Before the Palmas Family’s demise.
In the central part of the city, at Hebili World.
Hebili World is a subsidiary founded by the capital’s famous newspaper, World Turibun.
Although this city isn’t the capital, it was only natural for World Turibun to expand into Hebili, the most populous city in the country.
And it was at the Hebili World Headquarters that masked intruders barged in.
The intruders swiftly made their way towards the political department within the expansive headquarters. They had checked the building’s layout multiple times before carrying out this operation.
“What I want to say is that the main point is corruption and sex…”
“Editor-in-Chief!”
“Damn it, Oz! Can’t you see we’re in a meeting?”
“Editor-in-Chief, that’s not it…”
As the editor and the suddenly intruding reporter bickered, the hallway suddenly erupted with noise.
“Hey! Stop right there!”
“You can’t go any further in here!”
“Get lost!”
A loud gunshot rang out.
The reporters seemed bewildered by the situation. It was far from a typical scene, and gunfire shouldn’t have erupted in such a place.
“Close the door!”
The editor shouted in desperation, but the intruder reached the political department faster.
“….”
The reporter who was announcing the news to the editor and others appeared frozen like ice.
The intruder’s build seemed almost inhuman at a glance.
In a fleeting moment when the reporter and the intruder locked eyes, the intruder wasted no time and smashed his fist directly into the reporter’s face.
Before the reporter could scream in pain, the intruder threw him into the depths of the political department.
Moments later, another intruder appeared from behind and fired at the other reporters.
With two shots fired, three reporters were injured, causing the editor and others to panic and flee.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“….”
The two intruders vanished just as suddenly as they had appeared.
As they boarded a car waiting outside the headquarters, the Hebili police were nowhere to be seen.
Hebili World provided all the information they had to the police who arrived late after the incident.
At the same time, they were preparing an article on the police’s slow response.
In such a state, after experiencing an unexpected situation, the political department editor received a phone call to calm his startled mind.
“Who is this?”
As the editor inquired about the caller on the other end of the line, an immediate reply followed.
“Hebili World Political Department Editor, Charlie Norse?”
“…Yes, that’s me.”
“There should be a package waiting at your house.”
“What?!”
“If you don’t want to go through something like today again, do as it says.”
“….”
The caller waited for the editor’s response but couldn’t prolong the call.
After obtaining the company’s approval, the editor hurriedly made his way home.
Upon opening a shabby package, he found a letter amid some trivial cushioning material.
The editor quickly checked the contents of the letter. It was crafted from cut-out letters from various newspapers, and the message was straightforward.
A demand for corrections regarding several articles covered by the political department of Hebili World.
It was so rude that politeness could hardly be found, but that didn’t matter. After all, armed intruders had just invaded their headquarters—such details were trivial.
With the letter in hand, the editor held an emergency meeting with the higher-ups of Hebili World.
They aimed to identify the mastermind behind this incident.
While the subjects of the correction requests were clear, coincidentally, they all happened to be people with considerable influence.
Of course, it could also be that one of them acted alone to avoid suspicion.
In the worst-case scenario, it was possible that all of them were colluding and threatening Hebili World.
“…Let’s issue the corrections.”
“Understood.”
Thus, Congressman David C. Paragoni of Hebili’s 4th district ended up deeply indebted to our family.
Those who successfully completed this task, the hired killers ‘Ant’ George Skela and McClun, were duly rewarded.
Especially Skela did not use his trademark corrosive bullets during this job.
After all, there was a risk of being identified.
Finally, he didn’t forget to receive thanks from Financial King Hagen.
“Then the next funds will be delivered soon.”
Some of the individuals who became subjects of the corrections were at Hagen’s request.
Of course, there were those who had absolutely no connection to this incident and simply became victims of Hebili World, fortuitously ending up as subjects of the corrections.
Returning to the present.
The Palmas Family was annihilated.
Previously, they had sought unconditional surrender from us through Caporegime Viola Carmen.
Wolf Trainee Salido was missing, and they had failed to assassinate the veteran member Alexander Dova.
Not to mention the bomb that went off in Johnny Palmas’ car.
All these incidents were more than enough to crush their morale. In fact, it was a miracle that the other Caporegimes and members of the Palmas Family hadn’t killed Johnny Palmas.
One could say Johnny Palmas made the first move.
