Page 41 of The Mad Don
I feel my fingers clench at the thought of this, and Fabiano clears his throat.
“Don Mondi. May I speak?”
“You always speak.”
“With respect.” He shifts his weight on the crutch. “I think we should let her go. Return her. Let Kirill keep his bodyguard, his secrets, and his Bratislava project. The port is not worth the chain you are putting around your own neck. Kirill is not going to yield easily, and the longer she is in this house, the more unpredictable it is.”
I look at him and hold the look. He is competent. He has always been competent. But this is about Lucia. With what Kirill has, I can earn enough quick money to keep her safe and pain-free for the rest of her life.
“I am taking the port,” I say. “If it means a war, I will have the war. If it means his death, I will have his death. If it meansburning his house with him in it, his wife in his arms, and his child between them, I will do that too. Lucia’s treatment is not negotiable. Kirill is the door to the doctor. The doctor is the door to my sister. I will pay any price that is asked.”
“Yes, Don.”
Kirill said one month. A week has passed; it won’t be long.
“After I have what I want,” I say, “you will get the seat you have been wanting for as long as I have been holding it.”
His face does not move. He is very good at his face. But there is a fraction of a second, just under the surface, where something flickers.
“I have no ambitions, Don Mondi.”
“Of course not.”
I close the tablet.
“Keep following Kirill’s people in Bratislava. I want a name. I want a photograph from the front. I want an address. I want to know who Christov works for, if anyone, and what he does with his days, and whether he knows his sister is alive.”
He nods and pivots on the crutch.
“Fabiano.”
“Yes, Don?”
“Tighten the security here — all of it. Double the men on the gate. Triple them on Lucia’s wing. Gag new men for the corridor outside her room. I want every name run again.”
“Yes, Don.”
“She knows about Lucia. She has not had time to tell anyone, but I am not going to assume Kirill does not have a way to find out. If she knows, he knows. Or he will soon.”
“I will see to it.”
“And one more thing.”
He turns again.
“The doctor in Palermo. The traditional physician.”
“Yes.”
“Have we made contact yet?”
“This morning. That is what I came to tell you before the file.”
“And?”
“He is as you described. He does not take new patients through normal means. The only known way to reach him is through art. He collects rare pieces. He likes it early modern, especially Italian. He grants five private consultations a year and only to collectors he meets at the largest international exhibitions.”
I take a long breath.
