Page 160 of Empire of Temptation

“Next week.”

“Va bene.” I rose and buttoned my suit coat. “Where are you staying?”

“I prefer to return to Toronto immediately.”

Smart of him. I shook his hand once more. “My thanks for your help with my cousin.”

“Good luck,” he returned. “And I hope you change the name of this town. It’s fucking stupid.”

He departed, three of his men behind him, and I lowered myself into the chair once more. “Sit your fucking ass down, Niccolò.”

“Luca, forgive me.”

Gabriele smacked the back of Niccolò’s head. “That’s Don Benetti, stronzo.”

Our cousin winced, then put his palms together, prayer-style. “Don Benetti, I’m here to beg for your forgiveness. I never meant to cause so much trouble.”

“And yet you did. Tell me what the fuck happened.”

“I lost a shipment.”

“The fuck?” This was Gabriele, who leaned into his cousin’s face. “You should have called!”

I put a hand on Gabriele’s arm. Very quietly, I said, “Start explaining.”

“Don Rossi asked me to accompany his man and deliver a truck full of coke to Belgium. He said you recommended me and I didn't want to disappoint you.”

That fuck. Rossi set everything up from the start. “Go on.”

“Rossi’s man came down with food poisoning an hour outside of town. He said to drop him off and continue on. I didn't know what to do, but it was a massive shipment and I knew what was at stake.”Niccolò shifted in his seat and his voice dropped in volume. “I stopped for drinks in Lucerne, and the truck was stolen.”

I sighed heavily and rubbed my eyes. “How much?”

He hung his head. “It was so much, much more coke than I'd ever seen. Don Rossi said it was five hundred kilos.”

“Porca puttana!” said Leonardo. “That’s more than thirty-eight million Euros!”

“I know!” He put his face in his hands. “That is why I tried to make it right.”

“That was stupid of you,” I said. “You should have contacted someone immediately.”

“I did, Don Benetti, I swear!” exclaimed Niccolò. “I called Don Rossi first. He said not to bother you because you were leaving for New York on urgent business and he would fill you in.”

Bastardo!Too bad that stronzo Rossi was dead. I’d like to kill him myself over this. “What else did he say?”

“He said he would kill me if I didn't find that truck. And he said you would kill me if he didn’t.”

I hated to think it, but this was clever of Rossi. He had to do something to keep Niccolò out of the way, and kidnapping or killing my cousin would’ve forced me to retaliate. Better to create confusion and issue vague threats.

“I panicked,” continued Niccolò. “I knew I couldn’t find that truck. So I thought if I could steal coke from someone else, it could replace what I’d lost.”

Again, stupid. “Where did you go?”

“I rented a van and drove to Munich. It was the closest city where I knew some soldiers. I hoped to follow them for a day or so, then see where their storage facility was.”

Mamma mia, this boy. “Stealing from another family puts ours at risk, idiota.”

“It was dumb, I know. I was desperate. I didn’t know what else to do.”

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