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“I would ask you to kill him,” Dario said gently. “But per our agreement, you would have the right to refuse.”
I settled back in my chair uneasily…
But it wasn’t the idea of killing a corrupt cop that bothered me.
It was the fact that I wasn’t bothered by it.
That was the part that unsettled me.
“I can promise you far more money than your arrangement with MI6,” Dario said, “although I don’t sense money is a big motivator for you.”
“It’s not. It’s nice, but it’s not the most important thing.”
Dario nodded. “So I promise to give you what no one else in the Cosa Nostra has ever been given before: the right to say ‘no.’ The right to refuse orders. And I can promise you something that your British bastard of a boss was never willing to give you, either.”
“What’s that?”
“If things go badly with a mission… and you’re trapped or imprisoned… we will never, ever leave you behind,” Dario said. “We will always come to get you, even at the cost of our own lives. That I swear to you on my father’s life.”
I believed him.
Dario sat back in his chair. “Look… if I’m being completely honest… I selfishly want to keep you here with me in San Vittore. Because you’re a good friend, and because I’m far safer if you stay with me. But as a gesture of goodwill, I want to make you another offer.”
“One I can’t refuse?” I joked.
He smiled at The Godfather reference. “Remember – you can always refuse. That’s part of the deal. No… I want my brother Roberto to hire new legal counsel to look at your case. There may be a way to vacate your sentence – an irregularity or a flaw that your lawyer overlooked. Maybe something in the arrest or the paperwork.”
“I… I’m touched. I really am,” I said. “But my lawyer was good. I started off with a public defender, but when I found out his English was horrible, I got my friend to find a better lawyer out of Milan. She spoke English fluently and handled everything as well as could be expected.”
“But she didn’t take your case to trial, correct?”
“No – but that was because they caught me with the guns red-handed. She said there was no way out of a prison sentence.”
“There’s always a way out.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Then what are you doing here?”
He smiled. “I was the way out. Otherwise, it would have meant prison for my father and uncle.”
I felt bad for acting like a smartass, especially considering the gigantic sacrifice he had made for his family.
It had just been irritating to hear that You THOUGHT you did the smart thing, but you didn’t.
Because if I hadn’t done the smart thing…
Then I’d well and truly fucked myself, and that was a hard pill to swallow.
Dario seemed to know what I was thinking because he said, “I’m sure your lawyer was very good – but I’m talking about someone outstanding. One of the best in Italy. Like you said, your lawyer handled the plea deal. I’m talking about someone who can go back over your case with a microscope to find a loophole that could set you free.”
“I can’t afford that kind of a lawyer.”
He waved my objection away. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Dario – ”
“You’ve saved my life on more than one occasion. I can never repay that. But my family has enough money that hiring the best lawyer in Italy would be a pittance. Allow me to do the very least that is in my power to make things right.”
I stared at him.
