Dorotea stared at Flavio's unconscious body, filled with bandages and also was placed in the Intensive Care Unit. Luciano accompanies her by standing by her side, he felt pity for Flavio. He lost a lot of blood but luckily, the House Quattrocchi has a lot of blood banks. "I..thought he'll die though..." Dorotea clenches her fist while tearing up, "I don't know why but... I'm scared of losing him.." she added while looking down. "Don't worry.. he'll wake up soon, but hey, look at the bright side, we managed to find a blood bank composed of blood type O-." Luciano reassures her. "He's such an idiot..." Dorotea tried to laugh yet she ended up weeping. Luciano pats her back gently, he looks at the unconscious Flavio with a look that he'll swear that he's going to protect Dorotea for awhile. Recalling their conversation outside her room back the in the Drago's Chateau.
•
"Wait... Are you implying that you and Dorotea were childhood friends..?" Luciano asked.
"Yes.." Flavio responded.
"Then...is she the House O'Rourke Heiress...?" Luciano asks.
"Yes, as far as I could remember, she is Martha O'Rourke. That means, she's also one of this Mafia's candidates for being the next Boss." Flavio sighed.
"Oh... Right, O'Rourke was one of that seven families who helped in founding La Nostra Pace." Luciano stated.
"Who are the candidates anyways..?" Flavio asked, "I only knew Dorotea since she's the last O'Rourke left." he added.
"Let's say, Elisabetta D'Ambrosio, Niccolo Sapienti, Martha O'Rourke, Letizia Piciri— I mean, Ferrante. I still don't know who are the candidates from Acerbi, Maestri and Shinigai, since the House Acerbi is not helping anymore, not to mention, the last known Acerbi is Ortensia Acerbi." Luciano explained.
"Are you sure about that? Haven't you heard that the former Heiress of House Acerbi, Rosabella Acerbi was conceived by Fuuniku Shinigai?" Flavio shot a sideward glance at him. "Wait, who's their offspring..?" Luciano was shocked by this news. "Delta I, she's two in one." Flavio answered.
"Holy Guacamole no one told me that." Luciano facepalms, "Also, got any ideas who will be the House Maestri's candidate?" Flavio asked Luciano, "The Family Head has 13 sons, while his current daughter is the Alpha. 8 of them are already dead, meaning only five potential candidates left." Luciano stated. "I see.." Flavio only looked at Luciano.
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"Hey, can you protect Martha for me..? In case I'll be gone or went missing for a while."
"Sure thing..."
•
"Martha O'Rourke..." Luciano whispered while patting Dorotea's back.
"W-what did you said..?" Dorotea looked at him while her tears are flowing, "Nothing, I only said 'cheer up'." Luciano smiled.
'Blount do really know a lot... Is he the mole in the Mafia..?' Luciano thought to himself.
Marco, Piero and Tomasso are currently watching the Ferrante's: Hangman's Game Show, pretending to be one of the Fantasma Rosso's soldiers. Delta already guessed three words: ANCESTOR, CLONE and EXPERIMENT. Salvatore's been wondering why the hell would he lose his sanity cause of the answers, he may not be as sharp as the others yet, he knows that those are clues about the Experiments that the House Quattrocchi is doing. The next word is composed of 8 letters, Delta already guessed 4 letters.
_ O _ F L _ _ T
"The word, is CONFLICT!" Delta answered, the crowds cheered for her, especially their three comrades watching.
"Marvelous!" Francisco exclaimed.
The next unknown word composed of 8 letters appeared on the screen.
"A!" Delta answered
_ _ _ _ A _ A _
Francisco can be seen getting annoyed cause Delta keeps on guessing the words while Salvatore can't even figure a thing or a two.
"Next letter, B" she answered again
"Amazing!" a hint of anger and disappointment can be heard on the time of his exclamation.
B _ _ _ A _ A _
"Y!" Delta answered.
"Correct!" Francisco hid his visible anger using his malicious grin.
B _ _ _ A Y A _
"The word is, BETRAYAL." Delta answered, once again she got it right.
