Jax 

Late May 1992- Chicago IL

"What the fuck is this shit hole?"

"He speaks." Franky's tone is heavy on sarcasm as he parks in front of some shabby-looking motel.

It's been a long and tense drive. I've been answering Franky's annoying attempts to talk to me in one answer grunts. He keeps reminding me how scrappy Sam is, as if that will help. It doesn't. I know this about her. She won't sit still in the cabin until I come back. She'll be out hunting, fishing, and probably playing with the goddamn bears. I'm going to be in a constant state of fear, and it's adding to the crippling anxiety I'm feeling over meeting Vinny tonight.

"We're here because I can't drive you into the city," Franky explains as he exits the car. I follow his lead, crinkling my face in distaste as a man walks out the main door with a smug smile while he zips his pants up.

"We won't be here long," Franky assures me. "Just need to get you changed into normal clothes and then on the bus."

"The bus?"

"You ain't walking all the way into the city." He stops before heading inside and turns to look at me. "Stay out here. I'll go book a room."

"Fine."

A scantily dressed woman walks out as Franky walks in. She gives me a look, and I quickly avert my eyes so she doesn't get the wrong idea. Her heavy perfume lingers in the air as her heels click across the pavement.

I hear a car backfire in the distance and nearly jump out of my skin. I'm struggling with all these noises, horns beeping, engines running, sirens imploding. It never stops. It's making me dizzy and giving me a headache. I never thought I'd miss the woods, but I'd much rather hear the sounds of rustling leaves and chirping birds right now.

"We're in room two ten, just up those stairs." Franky comes out with a key in hand.

We head up and walk in after he unlocks the door.

"Oh fuck!" I cover my face with my shirt when the overwhelming, musty smell nearly knocks me over.

"Little ripe in here," Franky agrees as he shoves a bag in my hands. "Go on and grab a shower and get yourself changed into these. I'll get your bus route figured out while you do that."

As I grab the bag, my shirt falls from my face, and the smell is way too much. I  start gagging as I dash into the bathroom. The next thing I know I've emptied my stomach into the rusty toilet.

"You okay?" Franky calls from outside the door.

"Worse coming up than it was going down," I groan.

"Maybe McDonald's wasn't the best idea for your first meal," Franky says sheepishly.

"You think?" I roll my eyes. I liked fast food before all this, but I had to choke down that burger. It was awful, and the fries were salty and soggy.

The shower is stained with yellow and brown rusty marks and doesn't look like it gets cleaned very well, but I jump in anyway. I suppose it's better than bathing in an old boat. The water coming down over my head feels amazing. A shower is something Sam and I would long for a lot when we'd torture ourselves about what we missed.

I close my eyes and start picturing Sam's face. Her sweet and loving eyes, her soft and sometimes teasing smile, and those cheeks that so quickly turn pink when I tell her how beautiful she is.

I'm coming back to you, baby. Stay strong. I tell her silently, hoping she can feel my words.

The water goes cold, and I hurriedly get out to change.

***

"Everything is too big." I walk out of the bathroom in a pair of ridiculous-looking baggy jeans. Franky was smart enough to have torn and roughed them up, but they look off-- like they don't belong on my body.

"I underestimated how skinny you are, but it's fine. That's how the kids wear 'em these days.

I cast a doubtful look in the mirror hanging on the wall.

"It is. You should pull them down a little and show the boxers. It's the style."

I recall Sam telling me that once, and I didn't believe it. But I guess I'll see for myself soon enough.

"They're ugly as fuck."

"Vinny will think so, too. Don't worry about it," Franky says as he lights up a cigar. "He'll have you in designer shit in no time."

"Lucky fucking me."

He lights up a cigar, and the smoke fills the room.

"That shit reeks," I complain as I wave the smoke away from me.

"Look, kid. I know you're pissed off about your girl, but this miserable act ain't going to help."

I don't answer, but I don't snap back, either. Franky's smart, so I have to be smarter. If I'm too agreeable, he'll be suspicious. But if I push too hard, he'll push back, and I can't risk that either.

It's Sam's life on the line, and she's the only thing that matters. I could've tried to fake it like she didn't mean anything to me, but Franky's no fool. He'd have seen right through it. 

I need to keep him on my side until I have Sam's dad, and only until l then. The second I have that worthless old man. I'm going to get my sweet Sam, and we're leaving all this bullshit behind. Fuck Franky's intel plan. He can find some other way to get at Vinny.

"Let's hurry up and get you to the bus station," Franky says worriedly. "I need to get to the club before I raise any eyebrows."

"Fine by me."

My soul is screaming at me to go back to the woods. I want to go get her and say fuck everyone, her dad included. But she's too sweet for that. Sam would never be able to live with herself if she left her dad behind.

