Page 327 of Marcello

I screamed as loud as I could and drove the cornicello into his right eye.

It went in all the way.

The man screamed bloody murder.

I ignored him and pushed as hard as I could, until my thumb entered something wet like a grape.

There was a bit of resistance, like pressing a tack into wood –

As I forced the cornicello through the back of his eye socket and into his brain.

When I was done, the only thing still visible was the metal ring of the keychain as it protruded out of his ruined eye.

The Camorra let go of me and dropped the flashlight as he clawed at his face. He staggered back towards the jagged hole in the wooden paneling, screaming as he went.

I ran in the opposite direction and squeezed through the jagged stone gap. Once I was through, I felt my way through the darkness to the farthest end of the tunnel.

The rat-faced thug’s screaming finally stopped –

And I said a silent prayer of thanks.

Romeo had been right:

The cornicello really was good luck.

È vero… e ci credo.

It’s true… and I believe it.

113

Romeo

Icollected the money from the final stash house at 7:18 PM.

By 7:49, I was driving through the gates of the mansion.

Plenty of time.

I had it all figured out. Once inside the house, I would head for the courtyard.

If anybody wanted me for something, I would tell them I’d been working 24 hours straight and had to take a shit, so leave me the fuck alone. That would buy me a good 10 to 15 minutes.

If there was anyone in the courtyard, I would order them to go do some menial chore inside. They would have to obey me; I outranked everyone in the clan except for Cesare and Lucrezia.

If Lucrezia was in the courtyard, I would tell her that the last stash house amount was off by a hundred thousand euros. She would immediately leave to go count it herself.

If it was Cesare, I would tell him one of the crew was going around telling everybody that he was a cowardly little bitch for beating up a pregnant woman. That would send him off in a murderous rage.

If either Lucrezia or Cesare demanded I accompany them, I would just repeat the lie about needing to take a shit, go into the bathroom, and then sneak back to the courtyard.

The Rosolinis and their men would come out…

Kill Cesare…

And I could go find Giulietta.

That was the plan.