Lucky sat on his porch with a cup of coffee reading the morning paper. It was a pleasantly warm morning with a soft breeze blowing. It was not often that Lucky got to take advantage of mornings like this, he usually was up late after working long into the night when he was off to do it all again. Running a city was a job he loved but the work never ended. 

Lucky had arranged to be home early the night before so that he could be ready for his morning meeting. He had set this meeting with his daughter to go over something she has a right to know. He was excited and nervous about this meeting he wanted her to know but wasn't sure how she would react. Ever since she had come back into his life he always had this urge to tell her about his past, about where his life had taken him and why he was never there for her or for her mother. 

Isabella knew that in the end, he ended up in Chicago running his own family. But she had no idea why he left New York or how he came to join Marie, work his way up in the life. He wanted her to know... to understand and maybe he wanted her to forgive him for not being there. 

Lucky regretted so much for not being there or knowing about his daughter and he needed her to know why. 

Lucky got up and walked into the house and headed into the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and refilled his coffee cup and looked at the fruit that had been cut and made ready for them. He had one of his men take it outside to the table. Lucky walked outside and lit a cigarette and sat back down waiting for Isabella to arrive. 

Isabella had the windows rolled down as she cruised the city streets in the early morning.  Michigan was nothing like any place she'd lived before, the air was always just a little colder and moist.  The heat was never oppressive and it seemed the shade of trees followed you even into the pavement infested cities - as if nature refused to be stopped by the work of men, always keeping her cool and comfortable.  Of course, she dreaded the coming winter for this reason, lord knew it was going to be worse than New York and Chicago combined.

Seeing Lucky sitting on the porch was odd.  She hadn't expected to see her father outside enjoying the morning like a normal guy with his newspaper in hand.  Honestly it was a strange look for him, but it made her smile.  He'd insisted on meeting with her this morning but she'd gotten the vibe that what he had to say wasn't about business... instead it was clearly personal.  What exactly, she couldn't be sure, but if he was going to let her closer into his life - she welcomed it.

Parking her car she picked up the cinnamon roll she'd purchased from a vendor in town and walked up to his house smiling.  "I hope you have some of that coffee for me too?  I come with pastry to share... it's no cannoli, but what is?"  She chuckled and kissed his cheek before sitting down beside him.

"It's so nice out this morning.  Thanks for having me over - I like these talks of ours."  She unwrapped the cinnamon roll and broke a bit off, tossing it into her mouth.

Lucky walks over and hugs his daughter and then signals for her to take a seat. He has one of his men go and get her a cup of coffee while they sit down. Lucky took a cinnamon roll and broke off a piece and ate it before washing it down with some coffee. 

Once Isabella had her coffee as well he turned to her 

"I wanted to go over some things with you. About my past. What do you know of why I left NY and what happened from there?" he asked her. 

Lucky set the cinnamon roll down before lighting a cigarette. 

"I'm afraid I don't know much.  My mother said that you left not long after her parents sent her away to have me in secret.  She said she always knew you were meant for big things... she wasn't surprised the direction your life went because a good deal of her cousins were made men, and in the old country almost all our family was tied up in this thing of ours."

She shrugged.  "It's so odd thinking about that because it really wasn't who she was at all.  She wouldn't have approved of me being involved in the family's business.  She didn't think it was a woman's place really - even after she had to work to take care of us I think she held out hope that some day she'd marry and be able to stay at home tending after me and keeping her husband happy."

She fidgeted with a ring on her right hand.  "At one point in time I was pretty sure that was going to be my story... mom had us all but dragged before a priest... but that's my story and we're here to talk about you."  She looked up to her dad.  "Please... go on."

Lucky sat and listened to what Isabella had to say.

"Well, I did not choose to leave New York I wasn't given a choice. I ran with a crew there and was ambushed and almost killed. I knew if I stayed that I would be killed." he said to her 

Lucky sat and his mind drifted back to those days. It seemed so long ago now almost a different life. He took a couple of long drags of his cigarette. 

"I made my way to LA. I was badly hurt so I took some time to recover and learn the lay of the land there. I put a small crew together and started extorting shop owners for protection money.  I was approached one day by a man that would change my life." he said smiling 

"Salvatore_Lucania was his name. I had extorted one of the businesses under his protection." he looked at Isabella. 

"Was he married to Marie when you met him?  She took a bite of her cinnamon roll, knowing some of these story from their brief discussions in the past.  "And did you meet her then?"

"Yes, he was married to Marie and was her RHM in LA. And no I did not meet her until later," he said thinking back. 

"He taught me the life. I had met ... well, I should say I had seen Marie around the HQ and things but I was to low on the totem pole... so to speak to actually meet her." 

Lucky's expression changed to one of solace and remorse. Luca was a mentor and a great friend to him. 

"There was a war and Luca was killed. It devastated Marie. Before he died he had put in to have me Made in the family. I didn't get it till after, I think it was more out of one last thing for Luca as Marie didn't know me." he tells her.

