Page 133 of Niccolo

Finally, he nodded. “Alright… I believe you. And I appreciate the implicit acknowledgment that you’re Fausto’sconsigliere.”

“Again – ”

“You have no idea what I’m talking about,” he said mockingly. “Of course, of course. I have to wonder, though… if you knew I was coming here… and you deduced that I would know where to find you… how much do you know about why Roberto and I are in Hong Kong?”

I went back to saying nothing.

“So we return to my first question: is there a mole, or just a lot of contacts in private jet companies?” he asked.

I stayed silent.

Niccolo stared at me for a moment longer, then smiled. “How about a little game?”

“Of what?”

He gestured towards the poker tables. “When in Rome…”

“We’re not in Rome.”

“And you’re too smart for that to be a funny joke,” he shot back. “I think – no, Iknow– that I can beat you in poker.”

“Is that so,” I said drily.

“It is. I’m betting – no pun intended – that you know all the stats. When you have a 12% chance at a flush… the odds of drawing a queen… that sort of thing. But you’re not better than me at reading people. I guarantee it.”

He’d hit on my biggest weakness as a player –

But I kept my expression inscrutable.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” I replied.

“After the last few weeks, I think Ido.However, I’d like to see if you’re as unpredictable at poker as you are at gang warfare. So let’s play a few hands.”

“It’s too late to join the tournament.”

“I was thinking we’d get a private table, just you and me.”

“I don’t have any money to wager.”

Niccolo grinned. “Fausto still a cheap fucking bastard?”

I smiled the tiniest bit.

“Ofcoursehe is!” Niccolo said with a chuckle. “At least, insofar as what he’s willing to pay others. You’ll notice he wears the finest suits and drives around in his beloved Rolls-Royce – but he’ll nickel and dime anybody who does an ounce of work for him. You know, he and my father used to argue all the time about what to pay our men. Fausto thought we should use fear to keep them in line. My father chose to be generous instead.”

Niccolo’s face went cold again.

“That is, until Fausto had him murdered,” he said.

A shiver ran down my spine.

It was the first time something like this had happened to me, so it was confusing–

But even though I was unsettled by Niccolo’s cold anger…

It turned me on a little bit, too.

“If you know Fausto’s a cheap bastard,” I replied, “then you know I have nothing to gamble with.”

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