Note: Please don't be irritated on reading too much about Lucero clan in this chapter.

*******

Ricardo turns his head on the other side before Alana grabs his jaw and shoves the piece of apple in his mouth and he glares at his mother while she watches him with narrowed eyes. Begrudgingly, he chews the piece before he once again turns head away.

"Mom enough" he groans as she grabs his jaw.

"Apple is good for health"

"Then you eat it, I am stuffed" he grumbles and she grabs an orange making him frown.

"I am not having that" he points covering his mouth this time while his wife and brother laugh seeing him.

"And I am not having your tantrums, even a six year old does not behave this way"

"Well then treat me the age I am in at" he asks making her roll her eyes as she puts a piece of orange in Richard's mouth.

"These are good mom" Richard points making Ricardo narrows his eyes at his brother.

"Feed him, he enjoys I more than me" Ricardo points before he watches Gabby open her mouth and Alana happily feeds the girl.

"Traitor" he grumbles while they laugh at his misery.

********

"You rest, I will see you tomorrow" Alana smiles as she pats on her son's cheek before she leaves with Richard.

"Why don't you go with mom? Richard can stay the night" Ricardo suggests to Gabby who shakes her head no.

"I am not leaving your side"

"The bed is softer and nicer there" he points making her frown.

"Why are you so eager to kick me out?" she asks and he shrugs his shoulder.

"Just thinking about your comfort" he states and she sits on the bed beside him.

"I can sense the difference between you thinking about my comfort and kicking me out" he pinches his nose and he sighs.

"Think whatever you want to" he states as he holds her hand on his chest.

"The doctor said you will be able to fly out in few days"

"Excited" he grumbles.

"Do you want some pain killers?" she asks as she touches his face.

"No, no. It just makes me sleepy"

"Rest is good"

"Healing is better, Precious"

"Not getting shot in the first place is the best" she smiles as she rubs his brow lightly.

"Will keep that in mind next time I get shot from back"

"I have beat boys in school, took part in fights which were not even mine but when we got attacked I did not even knew the first thing I should be doing"

"You were not trained in that way to act"

"But I should have done something, grabbed a gun and fire back not scream and hide in the car"

"They were more in numbers, we had no chance"

"Wrong, we had a chance, we just did not take it" she whispers as she touches his wedding ring.

"I did not had anything loose when I got into fights before, I did not care if I got hurt because my life did not mattered much, the scratches in my body or the marks it left...

Now, now it's different" her confession makes him smile as he intertwines their finger.

"Those scratches and marks on your body mattered to me, Precious, it matters to me even now" his words makes her smiles as she kisses his fingers.

"I was inside of the car while you were getting shot and I could not even get to hold you, if it was not for me you would not have to keep worrying while they surrounded you...

I don't want to be your weakness, Rare. I just don't" she cries and he pulls her in his arms.

"You are not, you are not" he whispers in her ear.

"But I felt at that moment, I felt so useless all I could do was cry" she sobs in his chest and Ricardo sighs as he kisses on top of her head.

"And that is exactly what I am doing, now" she cries even loud.

********

"Are these all?" Leon asks as he hands the file to Paige who nods her head as they walk out of the room.

"Those three names you pointed, freeze their accounts" he asks as they head out together.

"We cannot just freeze it without any reasons"

"None of their transactions are traceable, is that not a reason enough?"

"It is, but you know they will give unnecessary pressure to the branches and it will be chaotic over there until we have to unfreeze their accounts"

"Those three accounts, I will personally deal with them, send the messages to the branch managers that if anyone of them comes in contact to forward their message or calls directly to me" he asks and she sighs.

"You did not call anyone of with them?" she asks and he smiles guiltily.

"Well I did not feel the need to, when we found the culprit" he states in defense.

"And now you want me to give instructions to freeze their bank accounts when I know I will be the one handling it, later on" she groans making him chuckle.

"That's a good plan" he nods and she groans before she follows him.

"Oh, right on time, Leon shout for your brothers, none of them are coming down for dinner. And I swear they are avoiding it so none of them have to set the table" Flora groans as she puts the plates around.

"Hello" Paige greets the woman and Flora smiles.

"Oh Paige, when did you arrive, it's been a while and I see he has some traits of his father alive, both of them do not have any sense of working hours" Flora throws her hands around and Paige eyes Leon.

"She gets paid well, mom" Leon points before he whistles and Paige chuckles.

"That's how you call a dog" she points and Leon shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't see any difference" Flora shouts and Paige shakes her head before she says her goodbye.

"Oh no, stay. Stay for dinner" Flora asks and Paige glances at Leon who just shrugs his shoulder as he walks towards the table.

"No, uh...thank you, but I have to go" Paige refuses.

"Paige, stay, the least we can do is ask you for dinner, seeing my husband is the reason you are working until now" Leah asks as she walks out with dishes on her hand and Leon helps her put it down.

"What's for dessert?" Leon asks Leah.

