Chapter 87

Mafia Kings: Valentino: Chapter 87 When Don Vicari summoned me the next morning to his study, I couldn’t read his expression. It was completely blank.

“It’s your brother,” he said emotionlessly as he pressed ‘Speakerphone’ on the cell.

“...hello?” I asked, terror creeping up my spine.

“He’s fine!” Niccolo said joyously. “Massimo just woke up and he’s going to be fine!”

I sank down weakly in the chair opposite Don Vicari’s desk.

“Thank God,” I breathed.

Niccolo chattered on for a while about Massimo’s good prognosis. Then he asked Don Vicari, “Given the circumstances, can we postpone the wedding?”

The fucking bastard replied, “No.”

“Don Vicari,” Niccolo said patiently, “it’s only five days away. I’m not sure Massimo will have recovered enough to attend – ”

“Then let him stay in the hospital.”

Niccolo was trying to hide it, but I could tell he was getting pissed. “Don Vicari – ”

“We had an agreement.”

“You said the wedding could be postponed – ”

“If the situation with your brothers got worse,” Vicari interrupted. “Your cousin is dead, and Fausto’s on his heels. I’d say the situation has improved.”

“Massimo was nearly killed,” Niccolo snapped.

“But he wasn’t. Your cousin, on the other hand, was. On the whole, a good trade-off. The wedding proceeds as planned.”

What an unbelievable asshole.

Of course, I’d seen him torture and burn a man alive, so... not a big surprise.

I had no interest in listening to Niccolo try to fight a battle that couldn’t be won, so I asked, “What about Roberto?”

With all the horrible news last night, I’d forgotten to ask.

“Good news there, as well,” Niccolo said, though he wasn’t quite as chipper as before. “He’s returning from Hong Kong around 8 o’clock tonight.”

I almost asked, Did he get the money? –

But I caught myself in time.

“Did he – was he successful?”

“VERY successful,” Niccolo said, back to fully happy.

I sat back in my chair in shock.

If all of my brothers and Lars were alive...

And Roberto had gotten back the 50 million...

Then what the fuck did we need Don Vicari for?

“I want to call off the wedding,” I said.

Don Vicari looked up at me sharply.

“Uh – what?” Niccolo said.

“Everybody’s alive. We got what we needed from Hong Kong. There’s no need to go through with the wedding anymore.”

“Don Vicari – may I speak to my brother in private?” Niccolo asked. I could hear the fear in his voice.

“No,” Vicari growled as he stared at me hatefully.

I stared right back at him. “I don’t want to marry your daughter. You know that. And she doesn’t want to marry me.”

Come on, you shithead – come on, be a proud motherfucker and say that if I don’t want your daughter, then me and my family can go fuck ourselves. COME ON –

But he just stared at me in silence.

Niccolo was panicking. “Don Vicari – ”

“Shut up, consigliere,” Vicari snarled.

That’s it, you prick – insult my brother!

Piss him off so bad he’s GUARANTEED to fuck you over if you don’t let me out of the deal!

But Niccolo kept quiet, much to my surprise.

Don Vicari stared at me in silence for another moment, then said coldly, “So you don’t want to marry my daughter.”

“She’s a nice person. I like her. But I don’t want to marry her. And she definitely doesn’t want to marry me.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because she told me.”

Don Vicari gave me that blood-curdling smile. “Too... fucking... bad.”

I gripped the arms of my chair in anger, but before I could say anything –

“Your brothers made a deal with me,” Vicari continued. “They don’t get to back out now just because the deal became less favorable for them since they signed.”

“They never signed shit,” I snarled.

“They made an oath. That’s more binding than any piece of paper.”

“I never got a say.”

“Like I said before: too... fucking... bad. I arranged this marriage for business reasons. Reasons that have nothing to do with my daughter’s happiness. In fact, I couldn’t give a shit about my daughter. She’s a means to an end to get what I want. I care even less about you.”

I stared at him with complete hatred –

But at least the cards were all on the table now.

No more bullshit.

“So if you want out of the deal, consigliere,” Don Vicari said mockingly to the phone, “fine – but you’re going to be down one brother after I put a bullet in this one’s head.”

