Page 177 of Niccolo

“Jesus, SOMEBODY went through the meat grinder,” I said in Italian.

I was actually quite happy. Roberto almost never cut loose; I was hoping he’d had a blow-out time last night…

As long as he didn’t give away any family secrets.

“It’s almost 11 AM – aren’t you out of bed yet?” I asked. “Or did you even GO to bed?”

He groaned.“Can you not speak so loudly?”

“I’m speaking in a normal voice, you little reprobate. How much did you drink last night?”

He paused, then answered,“Too much.”

“I’ll bet.”

I told him about flying back to Italy on a commercial flight, which alarmed him.

“Is that wise?”

“Flying OUT of Italy was the problem. I don’t think flying IN will be an issue.”

“It’ll certainly be cheaper…”

“Amen. Speaking of money we don’t have, what says Mr. Lau?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him today.”

“Of course not. You’re still in bed, recovering from an epic bender.”

“I’ll get the money,”he said crossly.

Here was the part I had to be circumspect.

“About that… be careful.”

“Of course I’ll be careful.”

“No – be CAREFUL,” I said, freighting my words with unspoken meaning. “Like you would if we were back home.”

He paused, and I could hear the frown in his voice.“Why do you say that?”

How to put it, exactly?

He didn’t know about Sofia – only Dario did –

And I couldn’t exactly sayI slept with Fausto’s consigliere last night.

“Look, I can’t tell you HOW I know, so don’t ask… but I have reason to believe that these Syndicate people aren’t going to cooperate with you.”

“Well, they certainly don’t want to – but I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Roberto wasn’t getting it.

Time to be a bit more forward.

“Don’t react to the next thing I’m about to tell you,” I warned him.

“Why?”

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