Page 381 of Niccolo

“And you,” he growled. “When didyoudecide to betray me?”

“I decided to do what wasbest formein Modena,”I said, refusing to use the word ‘betray’ with a Judas like Fausto.

He looked puzzled – until a flash of recognition hit.

“The morgue attendant,” he muttered.

I nodded. “After you had Dante kill him, I knew I had to get out from under your thumb at all costs. I just didn’t knowhow,until Niccolo told me his plan two nights ago.”

It was all true.

After I’d seen how Fausto disposed of people once they were no longer useful to him, I’d made my choice.

I just told him the exact opposite of what I’d decided – and lied to him ever since.

All along, I’d been searching for a way out –

A way to get what I wanted and escape Fausto unscathed.

It was only recently that I’d stopped looking out solely for myself…

Because I’d fallen in love.

I just hadn’t been able to admit it at the time.

The night of the Galleria Borghese, I’d had to think long and hard about whether to side with Niccolo – to throw my lot in with him completely and irrevocably, come what may.

Deep down, I’d wanted to.

I just had to convince myself it wasn’t suicide.

Fausto couldn’t conceive that I’d been lying to him all along. “But you argued like a tigress at the Council!”

“Because otherwise you would have suspected something. Plus,” I said, giving Niccolo a playful smile, “I like to win.”

Niccolo grinned back at me.

Fausto shot me one last look of disgust, then turned back to his nephews.

“How did you time it all?” he asked, his curiosity overtaking his rage. “It looked soreal…”

“Since we had no idea exactly when your men would fire,” Lars said, “we knew the timing would be off when we triggered the squibs – ”

“Which is why we deactivated the sound on the body cameras,” I said.

Fausto stared at me. “Gallo was in on it, too?”

“You really pay everybodyshit,you know that? I gave your police captain an extra 30 grand in cash – out of my own pocket – and he agreed to arrange it so the sound couldn’t be broadcast. Then, when everybody was ‘dead,’ I shot the monitors. That was the signal for Dante to text everyone and tell them it was safe – ”

“At which point we hustled over here to seeyou,”Adriano finished.

“Why all this subterfuge?” Fausto asked. “Why not just pay my own men to kill me?”

“Becausewewanted to do it ourselves,” Dario said coldly.

“Then why not pay my foot soldiers to step aside?” Fausto asked contemptuously. “Why not just walk in the front door and assassinate me?”

“You would have seen us coming,” Massimo said as he pointed at the monitors. “You might have had time to barricade yourself or grab a gun and start shooting.”

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