In a black sedan parked in an alleyway, the hitmen Vicente and Grant were planning the huge day ahead of them. This marks Vincent's first job under Dino Manzo's wing after setting up a special program for them, allowing him to work for non-Italian members of the Fifth Estate.
Vincent was the one in the driver's seat and with him being in charge of this certain mission, he is willing to show Grant how things work in the criminal underworld. And with Grant being irritated with the lack of action, the Mexican hitman tries to clarify what is the dos and don'ts in doing business in broad daylight.
"Where are these punks?! Show them already, come on. I'm itching for a war. Fucking pricks..." Grant was being enthusiastic with their task under Don Manzo.
"You could even barely hold a strap, Grant. Let me show you how it's done, okay?" Vincent tells him to stay low.
"Then what? Schooling me's useless. Are you aware of the word 'improvise'?" Grant disagrees.
"I did go to school so I know what that means, unlike you... No offense." Vicente takes his statement back immediately.
"It's fine because I wasn't wanted anyway! They could go and fuck themselves with their made-up systems." Grant gets triggered.
"Woah, easy. What school were you in? They kicked you out?" He asked.
"Doesn't matter, they're all shit!" Grant refuses to talk about the campus he was in.
"Look, you're still young. You should get back to college. Come on, I'll help a brother out." Vincent offers him to return from schooling.
"I'm too notorious to go back to school, you know that. Do you know how those fucking bastards pay me back? Talk about oppression and lack of empathy towards someone! I would love to, but no thanks." Grant detailed why he couldn't go back.
"So you're choosing to get involved in this life, huh? Entering the slums in exchange for recognition? Okay, not gonna argue with that." Vicente lends an ear to his companion.
"Let me ask you something. Why choose this path when you're in for a fucking scholarship?" Grant gets to ask back.
Vincent scratches his head before speaking. "You see, I told you before that I was in a gang full of uneducated scumbags. I was once their brains but instead of fleeing, I jumped into something more... Organized."
"How were they? How did you guys handle this brotherhood?" He asked more about the gang.
"They taught me how to hold a gun, then I teach them about stuff in general." Vincent hinted about it.
"What 'stuff' are you talking about?" Grant gets interested all of a sudden.
"How to run things as a gang. Fuck all of that swag image and everything, we let our work speak for ourselves." He tells more about his former gang.
"Was it perfect for you? Why did you flee and have a fresh start as a hitman?" He asked about the reason for the abandonment of his gang.
Vicente took it personally, but he still handled it like a professional. "Call me the bad guy, amigo. But I seriously needed the money to get my family out of the poverty line."
"Does this have to do with politics?" Grant brought the conversation politically.
"No, I'm not gonna answer that one." He rejected the question.
"Come on, we all know that it's one of the reasons why this thing's a shitshow!" Grant raises his voice at his fellow soldier.
"Why so interested in my personal life? How about let's talk about yours?" Vincent turns the tables.
Grant left a smirk before cussing. "Fuck you."
"That works." Vincent gets to chuckle.
They both laughed before Grant hits up with the questions yet again. "I never expected that I would work for a crime family."
"Who? Mister Manzo? Be lucky he saved our asses off from the wrong people." Vicente was grateful upon meeting the Don.
"We owe him, at least." Grant also recognizes him.
"Then let this be the moment we bring the favor back." Vincent fixed his necktie, seeing that Grant's was undone.
He slightly adjusted Grant's necktie, but he complained about it. "Fuck! It's too tight!"
"First time wearing suit and tie?" Vincent asked while redoing his tie.
"Kind of... I mean I wore a lot of these already, but not for this fucking occasion." Grant answered.
"Now, take this." He hands a tool to Grant.
"What is this?" Grant examines the bizarre item.
"Don Manzo likes it old school so... I gotta teach you how that works, it might come in handy." He explains how Dino would like the assassination would go.
"So... How?" Grant plays with it by pulling it.
"It's a garrote rope. You sneak onto someone's back and use that rope to squeeze the neck. Good for stealth, I suppose." Vincent explains how a certain instrument of death would work.
"Oh... I see. I saw one of these in the games and movies." Grant recognizes the rope.
"What do you do for a living again? Playing games and stuff like that? Nah, you have to break that habit of yours." Vincent advised.
"Why play those shit if you could do it on your own?" Grant was shot awake from his surroundings after realizing it.
"It sounds like something that an old man would say but... That's exactly what I wanna hear." Vincent was glad about his point.
"We get to have fun..." Grant grinned while playing the garrote rope.
"Now remember: It's all business and business only." He gave a piece of advice to Grant.
"Yeah, yeah... Nothing personal." Grant still has the rope.
Vincent took a deep breath before peeking at the road, seeing a guy walking with papers that seemed important. "Wait a minute... I know that guy."
