Page 253 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

“He’s fine!”Niccolo said joyously.“Massimo just woke up and he’s going to be fine!”

I sank down weakly in the chair opposite Don Vicari’s desk.

“Thank God,” I breathed.

Niccolo chattered on for a while about Massimo’s good prognosis. Then he asked Don Vicari,“Given the circumstances, can we postpone the wedding?”

The fucking bastard replied, “No.”

“Don Vicari,”Niccolo said patiently,“it’s only five days away. I’m not sure Massimo will have recovered enough to attend – ”

“Then let him stay in the hospital.”

Niccolo was trying to hide it, but I could tell he was getting pissed.“Don Vicari – ”

“We had an agreement.”

“You said the wedding could be postponed – ”

“If the situation with your brothers got worse,” Vicari interrupted. “Your cousin is dead, and Fausto’s on his heels. I’d say the situation has improved.”

“Massimo was nearly killed,”Niccolo snapped.

“But he wasn’t. Your cousin, on the other hand,was. On the whole, a good trade-off. The wedding proceeds as planned.”

What an unbelievable asshole.

Of course, I’d seen him torture and burn a man alive, so… not a big surprise.

I had no interest in listening to Niccolo try to fight a battle that couldn’t be won, so I asked, “What about Roberto?”

With all the horrible news last night, I’d forgotten to ask.

“Good news there, as well,”Niccolo said, though he wasn’t quite as chipper as before.“He’s returning from Hong Kong around 8 o’clock tonight.”

I almost asked,Did he get the money? –

But I caught myself in time.

“Did he – was he successful?”

“VERY successful,”Niccolo said, back to fully happy.

I sat back in my chair in shock.

If all of my brothers and Lars were alive…

And Roberto had gotten back the 50 million…

Then what the fuck did we need Don Vicari for?

“I want to call off the wedding,” I said.

Don Vicari looked up at me sharply.

“Uh – what?”Niccolo said.

“Everybody’s alive. We got what we needed from Hong Kong. There’s no need to go through with the wedding anymore.”

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