Finally, on the day Liliana met Alan Goldberg face to face, an equally significant meeting was taking place in a cocktail lounge in Demercy.

 

“Thanks to you, the company that barely fell into my hands has ended up in this state… Aren’t you grateful?”

 

Two men sat facing each other, each lounging in a sky-blue leather armchair. 

 

They were Gasparo and Luciano.

 

The atmosphere was bright with orange lighting and flowing Latin jazz, but the air surrounding the two men was anything but gentle.

 

“‘Thanks to you’? Let’s not talk about who’s right or wrong. I only made a suggestion. It was Don Corella who decided to send the hit team to Phelps.”

 

Luciano calmly exhaled a puff of his cigar and added,

 

“If you weren’t prepared to accept any loss, it seems you were taking our business too lightly. When you gain something, you usually lose something too… If you don’t have the confidence to handle it, you should quit.”

 

“You’re the one who’s taking me too lightly. Quit?”

 

Gasparo uncrossed his arms and leaned his upper body forward over the round table. His voice dropped even lower, mixing threateningly with the melody.

 

“If someone hits you, you have to hit them back twice as hard. If I were the type to just cry and sniffle, I wouldn’t have made it to this seat.”

 

A clear sneer spread across his face. 

 

Quit? What nonsense.

 

When he had decided to join hands with Luciano, he had held no personal grudge against Theodoro. But now it was different.

 

Not only had he killed capable hitmen, but he had also forced the syndicate to half-threaten them to “take it easy.” If you touch the whiskers of a lion, you have to pay the price.

 

“Let’s talk. He’s your brother… You must know at least one of his weaknesses, right?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Luciano lit his cigar again and murmured softly, as if reciting poetry.

 

“A weakness, huh. I know it better than anyone.”

 

“Haha, I was only half-joking. He actually has one? That man of iron?”

 

“He does. Theo isn’t as heartless as people think.”

 

Luciano’s lips drew a twisted arc.

 

“Talking like this reminds me of the old days. Back when this place was still Grace Bar, there were small performances on that stage every night. Those were good times, weren’t they?”

 

“They were. Good times… I wish I could go back.”

 

At the end of 1961, Theodoro had answered that way.

 

That was the kind of person he was. Just by looking at his face, he seemed emotionally dried up like a leaf on the verge of crumbling, but in truth, he was more sentimental than anyone.

 

“All I want is for the organization our father built to survive firmly. I have no other purpose.”

 

Missing and reminiscing about people who were already corpses.

 

Even after ten years, he was still scraping together their traces and faded memories just to get through each day.

 

“Theo is the kind of guy who can bet his entire life on the person he loves.”

 

“Surprising. To think he has such useless sensitivity…”

 

Using Gasparo’s snort as a snack, Luciano leisurely drank his liquor. Despite his lazily curved lips, the gaze fixed somewhere in the air was ice-cold.

 

Love. That thing called love. Love is worth sacrificing one’s life for.

 

Luciano knew how insignificant it was. In the end, everyone was bound only by interest. There wasn’t even a relationship worth opening one’s heart to, let alone one’s entire life.

 

Of course, he had once believed in it too. 

 

There had definitely been a time when he believed affection was something pure.

 

“Who wants to go to the racetrack on Sunday?”

 

“Me! Me, me, me!”

 

“Me too, Luciano!”

 

He still remembered the cheers of the brats who had happily tagged along whenever he said a word, back when he was around thirteen or fourteen.

 

“Wow… This is the place your father runs?”

 

“Awesome. Luciano, can we see ‘Whistlelow’ too? Just for a little while before the race?”

 

“Sure. It’s my word.”

 

Whenever he showed them Whistlelow, the stallion he had received as a twelfth birthday gift, which had since become an undefeated racehorse, the young fools would praise him with spit flying from their mouths.

 

“Luciano, you’re coming to the party this Saturday, right?”

 

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

 

“Ah…! You have to come. It won’t be any fun without you. I’ll fill the place with pretty girls.”

 

He had believed their praise and goodwill even until he turned eighteen, when his body had grown strong, and he looked quite adult-like. Like an idiot.

 

Without realizing how fleeting it all was.

 

“Hey, did Luciano really get you into the studio?”

 

“I told you before. You just have to suck up to him a bit.”

 

“Haha, you dumb fuck. You’ve been sucking up to daddy’s money like crazy, but without that, you’re nothing.”

 

He had learned before he even fully became an adult that there was no such thing as unconditional goodwill or affection in this world.

 

Now he didn’t trust people. He didn’t give them any affection, and just as they coveted Luciano’s power and money, he gladly used them as tools.

 

Even his loyal relatives were nothing more than tools to him. He couldn’t end up like his father, who had let outsiders into the organization and then died. 

 

That was why he desperately kept them by his side; there was no other meaning.

 

They were truly nothing more and nothing less than tools to maintain the power and authority Luciano had enjoyed so far. 

 

The same went for Theodoro.