Grant took a quick glimpse as well. "Who?"
"Never mind, all I know is he's still working for the Feds," Vicente tells him that he's working for the Government.
"Is he a friend of yours or what? Don't leave me hanging." Grant asked about the man they saw walking on the streets.
"See, you gotta watch out for people like them. Who knows? We all know that we hate snitches..." He warms him about informants.
"Okay... So you're telling me not to trust someone easily especially if we're in a family." He understands Vincent's point.
"Something that I have learned from our guy..." Vincent recalls trusting the wrong people.
"If you're talking about the people we're after, then this is the change we fuck them up completely." Grant shows his excitement to wreak havoc.
"I don't know if I'm just money-thirsty or they have his shark mentality in general." Vincent sighed, taking a pack of cigarettes out to have a single stick.
"I'm not blaming you." Grant makes it clear.
"Want some of this?" He offers the cigarette to Grant.
"Fine, I just started smoking anyway." Grant took a cigarette, lighting it up using a match.
"Gotta watch out for the matchstick, pal. Throw that out after using it." Vicente pointed outside.
Grant tossed the used matchstick outside. "There, happy?"
"Yeah, happy," Vincent spoke while smoke is coming out from his mouth.
Grant also played with the smoke. "This is getting boring, man. When are we gonna strike?"
"Before lunch, and that means we could move right now. We're just a couple of blocks away from their hideout, anyway." Vincent dictated the exact time when.
"Then we'll have lunch after?" Grant asked if they would have something to eat after the mission.
"We'll have lunch after it is," Vincent promised.
Meanwhile, Dino seems to enjoy his stay in Villa Marina. Being able to not think about the family business has given him peace of mind, and it is something that he was seeking after taking care of the Hopkins Crime Family. During his self-meditation, Antonella joins him on the wooden table where he is placed.
"Let me guess, this place still reminds you of Sicily?" Antonella asked jokingly.
"Sort of." Dino gleamed.
"But Florence has a special place in your heart, yes?" She stirred her coffee after asking.
"Rome, Sicily, Florence... Those places where our whole clan came from in general has a special place deep within my heart." Dino blew his cup of coffee gently.
"Those places... Bellissimo. I can't help but feel homesick whenever I remember it." Antonella took a sip of her caffeinated drink.
"It makes me glad that Little Italy's being populated again because of our presence." He noticed the major changes throughout New York.
"The neighborhood's being filled with our people again and it's quite refreshing to see them coming back, nonetheless." The Sicilian woman gleamed.
"Not to mention our associates in New Jersey. I mean let us credit our Italian-American buddies for quitting the drug business that they once operated." Dino tells her about the faction in New Jersey.
"That's great, I guess. I heard that people still talk about the involvement of drugs in the business." Antonella added.
"I don't have problems with drugs, but I do when it comes to the effects." He shows that wasn't a fan of drugs and narcotics.
"Just take a look at Leone, what is wrong with them? The drugs, am I right? Something tells me that Don Leone's addicted to the supply he sells." She notices Agostino Leone's movements upon their visit.
"I'll let him for now. But once it's proven, we'll cut ties to them. Hell, I don't want that Giorgi guy around Lucia in the first place." The head of the Manzo family admits that he didn't like Giorgi Leone.
"The man's a walking douche, what would you expect? He always boasts about his body count when you people are not around. How disrespectful of him." Antonella also shows her disgust towards Agostino's son.
"Let him be, Antonella. He'll learn his lesson in no time." Dino makes a promise.
"Wait... Are you sure that you boys won't- Ah, who am I to object?" She sighed, taking her statement back.
Dino tilts his head slightly. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing." Antonella looked away in fear to answer back.
"No, please, tell me. You still got a friend in me, Antonella." He encourages her to speak up.
"As far as I don't like the guy, I don't want anyone getting harmed either. I don't get it, Dino." The Sicilian lady was finally convinced to talk about the business.
"That is why communication exists, la mia amica. If talking doesn't solve it, actions do." Dino explains how things work for them.
"I just want him to stay away from Lucia. Oh, mia bella cugina..." She shows how much she cares about her cousin.
"Sometimes, you have to stiffen up. Don't let someone seize that fear in you. Strike back, Antonella. Come on, you know these. It's what Don Niccolo always tell us when we were younger." He reminds her of her father's last words.
"You're right... Thank you." Antonella still recalls the lesson.
"Have you ever seen me seizing the opportunity to make you quelled?" Dino asked respectively.
"No, never," Antonella answers it.
"I still have integrity in me, Antonella. Something that the others failed to preserve." Dino also left such striking words by himself.
"Don't let the deterioration affect the family, yes?" She asked, finishing her cup of coffee.
