When Abramo opened his eyes, he felt a chill on his face, and someone had splashed him with water.

He leaned against the refrigerator door and saw Arthur sitting on the couch facing him, his fist in one hand and his gun in the other, leaning back on the couch in a very relaxed position.

Abramo thought of his father, the violent sailor, who, after drinking, would sit back on the couch and rest. With a fist in one hand and a bottle in the other.

He may have just had a fight with his mother, who was crying in the room with the door locked and his father lying half-drunk and half-conscious. He thought he was asleep, but as soon as he made a little noise, he would open his mouth and shout "Luca, come here." ”

In the eyes of young Luka, his father was as strong as a lion, and he was an ocean-going sailor who had traveled to Africa – South Africa and Ghana, and Northern Europe – Norway and Iceland. He was physically robust and had a rare gray-white hair, which Lukka inherited from his father's hair and his mother's eyes.

One day, my father, as usual, was lying on the couch after drinking, clenching his fist in one hand and carrying a bottle in the other. Lukka cautiously leaned over to pull out the toy pistol that was pressed under his father's ass. He thought his father would wake up, shouted "Luca", and pulled him into his arms, which smelled of alcohol.

It didn't.

Luca's father, who was as strong as a lion, died on the couch due to a myocardial infarction caused by alcoholism. Luca was 7 years old that year, and he had an older sister who was 5 years older than her. From then on, his father became a memory in Luca's mind, an image that often appeared in his dreams, and often woke him up in his dreams.

“Father？” Abramo muttered, his arms still leaning on the dead Vera, blood staining his clothes.

Arthur got up from the couch, stepped forward, and said in a slightly weak and hoarse voice, "I am not your father, but I can be your godfather." As he spoke, he stretched out his clenched left hand and approached Abramo. Abramo looked up at Arthur, who seemed incomparably taller. His voice was weak but majestic, as undeniable as his father's command.

Abramo's hand was soaked in blood, and he reached out tremblingly, pinched Arthur's little finger with his index and middle fingers, leaned closer, and lowered his head to kiss lightly on the knuckle. The blood on Abramo's hands stained Arthur's hands.

It was Vera's blood.

The slump in Arthur's chest and the churning in his stomach finally disappeared, and he breathed a sigh of relief and sat back on the couch, feeling a little tired and sleepy.

Russell and Abramo's two poems and psychic connections made Arthur feel a little pattern. The numbers on the board are related to the so-called sequence, and the higher the sequence, the greater the mental drain on Arthur. Arthur himself is Sequence 9 and Russell is Sequence 8, and he just feels dizzy; And Abramo is sequence 7, which directly makes Arthur vomit and can't listen to him finish reading.

However, when Abramo recited the poem for the second time, Arthur felt much better. He could feel the grief caused by Vera's death softening the hindrance caused by the poor sequence. Or, death itself is a sacrifice, and it is through the sacrifice that Arthur and Abramo come together in their hearts.

For a moment, Arthur's eyes appeared in front of Abramo's father, the sailor who was sitting dead on the couch. And Abramo became a child in his eyes, and that wonderful intimacy prompted Arthur to comfort him.

"Shall we go?" Russell reminded on the side.

He had just woken up Abramo with water, and he reminded Arthur that he had to leave quickly, that the police would come later, and that once he was in the bureau, many things would be unclear.

Arthur nodded, got up from the couch, and looked around the messy living room, as well as the dead Vera.

He still underestimated the ferocity of the fight between the gangs, and he didn't expect that another group of people would also want to kill Abramo. And the method used is quite ingenious, arranging the killer in an engineering maintenance vehicle, shooting at the window into the house, and then driving away immediately. The car was supposed to be a forgery or a modification, and in the United States there are more cars than people anyway.

This is enough to see that the person who wanted to kill Abramo invested a lot of money, but the result was a failure. The killer did not expect that in addition to Abramo, there were two killers in his house, reminding Abramo to let him escape. Of course, it's also possible that the killer knew about Arthur and Russell's existence, but didn't expect them to kill Abramo.

Or, he wanted to kill Arthur and Russell as well.

Abramo had already gotten up from the floor, and he placed Vera's body, and brought a rag from the kitchen to quickly wipe the spot where the fingerprints might have been stained. Arthur saw that he was very skillful in his movements, and he looked like a veteran. It's just that this time he's not a killer, he just doesn't want to be fingerprinted.

