Chapter 50: Foreboding Dream

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Foreboding Dream

Two days later,

In the throne room, where the walls were adorned with serene and breathtaking details, all eyes were inevitably drawn to the magnificent golden throne that reigned supreme over the splendor around it.

On this throne sat a beautiful woman, leaning on her hand as she gazed calmly at a man bleeding out on the luxurious floor beneath her feet.

"You will never win-AHHHHHH!" The man stubbornly uttered a few words before a dagger suddenly plunged into his side, twisting deeper as a pained screech tore from his lips.

"Oh, must you torture him when we're conversing?" The woman asked, though if one listened closely, they would catch the subtle hint of annoyance in her tone.

"I apologize, but chivalry makes me want to vomit." A man sneered as he stepped over his victim as a pool of blood started spreading all around the man.

"Where is the blade-" The woman quickly got to the point, raising her gaze while the man raised a smile.

"I've already cast it away." The man snickered with a lasting defiance, seeing first hand the woman's face contort in rage as she stood up.

"Where am I?" Ricky suddenly spoke up, his words completely out of place as he looked around in confusion, standing awkwardly to the side of the very dramatic scene.

*WHISTLE*

"Hello beautiful~" Ricky let out a low whistle as he watched the woman angrily descend the stairs.

"If you wanted my attention, a hello would've been enough however now that you're here-huh?" Ricky immediately started to put on the moves, but as he stepped forward, he seemed to pass right through the woman, as if she were merely an illusion.

"ARCK!" The man, slowly bleeding out, was suddenly lifted up by a black mist as the woman angrily held him up.

"Tell me, where is the blade-" The woman once again asked though the man simply smiled at her.

"I shall not." The man spit at the woman's face as she froze for a moment before slowly wiping the blood-filled spit from her cheek.

*BAM*

Pushing her hands forward, magic power manifested without even the slightest incantation, sending him to the backside wall before he tumbled weakly to the ground.

"You say I won't win but unlike you, a mere mortal who is confined by their own mortality, I can wait for as long as it takes to take what's rightfully mine." The woman slowly strutted forward, her hips swaying with each step, and Ricky couldn't help but admire the graceful, hypnotic movement.

'That's the type of ass one goes to war for.' Ricky nodded, slightly annoyed by the realization that he was trapped in a lucid dream, unable to change a thing.

"Although my life will fade here today, my blood will still flow and be a raging river that floods and foils all your treacherous plans." The man's conviction showed forth as the woman scoffed.

"Then I guess I shall give your little descendents a present." The woman then closed her eyes, and the man began screeching in pain before his head fell lifelessly to the ground.

In his final moments, the man didn't gaze at the woman but at Ricky as he glanced around, realizing the man's dying eyes were fixed on him.

"You must prevail, you must find the ebony-"

*GASP*

*HUFF*

*HUFF*

*HUFF*

Ricky sat up, looking around in confusion, before realizing he was drenched in sweat and upon putting a hand on his forehead, he felt the cold dampness.

As he patted himself down, the cross gifted to him by Father Sebastian swung on his neck as he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

After receiving it, Lucky had grown paranoid, constantly worrying that Ricky might lose it as the tension became so intense that Ricky started wearing it around his neck just to put the mobster at ease.

'What the f*ck.' Ricky let out a sigh, falling back onto his bed while still huffing out breathes.

Ricky wasn't able to go back to sleep that night, trying to shrug it off as a mere bad dream but simply laid on his bed while not being able to forget the details of it for the life of him.

Morning came yet Ricky was wide awake, rubbing his eyes he put on his clothes before staring at the mirror.

As he blinked, the image of a knight appeared before him, and with his next blink, it vanished just as quickly, causing him to flinch in surprise.

'Huh-'

"Young Ricky, today we will change your formal training to center around your bowmanship." Alexander informed, Ricky dazedly looking to the side before slowly nodding.

Alexander had given him a break to heal from his wounds. However, now that he was seemingly perfectly healed, Alexander decided to strike while the flames of his spirit were still ignited.

