Previously:

"Hopefully Joe will be satisfied once he's heard me play and leave."

"I doubt that. He came all the way to New York to find you, although it did take him two years."

"Well, he was probably swamped helping out with the family business. The bakery was in trouble when I left, and they needed all hands on deck."

"I thought he made the best cakes in New Orleans?"

"Some of the best cakes. No, there was fire, just before I left. It was bad. It probably took them a year to rebuild everything, and then another year to get the business back into shape. What time is it?"

Luck checked his watch.

"He's right. You do need to get ready."

"I guess I'd better go, then."

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Complication

A little later, the three Gandor brothers were playing poker in the basement while Luck brought Keith and Berga up to speed on the Joe situation.

"Childhood friend?" Berga was taken aback. "And he just showed up out of nowhere? After two years?"

"Charlie thinks it was because he was busy helping his family business recover. And he said he didn't know where to find her."

"But he just happens to stumble upon her in a city of this size?"

"… That is quite a coincidence. You're sharp today."

"…..."

Keith silently agreed.

"Don't treat me like an idiot. So what are you gonna to do about it?"

"Charlie trusts him, so I'll just have to keep an eye on him. I got the feeling he was here for more than just concern for her wellbeing."

"You sure you're not just jealous?"

"Maybe. But I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

"Well, you know you can count on us to help you out."

"…..."

Keith nodded.

It was agreed. They would make sure Joe didn't try anything funny with Charlie.

—∞—

"Your childhood friend has come to visit?" Seina said when Charlie broke the news to her when she went to Alveare.

"Yes, he doesn't know the whole truth about my life here, but he is a discreet person."

Except when it came to recounting childhood misadventures.

"Well, okay. If you're sure..."

"If you're sure… what?" Ronny asked.

He seemed to have appeared out of thin air, but that didn't surprise Charlie now that she knew what he really was.

"My childhood friend is coming tonight. I didn't tell him anything about the organization."

"That's good, but he'll probably figure it out for himself."

"I don't want to get him involved, but I didn't know how to turn him down. I'm hoping he'll see that I'm okay, be satisfied, and go home."

—∞—

Joe went to the honey shop just as Charlie had told him to. He'd had to get directions to find it, but he got there eventually. It looked like just a normal honey store that sold honey when he walked in. There wasn't any sign of Charlie.

"Welcome," Seina said. Her attitude was frigid and unfeeling.

"Uh… I'm looking for Charlie Azzura?"

Seina turned away from the honey she was stirring on the stove to look at him. "You Charlie's friend? Joe?"

"Yes, that's me."

"All right. Come."

Seina led him down the corridor behind the register to the sturdy door that lead to the speakeasy. She knocked quite a few times on the firmly shut door. Light flashed in the peephole for a moment.

After a while, a clank came from behind the door as the padlock was opened. The door opened, and a blinding glow poured from inside.

Charlie was playing the piano as usual when Joe walked in. He was marveling at his surroundings, but when he heard her sing, he looked straight at her.

Charlie was singing My Sweet Embraceable You, but she noticed Joe when she looked up at the room. She smiled and nodded at him and continued her performance.

"Welcome, come in! You're Miss Charlie's friend?"

He was greeted by Lia, who was looking as lovely as usual.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"She told me about you. This way, please."

Lia didn't wait for his response and took him to a table close to the platform at the back of the room where Charlie was performing.

Ronny, Maiza, Firo, Ennis, Pezzo, and Randy were watching from their table.

"So that's Miss Charlie's friend?" Ennis asked.

"I'd say so."

Ronny had instructed Lia to bring Joe to a specific table so they would know it was him.

"He doesn't look like much. Are you sure we need to keep an eye on him?"

Firo sounded skeptical.

"Charlie seems to trust him. But he suddenly shows up after two years, all concerned? Does that seem right to you?"

Maiza thought something fishy could possibly be going on.

"It does seem suspicious..."

"He might be up to something."

Pezzo and Randy were thinking along the same lines as Maiza.

They watched Joe watch Charlie. He was gazing at her with soft eyes full of admiration. He ordered a drink, but didn't touch it. He just kept watching Charlie.

"Is it me, or does that guy have it bad?"

"He's completely smitten."

It seemed obvious to Rand and Pezzo that Joe was head-over-heels in love with Charlie.

"If that's the case, again, why two years?" Maiza asked.

'All I know is Luck won't like this one bit,' Firo thought. "Why don't we just talk to him?"

Firo, Maiza, and Ronny approached Joe's table.

"Ahem."

Firo cleared his throat.

Joe looked up at them.

"Oh. Hello. Can I help you?"

"We're friends of Charlie," Maiza said. "We thought we ought to introduce ourselves. This is Ronny. This is Firo. And my name is Maiza."

"Nice to meet you."

Joe motioned to the other chairs at the table.

"Please, have a seat."

The others joined him at the table.

