11 Arc One (10)

Growing up in Australia and concentrating on his studies, Nicholas was completely unaware of what the Chicago crime scene was like in his own world. The United States were, literally, the other side of the world and other than occasionally watching movies Nicholas had no illusions that he was flying blind in this situation. As it was, he had no idea how much this world varied from his own and could only listen to Gabe and Louisa's crash course on Chicago's organised crime.

Apparently, their story started back in the 1850's when two families connected on a boat to America. The Seljaro's and the Silvestra's had cabins on the same deck and sons of similar ages, so naturally the two families connected. After weeks at sea socialising, the two families had early on discovered they were heading to the same town; the Seljaro's heading over to enter construction and the Silvestra's finding their American footing in the railways. Several decades passed and eventually the two patriarchs settled in large Victorians on Prairie Avenue; the two houses separated only by a pre-existing worker's cottage that had been bought as a joint venture by both families. It was an unspoken agreement between the two patriarchs that their grandchildren would marry, and the middle property would be a wedding gift to the newly combined family. Unfortunately, before a wedding could take place, war was declared between the two families.

Gabe's narration was interrupted by Louisa at this point, so Nicholas wasn't clear about which family actually started the feud, but they seemed to have ventured into the seedy side of life at the same time. Neither family was aware that the other was just as 'upstanding' as the first so both sides tried to keep their presence a sketchy secret. As could only be expected, a secret of such magnitude wasn't just difficult to keep, but the spilling of such a secret was accompanied with the spilling of blood.

War was officially declared over the closed casket of the Silvestra's eldest son.

The worker's cottage between the two properties remained as a daily reminder of their grand plans and the pain of betrayal— each patriarch refused to sell their share to the other and it became a point of pride through the generations to refuse to sell. In the end, it became a rental property with every cost and income split exactly down the middle. The only prerequisite for tenants was that they had to be able to afford the rent and have no connection to either family. Which was how Nicholas' family came to be living between the two warring families; blissfully unware of how terrifying their neighbours were,

As if out of a fairytale, each generation of both families failed to produce another girl until Louisa's birth. Her parents, long tired of such a ridiculously long-standing feud (and with plans to develop the middle property), immediately met with Gabe's parents and proposed a re-alliance through marriage. Gabe and Louisa were raised knowing of their betrothal… and both resentful towards their future spouse.

To prevent any public spats between the young and socially immature children, Louisa was sent to an English boarding school which she then refused to leave until it was time to go to college. The first meeting between an adult Gabe and Louisa was that time in the library and the animosity between the two had been sincere. What Nicholas couldn't understand was the reason for them to suddenly develop a tolerance for each other and then fall in love. It was one thing to see it through the original's memories but wasn't this a bit too much of a plot straight out of a novel?

In the face of Nicholas' confusion, a second silent conversation passed between the married couple.

Louisa: We have to tell him all of it.

Gabe: It's our business. He doesn't need to know.

Louisa: Won't him knowing make it all so much easier? Especially if he's coming home with us to recuperate?

Gabe: I hate it when you're right.

"You're familiar with the term 'beard', right?" Louisa shifted slightly on the edge of Nicholas' bed while Gabe grew noticeably tenser. "Well, we're each other's beard."

And that was when Nicholas decided this system was designed by a twisted, perverted mind.

The generations of feuding was one thing, the lack of females until the present generation another, but what were the odds that the only offspring in the only generation with a marriageable pair would both be gay? He also questioned how that fact came up in casual conversation between two enemies but decided not to poke the angry bear in the corner of his hospital room.

"Nicholas?" Louisa gently pat his leg and the pain that shot through his body made him hiss through his teeth. "I'm so sorry! Nicky! I'll get a nurse for you. Sorry!"

Flustered and anxious, Louisa abruptly left the room in search of a nurse.

Just like that, Nicholas was left alone with the man who ordered his painful death in his previous mission attempt. Logically, he knew that the world had reset and that scenario hadn't happened, but he couldn't erase his memory of the events… and he couldn't stop his instinctual desire to keep far away from the man he now he knew was Dangerous.

Gabe's brows drew in as the man watched Nicholas subconsciously pull away from him. A glint in his eye disappeared when Nicholas looked his way.

"You don't seem all that surprised."

"Huh?" Automatically flinching, Nicholas tried to mask the flinch with a feeble cough. "Surprised?"

"Hmm." Gabe crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. "It's almost like you knew about our families already. The only thing that surprised you was the truth of our marriage."

"Ah…" He'd have scratched the back of his head but the tubes in his hand pulled when he moved them. "It wasn't that I knew… just that I wasn't surprised."

The only reaction from Gabe was a raised brow and Nicholas scrambled to fill in the gaps without raising suspicion.

"I'm not exactly blind… I've lived next to you most of my life. The armoured tanks masquerading as cars, the constant presence of bodyguards who think that wearing a polo shirt automatically hides the fact they still stand like they're soldiers doing drills, the fact that I've seen you practising martial arts in the backyard but you didn't even know how to form a fist during PE at high school… Do I need to go on?"

"None of that equals mob."

"Well, no…" Nicholas tried to stifle a real cough. The action made his ribs pull and his breath catch in his throat which triggered more coughing. The pain made his eyes water and he didn't notice Gabe approach the bed until a glass was brought to his lips and a warm hand helped him sit and sip at the water. When his coughing finally subsided, he looked up and brown eyes collided with a pair of green ones. His breath hitched once more, and Gabe patted his back gently.

"Don't start coughing again."

"Th-thanks."

The two stayed motionless, gazes tangled and Gabe's hand warm on Nicholas' back, until a clatter in the hallway broke the spell and the two pulled apart.

"Ah… yeah… so…" Nicholas shifted his gaze away from Gabe and concentrated on the square pattern woven into the cotton blanket. "You could have been secretly one of the 1% but if that was the case why keep it a secret from me for so long? And you would have had to tell Louisa so why wouldn't she have told me?"

"Why did you never say anything about these suspicions?"

Ah, because the original was too in love with you to think clearly and notice anything beyond your handsome face? Good thing Nicholas knew better than to speak his thoughts out loud. Instead he opted for the guilt-trip approach.

"I figured that if you wanted me to know, you'd tell me. All I could do was try and prove you could trust me… but you never did…"

When Louisa returned with the doctor, the room was filled with an awkward silence with the two men refusing to look in the others direction.

Turns out, getting run over requires a lot of recuperation time. The doctor kept reiterating how lucky Nicholas was to keep his shattered legs, however Nicholas didn't feel all that lucky. It was several weeks before he was able to bear sitting in a wheelchair and just as long before his ribs stopped protesting every time he tried to push himself around.

As desperate as he was to recover (wanting to be able to go to the toilet without a nurse helping him was a huge motivator), Nicholas also found himself dreading the day he was discharged. The only home he had in this world was the scene of his murder. Compared to facing the apartment and its shades of torture and death, he preferred staying in the hospital.

Unfortunately, the two leads had other ideas.

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