"Then what about the other weapons-"

"You will still learn other weapons since a true warrior is proficient in multiple weapons." Alexander puffed out his chest with a proud air as Chester pulled out the deck of cards.

With Chester's sole duty being using his genjutsu to keep Rockefellar's suggestions prominent in his mind, he didn't have much to do anymore.

Although Ricky had only just started utilizing him, Chester was sidelined once again which made him slightly lonely.

Alexander had seen this in his friend which is why he always insisted on playing card games to help Chester and although the crow knew it, he still didn't say anything since he quite enjoyed their games.

"Well, I'm off." Ricky waved as Alexander waved before turning to Chester and rubbing his paws together.

"Now, let us indulge in the war of go fish."

"Nuh uh!" Isabella suddenly said to Ricky right as he was about to leave.

"Isabella-"

"You're already so skinny and now you want to leave without breakfast, Slick, do you hate me?" Isabella started being slightly over dramatic as Ricky sighed.

"But I-"

"My poor heart~" Isabella stumbled before catching herself as Ricky gave her a plain expression.

Isabella, a seventy-three-year-old woman, served as the personal maid and cook for Ricky and Lucky.

She had emigrated from Sicily at the age of fifty-nine, having worked tirelessly to send her entire family to America before her.

Of her seven children, three were part of the Luciano family, and as a gesture of loyalty, Lucky arranged for Isabella to be brought over.

Despite this, Isabella, a stubborn Italian woman, refused to accept charity and instead, she chose to work as their maid, determined to repay the perceived debt she felt she owed.

*Sigh*

"Fine." Ricky shook his head as he walked toward his breakfast, while Isabella perked up as if nothing had happened, casually heading toward the dishes.

Ricky began eating the breakfast laid out before him just as the door opened and Jake walked in.

"Aye, what's taking so long, didn't you say we'd talk about the club-"

*Snap*

*Snap*

"Even your friend, skinny, come and eat!" Isabella demanded, and Jake, caught off guard, realized he had already sunk into a quicksand of awkwardness.

"No I-"

5 minutes later,

Soon, Ricky, Jake, Chores, and Barko were all eating as the three men sat at the dinner table, while Barko contentedly ate from a plate on the floor.

"Fill me in on what's been happening." Ricky wiped his mouth while gesturing to Jake who had Isabella put more servings onto his plate.

"Thank you, Isabella." Chores thanked her politely, and she responded with a warm smile, patting his broad shoulders before playfully pinching his cheek.

"You're welcome, such a nice boy." Isabella complimented before ruffling Barko's hair and walking back to the kitchen.

"Well after your pops torched the entire jewish mafia to the ground and took over their operations, me and my brother Meyer had been dealing with the jewish community in Manhattan." Jake let out a tired sigh, and Ricky couldn't help but notice the dark circles under his eyes.

"We already assured them of their safety, however, since we're the only connection they might have to the Lucaino family, they've been blabbering in our ears about tedious things like if we'll raise the protection fees and similar things like that." Jake cut up a portion of pancakes and Ricky raised an eyebrow.

"Jake if running the clubs are too much-" Ricky, thinking it would be best to ease the load on his plate, calmly asked until Jake's head snapped over to him.

"It's not!" Jake crashed his fork into the entire pancake, almost screaming at Ricky who was a little taken aback.

*Ahem*

"I mean, I'm fine." Jake quickly dismissed Ricky's train of thought, regaining himself as the stress slowly seeped out for a brief moment.

"Slick, believe me when I say that it's nothing, I can do this." Jake assured Ricky as he stared at him for a while but nodded.

"Alright." Ricky had learned from Lucky that trust goes both ways so he decided to believe his words.

"How are you settling in Chores?" Ricky then turned the conversation to Chores who showed a smile.

"I won't lie, it's been a little rough but Jake has really taken me under his wing." Chores didn't hide how hard it was settling in a new environment but gave credit to Jake.

"Barko?" Ricky leaned to the side to see Barko greedily eating the eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns.

*GULP*

"Love it here." Barko quickly said before resuming his feast since for the last two years he's been eating dog food and scraps which isn't to his preferred taste.

"Is there anything you need?" Ricky asked Jake, who nodded and pulled out a list.

