way I hoped, we would smoke out our mole.

It took hours and hours –

But in the end, I spoke to each foot soldier privately.

Every single one of them swore absolute loyalty.

And every single one of them promised to come get me and Valentino.

So that part went well!

But everything else turned into a clusterfuck.

All of it.

At my insistence, we told Valentino about the arranged marriage the next morning. I didn’t want him making mischief or running off during the night, and I definitely didn’t want Alessandra using her wiles on Dario and getting him to cave.

So we told him just a few minutes after I got word that Don Vicari’s jet had landed on our airfield.

At first, Valentino refused to cooperate –

That is, until Dario laid down the law.

Then Dario did something completely unexpected and potentially disastrous:

He gave Valentino an out.

He told him that if Val would marry Caterina today…

And swear that he would always be faithful to her…

Then Dario would call off the whole thing with Don Vicari.

I about had a heart attack.

But, in the end, Val showed his true colors, just like I knew he would.

He said he’d go to Sicily instead.

Inwardly, I smirked at Dario’s He’s already in love with her naivete.

Val was a player and a spoiled little boy. I knew him; I knew he was already scheming about how he could torpedo the deal with Don Vicari by acting like an asshole.

So, in the end, I got my way, and Valentino agreed to go.

The one moment that truly hurt, though, was when he told Caterina.

Not because I was there when he did it…

But because I heard her wail like a gut-shot animal.

I winced and closed my eyes at the sound. I knew soul-wrenching pain when I heard it.

Curing Val of his playboy ways for the greater good of the family was one thing…

But breaking the heart of a sweet girl was quite another.

I remembered what Dario had said:

Caterina’s already in love with him.

From the way she reacted, I knew my brother was right.

And that made me wonder if maybe – just possibly – Dario was right about Valentino being in love with her , too.

Then I reassured myself:

No.

Impossible.

He’s a cad who doesn’t give a shit HOW many hearts he’s broken.

She’s just one more piece of ass he’ll leave behind in his wake.

And then I forced him onto the plane, and we flew to Sicily.

But I still felt absolutely fucking awful about Caterina.