act21side

Grr... We ended up letting him go.

He stopped wanting to fight us halfway through.

You felt it too, didn't you? If he really wanted to kill us, he could've gotten it done.

He just didn't want to take the time.

We can't underestimate any of the Siracusan famiglie.

You got one thing wrong.

I've never underestimated any of them.

Every famiglia is my enemy.

Including the Bellones.

Don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit there?

You don't seem surprised.

You betrayed your own boss. You expect me to believe you'd really go in with us?

But let me point out, now isn't a good time.

Demetri does not waver in the face of Wallach's sharpened blade, instead turning back to his soldiers.

What's going on in the city?

Nothing good.

The famiglie know the secondary core separation sequence started.

People are all pretty mad at us and the Saluzzos.

Wise guys from the other famiglie are hitting us now too.

What about the thing I asked you to handle?

You were right on the money...

The eyes and ears we planted in the other famiglie tell us even though the people are angry at the Bellones and Saluzzos, we aren't their main deal here.

All the chaos is down there is exactly what all the famiglie were looking for.

Everything Signora Sicilia kept down is bubbling right up to the surface now.

There's already fighting over how to divvy up Bellone and Saluzzo assets. And we've got some old grudges out there getting settled.

Everyone's hopping in, directly or indirectly.

(*mutters*) This is exactly what you wanted, huh, Boss?

(*mutters*) So, you betrayed us after all.

Wallach, you're not an idiot. You get that there's no point to us fighting right now.

Isn't it better to solve the big problems first?

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.