Gianluca was sitting on a sofa while watching Luigi making a phone call to Eden as he was playing with a set of keys in his hand juggling it and playing with the bulky key ring.

Gianluca had passed on the message from Falco Fontana to Luigi that Eden was worried and wanted to hear if he was ok. He had come over for business reasons and of course had passed the message while at it. He had offered to step outside for Luigi to make a the phone call but he had asked him not to leave. Luigi had no secrets from him it seemed. Luigi and Gianluca had become closer and closer over time.

As Luigi put the phone down, Gianluca raised an eyebrow "That was very short and brief..."

Luigi shrugged. "She understands. She is convinced I am alive and safe..." He then walked to the sofa opposite Gianluca and sat down. He picked up a soda bottle and drank from it. He then shrugged "Besides I prefer to see her face to face you know... Then I can see her facial reaction when I mess with her... I still get on her nerves and she calls me a jock. But I am a nice jock to her..."

Gianluca gave him a faint smile "She is a very nice person... You shouldn't mess around with her too much.... She may dump you if she runs out of patience with your attitude..."

Luigi nodded "Point taken..." He then took a sip from his bottle. "How are you treating my sister... You better be nice..."

Gianluca said "Come on Luigi..."

Luigi smiled "I was only joking... I know you treat her well... She would like it if you talked to her more you know.... She was worried that you got hurt when you were scarce around the hotel..."

Gianluca hesitated and decided to say something that he had been meaning to say "Can I ask you a question? Its personal... But don't get offended..."

Luigi said "Ask away.... I won't be offended..." He then took a sip from his drink.

Gianluca took a deep breath and put away his set of keys. He leaned closer "How can you be ok with me dating your sister? How can you get your head around it?"

Luigi shrugged "I dont know... I guess our families being close helps a lot.... I trust you... It wasn't easy to accept you... But you proved your worth to me many times over and over again..."

Gianluca said "I know you trust me... But how can trust be enough? I am dating your baby sister... How can we.... be still friends?"

Luigi said "What has brought on all these questions Gianluca? For years I knew my parents liked your family and approved of you... It was hard not to understand it. They looked at you like their own son always... How could I not accept you? We were always friends. Maybe not close friends. But you know what I mean... You were always in my circle of trusted people...."

Gianluca said "I am not talking about a past too far back... I am specifically asking you about your reaction to me dating your sister. I only started officially dating your sister a few months ago..."

Luigi sighed "Gianluca, nothing majorly big changed when you started dating Lena... You are still Gianluca... In fact I respected you more when your association with my sister saved Lena... You care for my sister and were always serious about her... You keep Lena safe and she is very happy with you..."

Gianluca leaned back and sighed "You are missing the point... How can you look at me the same way when I am dating your sister... Something must have changed ever since I have started dating her... Dont you look at me differently?"

Luigi took a sip from his drink and said "Well... If Lena didn't like you then yes or if you didn't treat my sister with respect, I would have looked at you differently and trust me I would have treated you differently too... But she doesn't mind you and you are good to her... She is happy with you... She even worries about your safety... She wants you to be ok... She even asked me to look out for you..." He chuckled "I told her you certainly do not need anyone to look out for you... But you get the point..."

Gianluca was taken back "She really asked you to look out for me?" He was touched and was processing this information with disbelief. Lena cared so much for him. That warmed his heart.

Luigi nodded "Yes. You see. This is my point... When I look at Lena and see she cares about you and even smiles and seems truly happy when she sees you, then how can I resent you or look at you differently for daring to date my sister... If my sister accepts you as her boyfriend, then I don't have a problem... Why would I? ... Don't get me wrong... Of course I would prefer it if she did not date anyone at all... She is my baby sister... I can't say I am happy you date her but I don't have a problem with you either... I admit I may have looked at you abit differently whenever you got close to her and I thought you got abit too close... I am her brother. What do you expect? But I do not have a problem... I trust you... You proved you can protect her and cared for her. I want my sister to be safe and happy. We both want the same thing...."

Gianluca said "I find it hard to believe it does not bother you..."

Luigi said "Is it though? Oh... I see where this is coming from... Is this about Christian dating Gabriella? It is... isn't it... That is what's occupying your mind and your thoughts instinctively go that way when you talk about your relationship with Lena... I can see that... You are having thoughts about it and how it could be affecting your friendship with Christian... Are you? Whatever doubts you have, you will get over it... I am sure... It takes time... Your sister is dating your best buddy Christian... Maybe it is hard for you now.... But it won't be for long... I don't trust Christian. You do... I am sure when you see your sister is ok with dating Christian, you can not be truly mad at your best friend. Are you?" He then put down his empty bottle on the table.

Gianluca had never told Luigi that Christian and Gabriela were pretending to date. Only Gianluca, Gabriella and Christian knew that it was pretence. A plot to show Marcello Rizzi that Gabriella was taken so he backed off slightly. Gianluca's parents were told the truth but they did not believe it for one second and gave their blessing for them to date.