“…Damn.”
But Palmas and his subordinates were fooled.
Following Viola’s instructions, they arrived at a hotel located in Alini Family territory.
According to Viola, they were supposed to meet with two bosses of the Felini Family there.
Two bosses? Johnny Palmas couldn’t comprehend the Felini Family upon hearing that. It meant two command centers leading a family that could hardly be cohesive.
“….”
But that worry was unfounded for him.
Countless wolves had already infiltrated the hotel. It wasn’t enough that they entered; they revealed their true nature only after using the elevator and delving deeper.
“We have no ill feelings towards you.”
“Are you itching to see blood?”
Viola remained silent, but the other Wolf Trainee Caporegimes couldn’t just sit back and listen to their barking.
“If you’re ready to die, you better be ready to kill, punks!”
The instant Giovanni shouted, Sarina and her underlings opened fire.
Unlike Giovanni, Sarina thought there was no point in conversing with those mere dead men. Having a conversation with those who were about to die was meaningless.
The first gunshot rang out like a signal, unleashing a torrential downpour of bullets from all directions.
Johnny Palmas, along with his bosses and the members of the Palmas Family, were all killed without exception.
“Finish off the surviving ones too!”
“Yes!”
Naturally, the hotel staff had no idea such a thing would occur and were utterly bewildered.
Of course, the cleanup and handling of the corpses fell to the wolves and the members of the Felini Family.
*
Viola soon reported the results to the new underboss.
That would be Carso.
Unlike Giovanni and Sarina, Carso was not at the scene.
“Understood. I’ll inform the lady and the brother right away.”
“Yes.”
After their short call concluded, the news was quickly relayed to me and Elena.
“With this, the Palmas Family is done for.”
Elena reacted as if relieved, but my thoughts were slightly different.
“No, not yet. There are still the remnants.”
“Over twenty members of the family died alongside Johnny Palmas. That’s pretty much incapacitating them.”
“…That may be true, but we never know how things might turn out.”
Elena told me not to worry about that.
Through Carso, I instructed Viola and the Caporegimes at the scene to completely wipe out the remnants of the Palmas Family.
“Make sure to avoid deploying the wolves if possible; let the Alini Family and those dwarfs handle it.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll contact them immediately.”
The Alini Family and the Dwarf Gang were not dispatched to the scene of the Palmas Family’s annihilation.
To be honest, their level was more likely to hinder than help in this operation.
But those guys still had their usefulness.
They were perfectly suited to be deployed in relatively less important battlefields where deploying the wolves was inefficient.
“Once we wrap up with them, it will be as good as completely dominating the Northeast.”
“Exactly. Now we can finally focus on the others.”
Even while having an important conversation with Elena, I didn’t keep my mouth shut.
I was in the midst of stacking sandwiches, the epitome of finger food, and munching away.
“Elena, want some?”
“…I don’t want to have to steal your food for no reason.”
“What? Do you think I can eat all this by myself?”
After all, I ordered the food for us to share. But it seemed Elena viewed it as enough for one person.
“Sometimes, this isn’t so bad.”
“What do you mean? You couldn’t live without sandwiches when you were a kid.”
“…When did that ever happen?”
“When you were still smaller than I was?”
“Ah….”
Elena responded as if it was a long time ago. Indeed, it was.
“Should I call Felicita too?”
“Luke.”
“No, it’s better than letting it go to waste, right?”
Elena narrowed her eyes, almost as if asking if that was truly the reason.
“Elena, don’t look at me like that and just eat this.”
While stuffing my mouth was a classic tactic, it proved quite effective.
While Elena ate her sandwich, I called Felicita, who was waiting in her room for the next day.
To think she would hurry over so quickly, one could hardly imagine that from her usual demeanor, but it was clear she wanted to see me.
“…Today’s not some special occasion, is it?”
“It’s not, so just eat with us.”
Even as Elena spoke those words, she didn’t drop her suspicion towards me.
It was as if she believed I orchestrated this situation, ordering all these sandwiches on purpose.
Whether that was true or not, having two wives sharing a tower of sandwiches was a happy time.
…Until Paragoni came to deliver one piece of news.
The Mafia hearing.
Whoever volunteered to be the clown at such an event was beyond me.
It seemed a grand hearing was set to unfold.
