“Somewhere you can’t touch her.”
“You didn’t leave her in Zurich? That was a neat trick, by the way.”
Niccolo beamed again. This was actually quite exhilarating. “Thank you. I thought that too.”
“Now give me one good reason why I shouldn’t let Tommaso blow your kneecap off right now and get my men to take you somewhere we can have some fun with you.” Mattia lookedpointedly at his watch. “You see, we are about to celebrate my father’s life with all the people who loved him. I would imagine there are any number of them who would love to be given five minutes alone with you, but you know that, and you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think you had a playing card up your sleeve. So what is it?”
“Technically, the correct question is, ‘Whois it?’”
“Don’t play games,” Mattia warned. The flicker in his black eyes was a reminder that though Tommaso was considered the most volatile of the Esposito sons, Mattia was the most dangerous. Mattia never did anything without first considering the consequences.
“I want to make a deal.”
Mattia’s eyes narrowed.
“The deal is, you let me and Georgia walk away unharmed and live our lives until our natural deaths, and in exchange, I will repay every cent of the debt your father engineered – one phone call and it will be transferred immediately. It’s all arranged and ready to go. That’s for my life.” He smiled and played his real trump card. “For Georgia’s life, I will give you the name of the person who’s working from the inside to destroy the empire your father built.”
The gunshot that cracked through the air shot the last of Georgia’s nerves and gripped her heart in cold terror.
It had come from inside the cemetery.
Niccolo.
Without any thought, she pushed the car door open and, the gun tight in her hand, ran to the gate.
“You’re bullshitting,” Tommaso sneered, finally removing his gun and aiming it at Niccolo’s chest. “None of our people woulddareto betray us.”
Niccolo laughed. “This person doesn’t want to betray you. They want to destroy you, and they have the goods to do it.”
There was a noticeable tic beneath Mattia’s eye. “You have proof?”
“Not physical proof, but once we’ve made a deal, I will give you the name and you will know at once that I am telling the truth.”
Both brothers stared at him, mouths tight, two sets of black eyes ringing wildly with thought.
“We can’t just let him fucking walk!” Tommaso suddenly exploded. “No fucking way!”
“I have a way for you to save face,” Niccolo assured him. ‘Look.” He lifted his shirt and peeled the bandage back. “I have photos stored on my phone of this wound freshly stitched. It looked a lot gorier then. I also have photos of my lip swollen and a photo of a head wound. I can transfer them to you.” Amongst the goodies Dante had had placed in the holdall was a device to transfer the photos on Benjamin’s camera to Niccolo’s burner phone for this exact eventuality. He brought them up on his phone and swiped for them to see.
Tommaso’s face was red with fury. “Not good enough. You killed our father.”
“No, his diet killed him.”
“No, you arsehole, you did it.” Face twisted with rage, he straightened his gun arm. “Fuck the empire – I want my vengeance.”
“Tommaso, will you engage your brain for two minutes?” Mattia said, an edge in his voice. “If there’s a traitor in the ranks, we need to know who it is.”
“This person is more than a traitor,” Niccolo said helpfully. “They’ve climbed high up the food chain and been privy to all your father’s dirty little secrets and are preparing to use them to destroy the whole lot of you by exposing the truth of who you are to the world. You know them personally.” He fixed his stare directly on Tommaso. “Especially you.”
Tommaso lowered the gun and took a threatening step towards him. “What’s to stop me beating the information out of you?”
“My high pain threshold?” He shrugged. “I’m famous for it. My father used to beat the crap out of me, but I was a stubborn little shit who refused to apologise for whatever I’d done to provoke him, no matter how many times he kicked me in the head or broke my bones. Kill me, and the name dies with me.”
The silence that followed this was poisonous enough to inhale.
“My brother is right,” Mattia said slowly, his eyes narrowed again. “Your wounds aren’t enough. We can’t let you walk without anything more serious than a little stab wound.”
“Where’s the woman?” Tommaso demanded.
