Chapter 78
The office was a free-standing room with glass windows. The windows were mirrored on the outside, so whoever was inside could look out, but it was hard to see in.
Perfect for bosses spying on their employees – or making them paranoid, so they worked hard without ever knowing if the boss was watching or not.
Outside was a concrete floor and a single naked lightbulb. There was a metal drain in the floor and a nearby water hose for washing away any spills.
It made for a perfect interrogation setup. Someone could go out and question the Camorra thug on the concrete floor while everyone else watched from behind the mirrored glass.
And if things got a little rough, well, we could just wash the blood down the drain.
I stood in the office with Adriano, Niccolo, Roberto, and Mei-ling and told them everything that had happened:
How I’d been in the café and seen the Cadillac.
How I’d snuck into the dress shop from the back and shot both guys.
How the Molotov cocktail had broken and burned down the store.
How I’d made sure Bianca and Lucia were safe, then gone back through the café and taken out the Camorra thug.
The entire time I talked, Massimo was prepping the thug out on the concrete slab. He sat him up in a sturdy metal chair, then handcuffed his hands and legs to the chair.
It was a good thing Massimo was out there. It saved me the embarrassment of one more person watch Adriano rip me a new asshole… although I was sure Massimo could hear every word of the screaming.
“You left them ALONE in the fucking dress shop?!” Adriano roared.
I winced. I knew that was what he would zero in on.
“Nobody knew what was going to happen, boss. And your wife gave me a direct order – ”
Adriano got right up in my face. “You don’t WORK for my fucking wife, you WORK for ME! And when I TELL YOU to guard her EVERY FUCKING MINUTE OF EVERY FUCKING DAY, THAT’S WHAT YOU DO!”
“Take it easy on him, Adriano,” Niccolo said.
“WHY?!”
“Because if Giorgio had been in the shop, they probably would have killed him as soon as they walked in.”
“Not if he was watching the front door!”
“What if he was talking to Bianca? What if he had his back turned for an instant? Is he supposed to have eyes in the back of his head? Face it, we got insanely lucky.”
“Bianca got insanely lucky to have all of her work burned up?!” Adriano snarled.
“Yes, that part hurts,” Niccolo said. “I know it’s a crushing disappointment for her. But if I had to choose, and one of the options is Bianca dead – or alive with third-degree burns over 90% of her body – then I’ll take the outcome we got.”
Adriano fumed, but he couldn’t really say anything to that.
I felt bad that I hadn’t been able to stop the shop from burning down – but having lived through it, I knew it was a minor miracle I’d gotten both women out of the store without a scrape on them.
And I was incredibly grateful to Niccolo for having my back. Otherwise, Adriano might have put a bullet in me before he came to his senses.
“Right now, we need information,” Niccolo said. “We need to know why foot soldiers from the Camorra were in Florence… who they worked for… and why they came after Bianca’s shop. That’s what we need to focus on.”
At that moment, Massimo walked in. “The asshole’s awake.”
Adriano glared at Niccolo. “I want first crack at him.”
“Be my guest,” Niccolo said. “But I ask the questions.”
“Fine,” Adriano snarled. “Let’s go.”
“Hold on,” Niccolo said, and put out a hand. “When I tell you to stop, you stop. I don’t want you getting carried away and killing this guy before we find out what we need to know.”
Adriano didn’t say anything.
“Adriano,” Niccolo said, his voice a warning.
“I won’t kill him until you give me the go-ahead,” Adriano said, his voice low and dangerous.
Niccolo shrugged. “Alright… let’s go.”