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I shook my head slightly. “Not necessary at all. Actually, it feels a lot like being back with my squad members in the military.”
That cut the tension a little. Everybody knew I was lying, but Adriano and his brothers appreciated it anyway. I could tell by their barely suppressed smiles.
“Yeah,” Leonardo said, “except in the military, you mouth off, they throw your ass in the brig.”
“Here they just pop a cap in your ass,” Roberto said nonchalantly.
That brought the house down.
The quietest guy – the one in the three-piece suit, who looked like he had a stick up his ass – was the one with the most ‘mafia’ line of all.
All the other brothers howled with laughter. Fausto chuckled, and even Aurelio cracked a smile.
“That’s my boy,” Leonardo said with a grin as he pointed at Roberto. “Listen to him – he’ll set you straight!”
As the rest of the group went back to good-natured chatter and laughter, I looked over at Roberto.
“Well played,” I said.
He gave me a modest smile.
“Conflict mediation was something I had to learn early living in this family.” Then he leaned over towards me and spoke softly enough that only I could hear him. “By the way, did my father broach the topic of pay?”
“No.”
“I conferred with my uncle – we were thinking 30 grand a month to start. Would that be agreeable to you?”
360,000 euros a year – almost $400,000 US.
That was more than twice what Alistair had offered me for my work with MI6 – and almost eight times what the Swedish military had paid me.
I stared at him in shock.
Roberto mistook my silence for disappointment.
“That’s just to start,” he said as though to reassure me. “We can reassess after the first month or two.”
“No – no, that’s very generous – thank you.”
Roberto shrugged modestly. “We pay new recruits with zero training 50,000 a year. I figure a man with years of experience in Special Forces, who’ll be training those new recruits, is worth significantly more.”
“Well… thank you again. Although, if I could ask you a favor…”
“Name it.”
“Could you advance me some money? Maybe… half a month’s salary?”
“Of course. Might I ask for what, if it’s not too personal?”
“I just need some cash to buy new clothes. Basically, I’ve only got the ones on my back. And I’ll need to rent an apartment and lease a car.”
Roberto looked puzzled. “All that’s included.”
“…what?” I said, stunned.
“You’ll be staying in the main house with the family. No one told you?”
“…no…”
