"So you're just leaving me here, huh!? Who the fuck do you think you are!? Some kind of big shot that got clipped and ran like a bitch!? Answer me, Charlie!"

Charlie really disliked this right now as he sat in his bedroom, packing a bag for his return to the states. He knew that his lover would not take kindly to that, still, he didn't really care. She was just another women to him in the haze of the others that he had in the last few years, none ever to a true woman that had taken him oh so many years ago, that one night in Seattle had never made him forget her.

"What do you want Laura? Huh, do you want me to just stay here while my son is out there fighting a war, fuck no! This is my family and you are nothing compared to that, I'm telling you the truth. Right now, I want to make sure that I can get there with a quickness. Whatever you have to say, I'm not really interested in, you know what you were and that's that. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out now lass, go on."

Charlie clearly wasn't in the mood for another one of her mood tantrums, it seems that they had happened quite frequently but this seemed to be the last one as she stared at him with hatred. Finally coming out after all this time, he was a bastard in her eyes and it seems that he had finally come out of the funk that he had been in for the past couple of months.  Just

"I assume you're going back to the whore that you got pregnant with your spawn, huh? You talk about here in your sleep so much that it makes me wonder, why am I here?"

Charlie clearly was asking the same question with his eyes as he had already told her to get out and then she stayed as if his order had fallen on deaf ears. Clearly, she was hearing him but just choosing to further piss him off and then she spoke of his former lover and his spawn as she put it. He wondered how he missed this before but there were other things occupying his time at the time that he had seen the signs of one crazy-ass dame.

"Yes, I question that myself. Why are you still here? The fuck? You could just leave and not slander my family but here you are, I'm going to give you five seconds and in the next...either you walk out alive or the maids will have to clean. Now I'm giving you this final chance and you can leave but you better leave this room."

His lover walked out the door, now standing on the threshold of his room, clearly out of his room but otherwise stayed right there wanting an answer to her question earlier. He decided to deem her with what she wanted.

"I'm going back home, that is what you need you to know. I don't need you on my back right now, actually I don't need you ever again. I'm out of here and I might not be coming back but right now, this is over and to be fair, I didn't really like brown hair that much either. Kind of a white hair fan."

He grinned, finished packing his bag and walking out, knowing that his next stop was the sates, it was time to go home after so long and he wondered what had changed in that time. Still, he did know that leaving an angry woman was never a good thing, which is why he knew that he was not going to be returning anytime soon.

'Time to go home.'

Philadelphia Safe House - August 8th

"We got here alright, business before anything else. We need to know what to tell the boss, the Casino's are still up and running but it seems that another has taken up ownership with the family name of his. Cassandra was the name, she seems to be there right now and taking up arms against a new threat that Charlie once faced."

Just as he was about to continue, Charlie entered the safe house without another word, pouring himself a stiff one and he knew that he had managed to get his alcohol down to a bare minimum but right now he wanted to drink and forget. This is what that meant, he had left Sicily only a couple of hours ago and he still missed it. This is what felt like home to him, all the businesses, people, friends, and families that he had met. The honored society was different back home.

"What's the news, boys? We have to set up a new shop or is there somewhere where we can take our operations, bring our name back out into the world cause for fuck's sake. I ain't going through that again. I worked too hard to see it wither away before my eyes."

Sam Vercetti stepped forward, placing a note on the counter for Charlie to read as his eyes widened at the handwriting.

Charlie could see whose writing this was, it was quite interesting to see she returned after this much time away. Charlie sent her away and it seems that the life of the underworld called out to her or more likely, her brother had called out to her and she came back, running into his arms and protecting him the only way a sister could in these new times.

"I want you guys to reach out, talk to whoever you have too but Cassandra Pavanno will meet with us and business will be sorted out. I want us to be at the Casino by tomorrow. I am not having another of my children hate me for what I did and what I had to do to keep them safe. I warn you guys, never have children, you won't hear the end of it or the bloody tale of how you abandoned them to their devices and how your trusted Right and Left-Hand died in a portal...what kind of shit is that?"

Oh, Charlie had been caught up on the demise of his former Right and Left Hand, two people who had helped him build up his Casinos. Becoming a part of the very foundation and now he was having to do something completely different, he believed that he wished to pick up their own weaponry, give them a true funeral. Only he was years too late and the gesture would have been meaningless, no longer was he the man of the streets and fabled pusher of the underworld life. He was just Charles Pavanno, a regular joe for now.

"We thought the same thing boss, we'll get it done and we'll get you the meeting as soon as we can, you stay here. We've heard some news of some shots being fired but I am sure that we can all stay down and get it done. You'll have your meeting, on that I swear and I will give you what you want."