 

‘But that tool has now lost its value…’

 

He was trying to take the throne that was practically everything to him. There was no need to cling to the fact that they came from the same womb and let him live.

 

Luciano thought it was truly fortunate. 

 

Unlike himself, his little brother still had some humanity left. Even at twenty-nine, he still trusted people like the eighteen-year-old Luciano once had, loved them, and gave part of his life to them.

 

Luciano put the cigar back in his mouth and declared war in a flat voice.

 

“Was her name Liliana Moretti? We should touch that woman. This time it’s not some casual fling. It looks like he’s even in love with her, as pathetic as that is.”

 

If the woman he cherished so much ended up terrified of life in the organization and eventually left Theodoro… how would he react?

 

A faint, leaking chuckle escaped through Luciano’s teeth.

 

‘Staying in this organization will become unbearably horrific for him.’

 

💫

 

— A first love never comes twice.

 

While Gasparo and Luciano were busy plotting in the shadows… Liliana’s days were passing quietly without any major incidents.

 

It was on one of those ordinary days that an unexpected visitor stepped boldly into her quiet routine.

 

One afternoon, when the red glow of the setting sun slanted through the hazy windows of the De Lucia bar.

 

As the sunset stained the dusty tables and wooden floor in patches… while waiting for the twilight that would soon settle over the back alleys, she was practicing her performance songs.

 

— So take this tender advice.

 

With a jingle, the old door opened along with the sound of the bell. 

 

The person who entered was an elderly man, but a complete stranger who had never visited the bar before.

 

“How can I help you?”

 

Mauricio’s voice was gentle but firm as he addressed him. The old man slowly removed his fedora and looked around with a puzzled expression.

 

“I came for a drink. Is something wrong?”

 

“I’m sorry, but this place…”

 

Mauricio approached him and began to say something.

 

And Liliana, who had happened to glance toward the door, froze in place, unable to tear her eyes away. 

 

Only her lips moved mechanically as she continued singing Blossom Dearie’s Try Your Wings.

 

— When it comes, try your wings… and fly to the one you love…

 

It was the appearance of a white-haired old man, but the golden eyes shining brilliantly in the sunset light belonged solely to Wayne.

 

“It was about fifteen years ago. I came to Victoria on a trip with my late wife. This was the place we stopped by back then… Would it be too much trouble to stay for a short while?”

 

“Haha, well…”

 

Mauricio rubbed his chin, looking troubled.

 

The story that memories with his wife remained here. In reality, it was nothing more than Wayne’s excellent lie. 

 

Perhaps because it weighed on his mind… he couldn’t immediately voice a refusal.

 

“Do you remember the drink you had with your wife?”

 

Liliana stopped singing, walked over to them, and slipped into the silence. Ignoring Mauricio’s widened eyes of surprise, she looked straight at Wayne.

 

Though not a trace of his original face remained, the kind yet clear gaze was unmistakably Wayne Boyd’s. 

 

Liliana unconsciously bit her lip.

 

She knew no one else would recognize him. Unless it was someone who had looked into those eyes for a long time, cherishing them, even a coworker wouldn’t be able to find any trace of Wayne in him.

 

Even so, the fact that this was the heart of enemy territory had not changed. The fact that he had come to see her despite the possible danger… made her both glad and strangely unsettled.

 

Unaware of her feelings, a warm smile bloomed on the wrinkled old man’s lips.

 

“…An Old Fashioned, please. My wife always said that if you come to Victoria, you have to drink an Old Fashioned made with bourbon whiskey here… I still remember her saying that.”

 

“I’ll prepare it for you.”

 

Liliana pulled the reluctant Mauricio along and quickly turned her back to Wayne.

 

In truth, it was because his guilt-inducing smile felt uncomfortable, but she used the excuse that there was no need to add unnecessary words.

 

Even with a displeased face, Mauricio sincerely made the cocktail. Clear scarlet liquid filled the on-the-rocks glass.

 

By then, the story of the old man had been passed on to the musicians preparing for the performance… and the 1940s music they had on began to flow inside the bar.

 

It seemed Wayne’s tear-jerking story had moistened everyone’s hearts.

 

“Take this to him and keep the old man company for a bit.”

 

With an awkward expression, Liliana accepted the cocktail glass Mauricio handed her.

 

She was stunned, but it was fortunate nonetheless. Thanks to this, she had unexpectedly gained a chance to talk with him privately.

 

“Haa…”

 

She let out a quiet sigh and walked toward Wayne, who was sitting alone by the window. As if he had been waiting, a kind smile greeted her.

 

Unable to simply smile back, Liliana lowered her voice and poured out her worry and displeasure.

 

“Last time, there were so many people that no one stopped you, but today is different. You could have been kicked out.”

 

“But I wasn’t kicked out, was I?”

 

“…That’s not the point. It was reckless. And what if someone recognizes you—”

 

“Even the dog next door didn’t recognize me. Only you did.”

 

“…”

 

“Only you.”

 

Wayne’s eyes, dyed in the twilight. In them, a silent passion was burning.