"It's a surprise" she points making him sighs as he pulls the lid off the dish and Leah swats his hand.

********

"Hey Paige"

"Heya Paige"

"Hi Paige"

"Yo Paige"

"Ooh, it's Paper" the Lucero boys greets as them rush to their seats.

"What the fuck?" Lucas groans as he stands next to Paige.

"Mrs. Lucero, Leah, I will just go" Paige states as she turns to leave but Lucas just grabs the file from her hand.

"What is this?" he asks turning the pages but Paige pulls it away from his hand.

"It's confidential" Paige points as stepping away from him.

"Confidential as if, the name of the man who attacked Russo?" he asks.

"That's none of your business"

"It is, if someone walked in my place and attacked one of our guest"

"Then you should have stayed more alert"

"I don't have time for you lecture, give me the name"

"Ask Leon"

"I would not have asked you if he gave me one"

"Then it is confidential"

"I don't care, give me the name"

"I cannot"

"Then let me read it" he asks as she puts the file behind her.

"You are not allowed to have his name"

"Oh, so it is a he and you know him"

"Why don't you put yourself at some use and pull his name out?" she challenges as he tries to grab the file.

"That is what I am doing"

"You think you are some big bad guy, use your big badness. But you know what, you are not the big bad guy if you were you would have already found his name out before me" she points and he narrows his eyes at her.

"And you think you are so smart" he snaps as he glares at her.

"You are not allowed to get his name and that's it, I will never tell you his name"

"Fine, don't. I have my own ways and when I find him I will..."

"You cannot, because he is already dead"

"Liar"

"Suicide, as soon as he found we were looking for him"

"Then give me his name, what's the problem? Even if he is dead, he must have a wife, girlfriend, lover, mistress, children, relatives...

We can kill them"

"You are insane, this is exactly why you won't get a name"

"Are you saving his whole ass family that is like betrayal?"

"It's better than bloodshed and starting an unwanted war"

"Oh now you are Mother Teresa?" he scoffs.

"No, but someone with a common sense"

"Shall I bow down to your senses?" he asks sarcastically.

"That's a very good idea" Flora speaks as she grabs Lucas's ear and pulls him away from Paige.

"Ow, mom, fuck...mom" Lucas groans before Flora lets go of his ear.

"I cannot believe the way you are behaving to her, she is a guest and I just invited her to dinner and now she may think my children are raised with bad manners" she scolds him and he sighs as he turns her and wraps his arms around her.

"Well at least you have great manners to cover for us mom, no stop hitting me. It harms my image" he chuckles before he eyes Paige.

"I am sorry, I will just leave" Paige apologizes.

"No, no stay for dinner"

"Some other time" Paige refuses and Flora nods.

"Well, I hope the day will come when we will have a peaceful dinner together" Flora smiles.

"That day will never come mom" Lucas speaks and Paige smiles a politely before she leaves.

"Ow, what was that for"

"That was rude of you" Flora snaps.

"It's true, who has dinner at day time. I mean you did say I hope the day will come, but we have dinner at night mom" he grins as he picks her up walking towards the table.

********

"Next time, when I say no or don't give any information I hope you don't try to get in. And if Paige says confidential, it stays confidential" Leon points as he stares at his brother.

"Have to make a point, so no one again tries this stunt, Leon" Lucas states.

"Admit it, you are just an ass" Lance points a finger at him.

"We know he is" Leif grins before he dodges the spoon Lucas throws his way.

"Boys" Lucero speaks joining the group just as they start to throw the spoons.

"Well should have stopped Lucas when he was being an ass...excuse me, I will go grab a spoon" Leif gulps changing his words as Lucero eyes his son.

"You boys need to wash your mouth with soap, too much cursing going in the dinner table and no respect for the ladies around" Lucero points as he takes his chair.

"They were all just talking about what happened to Russo" Flora smiles as she passes the food his way.

"Hmm, how is he?" Lucero asks.

"Better, he will be going back home in few days" Leon replies.

"You all do realize how this incident will affect us, right?" he asks as he puts the food on his plate.

"The problem has been taken care of"

"The problem is not a problem, someone from under us daring it, is. Lucas, if you are having troubles to look around then its better if one of your brothers take over the work load" Lucero points and Lucas glances at his father.

"I can handle it" he states.

"By getting one of our guests admitted in a hospital with three bullets in his body? Anyone can clearly see it"

"Well if Leon had explained his plans on calling all of these people beforehand, maybe then we would not be having this discussion" Lucas points.

"Each of you have a specific responsibilities and it is given to each of you, for a reason. If I have to remind you all about it, then what's the use to giving you all that?"

"Luc" Flora whispers but his hand raises to stop her from talking.

*******

"We could have done this separately, but not this time. Richie refused to fly out and check on his son, knowing his son condition and do you know why?

Because when he sent his family he trusted us to welcome them and keep them safe for the amount of time they were here...

