Well sorry it took so long and sorry it's short but yeah, please read and review! It's kinda a flashback chapter or past chapter or whatever.
Ten Years Ago….
The Fermin fundraiser party would have been white tie but things had changed and although it was still a thousand dollars campaign contribution to get in the door and the expansive room was still full of people, the location and the guests were different.
"I remember back when I had my first get together like this." Wesley Fermin (senior) told his son, who was seated across from him at the long table clothed in white, "It looked like an Italian wedding. At least four of the major families showed up, gave the maximum 10 and there was enough money to go around that we could let all the little coal miners and their families in for free! Now look at this, only one family, the Bertinelli's, support me—I mean you-well, us anymore and it's black tie and no vest, for god's sake! Politics has no class anymore, my son, no class!"
Wesley Fermin junior just rolled his eyes.
He had heard his father's rant a hundred times before and was tired of it.
Fermin junior's father, his grandfather, his great grand father and so on had all been mayor of Hub City and now, of course, it was his turn. He was in his early thirties, as young as his father had been but times had changed, and not at all interested in being mayor.
But just as he had to look exactly like his father before him, he had to become mayor or else shame his entire lineage.
His wife and four year old son sat next to him at the table. Benjamin (whose grandfather had wanted him to be named Wesley in the family tradition) was picking at the catered food with his tiny fingers while Myra tried desperately to get a stain out of the little black dress she did not intend to wear only once.
The party was dwindling, as were the amount of champagne cups available, and Wesley Fermin senior was getting increasingly worried. Guido Bertinelli, who was seated in the back with his wife and eight year old daughter, could tell, even from across the room.
When Guido had been growing up, these campaign parties had always been held up at the Bertinelli mansion and were crawling with Italians. Now other than himself, his wife Carmela and daughter Helena, Santo Cassamento and Steven Mandragora were the only Italians there and all of them had been confined to a tiny table in the back of the rented dinning area of the hotel, like an embarrassment.
Everybody in Hub knew that the Bertinelli's were mafia now and now they actually cared. Not like before, when it was the mafia run coal-mining industry that gave everyone their jobs, alcohol and loans.
The Bertinelli's still owned all the coal mines and factories; Guido had inherited them along with the mob when his father died, but now there were other jobs in sales and the like that took the industry's place. People could get loans from banks easier now and liquor was legal so the mafia had fallen out of favor with in Hub.
The cloud of corruption was slowly dissipating…
But it wasn't gone yet and if there was one thing the mafia could still do in Hub City it was fix an election.
Granted, all the Fermin's before the youngest Wesley running now won easily and didn't need to cheat in the poles, but the current candidate wasn't doing so well and so Guido Bertinelli was going to make sure he would win.
Besides, he needed the mayor's favor.
And so Guido, in a bold move, crossed the room and stopped at the Fermin's table, extending a hand to shake both senior and junior.
Wesley Fermin Senior, who despite feeling uncomfortable about being seen with a known mafioso, knew his manners and stood up from his seat. He turned to face Guido and the two shook hands.
Wesley Fermin Junior, however, remained seated, quite afraid actually of Guido Bertinelli and gave only a nervous wave to say hello.
Both men had actually gone to private school together, but although their fathers wanted them to be friends, they had never really hung out with the same crowds.
"I see you are worried." Guido told the senior, "Don't be, your son will win."
"Yes…" he agreed, but his voice didn't sound very sure.
Looking around, he was relieved that at least no one at the party noticed who he was talking to yet.
But before the conversation could continue, Santo Cassamento, who was inappropriately dressed for the occasion in a leather jacket, came stomping up to the table, fists clenched and mouth in a scowl.
Wesley Fermin Junior cowered, a little, behind his wife. He had also gone to school with Santo, who had bullied him his entire adolescence.
"This is a big insult, Fermin!" Cassamento shouted.
All eyes in the room, which had previously been drooping in boredom, widened and turned to look at the scene unfolding over at the Fermin's table.
