Page 70 of Niccolo

So when Fausto forced him to pay up, it ended my fun prematurely.

But maybe Aurelio’s moment of humiliation would teach him to be a bit less arrogant.

…though I doubted it.

And I was 100% correct.

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In addition, we found out Dario had proposed to Alessandra – and that she had accepted.

Which seemed absolutely insane to me. However, I’d more or less resigned myself to insanity the moment I started dealing with a bunch of squabbling killers.

Not only that, but the Genoans had cast in their lot with Dario because of Alessandra. Once they found out about their long-lost little lamb, they were more than happy to throw their support behind the new don’s regime.

So not only had we lost the Turk, but Dario had gained new allies.

Wonderful.

We licked our wounds for a day, then began discussing our next steps.

At least Fausto and I did. All Aurelio did was complain.

“Your plans aresoincredibly amazing,” he sneered at one point. “You keep losing our people at an astounding rate.”

I was about to retort when Fausto intervened. “No, she lost a fewpuppets. As long as you and I are protected, I’m fine with that.”

Aurelio just scowled some more.

“If you were hisconsigliere,”I asked Fausto, “what would you advise Dario to do next?”

Fausto stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Probably consolidate his position and reassert his power in Florence. I would tell him to appoint one of his brothers ascapoover the city.”

Capoliterally meant ‘boss’ in Italian, but I had a feeling there were nuances involved when it came to theCosa Nostra.

“What does‘capo’mean in this instance?”

“Acapo regimeis the boss of a territory who works for the don,” Fausto explained. “My guess is that the second-oldest brother, Adriano, will take over. I know Adriano. He’ll want to destroy the Agrellas, even though there’s no actual proof of their betrayal.”

“Speaking of proof, the Agrellas’consiglieri– ”

“Bautiste.”

“So, Bautiste theconsiglieriand Don whatsisname – ”

“Dominic Agrella.”

“Are they the only ones who know about your involvement with the Turk?”

“So far as I know.”

I looked at him in astonishment. “So far as you KNOW?”

“There are three brothers. Bautiste is very smart; Dominic less so. Their brother Carmine’s an idiot. If Carmineknew about me, he’d have blabbed it all over Florence. Dominic is the don, so Bautisteprobablytold him… but I’ve suspected for years that Bautiste wants the top job. So who knows what he told Dominic.”

“What about that side deal you negotiated where the Agrellas get their own stable of corrupt judges?”

“Both Dominic and Bautiste know. Not Carmine.”

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