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He set aside the book. “I told them. I told them you wouldn’t sell me out… and I was right.”
I frowned even more. “Told who?”
“My father and uncle.”
I stared at him, not comprehending – until it clicked.
“Wait – that was a TEST?!” I shouted.
He held up his hands as though to ward me off. “I apologize – it wasn’t my idea, and I argued against it – but it was the only way to make sure.”
“To make sure of what?!”
“That you wouldn’t turn on us.”
“If I wanted to turn on you, I could have gone to the warden any time I wanted!”
“I know,” Dario said calmly. “But my father and uncle demanded assurances. This was the only way to get them on your side.”
“Why?! Why the fuck did you tell them anything in the first place?!”
“Because the offer I made you – it wouldn’t be binding without their approval.”
Now I understood. “The offer to – ”
“To come work for my family if things don’t work out with Rachel.”
I groaned. “Dario – ”
“I’m not trying to dissuade you from going after her. You absolutely should go after her. I just want you to consider this as a backup option.”
I sighed. “Look, I appreciate it – I do – but – ”
“You don’t want to go around collecting extortion money or breaking legs.”
He’d nailed it on the head.
“…no, I don’t,” I admitted.
“You wouldn’t be doing that,” he said. “We don’t deal with that sort of shit.”
“I also don’t want to kill anybody who doesn’t deserve it.”
“I would never ask you to do that.”
I gave him a sour look. “Great – but who exactly decides who ‘deserves’ it?”
“Here’s what I propose: I want you to train our men to fight. Not just hand-to-hand combat like you taught me, but to be soldiers. The men who work for us have no training. They were handed a gun, and they fired it once or twice. Most of them have been in a few fistfights, and that’s it. I want you to transform them into a force to be reckoned with. And not to hurt civilians or hassle shop owners – but because there’s a war coming, and I want our family to be ready for it.”
“A war with who?” I asked. “The Camorra?”
“The Camorra, maybe the ‘Ndrangheta… I don’t know exactly, but I know it’s coming, and I want my family to be ready. If you take me up on the offer, I would also ask you to handle important tasks – I might even ask you to kill someone – but I swear it will only be people who are a threat to my family and who deserve it. And you would always have the option to say ‘no.’”
I looked at him doubtfully. “You’re saying I could refuse to follow orders.”
“At any time, about anything.”
“Is that normal in your line of work?”
