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Fia heard it anyway and leaned harder into my hand on her neck, before turning her attention to Dario.
He was watching us with keen interest, a muscle flexing in his jaw. “It seems you are not easily rattled, bambolina.”
“I haven’t been for a long time,” came her cool response. “Was it worth it, Dario? Did you get everything you ever wanted out of their deaths and our sham of a marriage?”
“Sham?” he echoed back instantly, as if the idea . . . unnerved him. “Whatever it is, I wouldn’t call it a sham. But, yes, Felipe has been an easy ally, perhaps too frightened to push back against what we ask of him. He allowed us to deepen our interests, not just in the region but throughout Italy.”
Calculated as always.
Fia nodded as if she understood, but her hands were tightly tangled in her lap.
“Why would they threaten me, though, if it was the Sicilians?” She asked the obvious question. “I might not be Felipe’s daughter, but everyone knows you don’t favor me in our marriage, so a threat against me wouldn’t make much sense, and I can’t really believe he would want to hurt me.”
“That’s what didn’t add up,” Dario admitted. “So I bought plane tickets to Sicily and let it be known I was going to meet with Felipe and bring some suspicions to his doorstep.”
“To flush out whoever might be working with him,” Fia guessed.
“Or using him as a scapegoat,” I countered. “The same way they’ve tried to hide behind the Russians and the Irish.”
“Exactly,” Dario agreed, sinking deeper into the pillows as a wave of exhaustion seemed to hit him.
Fia chewed her bottom lip, but both Dario and I were familiar enough with the gesture to wait for what she had to say.
“Niccolo Malatesta came to me today,” she confessed. “I don’t know how he knew it was me, but for the last two years, I’ve been working as—”
“The Oracle,” Dario and I finished at the same time. The astonishment on his face probably mirrored exactly on my own.
Fiammetta smiled slightly, pride and wariness warring in the expression. “Yes.”
“Fuck, Fia,” I said, shaking her by the neck. “That’s fucking reckless of you.”
“It’s goddamn idiotic,” Dario barked, sitting up even though Dr. Valenti instantly pressed him back down. “Do you have a death wish?”
“No,” she said easily, glaring at him.
“I could kill you for being so fearless,” I muttered, tugging on her hair until her head tipped back. “Have you never heard that curiosity killed the cat?”
“Maybe the cat couldn’t live without being curious,” she countered. “And I’ve survived and thrived so far. Right under both your noses. Lando even came to me once about his suspicions with the casino racket. If even he didn’t know who he was dealing with, I think I could get away with it with everyone else.”
“Only Niccolo found you,” I growled. “He was the one who gave you the photos of Dario. In exchange for what, exactly?”
Her laughter was shocked and delighted. “Are you actually jealous?”
I didn’t deign to answer, which made her laugh again before she wiped a tired hand over her mouth. “He wanted me to relay to Lando that Felipe was in town and he was the one who took Dario. He said we should kill him before your meeting on Tuesday, which would clearly be a setup to kill Lando and finally take power back from the Outfit.”
Dario and I were both quiet while we ruminated over the information.
“Your friend Alessia was at the church,” I said into the silence, watching and feeling under my hand as Fia stiffened. “She was working with whoever is coming for us.”
“Merda,” she cursed softly, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them and pinning them on mine. “She knew I was the Oracle. She was my assistant.” And then, quieter, “More importantly, I thought she was my friend.”
Dario and I both swore.
Fia’s eyes widened suddenly, and even though we were mired in chaos, I still had the wherewithal to find her expression utterly endearing. “Tarpeia. When Joey admitted who paid him to turn on the Outfit, he said a man named Tarpeia, and I thought that was odd because the alias references the woman who betrayed Rome to the Sabines. Alessia knew that history . . . I was the one to tell her the story one night over too much wine with Renata.”
“Cazzo. So it’s safe to assume whoever is working against us knows you’re the Oracle and that Niccolo went to you to give you false information to lay a trap,” Dario summarized.
“The only question is, Is Niccolo working alone? How would he and Alessia even know each other to hook up?” Fia asked. “I just can’t believe Alessia would be a part of this . . .”
