Page 287 of Marcello

“Oh? And how did he describe me?”

“Smug and self-satisfied.”

Adriano snorted in amusement.

Niccolo smiled tightly. “Better than ‘stupid and dead,’ which is how I’d describe Amato. I assume he is dead, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Was that your doing, or Cesare’s?”

“What do you know about Cesare?” I asked.

I was planning to tell them all about Cesare being a vicious psychopath –

When Niccolo’s smile disappeared. “I know what he did to my pregnant sister-in-law.”

I winced. “Look, that was beyond fucked up – but I stopped him from killing her – ”

“Be quiet,” Niccolo snapped, suddenly angry.

“You’ve got to belie– ”

“SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!” Adriano roared from the front seat.

I went silent.

“You should listen to Adriano,” Niccolo said coldly. “He’s known for killing people who might otherwise be useful to us. And after what you did in Florence, I’m inclined to let him.”

I looked down at the gun pointed at my ribs. “I – ”

“No more talking,” Niccolo interrupted. “There’ll be time for that soon enough.”

I turned away from him, leaned my head back against the seat, and closed my eyes.

Thirty seconds later, I was out.

I had a nightmare.

In it, I was running down a hospital hallway straight out of a horror movie.

It was nighttime, and all the fluorescent lights were flickering.

Dead bodies were piled everywhere I looked – but not just Camorra and Cosa Nostra.

I saw the farmer Cesare had shot that morning…

The farmer’s family and workers…

The 14-year-old drug dealer whose body Ciccio and I had disposed of.

Prostitutes… bookies… rivals…

And Don Amato, Luciano, and his wife.

In another room, I saw a woman and three children tied to chairs, their heads down, obviously dead.

I kept trying to escape, but the place was a maze –