Page 324 of Niccolo

“He said, ‘Ask forgiveness, not permission.’”

Fausto laughed. “Ahhhh, Machiavelli… I taught him that, you know.”

Figures.

“When is he planning to do this?” Fausto asked.

“Since I didn’t have an address, he’s thinking of tomorrow after the Council. He said he would see how it went. If he thinks the Council won’t rule in his favor, then Lars will kill you as you’re leaving the building.”

Fausto scoffed. “If he does it then, Severino willknowit was my nephews!”

“Not if Lars escapes first. And Niccolo suggested he was planning to drag some skeletons out of your closet tomorrow at the Council that would suggestanotherparty might have done it.”

Fausto stroked his beard, deep in thought. “Hm. I’ll have to come up with a workaround, then. Did he ask if I knew where you were tonight?”

“Yes. I told him you did.”

“Probably best,” Fausto conceded. “He’s excellent at spotting a lie. Did he ask you to leave me?”

“Yes, but I told him it would be better if I came back and made you believe I was loyal. That way, you wouldn’t think anything was up – the better to take you by surprise. He agreed.”

Fausto narrowed his eyes.“Areyou loyal to me,consigliere?”

“I want my 20 million euros,” I said coldly, “so I’m never under another man’s thumb again.”

“Good. What did you tell Niccolo?”

“I told him I’d think about it.”

“And did you?”

“I did, for about five seconds. Then I decided I wanted the money.”

Fausto laughed. “Good. Well, we’ll have to make sure Lars can’t get at me.”

“How?”

He smirked. “I’ll think of something.”

When I left Fausto’s bedroom, Dante was standing at the end of the hallway waiting for me.

I gave him a warning look –Not here –and he accompanied me down the hall until my paranoia lessened.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“We’re going to see Dario and the others tomorrow at the Council?” he asked tensely.

“Probably.”

Dante didn’t look happy.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Fausto already tried to kill him, didn’t he?” Dante asked. “He hired that British chick who came to the place in Tuscany to take him out – right?”

“Did Fausto tell you that?”

“No, but I can put two and two together. We got her a sniper rifle to practice with. Twenty-four hours later, we were all on the run to Modena.

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