Page 276 of Marcello

“The Rosolinis are coming to Naples. We have to prepare.”

Cesare scoffed. “They’re not coming here – they’re fuckin’ chickenshits.”

I could feel the contempt radiating through Lucrezia’s dark sunglasses as she stared at her brother. “You brutalized Dario Rosolini’s pregnant wife. By now, he knows we killed Amato. If you think he’s not coming for revenge, and that he doesn’t know exactly where to find us, you’re fucking delusional.”

Cesare scowled. “Then I’ll kill him here, then.”

Lucrezia ignored her brother and turned back to me. “We spent more than we should have on the Russians, and I’m not leaving our money out on the street. Go to the stash houses, collect every single euro, and bring it back here.”

By ‘stash houses,’ she meant the places where the clan stored drugs for our dealers and collected the money the dealers turned in.

I collected cash from the stash houses every week. Lucrezia didn’t trust anybody else to handle the delivery; she was too afraid they would bolt with her money.

The night I’d tried to convince Giulietta to flee Naples, I had planned to rob one for some quick cash.

One.

The clan had a dozen spread across the city.

I usually collected from two stash houses a day – three at most.

“All of them?” I asked in disbelief.

“Every single one.”

Shit.

It would take at least eight hours to gather all the money – and that was if I was hustling.

But Lucrezia wasn’t done.

“Bring back the money after you visit each stash house. I don’t want you getting robbed with ten million euros on you.”

SHIT –

That was going to take 24 hours minimum!

“Can’t we just send a guy to each place?” I asked.

“No, it’s your job.”

“If there’s ever a time for breaking protocol, this is it.”

“You think I’m going to trust just anyone with millions of euros? No. Do it yourself.”

“But – ”

“Stop arguing and just do it,” she snarled.

Fuck.

I pointed upstairs. “Okay – just let me go take a quick nap – ”

“NO!” Lucrezia shouted. “We don’t know how much time we have before the Rosolinis get here, so go NOW!”

I stood there, unsure what to do.

If I insisted, she and Cesare would grow suspicious – and I couldn’t have that.