Page 298 of Niccolo

Finally, Fausto spoke.

“Look what they did to my boy,” he whispered, his voice full of agony. “Look what they did to my beautiful boy.”

All sorts of arguments popped into my head about this being the natural result of Aurelio’s ego-driven stupidity –

But I wasn’t an idiot.

And I wasn’t an unfeeling asshole, either.

I had never seen someone in such pain before – other than when Fausto had heard his son die.

But he had been full of rage then.

Now, all the anger was gone…

Replaced by grief as deep as the ocean.

But gradually, the anger came back.

This time, though, it was cold.

“I’m going to make them pay for this,” he whispered. “I’m going todestroythem for this if it’s the last thing I do.”

Finally, he looked up at me, his bloodshot eyes wet with tears.

“And you’re going to help me,” he said, his voice shaking.

“Yes,” I agreed, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything else.

He looked back down at his son’s body.

He was silent for another few seconds…

And then he spoke haltingly.

“I’m… sorry. For what I said to you. That… word I called you. I wasn’t myself.”

I stood there in shock.

“…apology accepted,” I eventually said, even though his apologywasn’taccepted.

But what else could I say at that moment?

Especially considering that I didn’t want to die like the morgue attendant?

“You were right,” Fausto said, still gazing at his son. “Aurelio was a fool. And I was a bigger fool for indulging him. And this…”

He gestured at his son’s body on the slab.

“…thisis where it got us.”

He stared for a moment in silence, then said, “This is on me. This is all my fault.”

I was stunned.

Fausto had never shown any sort of self-introspection at all.

No sense that he would ever blame or doubt himself.

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