Fernando works his shifts, still seeing no signs of Paul's dad, and as he finishes cleaning the last dish, Antonio congratulates Fernando.
"Good job on surviving the week with us. Enjoy the next two days off, and I'll see you again on Thursday."
Fernando nods as he receives his cash payment for the day.
"Yes, sir."
before leaving, he asks Antonio.
"Sir, by any chance, have you seen Mr. Caruso?"
he shakes his head.
"No, but it's pretty normal since the boss is a busy man."
Fernando leaves the restaurant disappointed that he hasn't seen Mr. Caruso, he goes around to check the alley and notices the black face mask folded on top of the dumpster, and thinks to himself.
"At least Alonzo came through, but I wonder from which family we are stealing it from."
as he makes his way to the bus stop, someone in a blue car honks at him. He looks at the car, confused.
"Who could that be?"
the passenger side window rolls down, and he finds himself looking at Denise, who's smiling.
"Hey, stranger, do you need a lift?"
he ignores her, and sits down at bus stop bench, which cause Denise to park her car by the sidewalk and she exits the car, wearing a long sleeve white top, blue jeans, and white canvas sneakers, she quickly heads over to the bus stop and sits down next to him.
"Come on, wouldn't you rather get driven home than taking the bus?"
he asks, questioning her motives.
"I don't know how you knew what time I got off, but don't make this habit."
she the sighs in relief and said.
"Look, I know."
sensing where this conversation is going, he interrupts her.
"Stop, whatever excuse you've been cooking up in your mind, I don't want to hear it."
they silently enter her a car, where he can feel her staring at him, as he looks at the window, he then asks to break this awkward atmosphere.
"Did Christina ask you to pick me up?"
seemingly surprised that he is speaking to her, she replies.
"Yeah, she mentioned how the three of us should hang out on your day off."
he apologizes.
"Sorry, I've got things, so I can't today."
she continues driving, sounding disappointed.
"Oh, I see."
feeling a bit guilty for being harsh. Even though he shouldn't, he clears his throat.
"Well, that doesn't mean that tomorrow I can't."
her face lights up.
"Really?"
he replies.
"Yeah, just don't make me regret saying that by making me hear your weak excuses for what happened."
she responds.
"Okay, no excuses."
she then said.
"I'm sorry for hurting you, I hope we can continue forward as friends."
he scoffs.
"How nice must it be to emotionally destroy someone and then ask for their forgiveness."
he shakes his head.
"we'll see about being friends."
he hears her sob under her breath.
"That's all I'm asking for is a chance, even though I don't deserve it."
he replies.
"At least we agree on something."
once they arrive at his house, Denise tries touching Fernando's arms, but he puts his hand in the way.
"Don't touch me. We are not like that."
she looks at him with a pained expression.
"Sorry, I wasn't thinking."
he sighs.
"Well, thanks for the ride, I'll let Christina know that we'll hang out tomorrow instead of today."
she replies with a weak and forced smile.
"Okay, Nando, see you tomorrow then."
he responds harshly.
"Don't, only friends and loved ones call me Nando."
with tears rolling down her cheeks, she said.
"Tomorrow then, Fernando."
he exits her car and thinks to himself.
"Now that I've dealt with that, I need to grab my Black Hoodie attire and head on over Alonzo's house."
upon entering, he's welcomed with Christina kissing him on the cheek and hugging him tightly.
"Hey, how was work?"
Fernando replies.
"dull, but it's work."
she grabs his hand.
"Come on, I'm sure Denise told you what I wanted today, since I've been dying of boredom staying in bed recovering."
he replies.
"I told her she can go home today -"
she interrupts him and pouts
"Why? I wanted us to hang out."
he replies.
"Relax, sis, I can't today. I've got something to do, but I'm all yours tomorrow."
she asks, still pouting.
"Promise?"
Vicky shouts from the living room.
"Jeez woman, let the man breathe!"
her face turns red embarrassed with Vicky's remark, and she growls."
"Shut up! no one is talking to you!"
Fernando chuckles and says,
"Anyway, I need to get ready to meet a friend."
she asks with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Is she cute?"
he responds playfully just to tease her.
"I don't know, I wouldn't exactly describe him as cute."
she frowns at his attempt to tease her and replies relieved.
"Well, have fun."
Vicky shouts again.
"You won't win Nando over if you are overly possessive, sis!"
as she storms into the living room to give her a piece of her mind, Fernando goes to his room, where he puts his Black Hoodie attire inside his old backpack and thinks to himself.
"Hopefully, we get weapons worth stealing."
Fernando then leaves the house with the sound of Vicky and Christina bickering. He smiles to himself.
"Those girls will be the death of me."
he takes the bus until he arrives at Alonzo's house
where he knocks on the door.
"yo, it's me, Nando."
the door opens, with Alonzo carefully scanning begins Fernando.
"You weren't followed, were you?"
he shrugs.
"I dunno, should there be someone following me?"
he shakes his head.
"Nah, but you can't be too careful."
he then said.
"Come on in, and I'll tell you everything that I found."
Fernando enters the house and sits down on the couch. Where Alonzo joins him, he then asks.
"So what do you have for me?"
he answers.
