Page 107 of The Cute Psycho

"Marcello, Marcello, you wouldn't say we've been friends for more than two decades," I tsk at him.

"Friends?" He scoffs at me. "Is that what you call friends? Oh, sorry, you don't have any."

"Ah, 'cello," I bring my hand to my heart, "you wound me. You know how popular I am. I have to fend off wannabe friends with the end of my knife." I smile, and I notice his lips curling up too.

"And that's exactly why you have none. They all end up dead."

"Enough of that." I wave my hand. "I didn't come here to squabble with you, no matter how fun it might be," I add, seeing his face relax slightly.

Marcello hasn't been the same in the last decade, and it might be odd, but sometimes I miss our times together in the past.

"What did you come here for? Do you have more information on the shipment?"

Some time back we'd both suffered some losses when some unknown culprit had decided to be smart and attack our shipments. Although I'd been rather angry that someone had dared that, and thereby ruining my mood, I'd quickly pushed it out of my mind since I had more important things to take care of. Marcello, though, isperpetually on guard since he thinks someone is targeting him and his wife.

"I might," I smirk, "but I'll need something from you," I add.

He regards me suspiciously, as he always does, even though over the years he's asked for my help on numerous occasions. For all his efforts to lead a life away from crime, he'd always find his way back to me, asking me to break the law for him.

"What is it?" he asks tersely.

"Nothing too much, old pal, I'm not about to ask for your firstborn," I watch his features draw up in pain, "but maybe I'll settle for your sister. She's quite a looker," I add, wanting to rile him a little.

"Stay away from my sister." He grits his teeth. "I mean it, Vlad. You don't go near Venezia or Assisi, or we'll have problems."

"Wow, big bro making an appearance. A little too late, don't you think?"

"Vlad." His nostrils flare, and I can tell I'm one step from going too far.

But who am I to resist?

"Marcello, really," I groan, "imagine us being a big happy family," I continue, but one look at Marcello's expression and I know I've taken itslightlytoo far.

"I'm serious, Vlad. Stay away from my sisters, or God help me, Iwillkill you." He clenches his jaw.

"You and your God," I sigh, resisting the urge to tell him his sister callsmeher God. "Fine, I'll drop it. For now." I give him a smile, even though this just confirmed what I thought.

Marcello would never let me near Sisi. And that makes things a little complicated. Especially since I plan on tying her to me—one way or another. Alas, if I have to make another enemy in the interim, then so be it.

"Do you still have Valentino's things?" I finally get to the reason I'm here.

"What do you need?" He frowns.

"You may remember that twenty-something years ago Valentino was looking into a human trafficking ring when they came across me, or rather what was left of me." I give him a rueful smile. "I want toknow if he had more information about that ring, and about a Project Humanitas."

"Project Humanitas?" He raises an eyebrow at me, getting up and heading to his file cabinet. "I remember seeing that name, let me see. But I should warn you, Tino left his affairs in a dissolute state. I doubt there's anything that might help in here. As for twenty years ago..." He trails off, looking pensive. "My father would have still been around, so he must have had most of the information."

He starts skimming through the files, intently looking through the documents.

Marcello's father had been an interesting figure. A little too sadistic for my taste (ironic, I know), he was the definition of mental.

"Here," he says, pulling out a file and handing it to me. "It's not much, but it's the only mention of Project Humanitas I remember seeing." He resumes his seat. "Why are you looking into this now?" he asks, but I'm busy studying the file in my hands.

"Did you know your father wanted to invest with a Dr. Miles Holloway?"

The file contains a business proposal submitted by Dr. Miles Holloway to Marcello's father, asking for forty million dollars. The proposal paints Project Humanitas as a rehabilitation program designed to create the perfect soldiers by erasing their notion of right and wrong and making them susceptible to blindly following orders—the perfect killing machines. The proposal, however, only mentions behavioral therapy and not any type of physical experiments.

"No, what is it?"

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