Page 23 of Niccolo

It’s always the ‘unknown unknowns’ that fuck you up.

First, Alessandra.

Lovely girl. Wonderful person.

Terribleidea to bring her back to the mansion.

I was fairly sure Dario had lost his fucking mind –

Both when he brought her home from the café, and then when he fell in love with her.

I thought he had absolutelygone mad when, after having fallen in love with Alessandra, he let her return to her father’s café after a fight –

Which allowed the Turk to take her hostage and come after us.

But it all turned out well in the end.

Dario and Alessandra got married, and I gained a beloved new sister-in-law.

We weathered that storm together, thank God.

But I was struck by something in the aftermath of the Turk’s attack:

It was absolutegenius.

A two-pronged attack: the Turk as the frontal assault, with the old Sicilian servant woman held in reserve in case the Turk failed. Which he did.

Of course, the Sicilian woman failed, too, thanks to Alessandra shooting her before she could kill Dario.

I’d cared a great deal for Alessandra before that moment – but she gained a place in my heart forever for what she did that night.

However, before she died, the old crone revealed something horrifying:

She was the one who had killed Papa six months before.

She had caused his heart attack with an injection of sodium nitrate.

No one had suspected her at all…

And she had nearly gotten away with it.

The old woman’s part in the plot was loathsome to me.

I hoped therewasa hell so she could burn there for killing Papa –

But from a purely strategic viewpoint, it was magnificent.

Whoever had helped her gain access to our household had played the long game.

A tiny poisonous snake, coiled unseen in a dark corner…

Waiting for the right moment to strike.

The Turk’s assault on the mansion was clever, to be sure –

But using the Sicilian woman to back him up?

Genius.

---