She'd storm into the club alone if she had to...

No way can I let that happen.  I'd do anything for her, even if it kills me.

And it might.

****

Between the mix of smells, the noise, and all the jerky movements, the bus nearly makes me throw up again.

My clothes are new but roughed up, so they look old, as is the backpack slung over my shoulder. It reeks like cigarettes, and that's not helping my stomach. Franky insisted a kid living in the streets at my age would smoke. I coughed so badly on the first few that it still hurts to breathe in deeply, but by the third, I managed to look like I knew what I was doing.

I start walking towards the building, the streets are cluttered with people, but no one pays me any attention. Having stayed hidden for long, I keep wanting to duck into an alley or something.

As I get closer to Vinny's building, my anxiety has me on edge. I don't know if I can pull this off, but I have to.

Franky thinks I should show up and tell Vinny I'm here for my legacy. He assumes Vinny would respect me for that, but it doesn't work for me. If I wanted my piece of the pie, why hide? It just doesn't make sense in this scenario.

What does make sense is an angry, estranged son who never wanted anything to do with him or the mafia. Vinny will expect that from me. But there has to be a reason. Something had to happen, forcing me to come to him.

What could that be?

As I pace the streets, the idea starts working itself out in my head. I'll tell him I'm here for money. A lot of money, too much for him to be willing to just give it to me.

But what if he does? What if he hands it over and wants me gone? Then what do I do? I know he won't, but I should be prepared just in case. I'd have to take it, get my girl, and start our new life together. It wouldn't be a bad scenario, but she wouldn't leave her dad behind, so we'd still have that problem to solve.

This is all pointless thinking, anyway. He isn't going to hand me a stack of cash and send me away. He will want me to earn it somehow, and that's how I'll worm my way into that club.

I'll need to be careful and not say too much. A disgruntled son looking for a handout isn't going to come out blabbing about every detail of his life. Keeping things to myself and being evasive and a bit walled off will make my lies easier to swallow and tell.

I've reached the building's parking lot, and my nerves are frayed. There was a steep hill up to where the apartment complex sits. It's an impressive tall building with many big windows overlooking the lake. There are no close neighboring buildings.

Franky warned me that everyone who lives in this building is under Vinny's employment. It won't take long for someone to spot a street kid out here. Hopefully, they don't shoot me on the spot.

How do I reach Vinny? I'm sure he has guards and a doorman, and I doubt any of them are going to believe his dead son is alive and here to see him.

But I have the letter in my pocket. They can't deny that.

I light up a smoke and start walking towards the entrace. I'm nervous as fuck, but the sooner I get this over with, the better.

How do I approach this?

The big double doors swing open before I can answer my thought. I duck behind a truck and watch as a short girl with long black hair and big brown eyes runs out. She has an excited smile and a set of keys in her hand.

"Slow down, Tori!"

I gape at the man as he walks out behind her. I've never seen my father in person until now.

He's tall with broad shoulders, wearing a black suit. His dark brown hair is cut short, making his grayish eyes, so much like mine, seem to stand out all the more.

He carries himself with so much power I can feel it from where I stand. But his eyes have a lightness in them I never would have expected. I always assumed he'd look cruel and cold like the evil criminal he is. Instead, he's got a smile tugging at his lips, and the amusement on his face only grows when the girl turns around to face him.

"How about you hurry? I've been waiting for your meeting to end forever," she complains loudly.

He lets out a billowing laugh full of affection as he ruffles her hair.

"It hasn't even been an hour. Keep whining and I'll make mom take you on your driving lesson."

"No way! She won't even let me go over ten miles an hour."

He laughs again, and it's so— full of warmth—a bitter knot forms in my gut. I hate him. How does he get to go on through life pretending to be a good dad when he killed my mother?

I won't get a better opportunity to confront him than this. I don't see anyone else around, just him and the girl, Tori.

My sister... she must be the younger of the two. Gina would be eighteen by now and already driving.

I light up a smoke and take a drag. It's gross, but it does calm my nerves. As I step out from behind the truck, Vinny spies me immediately. His expression tenses as he looks down at the girl who has not noticed me.

"Sweetie, I need you to go back inside." His tone is different from it was, the amusement gone and his eyes are trained on me as he stands between her and me.

"What's going on, Dad?"

"Just go inside now," he says firmly, and this time, she listens. She moves past him towards the door. However, she turns before she reaches it and catches my eye. I can nearly read the words, "Who is that?" in the way her eyes squint at me.