Charlie was glad to have Sammy by his side, he was no Alphonse but he was a close second and with time, maybe he could become his own boss. Only that was years away, right now, Charlie was ready to become a simple working man and work with his Casino. See what he could do there for now.

"Thank you, Sammy, I appreciate it."

"Father, I didn't expect you to call, what do you want? Is it not enough that you didn't notice with Santino dying? He was a big part of your life, you saved him and yet you did nothing. Why should I talk to you? Why should Michael talk with you, hm?"

Sammy had arranged a call to the safe house and on the phone was his adopted daughter, Cassandra. She sounded different, she was powerful in how she controlled her voice, she was not allowing her emotions to cloud her judgment and there she was, acting as if he was but a mere pawn to her. In truth, he was. He no longer controlled shit, he was just a next class schmuck with big ideas and a plan to bring his family to heights that it had never seen before.

"I'm your father. I'm the one who took you in, I made sure that you were both cared for and looked after during my stay inside. I gave you money, houses, cars, and a shitload of reputation. I gave you my name, the name that the old man bestowed upon me, I gave to my children. I guess I wanted to make up for some things, hm? If I couldn't find his mother then why shouldn't I come here? I have to make this right somehow, this life tears you apart and this is how we have to do it."

Cassandra went silent on the other end, she wanted to reach out to her father and knew that he would be having a hard time coming to terms with this now but this was the way it had to be. No longer was the Pavanno's that family, they were just a product of an era that had long since passed.

"You're to late father. That is something that Mikey does not want, he wishes to be left alone to his business. He knew you were alive, quite for some time now but left you with grandfather. The best you can do is the same, nothing is going to change what happened. Our business is ours, I am glad your back father but we will not be allowing you to take over again. You gave it to is, remember?"

Yes, Charlie remembered that alright but still, he had plenty other ideas in mind for himself and knew that it was not going to be anything smooth. No, he needed the Casino to start himself up but with his own will of handing the business over to his children, he knew that it might have been different, although he could have contested, he rather not enter a war with his own children.

"I remember everything Cassie, I understand and when you both need something cause you will, I know you will. I'm still going to be here. When you both need something, I will be here but fine, go about your business and I will do mine, it's only understandable."

Before his adoptive daughter could get another word in, he hung up the phone, slamming it down with an effective "Shit." Moving past his lips, this was not what he expected but he had to roll with the punches and see what he could do. First, he needed to make a name for himself again.

It was the time for people knew his face again, he was back and better than ever.

"What the fuck do we do now, hm? We got no money except for the little bits we can get for doing some odd jobs for the clowns down at the docks. We have no allies, Joe Adonis is god knows where; Illaria is god knows where - fucking Bella Luciano is dead! We got no one, we are nobodies in the fucking land of so-called opportunity, you technically died Charlie, just who the fuck are you now?"

Sam hammered the point home and it was already something that grated on Charlie's nerves as he turned, turning a cool glare onto the associate that was obviously taking his anger at the situation and placing it with Charlie himself.

"Sam, I respect you but never ever raise your fucking voice to me again. This place is different, regimes change, people die, people live. It's the way of the world and we have to start anew, did you honestly think that there would be no struggles once we got here? If you did, your stupid, all of you. I brought you here to teach you a lesson and provide support, you are officially my crew right now. A bunch of teenagers but still, you're all smart. You know the game, you know what you have to do."

Charlie reached into his inner coat pocket, placing a Ciggy in his mouth before lighting it and taking a deep puff before exhaling once more, he walked over to the liquor cabinet, pouring himself a glass of whiskey with some stress in his shoulders as it shook slightly in his hand but still managing to get all of it in the glass.

"I have some contacts, they say that there is a truck moving about five hundred grand on its way to the federal bank right here in Philly, they take the backroads, we could catch them and end up with a little capital and use that to start. It's not guaranteed but its better than nothing. We wouldn't anyone shit, this would be for us, for the crew and everyone involved with us."

Sam had contacts, already? Charlie assumed that it was possibly a second cousin from his family that had been working in the bank or something. Now, this had piqued his interest, business like this was what got his first start in Philadelphia, to begin with, and from there, he moved from banking on businesses in Detroit which led to the famous 12th Street Jewel heist.

"Well then...I want details, cars, uniforms, weapons. We need to plan for this, boys, we about to make some money. I want you all to get prepared, I'll stay here, think up more plans and see what other things we can do in the meantime while we wait on Sam. Get to work boys, let's make our name known again."

Charlie's mind was fuzzy, he remembred a job like that before, something to do with a white-haired woman who got shot. His breathing became heavy, he didn't even notice until he stumbled into the liquor cabinet with a thud. He shook his head, unknowingly removing that memory from his head as he focused on the next stages of his plan, it was time to make money, it was time for people to remember the name and make his name known once again.