Page 69 of Niccolo

“Why would she do that?!” he asked, followed by, “WHAT?!”

From the one-sided conversation, I deduced that the Sicilian woman had failed, as well.

“Niccolo… please…” Fausto moaned, but Niccolo hung up on him.

Fausto’s face became a mask of hatred as he snarled at the dead phone. “Next time I’ll make SURE you’re dead, you little piece of shit.”

“What happened?!” Aurelio asked impatiently.

Fausto collapsed wearily in his chair. “Niccolo had surveillance cameras installed months ago. They saw the Turk coming a mile away.”

“So…?” Aurelio asked, eyes wide.

“So the Turk’s dead.”

Aurelio sagged like all the wind had gone out of his sails.

“What about the old Sicilian woman?” I asked.

Fausto laughed bitterly. “Filomena not only tried to kill Dario and failed… but in her final moments, she confessed to killing my brother Leonardo.”

Both Aurelio and I stared at him in horror.

“She didn’t… tell them aboutyou,did she?” Aurelio whispered.

Fausto looked at his son contemptuously. “If she had, I’d have gotten a bullet in the head, not a fucking phone call.”

“So we’re back at square one,” I muttered.

“It would seem so,” Fausto said darkly. “I guess you’ll be staying here a while longer,Consigliere.”

We all sat there in a foul mood…

Until I put my hand out towards Aurelio. “Pay up.”

He looked at me in bewilderment. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You bet me 10,000 euros the Turk wouldn’t fail. Pay up.”

“You’re doing this NOW?!” he hissed.

“What, too soon?” I snarked.

“Fuck you and your – ”

But Fausto interrupted him.

“PAY her,” he snarled, a look of vicious rage twisting his features.

Aurelio looked taken aback, but he went and got a wad of bills from his bedroom and grudgingly counted out my winnings.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed.

I didn’t give a shit about the money.

For me, it was all about putting Aurelio in his place.

I’d been expecting him to welch on the bet, and I’d planned to throw it back in his face every chance I got –

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