Fernando sat next to Christina's hospital bed, where she is resting from a neck sprain she suffered during the accident, and even though there wasn't much he could do to prevent it from happening, he couldn't help but feel guilty.
"I'm sorry sis, I was supposed to be protecting you."
what he said accidentally woke her up.
"this isn't your fault, you couldn't have known some insane person would drive us off the road."
she grabs his hand and pouts.
"if you continue blaming yourself, I'll be mad."
she then asks.
"how are you feeling?
he answers.
"other than some bruising, and a black eye, I'll be just fine."
he leans over and kisses her on the forehead.
"right now, I want you to focus on recovering."
as he pulls away, she looks at him in disappointment.
"that's it?"
he thinks to himself.
"ugh, I kind of miss the times where I didn't have to work hard to maintain a good relationship with my sisters."
in the moment, when he kisses her on the lips, Brandon comes through the door, holding flowers.
"how's my princess?"
he sees them kissing and clears his throat.
"sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
Fernando pulls away, while Christina smiles at her
dad.
"my neck still hurts but the doctor told me I'll be fine."
she looks at the flowers and beams.
"daddy you got me flowers? thank you."
he sets it down next to her and said.
"Jennifer, you and the girls can come in."
while they enter and surround her bed, Brandon whispers to Fernando.
"let's go outside, I need to talk to you."
after leaving the room, Fernando thinking that he wants to talk about him and Christina kissing, he said.
"Brandon, about me and Christina."
he squints his eyes and waves his hand to stop him.
"it isn't about that, but either way I gave you my blessing so don't worry."
he voice gets serious.
"this is about that man in the black hoodie."
trying to sound ignorant.
"what's the deal with him?"
he answers.
"well you were in prison when he showed up, and we've been keeping his existence out of the limelight."
he asks.
"why?"
he replies.
"because this guy has been causing us a headache, when he started going after our dealers and that's all he's been going after."
Fernando asks.
"so what you are telling me is that he doesn't go around saving people?"
he nods.
"yeah."
he then hugs Fernando.
"even though he's been causing us trouble, I'm glad he saved you and your sister."
he then pulls away and asks.
"how are you feeling?"
he replies.
"bruised ribs, and most likely a black eye, but other than that I'm okay."
he then lightly pats Fernando's shoulder.
"alright let's go keep your sister some company."
Fernando stops him before he enters the room.
"actually, I was hoping that you would take me home."
he frowns at him.
"your sister is hurt and all you can think about is going back home?"
Fernando responds.
"Brandon I got the job, and I start tomorrow, so I need to get some rest if I don't want to go in tired."
he responds disappointed.
"you could have just waited until the boss, got you a job, and you wouldn't have to work for a Caruso."
he sighs.
"alright then, I'll drop you off at home and give you
fare for the bus, since I think we'll be staying here with Christina."
Fernando goes back in the room with Brandon and says his goodbyes to everybody, and while they are heading home, Brandon asks him.
"are you curious, on who attacked you?"
even though he knows who did it, he acts like he is interested.
"was it someone we know?"
he responds.
"he was related to one of the hitmen that night."
that grabs Fernando's attention and then asks him.
"did those officers on the scene, identify him?"
he nods.
"yeah."
after a few minutes of silence, Brandon said.
"listen Son, while you are working at the restaurant, be cautious because I believe someone there might have informed that hitman's brother about you."
Fernando's mind immediately goes to Paul's dad and he thinks to himself.
"oh, I'm definitely putting a good hurting on Mr. Caruso when I visit him as the Black Hoodie."
after getting dropped off at the house, Fernando sluggishly makes his way to bedroom, and flops down on his bed, he gets woken up with a whisper above him.
"hey, kid you awake."
Fernando slowly opens his eye, as he stares at the metal bottom of his bunk bed, and whispers.
"I am now."
the man climbs down from the top of the bunk bed, and squats next to him.
"so I talked to my nephew Alonzo earlier today, and he's willing to listen to your proposal."
Fernando whispers annoyed.
"and you decide to tell me now Uncle Lorenzo? when I'm sleeping."
he chuckles lightly.
"uh it must have slipped my mind."
he then asks with a whisper.
"I know that all the info I gathered for you, has really changed your worldview, but are you really going to target your family's organization?"
Fernando answers with a detached voice.
"as far as I'm concerned, I've never been a Sabatoni and Brandon will pay for what he did to my birth parents."
Fernando then closes his eyes.
"now please let me sleep Uncle."
he answers while climbing up.
"alright kid, get some rest, because you are going to need to repay me for this favor I did for you."
Fernando wakes up, in own bed and thinks to himself.
"I still remember Alonzo's address, I'll visit him after my shift at the restaurant."
Fernando gets ready and heads over to the bus stop near his house, where he thinks to himself.
"I wonder how Mr. Caruso will react to my black eye, I'm going to have to pay attention to his facial expressions."
a few minutes passes by and the bus finally arrives, he sits down and thinks.
"hopefully the bus routes haven't changed much since I last used them."
he changed busses upon entering the city, until he finally arrives at the restaurant, he stares at the entrance thinking.
"for Mr. Caruso's sake, he'd better not be the one who informed the hitman's brother."
he walks in and is welcomed by Francesco.
"welcome, sir."
he stares at Fernando's black eye, and clears his throat.
"are you the new boy that, Mr. Caruso hired?"
he answers.
"yes sir."
he grumbles under his breath.
