Page 347 of Marcello

“Watch your tongue, boy, or I’ll cut it out of your mouth.”

Him calling me a boy sent my temper through the roof.

“Fuck you, asshole. And fuck your whore of a wife, too.”

“Come out and face me like a man.”

“Sure,” I said as my finger tightened on the trigger. “You come out first.”

“Throw your gun on the ground.”

“What gun?” I joked.

“Throw your gun on the ground and face me like a man.”

“What, so you and your asshole brothers can shoot me like the pussies you are? No fuckin’ thanks.”

“If you throw your gun on the ground, I’ll fight you fair and square in hand-to-hand combat. No one else will interfere. I swear it on the lives of my wife and my daughter… who you tried to kill.”

I never got scared –

But the way his voice changed at the end, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I stood there for a second and weighed my options.

If I didn’t take him up on his offer, his brothers would just come down and kill me anyway. I couldn’t take on all six of them at once.

But if it was just me and Dario, I knew I could beat him.

I also knew these Cosa Nostra fucks kept their promises when they swore on something they loved.

Idiots.

“Deal,” I said, and tossed my gun out into the center of the basement floor.

But I still kept my knife hidden in my boot as I stepped out into the open.

135

Niccolo

Inside The Mansion

Iscoured the rooms upstairs for more Camorra.

I found plenty. Luckily, they were all dead.

That’s when I heard Adriano yell out in the hallway. “Nic?!”

I poked my head out the door. “What?”

“Lars needs you downstairs, NOW!”

That sounded ominous.

“Where’s Dario?”

“That’s who I’m going to find!” he yelled as he raced past me.