She hesitates for just a second and then ducks inside. I get the feeling she's still there, though, watching through the glass window on the side of the door. I'm sure I would be in her situation. I feel a pinch of guilt for disturbing her life like I'm about to do, but I push it aside.

Sister by blood only, I tell myself. Stay focused on the plan.

With that, I look at Vinny as he takes a step closer to me.

"Jackson." The emotion in his voice takes me back. Literally, I take a step back from him.

Fuck. Think, talk, do something, anything, I scream inside my head as I stand there, all numb and lame.

"I always hoped you'd come and find me. I'm glad you're here."

Wait what?

"You knew I was alive?" I finally speak, but I sound way too weak. I take another drag and then drop the cigarette, grinding the butt out with my boot.

Toughen up, I tell myself.

"Yes, I did."

"How? If you knew, why haven't you tried to find me?"

He might have, and I'm hoping this will give me some clue how much he may or may not know.

"I didn't think you wanted to be found. I wasn't going to force myself on you after losing your entire family. I hoped you would come to me someday. Until then, I opted to leave you alone," Vinny says.

"Leave me alone?" The anger creeps in easily as I start to work in the lie. "I was sleeping in bus terminals, eating out of dumpsters, and you just didn't fucking care?"

A flash of confusion crosses his face. "You weren't in a safe house somewhere?"

"I ran out of the fucking venue where everyone was dying and found some shelter. I never left Vegas."

"I see," Vinny says slowly. "... and why are you here now?"

"Answer my question first," I demand. "How did you know I was alive?"

"That's a long conversation that doesn't need to happen right now."

I open my mouth to argue, but he continues. "You look like you could use some hot food, maybe a warm bed for a day or two. I know you have no reason to take me up on it, but — you're here. Might as well."

There it is. The in I need, but I have to be careful. I can't seem eager.

"I'm not here to bond with you, Vinny," I spit out bitterly. "I need some cash, and I'll be on my way."

"How much cash and for what?" He asks as he arches an eyebrow.

"Enough to start a new life, and it's none of your damn business."

"My money is my business, and if you're living on the streets in Vegas. I don't think giving you a stack of cash is wise."

I hear the if in that loud and clear. He doesn't believe me. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why did I think I could do this!? Stay calm. You got this. I hear Sam's voice in my head and it bolsters me to keep at it.

"I should've known it would be a waste to come here," I mutter in a tone full of frustrated anger I do not have to fake.

I turn to leave but don't even get a step away before he says, "Wait."

Got him.

I turn and glare at him, and he sighs.

"I didn't say I won't help you. I said it doesn't feel right. Just come inside, stay for the night at least, okay? We'll talk more tomorrow, and ... I'll consider giving you money when I know more about what you're going to do with it."

"You didn't even want your kid to see me a second ago, and now you want to invite me in?"

"Both my girls know they have a big brother out there. The only reason I sent her in is in case you came here with any intent to harm me. I didn't want her to see that," Vinny says.

"Where's your men?" I ask as my eyes dart around the empty lot. "Figured you'd always have guards around you."

"I didn't plan on letting Tori leave the parking lot today. She's a brave little thing, but she's only had one lesson so far. Would you believe Vinny Russo is scared of a sixteen-year-old driver?" He lets out another billowing laugh with that, but I don't find any humor in it.

I can hear this affectionate thing in his tone, and that bitter knot in my gut gets even bigger. I interrupted a normal day. He was going to take her on a driving lesson. Then I bet they'd have dinner as a family. Maybe they'd watch some TV. He gives all the things that he robbed me of to his girls.

... but I'm confused. He's obviously very protective of Tori. Why would he not have motioned for his men to come out when he saw me?

"If you thought I could try and hurt you. Why didn't you call them out here?"

"You're my son. I'd let you harm me before I'd risk my guards hurting you," Vinny says, his gaze unwavering from mine. "I know you have no reason to believe that, but I'm asking you to try. I don't want to be your enemy."

He's lying, trying to manipulate me. But for what? Does he think the Mancini still have assets, and he wants them? Is it the pride thing of having his firstborn son take over someday? Or something else, maybe even something sinister?

Because it sure as hell isn't because he cares about me. He's not capable of caring. He's a sociopath.

... right? But... with Tori, he seemed so —

Don't go there, I tell myself. He may care about them, but not me. He's never cared about me, but he gave me the in, and I have to take it, even if I'm pretty sure he's playing me.

I guess I'll just have to outwit and play him better.

"Please come inside," Vinny asks again. "I'll properly introduce you to Tori and then get you something to eat. How's that sound?"

"Fine, let's go in," I grunt.

**I hope you all like the start! This will be on very slow updates until the mid to end of November, but I cannot resist posting any longer. I also still need a blurb, but we'll get there. 🤣