"great another miscreant."
he sighs.
"Mr. Caruso is not here today, so Antonio our head
chef will be assigning your duties."
he thinks to himself.
"there are other duties? I thought I was going to be washing dishes."
Francesco leads him through the crowded restaurant, and leaves him in the kitchen with Antonio.
"Mr. Antonio, the new boy is here to help."
Antonio who is wearing his chef uniform, looks at Fernando with his blue eyes and said.
"to day we are going to have you wash dishes."
he signals him to follow him and leads him to the employee break room where he grabs a white kitchen shirt that was hanging on a rack and hands it to him.
"while you are in my kitchen, you will wear this."
he slides open a filing drawer and pulls out a hair net.
"and you will also wear this."
Fernando then goes off to the sink and starts working, and during that time he would occasionally look around to see if Mr. Caruso was around, but there was no sign of him, and as his shift comes to an end, Antonio shakes his hand.
"good job, new guy."
Fernando responds.
"it's Fernando."
he replies.
"I know."
he then leads him out of the kitchen, and approaches the cash register and takes out a stack of cash.
"here is you pay for today."
Fernando counts the money.
"seventy five dollars."
Antonio heads back to the kitchen.
"see you tomorrow new guy."
Fernando thinks to himself in disappointment.
"oh well, there is always tomorrow."
he leaves the restaurant, and while he waits by the bus stop, he wonders.
"Alonzo seemed calm when he came to visit me two weeks ago."
after getting on a bus, that arrived he spent most of his time asking the bus drivers, which one left him closer to address Alonzo gave him, he then finally arrives, a nice looking suburban neighborhood, where he slowly walks through it, scanning each house carefully for the correct number, until he comes to a complete stop in front of one, he stares at it.
"looks like your average family home."
he walks through the white picket fence gate, and takes a deep breath hoping for the best, while knocking on the front door.
"he mentioned that he lives alone, hopefully he's home right now."
the door opens and a man around Fernando's age, with brown suave hair, and a short full trimmed beard, wearing a white tank top, and black mesh shorts, he looks at Fernando and smiles.
"hey big man, you're finally out!"
he goes in for a quick bro hug and said.
"come inside, so we can talk."
Fernando follows him inside his house and sits down on the couch in the living room, where Alonzo offers him a refreshment..
"want a beer?"
Fernando waves he's his hand.
"no thanks, I'm good I was just dropping by to discuss some business."
Alonzo sits down on his personal reclining sofa, and asks.
"you talking about that Black Hoodie thing?"
Fernando nods.
"yeah, you've done a great job, but moving forward I'll be the one doing things."
Alonzo sighs disappointed.
"Well, all good things come to an end, I'm going to miss putting a hurting on dealers under a mysterious alias."
he them asks.
"So, does this mean that you are still going after your family's business?"
Fernando answers.
"Why ask? if you already know the answer to that question."
he then makes a suggestion.
"How about we team up? It will help to have someone backing you up."
Fernando thinks himself.
"this is turning out better than I expected, but even though I want to do this on my own, Alonzo and his uncle Lorenzo have been proven to be useful when it comes to their information, and if.I stay on Alonzo's good side, I can squeeze out useful information without having to beat him senselessly."
Fernando pretends to take a moment to think, so it doesn't seem like he accepted Alonzo's proposal right away, and then takes a deep sigh.
"if your willing to provide some information that I need, then I don't mind you joining me on my crusade."
Alonzo smirks.
"Uncle, is going to be pleased to hear that you and me are working together to dismantle the Sabatonis."
Fernando thinks to himself, knowing Alonzo's motive for joining his crusade.
"For now, I'll keep him at my side."
he stands up and goes for a handshake.
"Let's shake on it."
Alonzo smiles while shaking his hand.
"Good, so what's next?"
Fernando makes his first important demand.
"From now on, I am the Black Hoodie. You will have to come up with some other attire."
Alonzo nods.
"Alright, I can live with that."
he then said with a giddy voice, while grabbing the black face mask on his coffee table, and tossing it to Fernando.
"here you should use this, it's fucking amazing."
Fernando examines it with his hands.
"it looks like a regular face mask."
he smirks.
"it has a built in voice changer, can you believe that shit?"
Fernando replies.
"thanks."
Fernando then asks.
"alright enough of that let's get serious, are you aware of any weapon shipments."
he takes a moment to think, and finally answers.
"nothing on the Sabatonis since alot of their information is hard to gather, but I know of one small crime family that ordered a shipment of military grade weapons."
Fernando asks.
"do you know when and where?"
Alonzo lightly scratches his temple with his index finger and responds.
"if I remember correctly, it was somewhere next week, I think."
he then said.
"but don't worry, I'll keep an ear out and figure which day for sure and I'll let you know."
he then said.
"alright give me your number, and I'll hit you up."
Fernando responds.
"I don't have a phone currently."
he asks.
"then how am I supposed to reach you?"
Fernando asks.
"do you know the Caruso restaurant?"
he nods.
"yeah, what about it?"
he responds.
"well I got a job there, and at the side of the restaurant there is an alley, and all you need to do is leave a folded black face mask on top of the dumpster around four when my shift ends and I'll know when to come visit you."
he nods.
"I see, that's smart it keeps people from knowing that you and me are interacting."
Fernando then said.
"well I'll see you whenever you get your solid information."
they exchange goodbyes and Fernando leaves feeling like his plans are finally moving forward.