Page 61 of Unrestricted
"I know. Simone briefed me." A pause. "Said you barely cried."
Coming from a man who's no stranger to the patching up of wounds, I take that as a compliment.
Adriano serves the ribollita. He puts bowls and spoons in front of both of us and sits at his own place and Paolo picksup his spoon and tastes it and makes a sound of genuine appreciation that seems to come as a slight surprise even to him.
"Better than your mother's," he says.
"Don't tell her that."
"I'm not an idiot."
I taste mine. It's extraordinarily dense and rich. You can tell Adriano took his time over this. The flavours have layered and deepened and the bread has dissolved into it the way it should. At first we talk about Paolo's vacation and it's clear he hated every minute.
"Two weeks on a beach. How awful for you."
"It was," he says sincerely. "There wasn't a damned thing to do but watch the kids dig holes in the sand."
"I'd love a beach holiday." I say wistfully. "I haven't had one in years."
"I'll take you when everything is settled," Adriano promises.
That sounds nice but realistically I doubt everything is ever settled in his world.
As I contemplate that the conversation turns to operational matters. I catch Adriano's eye and gesture toward the stairs, asking if I should leave, but he shakes his head so I stay.
Paolo knows where Marton Vida is staying while in Rome, the men he's brought with him. Apparently they're going to attempt to set up shop here again. That, he says looking me dead in the eye, makes me an even greater threat as far as Vida is concerned.
"I'll take this to Gabriele tomorrow," Adriano says. "See what he wants to do."
Paolo nods and changes the subject.
"The Vettis have been quiet."
Adriano's expression doesn't change. "For now."
"Who are the Vettis?" I ask, not really expecting an answer.
"A gang of drug dealers who're pushing their way into our clubs."
I take another mouthful of food. "What will you do about them?"
"What do you think we should do,cara?"
There's a hint of challenge in Adriano's eye. He's testing me to see how I'll respond. He probably expects me to say to give them a slap on the wrist and send them on their way.
"Watch them for a while, see what they do. If they think they're getting away with dealing in a few clubs, they might try something bigger. You'll get an idea of what their ambitions are. Then you'll know what sort of threat they really pose."
Paolo claps his hands together and lets out a laugh. "Yes. That's exactly what we should do. You should be consigliere instead of Lukas."
"Why? Does he do a bad job?"
"Not at all,cara, but he's not as nice to look at as you."
"Lukas. Was he the man who visited that day? After…." How do I put this? "After we had that meeting in your office."
Paolo barks out another laugh clearly well aware that whatever we were doing in Adriano's office it wasn't having a meeting.
"Yes, that was him."
