Page 267 of Niccolo

Because Massimo was carrying a bulletproof car door as a shield!

There’s that Rosolini unpredictability,I thought.

Every other shot Zollner took was successful, though, and he began racking up quite the body count.

Fausto would giggle obscenely every time the bounty hunter killed another Rosolini foot soldier.

However, all I could think was,Isn’t Lars a sniper, too?

Where’s HE?

Lau called Fausto as the battle continued to rage.

“Roberto just entered the building. I’m putting you on speakerphone and muting you until the appropriate time.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lau.”

Fausto muted the audio on the computer tablet, and we listened to Lau’s speakerphone as Roberto entered the room and the show began.

The gangsters’ conversation was civil, if a bit cool – until a Yakuza boss named Gota began questioning Roberto.

“I am assuming your father was Sicilian?”

“Yes.”

“And your uncle – he is Sicilian, as well?”

“He is.”

“Damn straight,” Fausto said.

“Are you Sicilian?”Gota asked.

“I’m half-Sicilian. My mother was from Florence.”

Fausto chuckled. “And that’s why you’re weak.”

“Florence was the city of the Medicis, was it not?”Gota asked.“A banking family?”

“Yes. The Medicis not only bankrolled popes, they were patrons of the arts. We wouldn’t have Michelangelo’s David or Botticelli’s Birth of Venus without the Medicis.”

“So which are you, Mr. Rosolini? A Medici… or a Sicilian?”

Fausto sneered. “He’s a Medici, through and through!”

“I can assure you, Mr. Gota, I am Sicilian when I need to be, and a Medici when it is appropriate.”

“So you are, in fact, a half-breed.”

I stared in shock at the insult.

Fausto, however, roared with laughter. “I like this Gota character!”

For the first time, I heard anger in Roberto’s voice.“Excuse me?”

“What is the English expression? ‘Neither fish nor fowl’? Why would we back a half-breed banker against a full-blooded Sicilian?”

“Excellent question!” Fausto shouted.

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