Abu then took off his blood-stained coat and underwear, took a new one from the hanger in the room, and put it in a bag. Then put away all the other clothes and belts related to him, and there is nothing related to him in this apartment.

Soon it was cleared, and Abramo drew a cross in the living room against Vera, and the poor girl, he whispered, "I'll kill whoever does it, Vera." ”

"We'd better not go out through the main entrance, we'll be seen by a lot of people, we're starting with... from the roof. "Abramo was familiar with the lines around the apartments, where apartments were one building after another, with low railings on the roofs and narrow spacings between the buildings to cross over. They can run to the building next door and go down from there without attracting attention.

Abramore and Russell led Arthur upstairs one after the other, opened the wooden door on the roof, and the wind was blowing, followed by the looming siren, and the police were rushing towards it. Arthur followed Abramo to the edge of the building, jumped over the fence, jumped over a gap of more than a meter, and reached the apartment building opposite.

However, the roof door of the opposite building was locked, and Russell took out his gun and shot at the lock, breaking the lock and opening the door. Russell's pistol was covered with a muffler, but the gunfire was still louder than Arthur had imagined, and he couldn't help asking, "Is it so loud with a muffler?" I thought it was the same as on TV, just a biu. ”

"The muffler is more about not deafening your ears when using it in the city, rather than so that no one else can hear it. It's all a lie on TV, they're more like an airsoft gun, and a powder gun won't be so quiet. Abramo answered Arthur's questions. Unlike Russell, Abramo himself is a man of many words, and after establishing the "link", he has an inexplicable urge to talk to Arthur.

His dead father used to be a very silent man.

Arthur must know that he is treated as a father, he will definitely be helpless, how can there be a son older than himself? However, Russell and Abramo, both older than him, both call him the godfather, which has nothing to do with age.

From the roof down to the first floor, downstairs of the red-walled apartment building, some people have gathered. Fragments of glass and window frames were scattered to the ground, and the smell of gunpowder was still in the air. Abramo took Arthur and Russell out through the side door, and when he opened the door, there was an alley, and Abramo was going to drive his car, and if the police came later, if they found the car of the black boss in Jersey, they would inevitably be suspicious.

Arthur told Abramo to drive to the parking lot of a nearby community hospital and wait for him there.

Arthur and Russell hurried to the parking lot, and a minute later, Abramo followed. The two got into Abramo's car, and in the car, Abramo solemnly called Arthur "Godfather" and said, "I know everything." ”

"Have you ever died?" Arthur's first question left Brammamo scratching his head.

Russell in the back seat rolled his eyes, and it seemed that Arthur thought that every soul linked to the playing cards was a person who had risen from the dead...

Abramo shook his head and said, "I don't understand what you mean, I... I'm alive, I'm glad I'm alive, but Vera is dead. ”

Arthur knew he was wrong, and asked, "What about you, how do you feel?" Just after reading the poem? ”

Abramo nodded, the expression on his face was full of joy, as if he had been stimulant, and said: "I feel, I feel that the missing part of my soul has been found, and at that moment I feel that I am complete, and the things that once bothered me, troubles, anxiety, and inexplicable depression, are all gone. I saw my father, who died when I was very young. Drinking, heart disease, sitting on the couch, died. ”

"You thought of your father?" Arthur said, thinking that he really regarded me as a father.

"Yes, yes......" Abramo gripped the steering wheel, but the smile on his face froze.

Memories swirled in his mind, and he was like a captain directing the ship through the waves, dodging reefs and strong winds, hoping to reach the other side. But where is the other side? The torrential rain obscured the view, and it was not until a ray of sunlight came in that the dark clouds gradually cleared.

"Who was going to kill you just now?" Russell, who was in the back seat, couldn't listen to the nonsense of the two and asked, this is what he cares about the most.

Abramo's thoughts were interrupted, and he said, "I don't know, but I guess... It's unlikely to be Gigandi or Marcino, it's likely... I need to verify it. Also, I'm going to pick up my daughter now, go home, and make sure the family is safe. When we are all settled, I will confess everything, and then please allow you to accept my infinite loyalty. ”

With that, Abramo took out a note and pen from the storage box and wrote a phone number to Arthur, "This is my pager number, if you need to contact, it's best to use a public phone, I will use a public phone to get back to you." "Abramo was worried about being monitored by the police, so he was very cautious and only used pagers and public phones to communicate with other people.