I wanted to kill him –

I wanted to leap across the desk and fucking gouge his eyes out –

“The wedding will proceed as planned,” Niccolo said coldly.

I stared at the phone in horror. “Nic – ”

“Valentino, when I left you in Catania, I told you to do your duty to your family. THIS IS NOT DOING YOUR DUTY TO YOUR FAMILY.”

The fucking spineless traitor!

“But – ”

“You WILL marry Don Vicari’s daughter, and there will be NO more discussion about it. Am I understood?”

“Fuck you, Nic,” I snarled.

I immediately regretted what I’d just said.

Don Vicari smiled like a cobra about to watch a mongoose get spitted and roasted on a fire.

“Fine,” Niccolo said, his voice even colder than Don Vicari’s. “I’ll go get Dario.”

“What?! No – wait,” I said, suddenly unable to breathe.

“Since you won’t listen to me, I think it’s time we involve him.”

The idea of what Dario would say to me –

The idea of his rage directed at me –

Of his disappointment –

His being ashamed of me –

It was more than I could bear.

“ALRIGHT!” I yelled. “Alright, goddammit, I’ll marry her! Okay?! I’ll marry her.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

Then Niccolo hissed, “Don’t you EVER disrespect me again. Am I understood?”

“...yes.”

It was true – what I’d done was about as shitty a thing as you could possibly do in the Cosa Nostra.

I had shamed Niccolo in front of another family. Not only would it make him a laughingstock, but it would make it exponentially more difficult to deal with Don Vicari in the future.

To Vicari, Nic would always be ‘the consigliere who bends over when his underlings tell him to go fuck himself.’

If I wasn’t his brother – if I were just some foot soldier who worked for our family – Niccolo would have told Don Vicari to go ahead and shoot me. And to make it long, drawn-out, and painful.

But I was desperate...

My back was against the wall...

And Nic was taking a psychopath’s side instead of mine.

I’d done the only thing I could do in the moment.

The way I saw it, he’d left me no choice.

But then it got worse.

“Make him apologize to me,” Don Vicari said with a smile.

I stared at him in shock –

And then absolute hatred.

No way was I apologizing to that human shit stain.

I didn’t give a fuck what Niccolo said –

I’d go down fighting. Even if Vicari shot me, I’d claw out the fucker’s eyes before I died.

I steeled myself, waiting for Niccolo to give me the order –

But surprisingly, he said, “No.”

Vicari looked at the phone angrily. “What did you say?”

“You’ve won your battle. You get to marry your daughter off and secure our participation in your future expansion, all at my brother’s expense. No – I will NOT require him to apologize.”

Vicari was quickly becoming enraged. “I’m warning you, consigliere – ”

“Or what?” Niccolo snapped. “You’ll call off the wedding? We both know THAT’S not going to happen. You’d never jeopardize your plans. Or maybe you’re threatening me with killing my brother? If it hasn’t been made obvious to you yet, I’m not terribly fond of him at the moment.

“But if you DO harm Valentino in ANY way, rest assured – as soon as we’re finished with Fausto, we’ll come knocking on YOUR door. In fact, maybe we’ll deal with you FIRST, just for the hell of it.

“Trust me – you do NOT want that.

“So no, you’re not getting an apology from Valentino, from me, or anyone else. Either continue with the wedding, or don’t. But that’s the end of our business today.”

Vicari sat there, his face red, veins pulsing in his temples.

He looked like he wanted to jump across the desk at me and gouge my eyes out.

But what could he do?

He’d overplayed his hand just to be fucking petty – and everybody knew it.

Including Don Vicari.

If he’d still had one, a consigliere would have told him not to push his luck.

Too bad he’d killed his consigliere last night.

Could’ve used him before he went and humiliated himself.

“Fine,” Vicari seethed. “Our business is complete.”

And he stabbed the screen with his finger and hung up the phone.

I wanted to smile in the old fucker’s face –

But I knew that would be signing my death warrant...

So I just sat there staring at him emotionlessly.

“Get the fuck out of my sight,” he snarled.

I quickly got up and left the room.