Page 281 of Lars

Dario sat at the far end of the room, alone behind his giant desk, staring out into space.

As soon as he heard the door, he snarled, “I told you – ”

Then he looked over and saw it was me.

“Oh.” His anger disappeared, only to be replaced with a bone-deep weariness. “I’m not in the mood to talk right now.”

“We don’t have to talk,” I said as I shut the door and walked over to the sidebar. I grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses and walked over to the desk.

After I poured a glass, I held it out for him.

He looked at me resentfully for a moment, like he might tell me to get the hell out… and then he sighed and took the glass.

I poured myself a shot, turned the nearest chair around towards the desk so I could face him, and sat down.

“She’s safe?” Dario asked.

“Well… she’s home.”

‘Safe’ was another thing entirely.

Dario just nodded dully as he went back to his thousand-yard stare.

“So,” I said as I sipped my scotch. “What happened?”

He glared at me. “I thought we didn’t have to talk.”

I made a face like Sorry. “I think we both know that was a lie.”

He glared at me for a second more – then his anger broke, and he gave me a wry half-smile, like You motherfucker.

He took a sip of the scotch and went back to staring into space… but he started talking.

“Niccolo says I’m a fool because I’m in love with her and won’t admit it.”

“Are you?”

His eyes darted over to me angrily. “Am I what? In love with her, or a fool?”

“Well, I know you’re not a fool. So what about the other part?”

He sighed heavily. “I don’t know.”

“You can lie to yourself, but don’t try to get me to swallow your bullshit,” I said quietly.

He looked over at me like I’d slapped him –

And then a smile of recognition slowly crept across his face.

“I didn’t know if you would remember that,” I said with a hint of a smile myself.

“How could I forget?” he said quietly. “That was the moment we truly became friends… when we stopped lying to each other and started telling the truth.”

“So… was it a one-time thing?”

He frowned like he didn’t understand. “Was what a one-time thing?”

“Now that I work for you – now that I’m your enforcer, or whatever you want to call it – am I supposed to stop telling you the truth? And stop asking you for the truth?”

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