Page 297 of Niccolo

Fausto stifled a sob, and his eyes welled with tears.

“Um… not to be indelicate,” the attendant said nervously, “ but… the money?”

“Dante,” Fausto said tonelessly. “Take care of him.”

Dante slipped something from inside his jacket –

Stepped behind the attendant –

And flipped it over the man’s head around his throat.

It was a garrote – a strangulation device made of thick piano wire attached to two wooden handles.

I backed away in terror as Dante stood behind the attendant and yankedhard,pulling the attendant’s body back against his own.

The attendant’s eyes bugged out in panic. He clawed frantically at the wire with his fingers, trying to keep his trachea from being crushed.

Not a sound escaped his throat as he struggled.

My back hit the cold tile wall, stopping me from moving further.

Fausto never even looked over. He just gazed sadly at his son’s body on the marble slab.

The other foot soldiers watched, but their blank expressions told me they’d seen this sort of thing before.

Dante reared back and lifted the attendant off his feet. The piano wire sank deeper into his throat.

The man’s legs kicked wildly in the air –

And then, after about 30 seconds, he went slack.

There was a terrible smell in the room as the newly dead man soiled himself.

“Get him out of here,” Fausto said. “In fact, all of you go.”

One of the other foot soldiers opened the door, and Dante dragged away the corpse.

I quickly moved to follow them –

“Not you,consigliere,”Fausto said quietly.

I froze in place as the foot soldiers filed out.

The last thing I saw was Dante’s eyes looking at me sympathetically –

And then the door closed.

I turned to look at Fausto, my heart thudding in my chest.

I was sure he was going to kill me –

But he just stood there, sadly gazing at Aurelio.

I realized that if he wanted me dead, he would have ordered one of the foot soldiers to do it…

And I gradually calmed down.

We stood there in silence for another full minute.

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