"Things were interesting after that. I rose to be her RHM after Luca and we started becoming close."  

"So you were in LA... but how the hell did you end up in Chicago of all places - I mean, did the war make you move?  And I get needing to leave but, why Chicago?  I mean there must be one hell of a story to that!"  She finished her cinnamon roll.  "A move across country like that is huge, especially in our line of work."

Lucky sat there and smiled at the reaction of his daughter. He liked that she was already thinking like a mobster and trying to see how everything would played out. 

"Well before that I was sent to Sicily by Marie to help her father. While there I killed a lot of people but most notably I killed Don's son in front of him. Which caused him to come after me. I ended up shot and almost killed" he said showing her the bullet wound on the left side of his heart. 

"I had to be smuggled out of Sicily and back to the USA. Marie was told I was killed, " he tells her. 

Isabella picked up her coffee and took a sip before remarking, "Well... that explains why she was so much calmer about Vegas than me.  I suppose after a few times watching you get shot becomes old hat?"  She noticed the look of confusion on Sal's face and she explained.  "I lied to you."  

She didn't like speaking those words, but it was time to admit the truth.  "I didn't leave your jacket in Vegas accidentally.  I kept it because I felt guilty.  I felt like I failed you and ... I nearly lost you."  She looked up to his eyes.  "A bullet barely missed you.  Went through your jacket and for days after I couldn't sleep a wink without watching you die in my mind... over and over."

She shook her head.  "I felt like I let you down and that I was a shit daughter and member of this crew... until Marie found the jacket in my room and had a talk with me."

Lucky finished his cigarette and put it out and took a sip of his coffee while he listened. He nodded slowly as she talked. 

"Well now I didn't even realize one got close to me," he said to her

"And as for old hat... well I haven't told you the worst part yet," he said to her

Lucky took another bite of his cinnamon roll before continuing. 

"When I got back Marie and I started getting close again. We took a trip to set up business in Cuba and also reconnected," he said thinking back. 

"We were ambushed at a race track Marie was looking to buy. I sent her away and stayed behind myself. I was hit several times but killed them all." he said pointing to the scar on the other side of his heart

"I guess I have earned my nickname," he says with a smirk. 

She smiled.  "I want to be like you."  She said.  "I want to be remembered, respected... probably feared."  She chuckled.  "You might not know this but I wake up every day and I try to find some way to make you see in me things that you can respect and be proud of.  More than the money or power, your respect ... it's why I'm here still."

<font color="#66CCFF">Lucky looks at her puzzled. </font>

<font color="#66CCFF">"You are my daughter I am proud of you and everything you have done," he says to her. </font>

<font color="#66CCFF">"I want you to build your own reputation. I am an asshole. It's just who I am. I fought my way to the top. But I have made mistakes along the way." he tells her</font>

<font color="#66CCFF">"I have chosen the gun when there was another option and hell still do in most cases. There is a lot in this life to learn but the biggest advice I can give you is find your own path. That's how you earn respect. By being true to yourself." he tells her.</font>

"What if I don't know who I am?"  She says, clearly conflicted a bit.  "I use to know, or I thought I did, but so much has changed since I left New York and came to know you."  she sighs.

"I sometimes feel I scarcely recognize the woman I've become at all."

Lucky turns and holds Isabella's hand looking at her. 

"Isabella you are a strong and intelligent woman. You are getting your feet under you in this new life and you are doing a great job at it." 

<font color="#66CCFF">Lucky had been thinking and planning for the future. He had big plans for his daughter and he thought it might be time to fill her in so he could help get her ready. </font>

<font color="#66CCFF">"I know you can come into your own as a leader and I will love watching you lead this family," he says to her seriously. </font>

Isabella's brown eyes shimmered with pride as her father spoke with such hope of the future.  It was everything she'd dreamed of hearing him say.  She squeezes his hand as she beams at him with a look of utter adoration - hero worship.

"I love you."  She said as the wind picked up, blowing her hair across her face and into her line of sight.  She thought to reach her hand up and push the raven locks out of her eyes but her hand didn't respond.

Through her strands of hair she could see Salvatore's eyes go wide, horror frozen on his face - quickly melting into rage.  She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she felt short of breath and a little dizzy.  Blinking lowered her chin, trying to get some control over herself and her  unexpected disorientation.  

Her white silk shirt and pearl buttons were dizzying to her, her vision swimming as blossoms of pink appeared across the core of her body.  Above her she could feel what she thought was rain pelting down on her, but as her father threw her to the ground she could see it was glass, plaster, and bullets... so many bullets.

It was only then that her brain finally processed, ever so slowly, that she'd been shot.  It was the strangest thing, as she laid there, vaguely aware of her father moving and shooting somewhere nearby - that it didn't hurt at all.  She couldn't feel anything... other than a little cold and oh so very tired.