"'I've highlighted multiple things that need to be replaced and I wanted-" Jake tried to ease into it, but Ricky calmly laughed at this and shook his head.

"Jake I trust you, just tell it to me straight." Ricky saw Jake getting slightly anxious as he calmed him down as he took a breath.

"I need twenty five grand for repairs." Jake let out a sigh as Chores and Barko choked on their food, astonished by the sheer amount.

"Clean or dirty?" Ricky asked, standing up and pulling out his key from his inventory, while Jake wiped his face.

"I don't want to waste your clean money, Slick, so I'll wash the dirty money we got from the Jewish stash house," Jake said boldly, causing Ricky to turn back in shock.

"Didn't you say it would take some more time to wash the money?" Ricky asked curiously, though he continued pulling fifty grand from the four hundred thousand taken from the stash house.

"The traffic we get is more than enough to keep the books from looking off," Jake assured Ricky, who nodded in understanding.

"Madden had been cutting corners with the management of the clubs. Even though he owned the buildings, he didn't keep them up to code," Jake sighed, frustrated at how horrible the deceased Madden was at maintaining his assets.

"With that nark Dewey sniffing around more frequently, I don't want to take any chances." Jaken then got to the point, thinking they could be in trouble if an inspection happened as Ricky frowned at the mention of Dewey's name.

The moment the Luciano family confronted the Jewish mob, Dewey made his move, ready to swoop in while they were preoccupied.

However, as Lucky was receiving this intel and issuing orders to the dirty cops, something unexpected occurred.

Dewey betrayed his own, revealing his true motives by leaking various pieces of information to suspected corrupt officers.

Instead of quelling the chaos in Manhattan, he first extinguished the fire in his own house, allowing the city to burn as a result.

This maneuver finally exposed why he had remained inactive during the Luciano family's conflict with the Jewish mob.

Fifty of the cops on Lucky's payroll received sudden transfer orders, not only to the Brooklyn police station but also to stations in Harlem, Manhattan, and other areas as Dewey had finally declared war on Lucky.

*Thump*

"And here." Ricky unexpectedly dropped the duffle bag on the table, along with the dirty fifty thousand, causing Jake's eyes to widen in surprise.

"I want you to use this money I got from that old man to start financing more clubs." Ricky decided to put a little more on Jake's plate but instead of showing distaste, Jake was enthusiastic.

Ricky had given his father the guns and counterfeits, keeping the money, alcohol, and dirty money for himself, as he needed them for his club.

This was part of Ricky's three-step plan to get close to her as the first step was to loosen up her defenses, the second was to consummate the encounter, and the third was to reap the rewards of his victory.

Ms. Collins wobbled to her seat, but once she sat down, she collapsed, burying her face in her hands.

Ricky calmly walked to his locker, reached inside, and put something in his backpack before closing it as Maria's bright smile greeted him from within.

"Ricky~" Maria giggled, leaping into his arms as Ricky twirled her around.

Ricky had noticed that their bond had heightened after their small time apart as Maria was much less nervous with physical affection.

"Are you ready to go to the meeting?" Ricky slung his arm around her and asked as she immediately became nervous.

"Will they be as mean to you as today?" Maria asked, but Ricky shrugged, indifferent to the concern.

"I don't know, maybe?"

Walking to the meeting room, it was exactly as Maria had predicted, though only partly so, as only around half of the Skull and Bones club avoided his area.

"Settle down, settle down!" Henry banged the gavel, and sneering words began to seep out as Ricky took his place on the council.

Joseph, holding himself back, stared intently at Henry, as if waiting for something.

"I know you've all heard the news of one of our members entering a new venture-"

"HE'S TRYING TO BRING US DOWN, OUR LIFESTYLE-"

*BAM*

"I SAID QUIET!" Henry slammed his gavel down, causing someone to hop to their feet, only to freeze under Henry's deadly gaze.

"Now-"

"Can I say something first, Henry?" Ricky asked, and Henry thought he was going to give the members a speech, to which he gestured for him to go.

Ricky nodded; since Henry was right in a way.

