act21side

Is this how the Rossatis handled everything back in Columbia?

You really think you can swallow up Siracusa all on your own?

Pick your friends wisely, Wallach.

Grr.

Don't feel too bad.

Not like I'm jumping for joy to team up with somebody like you.

Where's Leon?

What? He didn't go back home?

Nope. No trace of him anywhere. He's avoiding us, obviously.

Leon, don't tell me...

Demetri takes a deep breath.

There's no point in overthinking things now. He has to face reality.

Now that the famiglie are starting to bite one another, this is the best chance we'll have to take the secondary core area.

If we're gonna have a future, we'll have to take hold of it first.

Don Alberto.

What's the situation?

It's mayhem out there.

Wise guys from multiple famiglie are taking advantage of the confusion to attack us, and our soldiers have started to fight back.

Things have spiraled out of control.

That's funny. This can't possibly be what that Leontuzzo kid meant.

Now that I think of it, Bernardo, even though Lappland showed up on a whim, you included us in your calculations, didn't you?

The ironclad law laid down by Sicilia is crumbling. You've set fire to everything that took decades to make Siracusa what she is.

Is this what you wanted? Why?

Where's Lappland?

We haven't been able to reach her since yesterday morning.

Forget it.

Boss, it's a madhouse out there now. You want us to wait and see if anything changes?

Hmph. Even if I wanted to keep Famiglia Saluzzo out of this, it's no longer possible.

Bernardo, that old runt. Can't believe he even accounted for all this.

Tell our people out there to come back.

Then, send some of our heavies to the command tower in the secondary core area. The Bellones and Rossatis aren't going to let it go.

Do you mean—

I have no interest in that new city, but I'm not about to let it fall into the hands of those who've betrayed me either.

Padre!

Leon... I never expected you to find this place.

I happened to recall it from memory.

Since you're here, come take a seat.

I know what you're trying to do here.

Do you?

Since the very beginning, you've wanted to see Siracusa to return to the dark times of sixty years ago.

You want the famiglie all tearing into each other. If Signora Sicilia didn't step in, Siracusa's famiglie may well have mortally wounded each other.

But this time, you want them to break free of Signora Sicilia's chains, and to fight each other until nothing is left.

Hmm... So you understand after all.

But you didn't come here to confirm your conjecture with me, did you?

What I want to know is, what exactly made you think this way?

When I was twenty years old, I was just an ordinary Bellone wise guy.

They wanted me to rub somebody out, I couldn't pull it off, so I had to flee into a nearby village. I took a new identity and went into hiding.

I lived there for almost six months.

Nothing particularly notable happened during that time.

But those six months gave me an entirely new perspective on the country I lived in.

There is no corner of Siracusa completely free from the influence of the famiglie, but in places like the villages outside the city, the famiglie are just your run-of-the-mill thuggish bullies.

I found a job as a cobbler, and for that summer, I plied my trade by the side of the road and watched them go about their business.

In the end, nothing they did impressed me at all. But I will never forget that summer when sweat flowed from my brow like rain.

Leon, whether it's you, me, or any other wise guy, we've all been branded from birth.

But it was during that summer that I realized—

Life in Siracusa will continue, even with no famiglie.

So that's why you helped Lavinia, and didn't mind that the two of us were growing closer...

You genuinely want to support her cause. Don't you?

In all honestly, I did want to see the kind of justice she envisions.

Which is why you didn't have insurance for this plan.

You don't need me, Lavinia, or anyone else assuming any of the risk.

You think that when you tear down the famiglie holding down the people, their lives won't be negatively impacted at all.

Absolutely.

But that doesn't go far enough, padre mio.

It doesn't?

No. It's far from enough.

Letting the famiglie tear into each other until they've worn themselves out may overturn the existing system.

But that isn't enough to get Siracusa back into the hands of the people.

Are you worried about Signora Sicilia?

No, what I'm worried about is inertia.

I came to realize something while working as Carracci's assistant.

The famiglie have had their roots here for thousands of years.

Even if the people reject the famiglie, they have no idea what shape Siracusa might take.

Even after they overthrow the old system, will they manage to build something new?

I don't think so.

The people will be overwhelmed, not knowing what happened. All they'll know is that their house has suddenly collapsed.

And when they go to build on top of those ruins, they'll build what amounts to a famiglia.

Nothing will change at all.

If we continue down this path, we may bring about a Siracusa without famiglie, for a bit.

But the Siracusa you're dreaming of will never come.

You're dreaming too big, padre mio.

You want to give them your Siracusa, but you never stopped to think if they're willing and able to accept it.

All we can do is to let everyone out there know what's happening, and involve them in the process.

That's the only way we can start the conversation on a 'Siracusa without the famiglie.'

Looks like my son's all grown up.

I thought you came here for a good, old-fashioned father-son argument.

I didn't expect you to teach me something.

Padre mio...

So, what are you going to do?

I'll go find Lavinia, organize a coalition of non-famiglia forces, and seize control of the secondary core's command tower.

As long as the new city is under my control, I'll have the advantage.

As for whether I'll be able to negotiate with Signora Sicilia, or if I'll have to confront her directly, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

But no matter what happens, we'll be betraying Demetri, and our whole famiglia.

Do it your way then, Leon.

You were the one who started this whole mess. Don't even think about sitting on the sidelines and leaving everything to me.

Don't worry, I'll catch up with you.

Good.

Don Agenir, I hear you never set foot in church.

Siracusa doesn't need churches. If we accept the teachings of Laterano, we're doomed to be influenced by their culture.

In the end, all I can do is choose to distance myself.