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The Russos absorb the Galassias slowly, but completely. Ladd is, for the most part, not involved with this, but he's involved with his family less and less lately, so it isn't as if it's surprising that he's not given any important jobs concerning it. Plus, he's been occupying himself with his own work lately, and he's been occupying himself with a certain new addition to his life- his fiancee, Lua Klein.
Their relationship is certainly something special, as he never thought he'd find a woman in the world so absolutely perfect, and he never thought he'd find someone in the world to make him contradict himself so much, over and over and over again. It's a good fit, and he's in such a good mood over it that he almost forgets that he's been completely left out anything to do with this takeover.
That is, until he's requested to take care of something.
What he's told is that there's some house out in the countryside, that it can't be too important, and that it hasn't merited serious investigation up until now. What he takes this to mean is, this could either be absolutely nothing or something, and it's too unpredictable to waste on anyone else. If it's nothing, then they haven't wasted anyone else's time, and if it's something , the likelihood that Ladd can handle it solo is high, and even if he doesn't, well...he knows he won't really be missed.
Still, he himself knows that, whatever it is, he's going to make it out just fine, so he says his goodbyes to Lua, makes sure she's well-protected in his absence, and sets off to this little countryside home- though it really isn't very little at all- to see just what it was that the Galassias kept out there.
But all he finds is a woman.
~X~
She is young, but she is not much younger than he is; he'd place her as close to Lua's age, maybe a little bit younger, but he knows better than to ask a lady her age when he's only just met her. There are a few similarities between her and Lua at a passing glance, with her hair that is somewhere darker than blonde, but the resemblance that is most striking are their eyes, and it isn't because of the color.
Her eyes are empty, devoid of any sort of life or feeling, just as Lua’s always are, and Ladd knows that, no matter who or what this woman is, he isn't going to be able to kill her.
“Who are you?” she asks, and her voice is soft and lacking in any traces of fear.
“I should be asking you that, doll,” he replies. “You here alone?”
There is a pause, and her eyes briefly flicker to a frame on the mantle. Her expression does not shift otherwise as she nods, and Ladd turns to see what is in the picture frame. The photo is of a baby, one with dark hair and a soft face like hers.
“So, there’s a kid here?” he asks. “Come on, no use hiding them. Ain’t no one coming to save you, and I will find them.”
“No,” she says, her voice barely audible, before she speaks up, a bit more firmly. “No, there isn’t. Aren’t you...shouldn’t you know that?”
“Do you honestly not know what’s going on? You think I’m with the Galassias, doncha?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Wow, you really don’t know anything!” He laughs, shaking his head. “The Galassias are, how do I say...no more. I’m from the Russo family, but you probably don’t even know who we are. Well, let’s just say we’re the ones who took your family out.”
“They’re not my family.” She doesn’t say this like a lie, she doesn’t say it like she’s trying to disguise herself or protect herself, but what else can she be doing?
“They aren’t? Then what are you doing out here?”
“This house belonged to the Vanettis once,” she says. “So did I.”
“Is that right? Well, this just got a little more interesting,” says Ladd. He’s heard of the Vanettis before, at least vaguely. They were once a fairly powerful family in a small town that was pretty much only useful for smuggling, and they had some good bootlegged liquor, but their alliance with the Galassias had fallen through when one of their own took out the former Galassia don. Other than that, he doesn’t know much, but he’s curious about this lady’s story.
“Tell me who you are,” he says, after a few moments with no response from her.
“Fio,” she says. “Fio Vanetti...though, I suppose, legally, it’s Fio Galassia.”
“And what’s your story, kid? Really, I’m overflowing with curiosity, you’ve gotta tell me everything.”
“I was the Vanetti don’s daughter. I married Ronaldo Galassia to strengthen the alliance, he died, and I was sent here to mourn and raise our child,” she says simply.
“And that child?”
“Isn’t here anymore.”
“You’re not making this story very interesting. There’s gotta be more to it than that. What’ve ya got to lose by telling me?” he asks. “You’re gonna die either way, but this could be your final confession! And who knows? You entertain me enough, I might just decide to spare you anyway.” Of course, he’s bluffing; he has no intention of killing her anyway, not with those goddamn eyes .
“What do I care?” She asks him this in a complete deadpan.
“So, you wanna die?”
“Just go ahead and kill me.”
“You remind me of my fiancée,” he replies. “Same eyes, same habit of asking me to kill you. But I promised her I’d make it special. See, I don't wanna kill her, and not just because she's my fiancée. It's because of those eyes I mentioned, you know? And her willingness to die too. I mean, where's the fun in that? Normally, someone begs me to kill them and I can't. It's when they don't want me to that I really can't help myself.”
“Then you aren't going to kill me.” She says this with a hint of disappointment and he almost feels guilty. It's just like how it was with Lua, back when he first met her.
“Nah, probably not. I like to kill people who think they're safe, who think they ain't dying any time soon, who think something sets them apart and think I can't do it. Those kinds of people. People who fear death or people who want death? Just not as satisfying, somehow.”
“Then why are you going to kill her?”
“Because I love her and that's what she wants me to do. We got an arrangement, though, so I'm not killing her for a real long time,” he replies, smiling fondly as he thinks of the woman waiting for him to return.
“If I tell you my story, do you think you could consider killing me too?” There is a ghost of a smile on her face, and for a moment, she looks so much like Lua that he nearly has to do a double take.
“It doesn’t work like that, doll. Why don’t you just tell me anyway? Since it really doesn’t matter and all.”
“You really care that much?”
“What can I say? You got me curious.”
So she tells him. She tells him the story of her two brothers, and of her brother’s closest friend, a man named Vanno. She tells him the story of how she and Vanno were in love once, and how she threw it all away for the sake of her family, and married a man she didn’t love. She tells him the story of the night she betrayed her fiance, the final night she spent with Vanno, and the baby that resulted from it, the baby that Ronaldo never knew wasn’t his own, and the baby that Vanno never knew existed, because he was murdered.
She tells him the story of the night she murdered her husband, a murder that was pinned on her younger brother, who was, in turn, murdered by her older brother.
“And then, when everything went south for my family, the Galassias assured me that they would take care of me. I swore my loyalty to them, and they promised to take care of me and my son, but when he was born...well, Strega knew. He could tell just by looking that my son wasn’t...he didn’t look anything like Ronaldo, you see.” She takes a deep breath, and speaks with the most emotion he’s heard from her.
“He told me that he wouldn’t tell anyone, but that anyone would be able to tell,” she says. “But, of course, if I let them raise him, he would turn out alright. I haven’t seen him since he was a baby...I don’t even know where he ended up. I don’t even know if he’s alive anymore. And the worst part is, I don’t really care, not anymore.”
“Because you’ve given up on living, am I right?”
“So, are you going to kill me or not?”
“I already told you, I’m not,” Ladd says, but he grins at her. “Instead, how about you come home with me? I want to introduce you to someone.”
~X~
Lua gets a call from Ladd, and she’s relieved to hear his voice on the line, though she doesn’t admit this to him. She doesn’t like to admit that she worries about him, because he’ll reassure her, and she’ll remember that she should know better, and that there’s no one who can beat Ladd. It’s just that being away from him makes her nervous, that’s all.
“I’m coming home soon, doll, no need to worry about that,” he assures her on the line. She can tell there’s something up just from the sound of his voice, even before he continues. “But…I’ll be bringing someone with me. A houseguest, I guess you could say. Something tells me the two of you are going to get along.”
Lua has no idea what to make of that, but, as in all things, she decides to trust Ladd on this one.