Page 227 of Roberto

“My uncle.”

Okay, I’ll admit…

Thatone floored me.

“YourUNCLEwants toKILLyou?!”

“I’ll explain in a minute, I promise – but first I need to know if you have contacts on the black market.”

That’s when shit got real.

He wasn’t justtalkingabout getting a gun…

He had a plan.

He’d thought it all out.

“You mean the kind of place where you could buy a gun?”

“Exactly.”

“Why would you think I know anybody like that?” I asked carefully, trying not to implicate myself as being the kind of person who knewexactlywhere to buy a gun.

“I figure that De Sade operates in the grey area of what’s legal in Hong Kong… and that, as a result, you might knowotherpeople who do business in the same grey area.”

I hated myself for the charade I was playing –

And that self-hatred came out as bitchiness.

“Buying a gun on the black market isn’t a grey area – it’s illegal,” I said sharply.

“Yes, I realize that – ”

“You could get 14 years in prison if the police found it on you.”

“I understand that, too. I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t think I was in serious danger.”

I believed him.

I wasn’t sure which scared me worse:

That somebody was trying to hurt him…

Or that I was seriously considering helping him buy a gun.

But first, I had questions.

“I want to know why your uncleis trying to kill you.”

He sighed. “I never told you exactly what business my family is in.”

My stomach plummeted.

Nothing good could followI never told you exactly what business my family is in.

“Have you heard of theCosa Nostra?”he asked.

Fuck.

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