Page 287 of Niccolo

“We both know it’s too late for that,” I said quietly as I watched the number move past 25%. “Whatever he decided to do, he’s doing it right now.”

Dario shook his head angrily. I knew he was blaming himself. “I should have ordered him back sooner!”

“It’s my fault, not yours,” I said. “Iwas the one talking to him. I thought he could handle the situation. You didn’t know. It’s on me, not you.”

Dario sat down on the bed opposite me and looked at me sympathetically. “Still… I’m sorry, Niccolo.”

“For what? He’s your brother, too.”

“Yes, but he’syourtwin.”

The words hit me like a knife through the heart.

I was about to lose my twin brother…

My other half…

The one who had always been there my entire life.

I couldn’t remember himnotbeing there, even in my earliest memories…

And now…

He might be gone.

It might just be me… alone… for the rest of my life.

I watched in silence as the bar on the screen gradually filled up.

The number crept up to 98%...

99%...

When it hit 100, a new message appeared:

ROBERTO PHONE DELETED.

I stared at those words for a long moment…

Then tried to shake off a feeling of doom as I switched to my internet browser.

As I refreshed the Bitcoin account screen, I said, “We don’t know what’s going to happen, so we might as well – ”

I stopped speaking, and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

“What?” Dario asked in alarm.

“…holy fuck…”

Dario got up from the bed and circled around behind me. “What are you – WHAT THE FUCK?!”

We both stared at the screen.

It was now showing $251 million in Bitcoin.

We just stared at the number in silence, shocked beyond words.

Finally, Dario managed to ask, “That wasn’t the amount when you checked 15 minutes ago, was it?”

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