"How do you know Charlie?"

"We're affiliated with this establishment," Ronny said.

"Oh, I see. So that's why she's playing here?"

"Actually we got to know her after she started playing here," Firo said.

Now that he wasn't completely focused on Charlie, Joe was beginning to pick up on other conversations taking place around him.

"—He might've seemed tough, but when I threatened to ventilate him, he sang like a canary."

"—Just cut off a few fingers. That'll teach him.

"—So after that, I had to ditch the gun.

Joe knew he was in a shady place, because it was a speakeasy serving illegal alcohol, but he hadn't counted on the people who frequented it being of such a dangerous quality.

These men who had introduced themselves as Charlie's friends were also troubling. Though they had said nothing threatening, he couldn't help feeling there was something about them that was dangerous. The man called Ronny had sharp eyes that made Joe feel as if he could see right through him, and he seemed to be the type who, if he did turn to crime, would ensure no body was ever found. Firo had a baby face, but Joe could see he wasn't normal either. Even the kind, polite smile on Maiza's face unsettled him.

Joe became concerned for Charlie.

"You… you're Mafia, aren't you?"

"We're Camorra."

"There's a difference?"

"There is to us."

"What do you have on Charlie? Why is she playing for you?"

"Why don't you ask Charlie?"

"She won't tell me. She didn't tell me because she didn't want to worry me. She's like that."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Tell me."

"Her adopted brother, Dino, ran up a debt with us and the Gandors. When Charlie came to get him, she agreed to stay with the Gandors as his collateral. They let her work off the debt by playing for them, among other things."

"Gandors—as in Luck Gandor?"

"Yes, he's one of their bosses."

Joe recalled shaking Luck's hand and thanking him for taking care of Charlie. He now felt repulsed to learn that they had been using her. He shuddered to think what the 'among other things' might be.

"Charlie had no idea about the debt with us. We found a note from Dino after he skipped town pushing all of the trouble onto her. We came to an arrangement where she could pay off the debt a little at a time by playing for us, in exchange for us leaving Dino alone until the death of her adopted mother."

"When Dino was found in a back alley with a bullet in his head… that was you?"

"Before you get too upset, you should know that he hired a hitman to kill Charlie. The attempt failed, but it doesn't change the fact that he did it."

"What? Dino… Why would he do that?"

"I think it was because she led him to believe his inheritance was still intact, when in reality it was all gone."

"Yeah, he went back to Louisiana expecting to inherit a fortune and got nothing for his trouble."

"Did he at least take care of his mother properly to the end?"

"It's hard to say whether he would've. She died the day after his return, while he was sitting alone with her."

"And you didn't find that suspicious?"

"You don't think he'd murder his own mother..."

"He tried to have his sister killed."

"But Dino has never thought of Charlie as his sister. That's different."

"Are you defending him?"

"Of course not. If he really tried to have Charlie killed, then he deserved what he got. But if you think I'm going to leave her with a bunch of violent murderers…"

Joe stood up suddenly and marched away from the table toward Charlie. He stepped up onto the platform and grabbed her by the wrist, preventing her from playing the next note.

"Joe? What are you doing?"

Charlie was surprised by the hard expression on his face.

"Stop this. Let's go home."

"Stop this?"

Charlie looked around the room and saw that everyone was staring at them.

"I'm in the middle of a performance. I can't stop now."

"I'll help you pay off the debt, so just leave it," Joe said, tightening his grip on her wrist. "I won't let them take advantage of you anymore. Just come home with me, and we can get married."

"Huh?"

Charlie was stunned. Marriage? Where had that come from? She had never once thought of Joe that way.

"Joe, let go… You're hurting me."

"You heard the lady," Ronny said over the murmuring of the rest of the room as they made comments and speculations on Joe's abrupt marriage proposal. "Let her go."

"Is that all you have to say? 'Let go'?"

"Like I said, you're hurting me. Let go, and when I finish my performance, we can talk about this calmly."

"No. We're leaving now. It's dangerous here."

"For you, maybe."

Firo was ready to force Joe to release Charlie's wrist.

"Please, don't hurt him."

"We won't."

Maiza gave her his word.

Firo relaxed as Randy and Pezzo went over to Charlie and Joe and pulled him away from her, restraining him as they dragged him off the platform.

Joe fought to get back to Charlie, and Maiza and Firo had to join Randy and Pezzo in dragging him from the room. They took him down to the basement to cool off. Ronny followed them.

Charlie was concerned, but trusted that Maiza would stick to his promise, so she resumed playing the piano and tried to save any worries she might have for after her performance was over.

"You can't do this!"

Joe yelled he was pushed away, backing into the large table that was down there.

"We can, and we will," Ronny said.

"I'm gonna go call Luck. I think he'd want to know about this."

Firo left to make the phone call.

Maiza thought that was a good idea.

"Yes, we should give him a chance to say his piece before Charlie makes her decision."