Page 11 of Roberto

“You just concentrate on getting us enough money to survive a war,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone and walked away.

7

Ifound out later that Massimo had called while I was arguing with the insurance company about our plane.

More Russian mercenaries had attacked him while he was retrieving the Widow’s granddaughter. The two of them escaped, but there was no way Massimo could get the girl safely back to her grandmother. And since our jet was damaged, there was no way he could fly back home, either.

Niccolo told him to take the girl somewhere safe and lay low for a while.

Thankfully, Niccolo hadn’t known about our financial situation when they talked. Otherwise, he might have let something slip.

I was glad Massimo didn’t know; he had enough stress to deal with.

In fact, Dario ordered me not to tell anyone else about our financial crisis. For now, it would stay a secret shared amongst the three of us: the don, theconsigliere,and the money man.

Which was fine by me. I didn’t want everyone to know that Fausto had stolen all our cash right out from under my nose.

Lars wasnotin favor of our plan to fly to Hong Kong. He wanted to keep the family under guard for our own safety – and since he didn’t know about our money issues, it seemed to him like an idiotic risk.

However, Larsalsorevealed that the attempted assassin had most likely been a woman from his past.

Bit of a shocker, that.

Dario granted his permission for Lars to hunt her down – over Niccolo’s strenuous protests. Niccolo thought our enforcer should guard the don, not chase after some former-flame-turned-assassin.

So when Lars complained about us leaving for Hong Kong, Niccolo wasn’t havinganyof it.

“Ifyoucan do whatever the hell you want, why not me and Roberto?” he asked with faux sweetness.

Lars tried appealing to Dario but was overruled. And that was that.

8

Two hours later, Niccolo and I left in a bulletproof Mercedes chauffeured by a foot soldier named Giorgio. A second soldier named Lorenzo rode in the front seat with him, and another car full of armed men followed us.

Niccolo was worried that Fausto had turned every singleCosa Nostrafamily against us and that no one could be trusted. So instead of flying out of Italy, we drove five hours along the coast until we reached France – specifically the city of Nice (pronounced like the English wordniece).

Nice Côte d’Azur Airport was just 45 minutes from the Italian border, but it was outside the reach of theCosa Nostraand therefore safe.

Probably.

There was just one problem:

Monaco.

Monaco is an independent country on the Mediterranean Sea, landlocked on all other sides by France. Less than one square mile in size, Monaco is tiny; only Vatican City in Rome is smaller. As such, it does not have its own airport. It uses Nice’s instead, just 30 minutes away.

Famous for the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula One racing, the country is also a playground for multi-millionaires and billionaires. Besides being small, Monaco is also exorbitantly wealthy.

Which meant that we were going to have to paytriplethe normal rate for a last-minute private flight to Hong Kong:

375,000 euros.

I winced when Niccolo told me the price, but there was nothing to be done.

If we flew out of Italy and were assassinated before we reached Hong Kong, I couldn’t exactly get our investment back from the Syndicate.

And if I didn’t get the money back, the family would be bankrupt and helpless within weeks.

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