Page 18 of Niccolo

And he even forced my brothers and me to join in the training – which didnotendear him to me, let me tell you.

But when the hard times finally came, it was Lars’s demand for excellence – and all the training he’d insisted upon – that saved our asses.

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And then came the tragedy.

Papa died of a heart attack out of nowhere.

It hurt me a great deal. Not as much as when Mama died – I just wasn’t as close to Papa as I was to her – but it was a colossal shock, and I grieved his passing deeply.

It nearly crushed the others. Adriano, in particular, had loved Papa fiercely and had always craved his approval.

As for Dario…

It nearly killed him.

Though I’d called up the prison and screamed at them to at least let Dario get on the phone, they wouldn’t relent.

I’d threatened, I’d bribed, I’d done everything I could – but some stick-up-the-ass who wanted to flaunt his tiny bit of power refused to call the warden at home to ask for permission.

And so Dario wasn’t able to say goodbye to Papa…

And it broke his heart.

First came the tragedy. Then came the insult.

Fausto declared he wanted to split off from us and form a family of his own.

By ‘family,’ I mean that he wanted to be his own authority within theCosa Nostra. He wanted to be a don.

And he wanted half our territory – plus Florence – to boot.

Although I hid it fairly well, I was seething with rage.

He’d shirked his responsibilities asconsigliereand allowed Dario to take the fall –

And now, when he should have remained with us to provide stability, he decided to run off with as much loot as he could carry.

It was a slap in the face, followed by a gob of spit.

Though he was overwhelmed by grief, Dario kept his head. He refused to hand over Florence.

I will always remember his reply to Fausto:

With all due respect, Uncle, I’M the one who went to prison to protect our position in Florence, not you. I didn’t agree to spend four years in San Vittore only to give up the crown jewel.

My heart soared when he said that.

Fausto acquiesced, albeit unwillingly.

After he left the room, we unanimously voted in Dario as our new don. He chose me as hisconsigliereand gave me full authority to negotiate the split with Fausto.

And though I gave him a fairly good deal, given his 25 years of service to my father asconsigliere…

I made that motherfucker fight for every concession he got.

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