Page 318 of Marcello

But that wasn’t true.

I worked for all of them.

And I knew that, by association, the mole was blaming me for what had happened to him.

I thought of what Emilia had said when she broke up with me:

You can’t ask me to marry you, Giorgio, and have children with you, when I’m afraid of the people you work for.

‘The people I worked for’ had ruined this guy’s life…

And I felt like a shit-heel pretending otherwise.

But I couldn’t shake my disgust at him being a traitor.

“You still didn’t answer my question,” I said.

“What question?”

“What would stop you from stabbing us in the back?”

The mole glared at me. “Were you at Parco Virgiliano?”

“Yes.”

“You heard what I said?”

“Yes.”

“So you know my girlfriend’s trapped in the Amatos’ old mansion, and the only way I can get her out is if I betray the people I work for.”

I remembered.

I especially remembered the panic in his voice when he’d first told us about his girlfriend.

“…yes,” I admitted.

“You have a wife?”

I looked at him in surprise. “No.”

“A girlfriend?”

Agony filled my heart.

“…yes.”

I wasn’t about to tell this asshole that I’d lost her because of the very things he was attacking me for.

“Do you love her?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I mean, really love her.”

“With all my heart,” I said, and meant it.

I’ll never forget the anger and despair and determination I saw on his face as he said, “Then you’ll know that nothing – nothing – else matters.”