"Santo, shut up." Guido muttered, elbowing his friend in the ribs.
"No, I will not shut up!" Cassamento exclaimed, slicking his greased hair back, "You take this sitting down, you let him do this to us! You should be telling him to be quiet! He knows he would not even be here if it wasn't for us, and our fathers!"
"Let's discuss this outside." Fermin Senior suggested, watching the guest stare at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Are you embarrassed by me, sir?" Cassamento continued, as loudly as he could possibly managed, "Are you embarrassed by us?"
He stretched his arms out wide and making himself completely visible to every guest, the audience of his spectacle.
He then turned slightly to Guido.
"Hey, hey Guido!" he feigned a whisper that everyone could here, "I don't think our good friend Wesley Fermin here wants to be seen talking to us, maybe we should leave!"
"Mr. Fermin, I am so sorry about this!" Guido apologized, looking away from Cassamento and at both Wesley Fermins.
"Why the hell are you apologizing?" Cassamento yelled, and then turned to the Fermins, pointing at each of them in turn, "You should be apologizing! You should be apologizing! You should be apologizing! Even you should be apologizing, little boy!"
Cassamento's finger had stopped in the direction of the toddler, Benjamin, who didn't register the situation and continued to play with his food.
Wesley Fermin Junior was hiding under the table and Myra was looking around, wondering who would protect her if her husband wasn't going to. Wesley Fermin Senior, still standing with a serious expression on his face, said nothing.
Santo Cassamento was about to say more, but from behind, he was grabbed and pulled away by a giant white man. (Mandragora was the only one there dressed in white tie, and in fact a whole white suit, but simply because he preferred the color)
"Get off me!" Cassamento growled as he struggled to break free of Mandragora's grasp, "You let this happen too! Both of you!"
"Mr. Fermin, I am deeply sorry about this." Guido apologized again, "You will find restitution for this embarrassment wired to your account, along with my campaign contribution of the maximum amount. I apologize for his outburst."
Fermin still said nothing and watched as Guido backed away quickly and left the room.
The rest of the guests, now that that night's entertainment was over, returned to their meals and dull conversation.
Outside the hotel Guido and Carmela both held their daughter's hands tightly as they hurried down the sidewalk toward their limo. They hoped the whole scene hadn't traumatized young Helena in anyway.
"He probably just had too much to drink." Guido decided, trying not to think poorly of his long time friend despite his anger and shame.
Carmela wasn't as convinced. She knew Cassamento had become very paranoid lately, believing that the Illuminati was the reason that the other three families disappeared within Hub and the coal mining industry could not expand out of it and was slowly starting to fail.
She had tried to tell her husband before, but he wouldn't listen, his trust of his friend overpowering the truth. But dutiful Carmela would try again, later when her daughter wasn't around to here all the nonsense.
"I know why Uncle Santo was mad!" Helena giggled, "He told me!"
"Sometimes when he is angry he says things he doesn't mean." Guido dismissed, "And does things he regrets later."
"What did he tell you?" Carmela demanded, hoping to god that Helena's mind hadn't been polluted by Cassamento.
"It's a secret, I can't tell you or dad!" Helena chirped, skipping along, waving her own hands along with those of her parents.
Carmela stopped walking, let go of her daughter's hand and bent down in front of her.
"Helena, listen to me," she said seriously, looking her straight in the eyes, "Tell me what your 'Uncle Santo' told you, right now."
"Carmela, come on!" Guido called, pulling Helena along, "It's nothing, let's go. The car is waiting!"
Shaking her head, Carmela rose and followed her husband and daughter into the limo which drove away from the hotel and towards the Bertinelli mansion.
Outside on the curb, in front of the hotel, however, two figures remained.
"If I were to release you right now," Mandragora began, "Would you run back into that party and cause another difficult situation, or will stand outside with me while I wait for a taxi?"