"So there is this small-time family the Zanettis, and they are receiving a shipment of weapons at the Starheights docks tonight."
Fernando recognizes the family name and asks.
"The Zanettis? they work under the Sabatonis, don't they?"
Alonzo smirks.
"Yeah, since they are involved with the Sabatonis, I thought you would be thrilled about screwing them over."
Fernando nods.
"You got that right, but there is one problem with your assumption."
Alonzo gives him a puzzled look.
"What would that be?
Fernando answers.
"The Sabatonis will see this as a minor headache, and us stealing these weapons will not screw them over."
he frowns.
"Did anyone tell you how much of killjoy you can be?"
Fernando chuckles.
"Still, even if it doesn't screw them over, the weapons that we take will help us in the long run."
Alonzo responds with a serious tone in his voice.
"You are aware that we will be dropping a lot of bodies in this crusade."
Fernando replies.
"I'm well aware of all that, and if you are worried about my conscience getting the better of me, then you better put your mind to rest, since Uncle Lorenzo helped me kill that part of me in prison."
Alonzo responds.
"Just making sure, since Uncle told me how depressed and guilt ridden you were feeling after arriving in prison, and how you would cry yourself to sleep."
Fernando thinks to himself, remembering those rough early days in prison.
"I thought I would be fine with taking lives since I was being groomed to be a hitman for the Sabatonis, but after that night my conscience ate me alive, just like Christopher warned me it would after I had to take a life for the first time."
Alonzo then grins.
"alright mister cold blooded killer, I got your message loud and clear."
Fernando then asks.
"Alright, so how well protected will this weapons shipment be?"
Alonzo answers.
"Just a couple of armed thugs, nothing that you and me can't handle if we go in quietly."
Fernando asks.
"How sure are you about this information?"
Alonzo answers, annoyed.
"we got an inside man, and he risked his life to get me this information, so I'd say I'm pretty sure what he gave me is solid."
Fernando raises his hand to calm him down.
"hey relax, I just want us to proceed with caution, because if there is any fuck ups, then this crusade
will end sooner then it started."
he sighs.
"yeah I know, I'm just not used to people questioning if my information is reliable."
Fernando chuckles.
"yeah I remember, since you blew up at me when we first met at prison visitation, after I didn't believe any if the information that you gathered about my birth parents."
he hisses.
"why did you have to bring that up and open up old wounds."
Fernando couldn't help but laugh.
"come on it's not that serious."
he then clears his throat, but he still visibly bothered that Fernando brought that up.
"anyways, even though I feel like the two of us can easily do this, I can call upon two of my most trusted guys to be there for backup if shit hits the fan for some reason."
Fernando thinks to himself contemplating if more people should be involved.
"even though that would ease my mind that having some back up in case things go wrong, I also don't want to risk exposing The Black Hoodie by bringing people I don't trust."
Fernando replies.
"nah it's fine, and since your confident about your information, it'll be just the two of us."
he replies, feeling less bothered now.
"you'll see that my information is solid and I'll make you regret questioning it."
Fernando replies.
"good, I'm hoping that you are correct."
he then continues.
"well let's not waste anymore time and get ourselves ready."
as Fernando takes out his Black Hoodie attire, Alonzo leaves to his room.
"yeah, we've wasted enough time talking."
Alonzo comes back wearing all dark gray, causing Fernando to face palm.
"you are wearing that exact same thing as me, except you just color swapped everything."
he chuckles.
"Well, I figured since you are going to be the Black Hoodie from now on, then I'll be the Gray Hoodie."
Fernando shakes his head and sighs.
"Fine, there is no point in wasting time, arguing about something that isn't that important."
Alonzo smiles.
"I knew you'd come around liking what I'm wearing."
he sighs.
"Like is a strong word, I'd describe it more like tolerate."
he then gets serious.
"All right enough, playing around, I need to give you something."
Fernando asks.
"What is it?"
he takes out a gun that is tucked behind him and hands it over to Fernando.
"You are going to need this."
Fernando asks as he grabs it and tucks it behind him.
"I thought we were going in quiet?"
Alonzo replies.
"we are, but one can never know when shit goes down."
Alonzo then asks as they exit his house.
"If you need weapons. why can't you buy them?"
Fernando answers.
"Well, I already used some of my trust fund to pay you, and if I'd rather not use anymore of it, if I can help it."
he puts on his face mask and turns on the voice changer that is built into it.
"And besides, why pay for weapons if we can just steal them for ourselves?"
Alonzo gives him a devious smile.
"Ha, you keep surprising me on how much of a troublemaker you are."
Alonzo points at his blue luxury car.
"That one is me. Get in."
upon entering and sitting down on the comfortable leather seat, he said to Alonzo.
"You are aware that if we want to continue doing this, we can't be driving around in a car that stands out."
Alonzo asks.
"What do you suggest we do then?"
Fernando answers.
"we get a used car."
Alonzo laughs hysterically like if Fernando told him the funniest joke ever, but then quickly realizes how serious he is and replies.
"Oh hell no, we are not driving around in some cheap junkyard car."
he then doesn't say a single word to Fernando as he seethes while driving them to the docks.