Before an incident occurred in Richard Vanella’s district in the city’s center.
“Mangano, where should we head to?”
“Balis Casino. Right now.”
A plump elf hurriedly jumped into his black car, urging the driver on.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Such a chance had come to the elf.
To be honest, he had no major complaints about the system or way things worked in his organization, but this was something entirely different.
“….”
Unlike the extremely excited elf, the driver and the elf’s subordinate in the passenger seat remained very calm.
“What are you doing? Why haven’t we left? I said now!”
“Understood.”
“You lot! This is….”
Just then, three gunshots rang out. It didn’t matter who aimed at whom or who got hit.
What mattered was that the new boss, new underboss, and new consigliere of the Carmen Family were seeing their plans fall apart.
A few hours earlier—
Gunfire broke out once again in the city center, particularly in Richard Vanella’s district.
The exact location? An orphanage. It was an orphanage operated by a corporation owned by the Felini Family.
After the death of Godfather Vito Felini, orphanages run by the Felini Family across the city concentrated in the eastern part. However, as the family gradually reclaimed its old territories, orphanages began to reappear in the central city as well.
The orphanage where the gunfight occurred was directly managed by Karen, the deputy head of the corporation that operated several orphanages.
Along with her accomplices from the days when they pretended to be nuns and committed robbery.
There were about 30 members in the Nun Robber Gang that worked with Karen, and among them, only 8 were assigned to the same orphanage as Karen.
And that little detail became a problem.
Karen made the decision to save her sisters, not having many options left…
But to others, it seemed otherwise.
They could only interpret it as her selling them out to the mafia while she romped around with her new mafia lover.
Unbeknownst to Karen, their discontent grew, and things eventually erupted.
“Open this door right now! You crazy bitches! Do you have any sense left?!”
The big wardrobe in the orphanage rattled back and forth.
Inside, curses mixed with screams could be heard, directed at those who had locked them in.
“What now?”
“What do you mean, what now? We have to escape.”
“Where to? There’s nowhere to run.”
However, it seemed they didn’t care about the frenzied screams of the woman behind the wardrobe as they continued their conversation.
Though there were only 8 of them, they failed to unify their opinions.
Some chose to move out at night to completely leave the city.
Some began to bully the orphanage’s children for their own revenge.
Some resigned themselves to their fate and headed to the nearest police station to surrender.
Amidst this chaos, surprisingly, Karen managed to remain safe.
“…Hey, are you okay?”
“….”
The Nun Robber Gang headed to the police station.
They confessed everything that had happened in the dead of night.
It was like a confession, but unlike priests, they never swore to keep what they heard to themselves.
They were people who needed to prove their value to stay as associates of the Felini Family after receiving a handsome bribe from them.
Coincidentally, such individuals also existed in that police station.
They immediately contacted Richard Vanella, the caporegime of the district, and upon understanding the situation, he rushed straight to the orphanage.
“Where are the kids? What happened to the kids?”
“….”
Karen, who had been trapped in the wardrobe, immediately asked about the whereabouts of others as soon as she was rescued.
However, Vanella was confused about whether the kids Karen mentioned were her nun sisters who locked her there or the children of the orphanage.
Of course, either way, he had a predetermined response.
“They’re all dead.”
“….”
Karen showed a face that she normally wouldn’t have thought possible.
Her legs, which had the same build as Vanella, started trembling uncontrollably, and she simply collapsed to the ground.
“It couldn’t be helped. They wouldn’t just let us come into the orphanage.”
Moreover, Vanella said that by the time they arrived, the children of the orphanage were already dead.
These weren’t kids who had been chosen for their potential to become wolves… they were just ordinary children.
Children born without parents who could love them.
But that subtle difference led to their untimely deaths, caught up in the affairs of adults without even having the chance to dream.
“….”
“Ricardo, what should we do now?”
In the midst of the shock brought on by the sudden events, Karen, and a person who tried to comfort her, though it didn’t help, approached Vanella.
Hugh Dance.
Like Vanella, he was a rare man in the underworld and also the second-in-command to the caporegime, Vanella.
Dance mentioned Vanella’s Tirenian name, but Vanella was too absorbed in his love interest to pay attention.