Arthur took the note, patted Abramo on the shoulder, and said, "I'm going to solve my problem now, and we'll see you when it's done." There's a lot of work to do, Captain. Arthur realized that if Russell was his shield, then Abramo was his sword, and from the moment he gained Abu's loyalty, his conquest in New York and the United States began.

The two got out of the car and left, and Abramo said goodbye to Dao, and he felt extremely clear in his heart.

Sirens were already blaring, and the police cordoned off the Red-Walled Apartment, always late. Abramo and Russell's car passed in front of the apartment without attracting any attention, and then parted ways at an intersection.

Abramo drove the car to his mother's door, and when he got out of the car, he took out a towel and wiped the blood off his hands. The bloody clothes and other clothes in the car, he was going to find a place to burn them. Walking to the door, Abramo knocked on the door, and his mother's voice came again, "Who is it?" ”

"Mom, it's me, Luca!"

"So fast today... Wait a minute! ”

After waiting for about a minute, the old lady opened the door, looked up and down, and said in a strange voice: "Hey, what are you doing again?" Why did you change your clothes? Fell into a stinking gutter? ”

Abramo ignored his mother's sarcasm and said, "What about Paula? I'm done with my work, and I'm ready to take her back. ”

The old lady waved her hand and said, "When did you become a fast gunman," and then turned and shouted into the room, "Paula! Paula! Little baby, your father is here, and he is in a hurry to take you away, and he doesn't want you to stay with me a little longer. ”

"Wait a while~ I'll clean up and come down right away!" Paula's voice came from upstairs, telling Abramo to wait for a moment.

Abramo stood opposite his mother in the doorway, and the old lady had no intention of inviting her son in and for a seat.

Abramo looked at his elderly mother, the youthful face had long since dissipated on her face, leaving only ugly wrinkles and wolf-like eyes, looking at her as a mother, she was simply an old witch.

Abramo leaned on the door frame and suddenly asked, "Mom, how did Dad die back then?" ”

The old lady was startled by this sudden question, her eyelids jumped, and she frowned: "What are you asking for?" You know, alcoholism, heart disease. ”

Abramo stared at the old lady, the old lady's eyes flickered inexplicably, and she felt that today's son was a little different from usual. He had never seen him wear the clothes he had worn because Vera had bought them for him, and he didn't wear them in front of his family. So there's a strangeness.

"Mom, I remember that day, did Dad catch a cold, and what medicine did you give him?"

The dark clouds shrouded in memory are dispersing little by little, and the golden sunlight is shining more and more, and the other side is in front of you.

Hearing her son's words, the old lady shook her head again and again, she shook her hand tremblingly and said, "I don't remember, what can I remember after so many years?" I've been widowed since your dad died, and I've brought you and my sister up, and I've worked three jobs at the same time! I sent you and her to school, raised you to adulthood, watched you start a family, and now I am the only lonely old woman left, and you start to talk about your father. That sailor, drunkard! Who raised you, and who? ”

At this moment, there was a knock down the stairs, and Paula got dressed, packed her things, and ran over. She saw what her father and grandmother were saying, and stepped forward and whispered, "What's the matter, Dad, grandma, why don't you let Dad in?" ”

The old lady still squeezed out a few tears, she wiped the corners of her eyes, and stepped forward to hug Paula, "My little baby, your father doesn't want to come in, he is busy, he can't be idle for a moment, and letting him come in is a waste of his time." ”

Abramo told Paula to go to the car herself, leaving him and his mother behind. After seeing Paula get into the car, Abramo stared at his mother with the same wolf-like eyes, leaned in and said in a deep voice: "Mom, after Dad died, I lived like a walking corpse, you didn't fulfill your responsibilities as a wife and mother, I know why Dad was drunk." Today I am born again, and I will not pursue the past, but I will not come to see you again, and neither will Paula. Goodbye, Mom. ”

The old lady listened to her son's cold words, her fingers clenched the door frame tightly, and she squeezed out a sharp voice from her throat, and said, "You are the same as your father, you are a bastard who is inferior to a pig and a dog, a mongrel!" Then the door slammed shut, and there was no sound.

Abramo stood at the door for a moment before returning to the car, and Paula looked at him with wide eyes and asked, "What's wrong Dad?" ”

Abramo smiled slightly and said, "Say goodbye to grandma, wish her good health, let's go home." ”