Cassamento, who was still being restrained by Mandragora, tried once more to free himself before giving up and conceding, "…I'll stay outside with you…".
"You have to promise me." Mandragora added, pink eyes glistening in the night, "Your word as a mafia solider."
"Yeah! You have my word!" Cassamento barked, wrenching again, "Just let me go, now!"
Mandragora let Cassamento drop to the pavement, laughing to himself. Standing up and turning to face Mandragora, Cassamento started to talk.
"Guido's going soft, I saw it in there and so did you."
"All I saw was you being unable to control yourself." Mandragora countered.
"I control myself when it is necessary!" Cassamento hissed, "In there it was not necessary! That was a mockery. We were put in a table at the back, and then the way Guido begged and pleaded with Fermin like that, apologized. That was disgusting! Fermin should have been on his knees, thanking us!"
"Times have changed." Mandragora reminded.
"Yes, and I know why!" Cassamento declared, "It's because Guido is weak, and couldn't take his father's place. But also, because of the Illuminati!"
"Don't start that again, I will kill you." Mandragora warned, flashing his brass knuckle, "I am very tired of hearing about your ridiculous conspiracy theories."
"But why do you think the companies in Central wouldn't sell!" Cassamento continued, heedless of Mandragora's threat, "We had the deal to buy their mines all worked out perfectly and then the day it was supposed to go down, they back out and we're stuck in Hub! Why is that?"
"Doesn't matter." Mandragora shrugged, "We have money here. Life is good here."
"Yes, but we could have more!" Cassamento exclaimed, "More money, a better life! Only if we could expand. But Guido is too scared and keeping us from moving beyond Hub and the rest of the world is keeping us trapped inside it. It's like the two forces are working together. It's like Guido is working with them!"
"There is no illuminati." Mandragora stated, "And even if there was, Guido is not working with them."
"But still, there is more money to be made outside of Hub, so many cities and so many industries to dominate." Cassamento replied, "And if there is no illuminati and Guido is not working with them, he is only weak and the only reason that we are still stuck here. Either way, there is only one option to solve this problem."
"And just what is that option?" Mandragora inquired.
"To kill Guido Bertinelli and take over the Cosca." Cassamento answered.
A dropped out of college Vic Sage clicked the off button to the small tape recorder and set it down on the desk in front of him. All his classmates and professors had told him that he could go on to big things but instead he had chosen to go back.
Back to Hub City, the United States capital of corruption.
"Have you heard enough, or do you need more?" Vic asked, smirking and reaching into his pocket for another identical tape recorder, also filled with interesting information.
He had snuck in as a waiter to the Fermin fundraiser and hid tape recorders under every table that picked up every incriminating sentence spoken. Talks about bribes, fixing elections, illegal money transfers, everything that was Hub City.
He had also hidden in an alleyway behind the hotel and overheard a very interesting conversation between two mafia members that discussed everything from business, to the illuminati, to murdering their own boss.
"That was truly and beautifully intriguing piece of investigative journalism." Mr. O'Neil declared, standing up from behind his desk and holding out a hand, "Mr. Vic Sage, you've got yourself a job!"
"I've always had a job." Vic responded, also standing and shaking Mr. O'Neil's hand, "To identify and expose corruption, it's why I returned to Hub."
"Yes, yes, Vic, you told me that." O' Neil nodded, "But now you can identify and expose corruption twice a week on public broadcast, for pay."
"Ending corruption is my pay." Vic declared, but then decided to add, "But I still do want the salary." Just in case.
"Of course." O' Neil agreed, smiling, "But as of now, you're on the clock. So earn your pay and go find me more slime like the ones on those tapes you've got there."
"Yes, sir!" Vic replied and rushed out of the office.
He was excited about his new job as well as his old job and at his young age the cruel corruption of the world had yet to weigh him down into bitterness.
Once out of the streets of Hub City Vic breathed in the smoggy air, looked up at the sunless sky and set out to find an answer for every question.
Please review!