When Gianluca remained silent and hesitated in answering, Luigi continued "Well. You see... You should tell yourself that at the end, it is your sister's decision too. She has made a choice to date Christian. Christian has asked her out and Gabriella has accepted. At the end of the day, what your sister wants makes the biggest difference. I know what my sister wants has made a difference to me... She is happy to be your girlfriend. As much as I want to deny it, I can't..."

Gianluca said slowly as he was thinking over Luigi's words "Luigi... There are things I can't tell you about... I can't... All I can say is.... I can't lie to you.... Not everything is as they seem when it comes to Christian dating my sister... Their relationship is not what it seems... I am even trying to work it out myself. There are twists..."

Luigi said "I don't know what you are talking about... Your sister likes Christian and Christian obviously likes your sister. You might be in denial because its hard to accept... Its very simple."

Gianluca said "Their relationship is not really what it seems... It is not as deep as you say it is..." He couldn't tell him their relationship was for pretence but was giving him hints. He had his suspicions that his best friend had feelings for Christian but that was another issue. An issue he needed to deal with himself and figure out all alone.

Luigi sighed "Come on Gianluca... Are you in denial? I think you are... Obviously Gabriella likes Christian... And Christian obviously has chosen your sister to marry one day..."

Gianluca shook his head and frowned at Luigi's certain voice "Why do you sound like you know something that I don't? How can you be so. certain they even like each other. They are just dating. It may not be something as serious as what Lena and I have right now... Their relationship is not as serious as what Lena and I have..."

Luigi sighed as he leaned back in his sofa and said "Are you sure about that? You are in denial... Gianluca. There is no way this is not serious. I may not know Christian as well as you do... But come on.... Christian has staked his claim on your sister loud and clear. Everyone knows who she belongs to and you are still denying it? Come on Gianluca. Stop denying it. Then you can accept that your sister and your best friend are together..."

Gianluca said "They maybe together. But... Christian does not love my sister... I know it..."

Luigi said "Gianluca... If Christian truly did not love your sister he would not have dated her... I know his kind. They do not stake a claim on any woman unless they mean it... He loves your sister... I may not know Christian like how you do but I know his kind... They won't look at any woman twice unless they mean it... He is a Kavannagh. You only look at him as a friend. I look at him as a member of the Kavannagh family who have history and have lived in New York for generations. He is a Kavannagh. He loves one woman only... What he has with your sister is not just a teenage dating phase. It is real..."

Gianluca leaned back in his sofa and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes "What makes you so sure of your analysis to be true? What if your analysis is incorrect?"

Luigi replied "I know Christian won't do anything unless he means it. But let's say I don't know Christian and I maybe wrong about him but ... I know Gabriella. There is no way she would date anyone unless she means it... I see how she speaks about Christian. When I saw her recently... She was worried about you but also Christian. I saw the look in her eyes when she spoke of him... I knew then that if Gabriella wanted this relationship with Christian to work it will... Until now I thought maybe Christian loves your sister but I didn't know what Gabriella felt. She didn't have to tell me anything. The look in her eyes said it... I know Gabriella very well Gianluca. You do know what this means .... If she wants to date Christian beyond high school it will happen... Nothing will stop the will of your sister... As for Christian's will... You tell me... Can anyone stop Christian if he wants something? He became your friend against all odds and his grandpa did not stop him from being close to you... You may not see it but I do... Christian and Gabriella have one thing in common for sure. They both have a strong will and you know it..." Luigi knew he was maybe the only male who could speak like this about Gabriella and not get shot at by Gianluca... He looked at Gabriella like a sister. Gianluca knew it too. So he was the only one who could comment on her relationship with Christian and live.

After a minute silence between them as the two boys were staring at each other, Gianluca was shaking his head and was about to say something but Luigi put his hand up "But fine... Maybe Gabriella and Christian are just friends who are dating for fun... That is what you believe. But that is not what I believe. But Gianluca... I am not saying all this to unsettle you. I am saying this to prepare you... You seem to think that their relationship will be over soon. That is what you expect. But I am warning you and preparing you for what is to come... Your best friend and your sister could be together permanently or even get married... Who knows? You can't be shocked if this happens... You and I both have girlfriends now officially. Would we let them walk away?..." He shook his head "We both know we won't. Not without fighting to death to convince our women to stay by our sides..."

Gianluca stood up. He took a deep breath as Luigi's words were being processed in his mind "Time will tell Luigi... Time will only tell..."

Luigi stood up and looked into Gianluca's eyes "Maybe your sister and Christian have given you the impression that they are not very serious.... Maybe... But to everyone else they are together and will remain together... I was not sure of this... I thought it was not serious before but when I saw Gabriella recently it was confirmed to me that this relationship can be serious... I hope you be the supportive brother to Gabriella through this... What's on your mind? I didn't say all this to insult you... I am concerned for Gabriella. Please be kind to her in all this..."

Gianluca shook his head "You did not insult me... Luigi... You are now like a brother to me... I could never be insulted by you.. I will be there for myself sister... I will continue to protect my sister and be a good brother to her... Nothing has changed there..."

