“Half a million euros,” he said. “Not a cent less.”
“Done.” I smiled. “He just wants me to sign the papers.”
He laughed again. “First, I want to see the money, kid.”
“I’ll arrange that,” I said. “Two hours enough?”
He nodded, smirking. “More than enough.”
I left the office and walked down the hallway, all the way to the end. After checking no one was around, I pulled the phone from my pocket and called Enzo.
“He agreed to sell it for half a million,” I said. “Can you bring the money?”
“Fool,” he laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bring it in an hour.”
“See you soon.” I hung up and headed up the stairs to the attic.
By the time I reached the top floor, I could hear the laughterfrom above, along with a thick smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke. The freaks, as Rocco called them, were having fun, probably playing one of their twisted games.
Mia sat on the lap of the two-headed man, Yuri and Viktor, who were arguing about whether the cards were shuffled correctly. A dwarf with tattooed eyelids poured gin into a cracked teacup, and a girl with scales along her neck blew cigarette smoke through her gills, watching it twist into perfect rings.
They all looked up when I entered.
“Hey, look who crawled back,” Mia said. “The golden boy.”
“Deal me in,” I said, dragging a chair closer. The leg wobbled beneath me.
Yuri and Viktor laughed as I tried to balance. “We’re playing Two Truths and a Lie,” one of them said. “Cards are boring when you’ve got nothing left to bet.”
“Except your soul,” Mia murmured.
I winked at her, and as they dealt me in, the circle kept spinning. They traded truths and half-truths, laughter breaking between them. Luci, the dwarf, said he killed his twin in the womb. Ariel, the scaled girl, confessed she drowned a man once and brought him back just to do it again.
When it came to me, I hesitated. But Mia leaned forward, her beard brushing her collarbone, and dared me to do it. “Come on, pretty boy. Don’t be shy.”
I smirked.
“Alright,” I said with a laugh. “One, I want to fuck my brother’s girl. Two, I already did. Three, I bought the House of Clowns.”
Silence.
Then Viktor barked out a laugh. “The last one. That’s the lie.”
Yuri nodded. “No one’s that stupid.”
Mia tilted her head, eyes narrowing. “Unless,” she said, “hereally did.”
I laughed, raising a brow. “I guess we’ll never know.”
I laid my cards on the table and watched their faces drop as I showed them a full house. “So, I won?”
Luci waved a hand. “I’m out of here.”
I laughed. “No hard feelings, man.”
I shook hands with Viktor and Yuri. “Guess that means I get the best bed here.”
“Won fair and square,” Mia said, turning toward them. “Besides, you two handsome fools are sleeping with me anyway.”
