Oriana had shaken off the inebriation of the weekend and yesterday's hangover; she'd spent the whole morning brushing her hair and repairing things as best she could. Finally, she felt like herself again. With her hair down, wearing a gleaming white blouse and black pants, she made her way to the Mastrosimone house. This time, instead of climbing in a second floor window, she walked through the front door. The guards recognized her; not only had she been a personal guest before, but she'd recently established herself as Cat's right hand. 

Ori made her way towards Billy's office and knocked on the door.

Billy shuffled a few of his papers to the side and turned to open the window. It was stuffy in the office today, but it was freezing outside. He struggled to get the window open nowadays. One thing about windows, they were difficult to open without the leverage of height. That's when there was a knock on the door.

"Whoever it is, you may only enter if you come directly to my window and open it a crack for me." He smiled at the door, waiting for the mysterious source of the knocking to enter.

"Seems fair," said Oriana as she strolled in the room and closed the door behind her. She moved to the window and lifted it a crack before turning to Billy.

"Got a minute to talk?"

Billy gestured to the seat across from him.

"All the time in the world. It's still early, but I don't judge what hours you keep, so if you'd like a drink let me know. How goes things in Manhattan? How's my dear friend Cat?"

He took out a notebook then and a pencil to write down the response.

Oriana sat down in the seat, sinking into the leather.

"I'm fine, thanks. Actually..." She stood up and put a bunch of ice in a glass. In this room, she'd have water in no time. "Cat's excellent. She's one of the best, and now that we're both done gallivanting around getting married and getting revenge, respectively, we should be around the city quite a bit more. Apparently she eloped- wearing a ring, so she's not hiding things. I just found out the other day. But we've handled our business well, and things are looking quite good. I just bought a business, actually, using the money from the last couple big jobs."

She shrugged.

"Hopefully it'll work out. How are things in Brooklyn? How are the four little she-devils you've adopted?"

Billy shrugged.

"I honestly don't know what to do with them. They are a handful, and it's not as if I don't have the room, but all of my other children have a purpose or a goal. These new girls? I want to give them something, I just don't know what."

He opened a drawer next to his desk.

"Speaking of giving people something. This belongs to you." He slipped a small booklet across the desk. Inside was a checkbook, and an account number.

"You'll find that you have received payment in that account, in full, for your help in Venice, and for your role in getting my daughters home safely in your most recent adventures. I hope it's satisfactory. Of course, if it's not, I'm sure that I'll learn of it through Tara. I love my daughter, but much like her mother she cannot keep her feelings to herself sometimes."

"Well, I'm sure they'll just appreciate having a place to be for a while. Aurora seems particularly interested in them. And, perhaps, uniquely suited to care for them."

She accepted the checkbook, flipped it open to glance at it, blinked, checked it again, and then slipped it into her pocket. 

"Thanks. Glad I was able to help, and it's more than satisfactory. And yes, I've learned that many members of your family are fairly direct."

Oriana smirked. 

"For example, we've sat down together three times, and you threatened to torture me at the first one, hugged me at the second one, and now you've given me a small fortune. If the trend continues, I very much look forward to our next meeting. Are there any strings attached to this money? Or is it simply a gift?"

Billy furrowed his brow.

"It's a gift Oriana, and a thank you. I can't be there for my family in many of the ways I once could. I need you, especially you of all people, to know how much it means to me that you can be."

He glanced over to the incubator and saw Victoria still quietly sleeping, and then he wheeled back to the window and shut it.

"So let me ask you something. What is it that you wanted to talk about? If it was your money, you've got it and I won't waste your time you're a busy woman. I have a feeling though that there was something more than just 'Thank you Don Mastrosimone for the work, can I have my money now?' So you've got the floor Oriana. What can I do for you?"

Oriana studied Billy's face as he spoke. For her entire life, she'd been manipulated by Francesco- played like a fiddle and formed like clay. Billy was different, sure, but he was also a powerful man. Frankly, she didn't know him. The only time she'd after felt comfortable talking to him was after she'd tried to kill his wife- at least then, she knew exactly where he stood: he wanted to hurt her, and she was ready for it.

But now? Things were more complicated.

"The money's nice, thanks. Mostly, I just wanted to talk to you. Outside of our three previously mentioned interactions, everything I've heard about you is second or third hand. As Cat's right hand, not to mention how close I am to some of your family, I thought maybe I should know you a bit better. You can lean back and tell me your life story, if you want. Or if you've got some business to take care of out and about, I figure I'd offer to accompany you. Learn about you that way."

Billy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you think that time would be better suited to following Cat around and knowing the ins and outs of her thoughts and her operations? Mine are mostly just numbers, owning businesses, getting involved where I want to. My days are boring, especially as of late."

