King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

King of the Underworld

489

Sephie

What I found in Dario’s head was not wholly unexpected, but it was surprising that it came from Sal and not Massimo. The reason he was so willing to help us get information from Sal was because Sal had been the one to tell Dario’s family about his family dying when he was younger. Sal is the one that told them Massimo ki lled Dario’s parents, but Sal also framed it like Dario knew about the plan and was in on the plan.

“Bubba, you’re seeing this too, right?”I asked, Andrei.

“Yeah, I knew Sal was evil, but this is past even what I thought he was capable of. Why would he do this?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I want to ask him about it.”

1 quickly shared what we’d found with Adrik, who was equally as shocked as Andrei and I. “That’s a good reason to want revenge on a person,” he said.

“I agree. I want to ask him about it and see his reaction. Just ask him why he wants to help us take down Sal. It can’t be just because he wants to go free,” 1

told Adrik

Adrik looked at Dario. “Is there another reason you’re offering to help take down Sal, Dario?” Adrik’s gaze was intense enough that 9 times out of 10, when he would ask a direct question like that, the person would always give a truthful answer. There was something about Adrik that usually compelled people to tell him the truth. That attribute had only grown stronger lately. His intimidation factor was ever present, even when he didn’t mean to. Most people got the feeling that he was looking at their soul when he stared at them. It made many people uncomfortable.

Dario adjusted his position in the chair he was in, contemplating his answer. He decided the truth was the best option. “Sal is the one that told my family about Massimo ki lling my parents when I was young. That wouldn’t have been the end of the world, except he made it seem like I knew about the plan and went along with it. My family was so disgusted with me that they left. Massimo is to blame for a lot of things, and he’s partially to blame for that too, but Sal is the real reason my family left me and won’t speak to me.”

“Why would he do such a thing?” Misha asked, completely appalled at Sal’s behavior.

Dario shrugged his shoulders. “Evil doesn’t need a reason.”

“Dario, you keep talking about Massimo and Sal and referring to them as evil. Granted, they’ve done many evil acts. That’s not being argued here. I’m just curious if you’ve ever seen anything else that makes you think of them as evil?” I asked.

He looked slightly uncomfortable at my question; he didn’t answer right away. Everyone picked up on his unease.

I could feel Andrei looking further through Dario’s mind, as well as feel Misha’s nausea as Dario thought about Massimo and Sal. Ivan still felt normal and Stephen still felt normal, so it wasn’t anything to do with Dario himself, but he knew more about Massimo and Sal than he was saying.

He opened his mo uth to speak, but then stopped himself, trying to find the words to say.

say, for their souls?” I asked, just to see what would happen.

he looked at me. “How did you know about that?” he

of things I know that I shouldn’t,” I said. “Which one was it? Sal

never knew about it, from what I know. He would’ve wanted his own deal

same person each time. Now that we all know what we knew, I was slightly disappointed that we’d let Trino ki ll Massimo. It would’ve been better had Stephen broken him, the same as Armando.

of that deal?” Adrik asked.

He tried to talk me into doing the same. Said he could get my family back, even. He also promised I could have exponentially more power if I did it.”

you say no?” Ivan asked.

told me about it. After that night at the restaurant when Ghost came back, for sure. I think it was when he found out that Sephie knew everything about Massimo. He said then he was going to use

few of us snickered at Sal thinking he

mean? His demon?” Dario

with. Basically, he literally sold his

funny when he said it, it did make all of us laugh. We unwittingly made him nervous by laughing at him, until we assured him none of it was

Ricardo are at the center of them. There

information. I don’t know what else I can do, but I can at least do that. If what you’ve said is true, then he must be

could use all the help we could get at this point. If he was able to get information directly from Sal, it would make our lives much easier. Battista

for you. I’m not worried about betrayal, even. That would mean you’re dead with the rest of them. I’m worried about your life being in jeopardy if they know where

He thought for a few moments, then said, “Sal knows how paranoid I am. He also knows how secretive I can be. If

fled to Italy when Massimo was ki lled,” Adrik

Then I tell him what happened to Massimo. I tell him I escaped and made it somewhere safe, but they’re looking for me. I want to know what he’s going to do to make it safe for me to return to the city. Then maybe I offer my area and Massimo’s area for helping

for a few minutes. “We need information on Sal. Anything

his call, we can make it look

looked to Misha, who was checking on outcomes. He finally returned to the present, saying,

that later. The important issue is whether to let him talk to Sal and whether that benefits us or hurts us,” Adrik

us in each

back to Dario, asking him in English, “you’re sure you want to help us get information from Sal? You can say no. It changes nothing

to help. I’m tired of ignoring the evil he’s done. If I can

nodded once. The conversation ended shortly after and Dario was taken

was the only spot we really felt comfortable discussing;

the

Sephie

you two discussing 1 asked, looking between Adrik