Promised For Truce

Part III - Chapter 24

Part III

The Family Man

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Chicago

South Side Chicago appeared to be in hibernation. No wonder it was. Walking the streets left Nina speechless. Bullet holes riddled the scenery, yet the residents weren't shocked by it. They were used to gang violence.

"We'll go through the backdoor," Luciano said as they walked over patches of grass, moving around his uncle's house.

They were there to visit Felicia. She had to be bandaged up because of flying glass shards. Her young age did not exclude her from Banion's brutality.

From his peripheral vision, Luciano saw his uncle peeking between the blinds after he knocked on the door. His uncle's action was nothing to bat an eye at. Luciano was certain the man would have done the same thing even if the attack hadn't occurred. For the longest time, Luciano thought of his uncle as a paranoid man.

"Don't stand there! Hurry! I think it's going to rain soon." Orfeo waved them to come inside the house. His eyes locked onto the steaming casserole in Nina's hands, rubbed his hands together and said, "Oh, you didn't have to! You're lucky with a wife like her, Luciano. Let me free your hands of it, Nina. I'll bring it to the kitchen."

Stepping inside, Nina thanked him as she handed it over. Even when she and Luciano were left alone, she made no remark about Orfeo's attitude. It was surprisingly upbeat for someone whose daughter was hurt.

"Don't mind him. He's always like that."

"Really?" she asked to which he nodded.

Out of nowhere, three little girls and a boy appeared in the doorway leading to the living room. Apprehension flitting across most of their faces as they didn't recognize their older cousin. Some family members weren't as used to Luciano's visits as others.

"Where is your mother?" Luciano asked them.

"Upstairs with Felicia," the oldest of the bunch said.

"Why did you say that! No one can go there!" the other two girls yelled at her.

"Shut up!"

The hair pulling between the kids was quick to end as their father entered the room. Orfeo led Luciano and Nina to the second floor and toward Felicia's room.

Nina instantly recognized Felicia as the same waving and smiling little girl at her wedding. Now, the smile was robbed of the girl, and given to her were wounds. Sorrow chipped at Nina's heart to see her in this condition.

The manner in which Banion orchestrated the hit was void of honour in Luciano's opinion. He had no qualms about seeing blood from men and women flowing through the streets – in the middle of a war, it was only natural – but he did draw the line once it concerned innocent children. Even amongst the most wretched of men from The Outfit, that was unacceptable.

* * *

"Those were agents, weren't they? They followed us all the way from your uncle's home." Nina referred to the conspicuously parked car in the streets of Lincoln Park.

Luciano honked impatiently for the soldiers to open the gates to his home. It didn't take much to figure out what had gotten him like this. The Irish slipped out of his grasp in New Orleans and his own family had to pay with blood, the spotting of people from the Bureau was truly the rotten cherry on top.