He sighed, but made his way to the incubator.

"Victoria is my entire life right now. When she sleeps I crunch numbers, when she is awake, I take care of her. That's it, that's all of me. I had a very rare night out the other night dicing and it was nice, but short of the occasional time away, this room is my life and my gilded cage. The only solace I have is Victoria and my visitors."

He turned to face Oriana.

"You are young yet, and you have an interesting life. Get the hell out of my office and go live it would you? Don't waste your time in here. There's nothing to be gained from sitting around all day. Trust me."

He patted the wheelchair to emphasize the point.

"I've done that. I'm under Cat's feet as often as an actual feline. We're good friends, and I feel like I have a read on her. Outside of being a fabulously wealthy family man, I don't have the same sort of understanding of you."

Oriana raised an eyebrow at his comments about his life. 

"Gilded cage. Nice phrase."

She paused, glancing down at the wheelchair he'd just patted.

"Are you in there forever? Or is there a chance things improve?"

Billy shook his head.

"Doctors say there is no chance for improvement. You know what though? I've been told it was a blessing in disguise. I don't know that's true yet, but time will tell."

He made his way back to his desk.

"As far as Cat goes, it's good you have a relationship with her, and a positive understanding of where her head is. I'm glad to know that. On my end of things, there's not much else to learn. I am a family man, and I am wealthy. I am Big Dumb Billy." He smiled his broad grin then, the one that had become synonymous with that nickname.

"If you have questions to ask, I'll answer them to be sure, but if you're looking for guidance, or understanding, well..." He spread his hands. "You'd be better off spending time with Aurora or Tara for that. I've never been able to teach people a damned thing." He chuckled then but did not make a move to do anything. At this point, he wasn't exactly sure what to do next.

Oriana frowned. Hadn't she heard some chatter about Billy moving his toe? 

And "Big Dumb Billy"? In her experience, dumb individuals rarely rose to lead a city. What was he trying to hide?

"For the record, I wasn't looking for guidance or understanding in the sense of you teaching me how to do something; I'm trying to assess you and figure out who you are so I can work more effectively with and for you. Normally, when someone talks about their family so much I'd call it bullshit- but I know it's not, in your case. I don't believe for a second that you're dumb, but that's your business if you want to present yourself that way. But an amusing American expression that I've learned is 'don't bullshit a bullshitter.' I think it applies here."

She stood smoothly and gracefully.

"I won't keep you, of course. But if you ever have a job for me, just give me a call or drop me a note?"

Billy nodded.

"Gladly, but you tend to be places before I think to ask for you, so you'll likely just get a nice thank you now and again."

He smiled, and then started to make his way toward the door with her.

"As for figuring out who I am so you can work for me. You don't Oriana. You never have. You work for Cat, not for me. You don't need to get to know me unless you want to. If it's for work, it's not worth it. If it's for another reason? Well, you are always welcome to come to Sunday dinner. It's not like I hide who I am to the world and change once the front door closes."

He reached out then and opened the office door for her.

"And you're not keeping me, I'm only going over my books and keeping an eye on my daughter. You're the important one with actual work to do here. I on;y get a call when something went wrong nowadays."

Ori nodded and headed toward the door.

“Understood. I’ll see you at dinner sometime, then.”

The next day, when Billy_Mastrosimone returned to his office, he found a narrow box resting on his desk. No one had mentioned it, and he initially wondered if it was a trap before dismissing his concerns and tearing into the packaging. He found a polished mahogany box. With a curious look, he eased it open.

Inside the box and resting on velvet was a cane. It had a gleaming silver handle in the shape of a charging bull and a leather grip underneath that on the shaft.

The placement of the grip made Billy suspicious about what, precisely, this cane was. Lifting the cane, he found it much heavier than he expected- not an issue for a man of his strength, but something that still confirmed his suspicions. Placing the cane down on the desk for the moment, he looked at the note inside.

Just in case.

Don't pull the trigger- it does what you think.

O.

What button?

Holding the cane in his hand and finding it perfectly suited for him, Billy found three small mechanisms: two switches and a trigger.

Hitting the first switch, Billy felt the handle shift- like it had become detached from the interior of the cane. Pulling, he revealed a long, gleaming steel blade that ended in a deadly point. It was clear to him that this was a weapon- not a display item. Sliding the sword back inside, he hit the first switch again to lock it into place.

The second switch felt like a safety, and the next mechanism felt like the trig- Billy stopped himself from pulling it, even though he was tempted. Flipping the safety back on, he safely looked at the bottom of the cane from an angle, noticing the deadly black hole where a bullet would presumably emerge.