Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions

A low tsk noise broke the silence in the infirmary. Well, Alonso hadn't lasted nearly as long as they expected. Where was the fun in that? Finally, the reunion happened, and one little tap sent the other back to lala land. Hadn't Jovani said that things would be better this time? Well, fucker had lied up to this point. Everything felt the same as it had before.

No fun. All boring idiots who didn't know what to do or how to keep up. Blah, Blah Blah. The infirmaries cart was tipped on its side of our annoyance. Now, what was supposed to happen? The one person who would be the entertainment had stopped being entertaining. Surely Jovani didn't expect they would stay there until summoned again.

Speaking of which... where exactly had the mafia boss gone? He'd hardly responded to any of the texts in the last few hours he'd been sent. Indeed Alonso hadn't been able to do much to the other man? Seeing the state of the right-hand man made it clear the other was going for blood. Blood that would be spilled before the other would even be able to lay a hand on him.

"Why oh why am I always stuck having to dig around for fun?" Kicking the cart across the room, the figure stalked across toward the door. The thud of the metal cart hitting the wall behind them resounded around the room, shutting out the noise of the door opening and closing. Fine. If they had to dig around for fun, they might as well go about figuring out where Jovani went. At least he would know how to keep them entertained for the next few hours. If not, maybe then the answer to the resounding silence meeting the contact attempts would be explained.

Jovani, however, was in no state to explain anything to anyone. Let anyone even try to talk to himself. Richard hadn't held back. Their friendship is not enough for the man to go easy on him.

The man didn't even have to ask to know the other hadn't held back. The splitting headache and aching back told plenty of a story. Although the drug withdrawal surely didn't help with that either. Pity the bag had been lost somewhere during the fight. Jovani could've used a hit right then and there to dull his current misery level.

Jovani's eyes wandered around the ceiling as the silence continued despite his noises of protest from the pain. Why was there no one around? Indeed someone should have come by to check on him by now? Regardless of if he sent everyone to him, Alonso always called them back should the mafia boss need anything. Like a very painful bell, Jovani recalled why that hadn't happened.

The right-hand man was likely not in such a great state himself. Ah. Jovani let out a very put-out sight at this thought. Though, it wasn't like it had been entirely his fault. Alonso should've known to be more careful with his words. Considering the state of everything, it only made sense the mafioso would be easily triggered, especially by such a sore spot being brought up so suddenly.

Surely though, Alonso wouldn't be so weak as to be hindered from life permanently. That would be a rather considerable inconvenience for Jovani. One that he didn't feel like dealing with at the current moment in time. Finding an excellent right-hand man within the mafia was like trying to find a decent drug dealer who wouldn't poison their goods. Everyone was always sticking their hands in the pot, working for someone else.

Jovani rolled over onto his back to bury his face against the pillow, hoping to dull his headache. If Alnoso did decide he would rather die than work for the mafia boss any longer, Jovani would have hire his ghost instead. That sounded like a reasonable solution to the current problem at hand. No one had said that mafia bosses were restricted from having the spirit of their former right-hand men work for them.

Plus, it wasn't like anyone could see the ghost, right? So they wouldn't be able to tattle on what Jovani was doing in the first place. That settled that, then. Such a significant problem being quickly resolved somehow made Jovani feel that much lighter. At least until he heard the sound of the room door creaking open.

"Stupid fuck. No wonder you haven't been responding to anything I sent. What in the world do you think you're doing lying around here? Surely Alonso didn't manage to do this to you. I saw the state that he was in." Nope. Now is not the time to deal with this one on top of everything else.

"Didn't I tell you to go and wait around there until I came to fetch you? There are too many people around here, and the risk is high that you would be seen." The newcomer didn't seem to care as they shut the door behind themselves and waltzed into the room.

"I came to look for you because it turned out that there wasn't much fun to be had down

there. I think Alonso has gotten weaker since the last time we had anything to do with each other. I didn't remember him being so easily taken down by a few hits." Those words somehow made the solution seem like a less great idea.

"What did you do to him? I told you that you weren't going about causing trouble while you're down there." The other brushed the mafia boss off,, however, as he sat on the bed.

"I didn't cause trouble while I was down there. He was the one who started it. I reminded him of his place. Although maybe it could've been done more softly. Some people though just don't learn if there isn't a little bit of pain involved." The comment earned them a harsh smack from Jovani. One the mafia boss didn't even know he was capable of in his injured state.

"Jovani is one of the few people you need to keep your hands off. Out of everyone, I don't want to have to go about trying to figure out how to replace him." Better than admitting how fond the Vedova Nera boss had become of his right-hand man.

"Boo hoo hoo." the mock crying only flared Jovani's temper further as the other flopped on the bed, causing the mattress's weight to shift.

"Hardly my problem. If you need someone to replace him, I can always fill that spot. It was the original plan after all, wasn't it?" Jovani chose to ignore the harsh tone the question was poised in. Instead, focusing more on how exactly he could sit up. The person sitting next to him would sooner kick him off the bed than help him sit up. That is more than enough proof that blood wasn't always thicker than water. If anything was better than water, it was the oil or so Jovani surmised some time ago. Oil's ability to float atop water obviously made it superior to it and blood. Hence if Jovani had a choice, he'd instead be stuck with a man like oil than anything blood or water-related.

"It might have been before you went about and messed everything up. Now we have to do everything differently. You should be back where you belong instead of poking around here." Jovani hissed sharply, his shoulder protesting as he forced himself to sit up.

"If you want things to go back to what was planned. It would be best if you went about doing as I say. Right now isn't the time to pull such stupid shit." Especially not while the mafioso couldn't go about covering for everything that the other did. A scoff met those words as Jovani found himself roughly pushed back down onto the mattress.

"I should go about listening to anything you tell me to do? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that how this mess started in the first place?" Two sets of identical green orbs glared back at each other.

"I did everything that you told me to and that ended with me being screwed out of everything or did you forget?" Jovani broke with the staring contest first with a harsh shake of his head, denial overtaking his features.

"You know that isn't true for one minute. I wasn't the one who made all of that happen. Didn't we go over this before at th time? I already told you Richard was-" Jovani was interrupted as the other shoved himself away from the mafioso.

"Richard was the one responsible for everything. I've heard that a million times before. A story I would love to believe." Jovani couldn't see the other, but that didn't stop him from hearing the fevered sound of steps as the pacing began.

"But you see dear cousin. I've been told a number of things between now and then that make me wonder how true that is. Whispers on the wind tell me that all this time, I've been harboring something against the wrong person all these years."

"Who told you that?" The demand came before the other hardly finished speaking.