Of course, Vanella knew he had to respond to the situation immediately.
“Karen, don’t go anywhere. Stay here. I’ll be back.”
Vanella assigned his subordinates to clean up the orphanage, to collect the bodies of the dead children and Karen’s comrades, and to call the police to clarify the situation.
There are limits to what can be buried.
If only one or two died, it wouldn’t matter, but with so many children dead, that approach was impossible.
“Should we contact the Godmother too?”
“…Hoo. Yeah, I’ll contact her right away.”
As soon as Dance received Vanella’s permission, he reported the incident to the boss of the Felini Family.
But during all this, the events were rippling out like ripples on a still pond.
No one knew how the fate of the 8 had been communicated, but it gave courage to their colleagues from the Nun Robber Gang in other orphanages.
“….”
“Elena, what’s with that expression?”
Thanks to this, Elena, who had received a report of the events from Hugh Dance, was about to receive yet another report.
“Miss, it seems Hemington was shot.”
“Max Hemington?”
“Yes, it looks like it was the work of those nun bastards.”
Elena pressed her temples and closed her eyes unconsciously at the news.
*
Though Felicita was puzzled by Elena’s demeanor, she waited for the call to end.
Elena firmly communicated over the phone to Carso.
“Tell Vanella to handle this with responsibility.”
“Yes, understood.”
Before Carso ended the call, Elena added that if this matter wasn’t handled properly, both Vanella and Karen would end up dead.
Though Carso hesitated a bit at her words, he replied nonchalantly.
Max Hemington, the head of the orphanage corporation run by the Felini Family… he was the brother of the boss of the Tirenian organization supplying large quantities of drugs across the sea.
“Elena, what’s wrong that has your face so serious?”
“Those nun bastards have caused some trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“It seems they shot Massimo Cremona.”
“Oh my, dear….”
Felicita expressed sympathy when she heard Elena’s words, but not for the shot Cremona, rather for the foolish women who shot at him.
No matter what had happened between them, no matter how serious a mistake Cremona had made, that didn’t matter at all.
They had touched the exiles of the Tirenian organization under the responsibility of the Felini Family. Such incidents had never occurred before, and they needed to be thoroughly punished to set a precedent.
“So that guy is dead?”
“No, no matter how old he is, his skills from his youth haven’t gone anywhere.”
Massimo Cremona. No, Max Hemington made mincemeat of the three women who had approached him to target him.
Though he allowed an ambush, the fact that he didn’t die from that first attack was their mistake.
“Should we inform our family just to be safe?”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
“Then it can’t be helped.”
“….”
Elena thought that it was unnecessary to seek help from the Marinelli Family.
For now, the incident that occurred in Vanella’s district would be addressed by Vanella, while the incident in the eastern part of the city and other orphanages would be dealt with through Carso and several caporegimes.
However, she couldn’t shake off the incident involving the dead children from her mind.
Perhaps it was because she herself held a life inside her womb? It was a complicated feeling that she couldn’t clearly articulate.
Meanwhile, while such events unfolded within the Felini Family’s territory, a man appeared in the Balis Casino, the stronghold of the Carmen Family.
His name was Henry Mangano.
He was a high-ranking official of the Carmen Family, following McBratney, Ikhtomi, and Elder Leonhart in terms of military power and influence.
The family’s boss, Veronica, was in the midst of discussing various plans with her new closest aides in her office located on the 4th floor of the casino.
Ding-dong—!
With the sound of the elevator arriving, a slender elf and his entourage appeared.
The first to greet him were me and Solomon.
“So, you’re Henry Mangano?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Mangano replied to Little Dom Solomon and then greeted me and Solomon.
I was the boss of the Felini Family, and Little Dom was the boss of the Solomon Family, so it was natural.
It was an abnormal situation for the two bosses of the Five Families to welcome a high-ranking official.
“Alright, follow me.”
Solomon instructed Mangano to follow him, and Mangano and his subordinates headed towards Veronica’s office in line with Solomon.
My and Solomon’s subordinates, stationed throughout the 4th floor, remained cautious.
“…What is that?”
Just as Mangano began to walk with Solomon, gunfire suddenly echoed from outside the building. It was relentless, continuous.
