“When Mezzasalma killed the Agrellas, the press called it a mafia war, too,” Dario pointed out.
“This is a thousand times worse. With a couple of exceptions, Mezzasalma only killed gangsters. TheCamorrakilled 15 cops and 47 civilians, and there are another 38 in the hospital. Not all of them are expected to make it through the night.
“I’ve got our lawyers doing their best to hold the hounds at bay, but the politicians are getting angrier by the hour, and the police are even worse. They want blood.”
“Pay them off,” Dario said tonelessly.
“That’s not going to – ”
“Pay them whatever they want. All of them. I don’t care how much it takes. Just buy us as much time as we can get.”
“Time for what?”
“For my wife and daughter to survive,” Dario said angrily.
Niccolo went quiet.
No one else dared to speak.
Finally Dario asked, “What about the house?”
“It’s gone,” Niccolo said.
Dario turned and frowned. “Completely?”
“No, not completely, but half of it has been reduced to rubble. It’ll takeyearsto rebuild.”
“The good news,” Roberto said, “was that we’re completely insured. After the jet was damaged in Venice and I had problems getting them to pay for it, I took out a policy on everything we owned. Much higher premiums, but I’ve already contacted the insurance company, and they’ll reimburse us for the full amount of – ”
“Roberto,” Dario said coldly, “I don’t give afuckabout any of that.”
Roberto fell silent.
“Whatdoyou give a fuck about, then?” Adriano asked angrily.
Dario turned and stared at Adriano, a dangerous look in his eye. “What do youthinkI care about? More precisely,whodo you think I care about?”
“Alessandra and Elena.”
“You’re goddamn right,” Dario growled.
“Then I don’t get why we’re all standing around with our dicks in our hands,” Adriano snarled. “If it was me, I’d be ordering every foot soldier we have down to Naples to make sure Cesare Caproni is dead before sunup.”
“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Lars cautioned.
“Then we should do whatever it takes to make sure that goddamn piece of shit is in the ground as soon as fucking possible!” Adriano shouted.
Dario didn’t answer.
He just turned back to the window and stared down at his daughter.
“WELL?!” Adriano demanded.
There was a long silence…
And then the Don spoke.
“Do you know what absolute shameand self-loathing I feel at this moment?” he said quietly. “The absolutehatredI feel for myself – that I left my wife alone and unprotected when Iknewa monster was at the door?”