Ricky wasn't the type to make subtle, underhanded speeches to gain support and was more blunt and way more intimidating.

"I know that I won't be able to convince you to change your ways of life however, I've brought something with me today that will make you reconsider your blatant hostility towards me." Ricky said gently, as the other members looked at him with questioning gazes.

"Oh, Jesus Christ Ricky." Henry whispered after catching sight of what Ricky had hidden below the table.

"This is a smith and wesson model 10, custom tailored for my specific grip." Ricky revealed a literal gun, prompting a range of gasps as many of the members, including Joseph, stood up in fear.

"She's a beauty, am I right? Six shots with a steel outline, this gun was made for nothing other than killing another man." Ricky spun the loader with a maniacal chuckle, Maria facepalming all the while the other members became pale.

"Alright now that I've said my peace, if anyone would like to say anything then please do, but don't say it to me."

*Click*

"Say it to her." Ricky pointed to his now fully cocked gun as Jerry started laughing crazily, while the other members questioned the effectiveness of his display.

"...."

The members, all distasteful of his appointment to the council, kept their mouths shut, including Joseph.

"Joseph, anything you want to say?" Ricky pointed the gun right at him before he instinctively ducked behind his fiance Betty.

"JOE!" Betty let out a horrified gasp at his action as he shot right up.

"N-No it's not what you think-" Joseph tried to explain, but Ricky didn't care to waste even a single second on their problems.

"Then if no one has any other thoughts, let's continue." Ricky set the gun on the table as Henry finally finished massaging his temple.

"Then Ricky Luciano will be the next member of the high council effective immediately, any objections, no, alright." Henry said in a dull manner, side-eyeing Ricky who shrugged.

*BAM*

The council proceedings were a snooze fest, but Ricky never took his eyes off that darling girl on the table, and all the members had a front-row seat to her beauty.

However, as he focused on the revolver, his mind quickly dissected its workings, seemingly entranced by the mechanism before him.

*BAM*

"Then without further ado that concludes this meeting."

Ricky flinched, his trance effectively broken as he looked around and realized he had been staring at his revolver for the past two hours.

Noticing Maria's worried expression, she hurried over, leaning down to rub his back comfortingly.

"Are you okay Ricky, you didn't even blink for the entire meeting." Maria asked only to see Ricky pull out a pocket knife which surprised her.

Ricky wanted to ease her worries, but the persistent itch at the back of his mind suddenly intensified and driven by the sensation, he pulled the revolver closer to him.

"Ricky?" Maria became increasingly worried as she saw Ricky start to use the pocket knife to dissect the revolver.

"Betty, BETTY!" Joseph ran after his fiance though she pushed him aside and hurried out of the meeting room.

"What are you doing?" Jerry strolled over to Ricky and looked at him curiously taking apart the revolver.

"Skewing the balance of the revolver to counteract the recoil." Ricky said it as if it were the easiest thing in the world, yet both Jerry and Henry, overhearing him, were left baffled.

"What do you mean-.....is that pineapple?" Jerry was about to lean over Ricky's shoulder only to ask though he was being ignored.

Ricky was seemingly scrapping all around the revolver before knocking other edges until he slowly started to put it back together.

Only when he did, Ricky's old revolver had become littered in scratches and chippings as Jerry tilted his head.

"Well that was weird." Jerry commented, and Ricky nodded, though he couldn't identify the culprit.

Ricky had essentially multitasked, scanning his system and realizing how frustrating intuitive genius could be for him.

'Damn intuitive genius.' Ricky thought, standing up in grief and grabbing Maria's hand.

"Anyways, let's go Maria." Ricky smiled as Maria melted at it, nodding before walking out with him.

"You can't just do something that weird and not explain yourself!" Henry yelled behind him though he only waved in response.

"LET ME GO!" A screech was heard as the two turned their gaze to Joseph holding Betty against the lockers.

"How was your day today?" Ricky ignored the obvious red flag since it was none of his business as he tried to walk the other way.

"Ricky~" Maria whined while pointing at Betty while Ricky sighed but relented and walked over.

"Betty it was an accident, I didn't mean-"

*BAM*

Joseph hurriedly tried to explain to the livid Betty only for Ricky to shove his face into the locker as he slid it down weirdly.

