Page 120 of Niccolo

Even worse, Lars wanted to go after his ex.

To ‘find out more information.’

Riiiiiiiiiiight.

“You’renotgoing after her,” I told him. “It’s a poor use of our limited resources.”

“If I find out what Fausto’s next move is, I’d say it’s anexcellentuse of our resources,” Lars argued.

“IF – if, if, if,” I said impatiently. “Don’t you see? You’re playing right into his hands. This isexactlywhat he wanted: to distractyouso you’d abandon us, which makes us easier to kill.”

We argued back and forth until Lars went over my head to Dario –

And for some fucking unbelievable reason, Dario granted his request.

“This isinsane!”I snarled. “With Massimo gone, the rest of us should be closing ranks – not going off on wild goose chases!”

But Dario took Lars’s side and gave him permission to go after his ex-girlfriend.

I glowered as Lars thanked Dario. Then he left to go make some phone calls.

“Can I speak to you in private?” I hissed.

Everyone else filed out of the room, and I was alone with Dario.

“WHY?!” I asked.

“I have my reasons.”

“Do you mindsharingthem?”

Dario glared at me. “Lars wants to go after the love of his life. You want to go halfway across the world on the slim chance some woman will be at a poker tournament. Who’s the bigger fool in this scenario?”

I gritted my teeth, pointed at him –

And said, “I fucking hate it when you’re right.”

Dario smirked. “Have a nice trip,consigliere.”

I set about arranging the trip to Hong Kong.

Because we didn’t know who we could trust – for all we knew, Fausto might have assassins waiting for us at all the regional airports – I booked a private flight out of France. I had to pay through the nose for it, but we had to make sure we wouldn’t get killed en route to Hong Kong.

Then Massimo called and gave us an update.

He and the Widow’s granddaughter were safe. Strangely enough, Aurelio had contacted Massimo directly and tried to get him to hand over the girl.

Massimo’s conclusion was that Aurelio had gone rogue –

And it madeperfectsense.

Venice hadbeen the sloppiest, most ill-advised move in a series of otherwise perfect attacks.

It made sense that our idiot cousin had improvised and then fucked up the operation…

And it made even more sense that it wasn’t the fault of Fausto’s newconsigliere.

Sorry for doubting you, Sofia.

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