Page 136 of Niccolo

I ordinarily would have gotten more – at least 100,000 – but after Fausto stole all our money, I was on a tight budget.

When we sat down at the table, I asked the dealer in Italian,“Parli qualcos’altro oltre all’inglese e al cinese?”

Do you speak anything other than English or Chinese?

He gave me a blank look and replied in English, “I’m sorry, sir – what was that?”

With that reaction, I was fairly sure Sofia and I were safe speaking Italian.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” I said in English, then asked Sofia, “Texas Hold ‘Em?”

“Why not. Ante 100?”

“Why not,” I replied as I threw a chip into the center of the table.

The first few hands were nothing interesting. We circled each other like wolves, sniffing out each other’s weaknesses.

While we played, we chatted.

Well… more accurately… I asked her questions, and she rarely answered.

“How do you like being aconsigliere?”I asked in Italian.

“I don’t – ”

“Know what I mean,” I interrupted. “Yes, yes, I’ve heardthatone before. How do you like working for Fausto, then? You’ve already admitted tothat.”

“It has its pros and cons.”

“What’s he paying you?”

She didn’t say anything.

“I forgot, he hasn’t paid you yet. What’s hepromisingyou?”

She just looked at me in silence.

“It must be a significant amount of money to take such a huge risk,” I said.

“Raise 500,” she said as she tossed in a handful of chips.

She was very confident. No sign of doubt.

I had a handful of shit, so I folded.

“He killed his own brother and is trying to kill his nephews,” I pointed out. “What in the world makes you think he won’t killyouwhen the time comes?”

“Are you going to play or just talk incessantly?”

“Why can’t I do both?”

“Is this part of your strategy? To bore me into a stupor?”

“Why, is it working?”

“It’s boring me, definitely. Not quite into a stupor, though.”

“Yet,” I replied playfully.

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