I take a breath as I realize we are back in the fresh night air. This is the courtyard Luca mentioned. The large paved square is surrounded by entrances into other parts of the compound. Stars shine down from an inky black sky, and I take in the benches and picnic tables, little wooden booths draped with fairy lights, and chimineas flickering with orange flames. It’s… Well, the only word that comes to mind is lovely, which is not what I was expecting.
In the middle of it all is a flourishing garden, full of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Some are big, some tiny, some rich with fruit, others barely into bud. The whole space is lit by a floodlight, but the foliage is so densely packed that it takes a minute to spot him.
In fact, I smell him first. A sour, corrupt smell, like rotting meat oozing from an open wound. I fight off a gag, and Donna’s hand goes to her mouth.
He emerges from the cluster of fruit trees with a wooden bowl full of lemons in his hands. He knows we’re here, has known we were coming for a while now, yet he feigns surprise, behaving like an eccentric old man caught unawares by unexpected yet welcome guests. “Oh, we have company! How marvelous. Please, please, come into the light—my eyes aren’t what they used to be.”
Luca nudges me forward none too gently, and I come face-to-face with the infamous Don Vincenzo. I glance back, annoyed. There is an immediate change in Luca’s body language—he becomes smaller somehow, subservient in a way I have never seen him. Matteo is the same, his head lowered as though in a bow.
The man in front of me is short and emaciated, his body curled in on itself like he has a spinal condition. Stringy hair lies in greasy strands over his balding skull, and papery, liver-spotted skin stretches grotesquely over his gnarled hands. He shuffles forward, his sweatpants dragging the ground and his well-worn tartan slippers scraping the stone.
He is just an eccentric old man. What the fuck was Luca going on about? What is everyone so afraid of? He isn’t scary. He isn’t powerful. He’s no threat at all. He’s a senile old dude who likes night gardening.
As I draw these conclusions, he tilts his head to one side and smiles. I see the crooked gleam of moonlight on fangs and realize that I am being charmed. I shake myself like a wet dog and smile back, injecting as much confidence into my voice as I can. “Almost got me there, Don Vincenzo.”
“Almost, eh, bella? It has been a long time since I met a mind I can’t bend. Anyway. Welcome to my humble abode. Luca tells me you have a proposition for me.” He casts his eyes over our group.
Donna meets his gaze, but Pietro avoids it. That’s for the best; he wouldn’t stand a chance against the pressure of that depraved and ancient mind.
“Yes. You want to take out Tomasso Capelli, and we can help you. My brother, Pietro, is valuable as a hostage and even more valuable as an asset. He’s tracking Tomasso and knows where he is and how many men he has. You’ve suspected he was going to make a play for your territory for a long time, and now is that time—but we’re offering you the opportunity to take him off the board before he makes his first move. And myself and Donatella Agostini here can ensure that there is no fallout from the Vecchissime as a result. We have no interest in a conflict between our families and yours.”
He raises his eyebrows but doesn’t immediately respond. Again, he looks like nothing more than a confused senior citizen trying to figure out how to use a cell phone. “Interesting, my dear,” he finally says. “And what would you be looking for in return?”
“Well, obviously, not being dead would be a start. Plus, you let Pietro go when he’s given you what you need—and if you take Tomasso alive, I want in on whatever happens next.”
“Are you sure, child? It’s not likely to be pretty, and he is your nonnino after all.”
I have no idea how much he knows or how much he has figured out, but I have nothing to lose by putting my cards on the table at this stage. If Don Vincenzo wants me dead, I’m dead already. “He is not my nonnino,” I reply calmly. “He is a killer of children, a slayer of Seers. He murdered Anna Lombardi, and probably my parents and sisters. He tried to kill Paola Bianchi and planned on killing Donatella. He kidnapped me so my own brother could rape me and produce the new and only Seer. He wants to take over all the Vecchissime families, control me so I am no challenge to him, and move into Cosca territory. I have no idea what order his priorities fall into, but he and his army are close, and we can help you stop him. We can help each other.”
As he listens, Vincenzo uses his fangs to bite into one of the lemons. The bitter juice runs down his gray chin, and he grimaces. “Sour,” he says, placing the bowl of fruit down on the ground. “Like so much that appears sweet on the surface. All right, Rosa Capelli. I will think about what you have said. I will talk to my advisors, and I will hold court in one hour’s time. But before we go our separate ways for the time being, tesorina, I ask you this—Pietro is here, right in front of me, no? What is to stop me simply taking this ‘valuable hostage’ and forcing him to help me? Why do you think you are in a position to bargain with me, little one?”
Luca appears in my mind.Honor, he says, his voice a whisper even though nobody else hear him.Tell him you heard he was a man of honor. That still means something to him.
I look at Vincenzo, this shriveled leftover of pure evil, and decide that some lies simply can’t be told. Luca isn’t going to like this, so I shut him out.
“Well, I could say it’s a matter of honor,” I answer calmly. “That I know you are a man of your word, and that you will deal fairly with us. But to be honest, I think that’s horseshit. I think you forgot what honor is a long time ago. I think you do recognize strength, though, Don Vincenzo.
“You recognize it in me, and in Donna. You know we won’t be easy to take down—and please, be assured that the other Vecchissime families know exactly where we are and what we are doing right now. So, to answer your question, you would simply be swapping one war for another—and I guarantee that I would make it my life’s mission to end you, even if my life only lasts another five minutes. Pietro will help you willingly. I will help you willingly. But if you try to force us to do anything at all, the deal’s off.”
A flicker of surprise crosses the Don’s face, and Luca’s clenched fists tell me that this might not be a good thing. I brace myself to fight, wondering if my stupid mouth has ruined the whole plan. Which, now that I come to think of it, was a really bad plan anyway.
“Ummm, permission to speak?” Pietro’s voice is small and hesitant, his hand held up in the air like a kid in a classroom. Vincenzo looks at him properly for the first time, but Pietro is wise enough not to make direct eye contact.
“So, yeah,” he continues after the Don coolly gestures for him to speak. “Everything she said, Don Vincenzo. But also, I have a cyanide pill between my teeth right now, and if you make one move to charm me, to hurt her, or to force us to do anything, then I die. And all my intel dies with me.” He pulls his lips back, offering a glimpse of the small capsule-shaped object inside his mouth.
Fucking hell, where did he get that? What kind of person just happens to have a cyanide capsule lying around? I open my mind to Luca and ask,Is this you? Did you give him that?
No, I swear, he whispers back, his face not betraying anything other than obedience to his Don.But it was a smart idea. Maybe he’s not a total waste of space after all.
Don Vincenzo claps his hands together like an excited child. “You two are a blast! I can’t remember the last time I was so surprised by anything. Luca, what do you think? Will he go through with it? And is this little Seer as reckless as she appears?”
Luca looks over at me, and his lip curls in distaste. I know it’s fake, but I still don’t like the way it makes me feel.
“No clue about him, sir, but the whole family seems like trouble to me. And she’s been a pain in my ass since you first sent me to find her. She’s escaped me, twice, almost staked me, and had me pinned more times than I’d like to admit. She’s not quite right in the head, which makes her dangerous. Plus, you know, she has backup. Don’t write off the blond as vapid.”
“Oh, thank you,” gushes Donna, pouting at him. “That is so sweet.”
Vincenzo looks at us all in turn, spending far too long gazing at Luca for my liking. Does he suspect? Does he know him too well for Luca to deceive him? I’ve been told that he “owns” Luca—does that mean he’ll be able to see through this?
