Page 172 of Rise of the Queen

“I would, actually. I think that’s a fitting end to the horrors that man caused during his life,” Dario said.

Adrik scrolled through his phone to find the video and tossed it to Dario. He replayed it several times, obviously enjoying it.

“I never thought I would outlive him,” he said, almost in a whisper.

“What do you know about Ricardo De Luca?” Adrik asked.

“He’s close with Armando. Always has been. I think Sal has done business with him as well. There was always something about him that Massimo didn’t like, so we kept our business with him to a minimum. He was never into the illegal side of things, from what I know,” Dario said.

“Did Massimo ever say what it was he didn’t like about him?” Ivan asked.

“No, not specifically. It was much the same as with Sal. It was like Massimo didn’t want competition. He enjoyed knowing he was the most evil.”

“What do you know about Anthony? Did you know his mother? Was Sal with her or was she just a fling that resulted in pregnancy?” I asked.

Dario looked directly at me for a moment before he answered. “You already suspect something or you wouldn’t be asking me. Anthony wasn’t Sal’s kid. He was Massimo’s kid. Massimo was married at the time that his mistress got pregnant. She tried to break up his marriage, so he cut her off to get back at her. Sal found out and took her in. Raised Anthony as his own, just to have insurance against Massimo. He told Massimo he would kill Anthony if he ever tried to move against him.”

“But how did that work? If Massimo cut Anthony’s mother off, why would he care if Sal killed Anthony?” Misha asked.

“It was more the principal of it for Massimo. Not that he had any love for Anthony. He just didn’t want to live a life knowing that Sal had killed one of his children,” Dario said.

“Wow,” I said, under my breath. “Did Anthony know Massimo was his real father?”

“That, I don’t know. He should’ve at least suspected. He didn’t look anything like Sal’s other kids. He did look like Massimo’s other kids.”

“How many other kids did Massimo have?” I asked.

“Two others, besides Anthony. One girl, one boy. Neither were interested in the business, last I knew. Both are spoiled completely rotten and just want to spend money without having to work to earn it.”

“What about Sal? How many kids does he have, besides Anthony?” Ivan asked.

“Sal has a lot of kids and grandkids too. He started having kids when he was still young, so he has quite a few with a few kids of their own now.” He thought for a moment, like he was counting in his head. “I think he has ten kids, unless I’ve forgotten one. Anthony makes eleven.”

“No, he has ten kids. Along with the one less brother,” I said.

“Really?” Dario looked to Adrik, who confirmed my statement. “Huh. How did Sal take that?”

“Not well. He fled to Italy, with Niko and Vito close behind him,” Adrik said.

“What of their underbosses?”

“They’ve basically abandoned the bosses they work for. They stopped collecting taxes very shortly after the three bosses left. They all heard what happened to Anthony, Lorenzo, andMassimo. They all know that no one has seen you or Armando in months. They’re scared,” Adrik said.

“Is Armando dead too?” Dario asked.

“Yes,” Adrik said. We decided it would just be easier to tell everyone that he was dead rather than come up with an excuse for what happened to him. Saying, “He’s locked in his body with a demon being horrifically tortured until his body dies,” just didn’t seem like a plausible answer to the question of where Armando was.

“You work quick,” Dario said. “I can’t say I’m disappointed about that.”

“Anything strange?”Adrik asked everyone silently.

“Nothing from me. He doesn’t even have anything hanging around him,”Ivan said.

“Nothing from me. I checked. He really will live a quiet life if we let him go. Nobody will ever see him again,”Misha responded.

“He could use Viktor, but I found nothing that warranted worry. He’s actually much better this time than he was last time we talked to him,”Andrei said.

“I agree with Andrei. I think giving him hope again helped him cope with everything he’s been through. I don’t get anything bad from him at all. Bubba, can you check with Stephen?”I asked, since Andrei was sitting close to Stephen. He leaned over and brushed Stephen’s arm. Stephen shook his head no. He looked to me, giving me a quick thumbs up.

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