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“No,” Dario said. “It’s unprecedented. In the Cosa Nostra, when your superior tells you to do something, you do it – no questions asked.”
“Like a good soldier,” I said quietly.
He nodded. “Like a good soldier.”
“But you’d let me disobey orders.”
“I’d let you refrain from taking certain actions. Obviously, you couldn’t countermand orders I give my other men – but if there’s something you didn’t want to do, I would not insist you do it.”
I thought for a long moment.
What he was promising me was a luxury I’d sure as hell never been given in the military – or by Alistair.
“I would have certain conditions,” I said.
“Name them.”
“I would never harm any women or children.”
“I would never ask you to.”
“What about your father or uncle?” I asked dubiously. “Would they tell me to?”
“That was the reason for the test,” Dario explained. “You would be reporting directly to me, not them.”
This was sounding more and more unbelievable by the minute. “You’re saying if your father – the mafia don of your family – ordered me to do something, that I could say ‘no.’”
“That’s correct – because you would answer to me, not him. Hence the test to make absolutely sure of your loyalty.”
I looked at Dario sideways. “I can’t see your father and uncle being willing to go along with that situation.”
He smiled. “I reminded them that I took the fall so they didn’t have to be here. This was my one request in exchange.”
I stared at him in shock. “You said that to them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?!”
“Because I have a good feeling about you.”
I looked at him in disbelief, then sighed. “Look, I can’t make any promises – ”
“Nor do I expect you to. This was just me planting a seed. If I brought the matter to my father and uncle a week before your release, they would have said ‘no.’ This way, they have some time to get used to it.”
“Several years,” I said drily.
He gave a rueful smile. “It might take them that long to be comfortable with the arrangement.”
“So that guy wasn’t a cop?”
“Bernardi? Oh, he’s a cop, alright. But he’s on our payroll. In Florence, not in Milan. He’s one of our most loyal men in law enforcement.”
I stared at Dario in disbelief. “Wait – so he knows stuff about you?!”
“You mean things that could keep me in prison for another 20 years? Absolutely. If he wanted to fuck us, he knows far worse things than you do. But he also knows that if he rats, he’ll be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Plus, he’ll spend the rest of his very short life looking over his shoulder, day and night.”
I got a sour look on my face. “So if I went to work for you, and Bernardi turned on you… is he somebody you’d order me to kill?”
