Page 56 of Massimo

I looked down to see who it was –

And my stomach sank.

“Who’s Aurelio?” Lucia asked as she read the name on the screen. She could tell by my face that I wasn’t happy.

“My cousin,” I said. “He and my uncle are behind everything that happened today.”

Her eyes widened. “Your uncle and cousin are trying to kill you?!”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, and I thought I had a rough family…” She paused as the phone continued to vibrate. “Are you going to answer it?”

I didn’t want to…

But I decided that wasn’t really an option.

I answered the call and put the phone to my ear.

“Aurelio,” I said neutrally.

“Massimo. What, are you in a fucking wind tunnel?”

I was driving pretty slowly – the posted speed limit was low since we were still inside the town’s boundaries – but the air coming through the broken window was getting picked up by the phone.

Which meant Aurelio could probably figure out I was in a car.

He might have initially thought I was in a boat, but there weren’t any water sounds.

I cursed myself for not thinking of it sooner and stopping the car to talk to him –

But there was nothing I could do about it now.

“Yeah, I am,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Did you have a nice morning?” he asked sardonically.

Was he quasi-admitting to what he’d done?

Or just being his normal dickish self?

“It’s had its ups and downs,” I said neutrally.

“I’m sure.”

Okay, he was trolling me. It was obvious at this point.

“Why don’t we drop the pretenses and skip the bullshit.”

I was halfway expecting him to say I have no idea what you’re talking about –

But he surprised me.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Excellent. By the way, I enjoyed shooting your mercenaries. Do you have to pay anything extra to Wagner when you get their men killed?”

If it surprised him that I knew where he’d gotten his hired guns, he didn’t let on.

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