Page 214 of Niccolo

And so on, for every man in our employ.

In the end, I had almost 80 names and 80 towns.

And then I went to each man separately and spun a little tale.

I need to tell you something, and I need you to keep it absolutely quiet.

This is top-secret; I’m trusting you because of everything you’ve done for the family.

I’m flying with Valentino tomorrow to negotiate a deal with the don who runs Sicily.

We’re trying to get Don Vicari to back us against Fausto. We’re meeting him in…

And I’d say the name of the town I’d assigned to that foot soldier.

If things go south – if this is Don Vicari laying a trap for us – then Don Rosolini might need you to go to –

Insert name of town again.

– and help get me and Valentino out.

We’d normally get Lars and Massimo to do it, but they’re both gone.

Adriano will go, but he’ll need help.

When I asked Don Rosolini who he trusted out of all of our men, he told me YOUR name.

So – if Valentino and I need you – are you up to it?

Let me repeat, you cannot tell ANYONE about this, on pain of death.

This is between you, me, and Don Rosolini.

Capiche?

The point wasn’t that we needed their help.

The point was to see if the information got leaked…

And if it did, which town got mentioned.

If things went the way I hoped, we would smoke out our mole.

It took hours and hours –

But in the end, I spoke to each foot soldier privately.

Every single one of them swore absolute loyalty.

And every single one of them promised to come get me and Valentino.

So that part went well!

But everything else turned into a clusterfuck.

All of it.

At my insistence, we told Valentino about the arranged marriage the next morning. I didn’t want him making mischief or running off during the night, and I definitely didn’t want Alessandra using her wiles on Dario and getting him to cave.

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