Ricky turned towards Maria, who had crossed her arms as he sighed, then looked down at the confused Joseph and the surprised Betty.

*BAM*

*COUGH*

Ricky wound up his leg and drove it into Joseph's stomach, causing him to lose any foothold he might have had.

'I mean, might as well.' Ricky thought to himself as he began patting Joseph down, eventually retrieving his wallet.

"What are you doing?!" Betty asked incredulously as Ricky began pulling out one hundred and twenty-seven dollars from the wallet.

"Saving you." Ricky said as he threw the wallet back onto Joseph's body before turning back to Maria who was sighing.

"What, it was just there like-.....taking candy from a weirdly overgrown and angry baby." Ricky tried to find an analogy to explain himself but it came really weird.

"Seriously Ricky~" Maria walked over to Betty, slinking her arm around the confused and slightly distressed girl.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked in a sincere tone, and Betty's face almost cracked, while Ricky frowned at Maria seemingly being taken away from him.

They walked out of the building only to see double the amount of black cars than usual.

Maria always had a trail of cars waiting for her; however, when Ricky gazed at a particular car, he raised an eyebrow.

The window rolled down as Lucky looked out with black shades before tipping them down ever so slightly.

"Get in."

Meanwhile at the New York senate offices,

"Robert, you can't be serious!" Dewey looked as if the vein throbbing on his forehead might burst at any moment.

"Watch yourself Mr. Dewey." A slightly old man with a protruding beer gut, covered from head to toe in a fine blue suit with an American pin on his left chest, threatened without a care.

"But this-"

"Mr. Luciano has all the right paperwork as well as the funds to provide for this particular area of investment." Robert announced, his appearance bearing a slight resemblance to someone Ricky knew.

In fact, this was the third class senator Robert F. Wagner and the father of Robert F. Wagner ll.

(Ima call his dad Wagner from now on.)

"He's a gangster!" Dewey yelled at Wagner, who stopped walking and turned around.

"Everyday, banks are failing and it's always the banks that support the little guys." Wagner said something, and Dewey's eyes widened with realization.

"You're doing this because it's your re-election year, isn't it?" Dewey wrongly assumed since it was indeed Wagner's election year.

The real reason wasn't just because it was his election year and he might boost his poll numbers, but also because of his son.

Robert had informed him about Ricky. Although he wasn't initially keen on Ricky, especially given the trouble he caused, his son's persuasion changed his mind.

He decided that Ricky would be a valuable aid for when his son took office one day and resolved to get on the good side of the Luciano family.

"Mr. Luciano has put up two million of already taxed money and unless you have any proof, that says his already double the required amount of seed money I might add, might be dirty then please tell me right now." Wagner spoke, and Dewey began to respond but then closed his mouth.

Lucky might be a notorious gangster, but unlike Al Capone, he paid his taxes, at least as far as the government knew.

Lucky was very cautious in that regard and was almost paranoid about using dirty money in anything but the underworld operations.

Everything Lucky owned that could be seen in public was bought with clean money and that includes his 500,000 private mansion.

"Then Lucky Legacy Bank will open its doors next October." Wagner turned around and continued walking, leaving Dewey gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Dammit!" Dewey threw his papers on the ground, and although passersby gazed at him, they continued on their way.

'I cannot believe he'd get away with this!' Dewey roared in his mind, astonished that Lucky had managed to get away with this.

This was honestly the biggest gamble that Dewey understood from Lucky's perspective, since unlike the others, he knew that Lucky was putting all of his clean money into this bank, but once it opened, it wouldn't be a problem for this bank to become successful.

Laundering money would be a cakewalk in these times of crisis, since the government isn't entirely interested in how the money is there but whether they can tax it or not.

The depression had made the American economy take a couple of steps back, and one way to speed up the trench that the economy plummeted into was to accept any upstart banks.

Now, from Dewey's perspective, it didn't matter that the establishment's main attraction was allowing African Americans to store money; what mattered was that it expedited the Luciano family's money laundering operations.

'He's just so damn Lucky!'