By the time that Michael told Freddo "he was nothing to him", Freddo knew the end of the story. Perhaps neither him, nor anyone else could imagine that Michael would come to this point, but it was an option.
Things changed after Carmela's death, showing that Michael could also have a more "human" face.
However, Freddo couldn't know it, as he couldn't know that talking to Ola could have ended up with the shooting