Chapter 89: Mafia Kings: Massimo: Chapter 90

After showering in the nuns’ quarters, I put on a white dress that Aurelio’s men provided. Just a simple frock – nothing fancy about it. It fit poorly and hung loose on my body, but it was a relief to wear something dry. Bedroom slippers took the place of my muddy hiking boots.

Before I left the bathroom, I turned the ring Massimo had given me around so that the plastic stone faced my palm. Then I made a fist to hide it.

There was no way the assholes were going to take it from me. I’d bite off anybody’s nose who tried.

Once I stepped out of the bathroom, the two thugs marched me through the nuns’ quarters and back into the church.

I couldn’t help but notice the blood-smeared trail the priest’s body had left when they’d dragged it out.

Half a dozen men dressed in black and carrying assault rifles watched as I passed them. One of them said something in Russian, and a couple more snickered.

Wagner mercenaries, I thought.

Same as the assholes who tried to kidnap me a month ago.

Aurelio’s men took me out into a small courtyard, where another six mercenaries were standing around. From there we entered a door at the base of the bell tower.

We wound our way up a long spiral staircase. At the top was a small octagonal room with a lattice of wooden crossbeams overhead. The bells must have been removed – but there was a single wooden chair.

Empty archways on every side of the room led to a balcony with a white railing all around it.

Aurelio was on the balcony. He stared out at Venice, which was only 1200 feet across the water.

Next to him stood Zollner, who had his sniper rifle propped up on the railing. He was looking through the scope down at the cemetery, and was back to wearing his green alpine hunter’s hat with the feather in the band.

Aurelio turned around when his thugs forced me onto the balcony.

“Ah, there you are,” he said. He pulled me over to the white railing. “Stand right here for a minute.”

I glanced down uneasily. To the left was a huge tree; to the right was a red-tiled roof 60 feet down. Between them was a brick walkway on the ground. Unless you were lucky enough to hit the tree, a fall from this height would be fatal.

I wondered if Aurelio planned to push me over the edge.

Instead, he pulled out a cell phone, dialed, and put it on speakerphone.

“Ca’ Fioretti,” a man’s voice answered.

“Put me through to the Widow,” Aurelio said.

The man on the other end was indignant. “Signora Fioretti is not – ”

Aurelio spoke over him. “Lucia, say something to the moron.”

“…put him through,” I said.

I had no idea who the man on the other end of the line was, but he obviously knew me.

A few seconds later, Nona answered.

“Lucia? Are you alright?”

Anybody else would have thought she was calm and collected, but I knew her too well. The higher pitch of her voice let me know she was afraid.

“She’s fine. Aren’t you, Lucia?” Aurelio said smugly.

“Gettin’ there,” I muttered.

“Do you know who this is?” Aurelio asked.

“Aurelio Rosolini, I presume.”

“You presume correctly. Your men must have some binoculars on hand – I’m sure they’ve been watching my boats outside your palazzo for weeks now. Why don’t you borrow a pair and direct your attention to the bell tower on San Michele?”

There was a pause. “I’ll need a moment.”

“Take your time. We’re not going anywhere.”

Zollner pointed at the phone and put a finger to his lips. Aurelio muted the cell.

“You know, I could probably hit her from here,” Zollner said cheerfully.

“It’s 2500 feet to her palazzo,” Aurelio said, surprised.

“I’ve made farther shots than that.”

I looked at them in horror. “NO!”

“Relax, nobody’s doing anything,” Aurelio said. “Stop showing off, Zollner.”

The Swiss asshole smiled. “Just an option.”

“Signor Rosolini,” Nona said from the phone.

Aurelio tapped the button to unmute. “Yes, we’re – ”

“NONA, THERE’S A SNIPER!” I screamed.

Aurelio stepped behind me and put his arm around my throat, crushing my windpipe.

“Don’t,” he hissed in my ear. Then he said, “You must excuse your granddaughter, Signora Fioretti. Yes, there is a sniper up here… but he’s not for you.”

“Don’t worry, Lucia,” Nona said. “I’m behind bulletproof glass.”

Aurelio shot an irritated look at Zollner, who shrugged and grinned like Nobody’s perfect.

“Can you see your granddaughter? Wave for her, Lucia,” Aurelio hissed in my ear.

I lifted my arm and did as he ordered.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

“…what do you want?” Nona finally said.

“An alliance between our families,” Aurelio purred. “Nothing more.”

“And you plan to get it by holding my granddaughter hostage, is that it?”

“Let’s just say she’ll be the glue that binds our agreement together.”

“And if that agreement doesn’t hold?”

Aurelio grabbed my wet hair and forced me up against the railing. “Well, it’s a long way down.”

I felt my stomach lurch. A hundred feet below me, the ground seemed to spin slightly.

“STOP,” Nona snapped. “You’ve made your point.”

“Good,” Aurelio said as he pulled me back from the railing. “I’m glad.”

“I’m assuming you’ll want some kind of meeting to cement our newfound agreement.”

“Absolutely. Clear your schedule for later this afternoon – I have something to take care of first.”

“And what is that, pray tell?”

“Keep watching out the window,” Aurelio said with a sinister chuckle. “It’ll be very entertaining.”

After he hung up the phone, he dragged me over to the chair inside the tower and forced me to sit.

“Tie her up,” he snapped at his two thugs.

One zip-tied my hands behind the wooden chair, then did the same with my feet.

Zollner watched them tie me up. “Such pretty bait,” he said with an avuncular smile, then turned back to Aurelio. “I think I’ll probably lie on the balcony floor. Moving positions will be more inefficient, but I don’t want to make myself a target.”

“However you want to do it,” Aurelio said.

“You’re both dead men,” I said between gritted teeth.

“In the end, we all are,” Aurelio said philosophically. “But not today.”

“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for your fiancé, I fear,” Zollner chuckled.

Then he clack-clacked the bolt on his rifle.

My blood ran cold at the sound.