“Yes.”
“And you believe that?”
Instead of answering Nico, she moves her eyes back to me.We’re the only ones in the room that know what’s happened between us today.The raw honesty, the way she reacted to me, screamed, shattered beneath me.
“I believe him.”
I hold her gaze and search it.Not for weakness, though.But for any hint of doubt.
I don’t find any.
She believes Giovani.
“What makes you confident?”Nico asks.
Good question.One I wish I’d thought of.
She turns to him, and there’s no hesitation in her answer.“Because if my brother had decided to violate the cathedral with a rescue attempt, he wouldn’t have just sent one man.He’d have sent a team of people.”
“Your brother was traveling with a convoy, Valentina,” Dario points out.“If they hadn’t been waylaid, there would have been a team to work with him.”
“Think about what you’re saying.”She doesn’t lose her patience or raise her voice.I see why Nico had been impressed by her.“What good is a single man when you have a trusted crew?And why did he act alone?Who gave him the authority?”
She pauses before going on.“For the sake of argument, let’s assume he was a Russo asset.”
Nico rolls his glass between his palms.
“You believe my brother or a capo would give the order for a lone man to take on the entire Russo family.In a cathedral?”
She makes that point a second time, and this time, it lands.
The church is a holy place and we respect its sanctity.As do the Russos.
Dario lets out a quiet breath through his nose.
We all look at each other.
It’s a fair point.
Valentina continues.“And why wouldn’t the convoy have continued on instead of diverting?Losing one car is hardly a catastrophe.”
To anyone not in a mafia family, her words would sound harsh, unfeeling.But as a strategist, she’s absolutely right.
If the Russos had been hellbent on snatching her back, they’d have continued on, despite losing a vehicle.
The three of us look at each other.
Dario downs his whiskey before slamming his glass on the top of the desk.
“And because there’s another truth you need to recognize.My family had nothing to do with Don Raffaele’s assassination.”
The words land in the room like a dropped blade.
Dario straightens in his chair.
Nico’s expression tightens slightly.
I say nothing.
