Page 217 of Niccolo

Fausto grimaced as he realized what I was getting at. “…he’s trying to smoke out the mole… he probably told every foot soldier a different town.”

“That’s howI’ddo it.”

“You see?That’swhy I need you asconsigliere,”Fausto said. “I was so worried about Niccolo visiting Don Vicari that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.”

I thought Fausto should have seen through the ploy regardless, but I kept that opinion to myself.

Fausto stared out into space for a few seconds… then shrugged. “You should go to Taormina anyway.”

“What?!”

“I need to know what they’re planning.”

“Don’t you have somebody in Vicari’s organization you can ask?!”

“No, I don’t. Vicari has a knack for killing off spies.”

“But once Niccolo knows who the mole is, your nephews will kill him!”

“Can’t be helped.”

“It most certainlycanbe helped! I just don’t go!”

“Not an option.”

“Is thisreallyso important that you’re willing to sacrifice your one source of intel?” I asked desperately. I didn’t want to be responsible for the man’s death.

“Let me put it to you this way,” Fausto said. “Of all theCosa Nostrafamilies who might partner with my nephews, there’s only one I truly fear – and that’s Don Vicari. If Niccolo has found a way to get him as an ally, this could be the thing that destroys us. So yes, I need to know – no matter the cost.”

“…alright,” I murmured, though I didn’t like the idea one bit.

Not even the prospect of seeing Niccolo again could assuage my guilt over the mole’s impending death.

89

Niccolo

Isaid earlier that everything turned into a clusterfuck.

Meeting Don Vicari fell into that category, too.

Vicari was an out-and-out asshole. He tried to bulldoze me and Valentino at every opportunity – and he succeeded most of the time. After all, he held all the cards in the negotiation.

Not only that, he was a stone-cold psychopath, just like Dario had said.

That was confirmed when he revealed why I hadn’t been able to reach Eliseo Marconi:

Because Vicari had killed him.

A don murdering his ownconsiglierewas virtually unheard of. It implied a level of betrayal on theconsigliere’spart that was unfathomable.

Of course, my uncle was one of the few examples of aconsiglieremurdering his don, so anything was possible…

But it was still shocking.

I couldn’t figure out if Marconiwas truly a villain…

Or if Vicari was just insane.

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