A knock came on the door. They were summoned by their fathers. It was time for action. Gianluca was good at hiding his feelings and focusing. It was what he had been trained to do all his life. To keep his thoughts together and focus on the task at hand. He needed to find answers but he was logical enough to wait for the right moment.

****

It was night time. Luigi and Gianluca arrived at a hotel where a meeting was set to take place. He saw heads of many Italian American crime families with their sons. The conference room was massive with rows of seats and security was tighter than ever. The place was out of town and remote. Lines of cars with men with machine guns and other defence equipment. No one was going to be mad enough to disturb the meeting.

After all seats were taken, the oldest members of families were sitting at the front row. Gianluca's grandfather, Gilberto Bellagio and Lorenzo Alessandrini were among the men who were going to speak.

The spokes person who was Ferdinando Fontana stood up and walked to the centre as he looked around the circular conference room. He cleared his throat. He was now fully healed. He used to be the head of Fontana family and his daughter in law getting abducted had started this crisis as it had followed him getting shot alongside his younger son. Now the domino effect had come. Tensions had risen to a point and more abductions had followed. He was fully healed from his wounds after getting shot as the incident had happened months ago.

The room was silent and ready to listen. Gianluca had a bad feeling about this announcement that had brought all these families together. The meeting had been scheduled abruptly and everyone who had been invited had gotten themselves to the place as fast as they could.

Ferdinando Fontana took a deep breath and spoke "My fellow Italian-Americans. I have news... There has been a backward step in our work towards peace. All the Italian American hostages have been freed as we speak and we had the upper hand in negotiations for peace but not any more. We may have an even bigger crisis than we can imagine."

There were murmurs around the room.

Ferdinando put his hand up and all went silent "I am sorry to have to say that we may be at the brink of a war with all the Irish American crime families in New York and its outskirts. It will all depend on a meeting that is happening as we speak. You may wonder why this meeting was agreed between the senior members of families here tonight at this late hour... As we are having this meeting the Irish are scheduling their own meeting like ours that will take place shortly. The fate of relations between our Irish American rivals will be decided... The outcome is not looking good for our side..."

There were murmurs and a few men asked loudly "Why?"... "What's changed?" .... "They attacked us first".... "We asked for peace"..."

Ferdinando Fontana nodded as he waited for silence with his hand up. Once the room went for silent he said "You are all correct. What's changed? It seemed that new evidence has come to light... New evidence that this entire crisis was arranged and executed by Italian crime families. They manipulated the situation. They lead to this crisis by careful planning... by framing some Irish families and recruiting some Irish to testify against Irish families who were innocent. All those who have not been invited here tonight and are normally present are not here for a reason. Those families who are absent, are currently at war with the Irish. They haven't denied it. They wanted to damage the reputation of some Irish families and show everyone that they break peace treaties when they haven't... Those three Italian families who worked to harm the Irish and started this crisis are the Etori, the Enrici and Benzoni families..." He then paused and looked around the room as he took a deep breath. The room erupted in murmurs and shouts "impossible."... "How can they do this?"... "Treachery."

Gianluca looked across and made eye contact with Luigi who was also looking as shocked as Gianluca was. They were friends in school with the children of these families. Bruno Benzoni, Edoardo Enrici and Emilio Etori attended the same school as Gianluca and Luigi. They were not as powerful and influential as the Bellagios and Alessnadrinis but they could hold their own. Those three families had been absent from all action ever since the start of this crisis and had declared to be neutral. Now it made sense why they had kept away.

Ferdinando Fontana put his hand up said "Now... We are all waiting to see what the Irish decide to do... We have a forecast. It is hard not to. The Irish are very vocal about their displeasure at this point. The Irish are meeting shortly to take a vote on a course of action. The war has already started against those three families. The three Irish families who were discredited have called for help from their allies and are attacking the bases of the Enrici, Etori and Benzoni families. There will be losses. There will be bloodshed. The evidence is quite damning. They were planning to start a war and put the blame on the Irish. They had planned strikes and marking the peace treaties void. We are not here to discuss the fate of those three Italian crime families who betrayed our peace treaties. They are at war and from the information received there is a death toll. It is too late to interfere and we cant blame the Irish who declared war. We are here to discuss our fate right now. Those three families are at war and from what's been communicated they are out numbered and out powered...."

There were murmurs around the room. "They disturbed the peace treaty". They get punished"... "That should finish this crisis"... "We had nothing to do with their scheme". "We should have peace."

Ferdinandno Fontana put his hand up and the room fell silent again. He carried on "Regretfully it is not that simple. The Irish have their own rules when it comes to being crossed by enemies. The trust is broken. We used to be safe from attacks when trading near their harbours and roads. Now we won't be safe unless they declare it... We won't know the outcome of their decision until the final meeting takes place very shortly. But we do have a forecast. They could choose to have peace with us all and let the situation go back to how it was. They could. Or they could declare a mob war with all of us who operate in New York and outskirts of New York. It could go either way... We must prepare for a war. The odds are against us based on the forecast..."

The murmurs began "What is the forecast?" ... "Tell us..."