But, instead today, Russo's guards are all over my grounds because he cannot trust the security we provide, because our sons here are busy dropping names as for why Leon did not shared any information or how Lucas is an ass...

I built this empire, securing a place for each of them with a thought that they would fight as one against the world, but they are busy fighting each other"

"Dad, we are not fighting"

"I am not done!" Lucero snaps and everyone in the table stay silent.

"FBI are sniffing in the town, by the way. Did any one of you knew?" he asks around.

"Yes" few of the voices are raised and Lucero passes the bowl to his wife.

"Let Lucas handle the ways of the streets completely, in his own way" Lucero finalizes and everyone agrees.

*******

"Has Lilac gone and visited her brother?" he asks to Liam who nods his head.

"She has been visiting him, everyday" Flora replies eyeing her husband.

"Good. Make sure their stay here is comfortable" he orders.

"You could have said all of these more politely, did not have to shout at the boys" Flora whispers to her husband who tilts his head and stares at her.

"Flo, this is me being polite. Leon is the CEO of the bank, do you know how it would look when the front headline of a tabloid will have his name on it alongside asking him to explain the murder of someone?"

"Wow, now I feel so offended. You mean having my name on the tabloid will look attractive?" Lucas asks his father.

"But you do have a face of a criminal, suits your personality" one of his brother jokes.

"That's mean"

"I know none of you will let that be a headline, but let's stay out of these things" Lucero asks.

"I am hurt dad, very hurt, that was hurtful"

"I did not knew you had feelings" Logan teases.

"Now you all are ganging up on me"

"Gagging you sounds better" Leon throws a piece of bread at him.

"Throw a bigger piece, gagman" Lucas asks before the table starts to continue their dinner along with the conversations around.

*******

Nicholson takes a seat as Gabby walks out of the room when Ricardo asks for coffee for them but she lets him know her unhappiness at his way of asking her to get out.

"I hate you" she whisper shouts storming from the room while Ricardo chuckles.

"Lock the door on your way out" he shouts just to irritate her.

"Worst husband of the century" she shouts back closing the door.

"She refused to go back with mom" Ricardo sighs as Nicholson walks to lock the door.

"She won't leave your side until you start to walk and run away from her, yourself" Nicholson teases as he pulls a chair close to his bedside.

"What do you got for me?" Ricardo asks on a serious note.

"The man who attacked you seems to have an old vendetta against your family, I did not get a name, and Leon refused to share it but assured his family will never be a problem again...

He committed suicide before Lucero's men reached him"

"Everyone has an old vendetta against someone and if did had a beef with my family why chose this very moment, when he knew his cover will be blown...

Hiring men to kill me, could have been easier in my own grounds or anywhere else, so why here?" Ricardo asks.

"I wish I had answer to that but I don't, and we cannot even sniff around here"

"I know, in here we play by their rules"

"But exactly what are you playing at?" Nicholson questions and Ricardo sighs.

"I just want my sister home, Nick. That's the only plan without any baggage behind her, that's it"

"Just that?"

"For now, yeah" Ricardo nods and Nicholson stares at him for a while before he nods.

"You are not a simple man, you set long term plans and it may take ages but it plays by your rule. I respect that you don't want to share your plans, it's fine...

But know this time you have one of us by your side and if any harm befalls her"

"Nick, have a little faith in me. That's precious we are talking about"

"Still" Nicholson adds making Ricardo smiles.

"Speaking of plan, what are you doing?" Ricardo asks and Nicholson chuckles.

"When you are ready to tell me your secrets Russo, you know where to find me" he states as he gets up.

"You do realize Lucero are unlike us" Ricardo points and Nicholson agrees.

"They are not just a family, but an entire army. I must say, the way they have control over this whole city, I am stunned...

There is not a single thing they don't own" Nicholson shakes his head.

"It's not what they don't own, Nick. It's how they run it"

"What do you mean?" Nicholson frowns.

"You have just shown interest on this family, I have invested years gathering information on them. Seventy five percent of manpower they have around this city, it's all theirs"

"I don't get it, I mean they all are under Lucero's control, so of course"

"It's different, having a family have a control over the area and control the people. These doctor, nurses and every person you see in street...

They all are Lucero's, they all belonged to Lucero not because they have control on the area but they all are slaves of Lucero"

"Slaves?"

"Yes, sounds crazy but Lucero right now holds the highest rate of manpower in this entire city and except that twenty five percent who are either Lucero's business partner or just friends, others are the slaves working...

They let their slave be whatever they want to be, giving those opportunities but in return he asks only one thing, their loyalty to the family...

Why do you think there is hardly any conflict in this family, in our business we get accused, bad reputation and all but have you ever heard anything regarding Lucero for all these years?

It's like a food chain and on the top of it, Luceros are sitting" Ricardo explains and Nicholson frowns as he hears it.

"If you cannot change the system, be in the system to see the change you make" Nicholson quotes and Ricardo nods in agreement.