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Dario sat at the far end of the room, alone behind his giant desk, staring out into space.
As soon as he heard the door, he snarled, “I told you – ”
Then he looked over and saw it was me.
“Oh.” His anger disappeared, only to be replaced with a bone-deep weariness. “I’m not in the mood to talk right now.”
“We don’t have to talk,” I said as I shut the door and walked over to the sidebar. I grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses and walked over to the desk.
After I poured a glass, I held it out for him.
He looked at me resentfully for a moment, like he might tell me to get the hell out… and then he sighed and took the glass.
I poured myself a shot, turned the nearest chair around towards the desk so I could face him, and sat down.
“She’s safe?” Dario asked.
“Well… she’s home.”
‘Safe’ was another thing entirely.
Dario just nodded dully as he went back to his thousand-yard stare.
“So,” I said as I sipped my scotch. “What happened?”
He glared at me. “I thought we didn’t have to talk.”
I made a face like Sorry. “I think we both know that was a lie.”
He glared at me for a second more – then his anger broke, and he gave me a wry half-smile, like You motherfucker.
He took a sip of the scotch and went back to staring into space… but he started talking.
“Niccolo says I’m a fool because I’m in love with her and won’t admit it.”
“Are you?”
His eyes darted over to me angrily. “Am I what? In love with her, or a fool?”
“Well, I know you’re not a fool. So what about the other part?”
He sighed heavily. “I don’t know.”
“You can lie to yourself, but don’t try to get me to swallow your bullshit,” I said quietly.
He looked over at me like I’d slapped him –
And then a smile of recognition slowly crept across his face.
“I didn’t know if you would remember that,” I said with a hint of a smile myself.
“How could I forget?” he said quietly. “That was the moment we truly became friends… when we stopped lying to each other and started telling the truth.”
“So… was it a one-time thing?”
He frowned like he didn’t understand. “Was what a one-time thing?”
“Now that I work for you – now that I’m your enforcer, or whatever you want to call it – am I supposed to stop telling you the truth? And stop asking you for the truth?”