Salvatore looked very puzzled, 'Ancestor, clone, experiment, conflict and betrayal...' he thought to himself while theorizing something. "It is already clear that Letizia is.. a homunculus, deemed as a failed experiment.. but, what's with the ancestor, clone, conflict and betrayal..?" he muttered while rubbing his chin. He thinks again, 'Could it be... That the DNA they used didn't came from the Drago and D'Ambrosio's..? Or.. is she a clone..? Who's clone? Maybe the ancestor's.. but who is the ancestor..? Damn this is messed up..'
"Two more words left..." Delta sighed while looking at Letizia, while looking at the crowds, there she spotted Marco, Piero and Tomasso pretending to be one of the Fantasma Rosso's soldiers, Marco look back at her. Delta started blinking and smiling.
Smile. Blink. Blink. Blink.
She scratched her head again, an unknown 7 letter word appeared on the screen.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
She blinked, smiled and scratched her head again.
"Round 6! We are almost done folks!" Francisco exclaimed excitedly.
"N.." she answered, she blinked, smiled and scratched her head again.
_ _ _ _ N _ _
"Marvelous!" Francisco clapped his hands.
"G!" Delta exclaimed.
A large explosion occured in the studio, many died and many was injured. Francisco was surprised cause of the sudden explosion, he then gazed at where was Letizia was standing but she already escaped, "H-how...?" he gritted his teeth cause of anger. Salvatore, and the others have already escaped with the help of Carlotta who's surprisingly at the top of the house, riding a chopper.
"That was fun!" Marco exclaimed while grabbing on the rope tied on the chopper.
"Wait, how did you knew there will be an explosion occuring..?" Piero asks him.
"Eh? Didn't you noticed Delta has been relaying her message via Morse code? She told me 'BANG', I knew Delta IV will be showing cause of the bang, she likes exclaiming the onomatopoeia." he stated.
"Onomato— what? Nevermind, that's why she's been blinking and smiling.." Tomasso sighed, "Jeez.. how could you memorize that code though..?" Tomasso asked Marco.
"Super memory, my friend." he grinned while answering.
"You guys are filled with surprises.." Tomasso just laughed.
"Of course were filled with surprises, aren't we the La Nostra Pace?" Piero lets out a gentle smile, "I'm even surprised you just smiled." Tomasso sighed, the three only laughed together while gripping on the rope. On the other hand, Salvatore has been comforting Letizia at the back seat, still wondering about that Hangman's Game.
They safely landed on the House Quattrocchi's rooftop, Salvatore and Carlotta assisted Letizia on walking to the infirmary. Nunzio and Delta talked in private while the three started looking for Ruggero, Dante and Giusto. They reunited in the lobby,
"I thought you are involved in the plan..?" Piero asks Giusto.
"Not anymore, Carlotta asked us to retreat and she could handle it all by herself." Giusto answered.
"I see, then where's Flavio?" Piero asks them.
A moment of silence occured, they still do not know their comrade's condition, the six rushed in the infirmary trying to find where Flavio is yet, they didn't.
"D-dont tell me...he's.." Dante's eyes widened.
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"Flavio.." Piero looks down.
"Are you sure he's dead?" Marco yawns, "It's too early to conclude that dude's dead.." he added.
"Oh, there's Teodora, let's ask her—"
"No, I will ask her." Piero cut Tomasso's statement short while walking towards Teodora.
"Are those two are really.. you know..?" Tomasso asked.
"Maybe.. I don't know either.. they look like they're couples though.." Dante answered.
Piero walks toward them, "He's in the ICU you dumbasses.." Piero sighed.
"Oh.." the five exclaimed in sync.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go visit Vio!" Giusto exclaimed while posing, pointing at his comrades. "The good news is, his alive. Bad new is, he is in a state of coma....for a while." Piero averted his gaze.
"W-what..?" Dante quickly glanced at Piero. "So...he won't be joining us in the current war..?" Giusto sighed, "Technically, yes." Tomasso answered.
"Jeez.. it'll be boring without that dude..." Ruggero added.
"I hope he'll wake up soon." said Marco while walking away, "Where are you going, bud?" Piero asks, "I'll ask someone to treat my wounds." he answered, "Okay then.." Piero sighed.
The screen glitches, revealing the sixth word, it was REVENGE. It glitches again and it reveals that the final round is composed of sentence.
_ U _
P _ _ C _
_ S
R U I N E D
[ End of Chapter ]