Page 44 of Niccolo

“So you’re high-ranking mafia.”

Fausto looked surprised. “Why do you say that?”

“First, there’s your expensive suit, your soft hands, manicure, and pricey haircut. You haven’t done a day of manual labor in your life. Which means you’re either old money, a financier or banker, or mafia.

“The fact that you handed me a stiletto down in the lobby rules out anything legal. No old money or financier would risk being caught with an illegal weapon. But you’re not a street thug, and your hands show you didn’t work your way up through the ranks. My guess is you were born into a mafia family, you’re now at the top of the game, and you’re comfortable with weapons and illegalities. The importer/exporter thing is just a front. Am I correct?”

He chuckled. “Right on the money. Does it bother you what I do?”

“Not at all. Unless you’re here to threaten, extort, or kill me.”

“As I said, I’m here tohireyou.”

“Then it doesn’t bother me at all.”

“Why not?”

Hm…

How to explain?

My father had been a professor of game theory.

He was also a philanderer and a liar.

All those things probably explain why he’d drilled certain self-serving principles of game theory into me from a young age.

One of his favorite sayings was,There is no right and wrong; there are only choices.

He’d told me there’s the law…

And then there’s ethics.

In real life, they’resupposed tointersect. Note the heavy emphasis on ‘supposed to.’

But in game theory, ‘law’ and ‘ethics’ were just sets of rules that players could abide by if they wanted… or ignore if it served their purposes.

If they violated ethics or the law, players might face repercussions…

Ifthey got caught.

But if they successfully got away with it, the benefits could be enormous.

In Papa’s opinion, ethics and the law weren’t immutable principles to be followed at all costs, but things you could ignore – as long as you were prepared to pay the price if you got caught.

For example, what the Danish grandmaster and the chess federation had done to me was ethically indefensible and probably illegal. Slander and fraud, most likely.

If I sued them and won, then they wouldn’t get away with it…

But that was a chance they were obviously willing to take.

According to the lawyer, the odds were high that theywouldget away with it.

I’d noticed that men got away with a lotin life, whether it was ethical or not. In general, women were held to a much higher standard.

Another of Papa’s sayings was,In chess, there is no right or wrong – there is only the game.

Judging by his willingness to run around on my mother, he thought the same thing about his personal conduct.

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