"I wouldn't let myself fall in that void, Antonella." He spoke, looking blankly to impose what he means.
"You've changed, Dino. You weren't that dork I once befriended back in Sicily anymore." Antonella shows a smile, getting up from her seat to leave Dino on his own.
"I'll cook for lunch later, Antonella. Now's my turn." Dino joked before she left him be.
"You dare challenge me?" She came up with a rebuttal before entering the mansion.
Dino grinned from it only to revert to his demeaning look, talking to himself after taking a sip at his already cold cappuccino. "Don't be such a half-assed guy, Dino..."
Back to the ongoing task, Vincent and Grant make their way to their way to the warehouse where the remaining members of the rival mob group are having their operations. And when they encounter an oncoming guard, Vincent his quickly.
"About damn time to make someone make their way on Hell..." Grant muttered in a low tone before getting into cover.
Once the Hopkins family soldier walked through where they are, Grant wasted no time to suffocate him with the garrote rope, twisting and clasping it tightly until it pokes through his unfortunate target's spine. He did great despite being a first-timer, but Vincent warns him about it.
"What the fuck did you just do? They'll suspect us." Vincent scolded him.
"Then hide the fucking body. Man, this shit's easy..." Grant complained.
"They should be inside... If we're outnumbered, I'll have to say sorry about that lunch I promised." Vicente apologizes in advance in case they fail.
"What do you mean by that, eh?" He rests his hands on his waists.
"Our only option is to run, okay?" Vincent made his plans clear.
"Why are you sweating it, hmmm? Have you forgotten that I got these?" Grant pulls an explosive device out from his suit.
"Where did you get that?!" He tries to take it away from Grant.
"Let's just say that Dino's a fan of 'kaboom'," Grant smirked devilishly.
"Okay, fine. But watch me make an impression on them." Vicente walks into the warehouse, seeing a man wearing glasses.
Grant entered the facility slowly, placing the bombs near the electrical fuse. "Is that him?"
"Seymour Hopkins... Yep, that's him. He seems a little off-the-charts. He's not on his prime anymore." Vincent whispers.
"Come on, we'll give him an eternal reunion," Grant suggested.
"Stay here, let me do the talking." The Mexican hitman walked towards their target.
Grant gets to watch freely, setting the explosives near the fuse as he places it seamlessly. Seeing Vincent grabbing a Magnum from his back gets him excited, and now's the moment of truth as his partner-in-crime reaches out for the senile mob leader.
"Mister Seymour Hopkins? I would like to have a word with you." Vincent does it effortlessly.
"Is that so? Oh, are my boys in trouble again? Please, let me pardon them for you." Seymour had a grip on Vincent's shoulder.
"Mister Manzo sends his regards." Vicente points the pistol right on Hopkins's forehead, not knowing that he is now being assassinated.
Once he pulls the trigger, Seymour's cane was dropped along with his body as his blood and brains splattered all over the floor. Grant couldn't help but get so lustful over the gunshot that he heard, not realizing that it would attract attention.
The Hopkins crew came out from the basement seeing two men that just killed their boss of bosses, but they didn't show signs of being all slow as they brought their guns out. Grant soon came out of the warehouse with Vincent, making their escape from assassinating the man who once took control of Louisiana.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Get inside the car!" Vincent ran away with Grant, entering their escape vehicle quickly.
"Oh, motherfucker! You better step on that wheel now!" Grant shouts at his ally.
"Then press the fucking button so we wouldn't have a-" After mentioning it, Grant uses his finger to mash the remote that will detonate the sticking bombs and the rest of the remaining time includes them watching the warehouse exploding because of it.
"Whoa, I wanna fuck the world right now. God-fucking-dammit, that was tense..." Grant sighed in exhaustion.
"Dios mio! Tell me they're dead." Vicente gets shocked after hearing the sound of the explosion.
"Yeah... They're done." Grant confirms it.
"Wait, let me call him." Vincent pulls his phone from his pocket, dialing Dino while catching his breath. "The job's done, Dino. They're extinct."
Dino answers the phonecall while still sitting outdoors. "Good. Come back here to Villa Marina as soon as possible, we'll discuss something."
After Don Manzo ends the phonecall, Vincent snickered. "You hear that? We're making a hit."
"Damn right, we are..." Grant took a deep breath, loosening the necktie for him to get some air.
"So, about lunch... Where to?" He still hasn't forgotten about their lunch deal.
"Timid Timmy's, I heard they got the best cuisine in here," Grant recommended.
"There's nothing wrong with trying something out." Vincent began driving away from the crime scene, putting the pictures and his phone back where it was placed. He took a peek at the mess they did before taking off, closing the car's tinted windows to conceal themselves from any suspicions.
To be continued...