Page 385 of Niccolo

“Thank you. As soon as you have the body wrapped up, throw it in the trunk of one of your cars. Dispose of it as soon as you get back to Tuscany – and take your men with you. The rest of us must prepare to leave Rome immediately.”

“What about Don Severino?” I asked.

Dario gave me a grim look. “I have the feeling thathe’sgoing to come looking forus.”

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When we arrived back at thepalazzo,our foot soldiers greeted us out front like conquering heroes.

“You’re alright?!” Giorgio asked as our men swarmed around us, laughing and cheering.

“We are,” Dario assured them. “Thank you, all of you – but we need to leave in the next 30 minutes before the police get involved.”

“We’ll have everything ready, Don Rosolini,” Giorgio promised. Then he ordered the other men to gather all our luggage and belongings.

As soon as we entered thepalazzo,all the wives rushed into their husbands’ arms.

“Are you alright?!” Alessandra cried out.

“We’re fine,” Dario said with a tender smile as he caressed her cheek. Then he put his hand on her baby bump. “Is the little one alright?”

“Yes, butpleasedon’t ever do that again,” Alessandra begged, right before they kissed.

We’d told the women there was going to be a massive ‘false flag operation’ and not to believe anything they saw –

But it must have been difficult after hearing all those gunshots right outside the front door.

“Fucker,” Lucia snarled, smacking Massimo’s arm –

And then jumped up in his arms and kissed him passionately.

Bianca, Cat, and Mei-ling were a bit more on theI’m just glad you’re okayend of the spectrum.

“Welcome back,” the Widow said. “You’re quite the celebrities.”

“What do you mean?” Valentino asked.

She pointed at the 98” flatscreen television on the wall of the living room. “At first you alarmed the media – and then you completely flummoxed them.”

Recorded footage played onscreen as a news anchor narrated. A text block at the bottom read,Apparent Shootout A Hoax?

A news helicopter had gotten video of screaming tourists running across the Palatine Hill. The camera zoomed in on multiple dead bodies lying on the ground –

And then, all of a sudden, they leapt up and started running across the ruins.

The news program bleeped out the cameraman’s surprised,“What the fuck?!”

“You’re famous,” the Widow said drily. “Congratulations.”

“Wonderful,” I grumbled.

At least our individual features hadn’t been clear. I knew it was me, Roberto, Adriano, and Dario pictured onscreen – but I wouldn’t have been able to tell from the grainy footage.

The Widow looked at Sofia standing next to me. “So… we meet again.”

All the women in the room turned to look at her.

Sofia winced. “Sorry about everything that happened in the Council.”

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