Page 45 of Niccolo

It’s important to note that in Italian, to cheat at a game isimbrogliare,or ‘to confuse.’

But to cheat on a spouse istradire– ‘to betray.’

Personally, I thought cheating at a game like chess showed weakness.

A great chess player would never need to cheat because she could beat an opponent without breaking the rules.

Betraying someone?

That was more complicated.

I despised my father for cheating on my mother –

But if my mother knew about it, and she wasn’t prepared to stand up for herself… then wasn’t she at least partially to blame?

According to game theory, my father had played the game perfectly. He’d broken all the rules, acted unethically, and gotten what he wanted –

Yet he’d suffered no repercussions at all.

According to game theory, he’d won.

I guess he’d lost me… but as it turned out, he never cared that much for me anyway. So it was no great loss for him, I imagined.

I hated him for that… but I could at least understand it.

I guess my point was that – as a result of my father’s tutelage – I didn’t see the world in black and white. I saw it as an infinite spectrum of grey.

But how to convey that to Fausto?

In the end, I replied, “Let’s just say I was raised with an appreciation for moral relativity.”

He laughed. “So what you’re telling me is you’re… morally flexible?”

“Yes, but I’m also impatient. I’m happy to take your 10,000 euros, but I’d like toeventuallyfind out why you’re giving it to me.”

“Alright – but answer this first: are you ‘morally flexible’ enough to work for the mafia?”

I considered that for a moment.

Working for amafiosowould be illegal…

Unethical…

But the rewards could potentially be enormous.

However, I had limits.

“I won’t help you hurt innocent people,” I said coldly. “That includes extortion, blackmail, or – ”

“I can stop you right there,” Fausto interrupted, “because none of the targets are civilians, andnoneof them are innocents. They’re all in the mafia.”

I raised one eyebrow. “So it’s dangerous, then.”

He smirked. “Only if you fail.”

Hmm.

The repercussions could be terrible…

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