Page 139 of Niccolo
But I knew what Dario would ask when I returned home:
Did she turn?
Then why didn’t you kill her? You said you would kill her if you couldn’t turn her.
It wasn’t a question I wanted to answer.
Sofia cocked her head to one side. “Fausto said youCosa Nostratypes had a thing you do where you swear on something holy to you.”
I settled back in my chair. I sensed a trap coming.
“We do,” I admitted.
“Do you actually keep those promises?”
“Ido. As do all my brothers.”
“Fausto doesn’t.”
“Imagine that,” I said sarcastically. “However, I’m not Fausto.”
“Alright, then – swear on something holy to you. Swear that you won’t kill me.”
“I can’t,” I said regretfully.
She stared at me in disbelief. “What?”
“What if you choose to continue working for Fausto? What if, a week from now, it comes down to your life or the lives of my brothers, and I’m the one with my finger on the trigger?” I shook my head. “I can’t make that promise.”
She sat there regarding me for a long moment. She finally said, “Then swear to me on something holy that you won’t kill me until we’re back in Italy.”
“ThatI can do,” I said with a smile. “As long as you swear the same oath.”
“I’m not in theCosa Nostra.”
I chuckled. “You work for Fausto. Like it or not, you’re in theCosa Nostranow.”
She gazed at me for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. You go first.”
“I swear on the lives of all my brothers that I won’t harm you in any way while we’re here on this side of the world. Macau, Hong Kong, and everywhere in between.”
“I promise I won’t harm you while we’re here on this side of the world, either.”
“And you won’t let harm come to me through inaction,” I added.
“Like Fausto plotting something, and my not letting you know?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Alright – I swear that, too,” she agreed.
“And what do you swear on?”
She thought for a second.
“On all my hopes and dreams for the future,” she said… and then her voice turned cold. “And on the revenge I want on the men who betrayed me.”
Damn.
