Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles ~

In a safe house owned by the White family…

Bruno woke up when an unpleasant medicinal scent attacked his senses. He tried moving, but only groaned due to the pain.

It took him few seconds to open his eyes and realize that he is looking at a young woman. Is she pregnant? He glanced around the room with empty gray walls and high windows… a television high in the corner… is he in a basement? How did he get here? Why is he chained to the chair?

Images of the restroom and two identical boys kicking him viciously came to his mind. Bruno frowned. That does not seem to be right. That was earlier in the day, and he went to the hotel after that.

Next, he remembered a side alley and a young man beating him up mercilessly. He told him that he is not going for a date with his girlfriend. What is wrong with Americans? Bruno saw Mike coming at him and he wanted to retaliate, but his body ached from the beating he got earlier that day and he was unable to do much. And now he is stuck here. Bruno is confident that this is the unluckiest day he ever had.

"Awake?", JoAnna asked.

Bruno's frown deepened. "You are not a doctor."

JoAnna smiled. "Actually… I am."

"This is not a hospital."

"Correct.", JoAnna confirmed.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"You can call me Anna, and you don't need to know more than that. You are in Los Angeles."

Bruno moved, yanking the chains which restricted his arms and he realized that he does not feel much. "You gave me a painkiller?"

"A sedative.", JoAnna corrected him and glanced at the time. She smiled. The truth serum should be working by now.

"I see that you kidnaped me. What do you want?", Bruno asked calmly. He faced more serious situations than being chained to a chair with a woman in the room.

From the other side of the one-way mirror Jeff, Charlie and Emma are observing the talk between JoAnna and Bruno.

Charlie wanted to be the one interrogating this shameless man from Nero armi who dared to approach Emma, but JoAnna said how that is not a good idea.

"Let me start first and you can take over.", JoAnna pacified Charlie with additional explanations: "Look at you. You are emotionally compromised. I don't think that you will find out anything before you start beating him up…"

Charlie agreed with this. There is nothing more Charlie's body craves for than to give a taste of his fists to Bruno.

Emma wanted to go in. "He is after me. I have the right to know why…"

JoAnna sighed. "You will find out. But just like Charlie, you are personally involved in this. Let me start talking to Bruno and gather initial information, and then you can take it from there." JoAnna saw that Emma is not convinced so she added: "And someone needs to calm Charlie down. Without you by his side, I'm afraid he will go into rage as soon as Bruno mentions you…"

Emma agreed with this point. Charlie is fuming as-is. And it's her fault so she will stay with him.

Jeff wanted to be with JoAnna in the room for interrogations. "You are pregnant. What if he does something? I need to be by your side…"

JoAnna forced a smile. "He is chained up and can't move a muscle. Let me handle this. You make sure that Charlie stays on the other side of a one-way mirror." Jeff was obviously not happy with this arrangement, so JoAnna clarified: "Bruno already got severe beating and he will be able to talk only thanks to the anesthetic. Otherwise he would howl in pain… His body can't take more damage. I need you to keep Charlie calm."

JoAnna remembered that she told Jeff while examining Bruno's injuries. "Some of these are few hours old."

"Yeah, earlier today Sean and Ryan jumped him…", Jeff recollected his talk with Michael who told Jeff about the incident in the restaurant.

After hearing the story, JoAnna stifled a laugh. "All Ronin boys beat him up for stalking their sister. This is poetic justice."

JoAnna mentally prepared to talk to Bruno while having on her mind to be careful not to reveal too much.

JoAnna and Jeff discussed with Charlie and Emma possibilities of why Bruno is after Emma and the logical option is that this is related to Charlie. The deal is that as soon as Bruno confirms how that is the case, they will let Charlie continue interrogation (if he wants).

But Jeff and JoAnna are aware of another option: that this is related to the army of Chaos. Charlie and Emma don't know that Sarah and Aiden are involved with the army of Chaos, and Emma probably never heard of it. JoAnna told Jeff that if Bruno mentions the army of Chaos, she will steer the discussion into a different direction and they will continue interrogation without Charlie's and Emma's presence.

In any case, they want to avoid Bruno losing his life. If that happens, Angelo will investigate and probably retaliate. Based on the reports, Angelo is an unpredictable man, but he takes care of his people, so it's not likely that he will allow people who disposed of Bruno to go scot-free. Considering that Nero armi is a large underground organization, if they attack, Jeff will need to call Sarah and Aiden so that the army of Chaos gets involved, and they don't want to interrupt two lovebirds on their honeymoon.

 Back to present...

"I want to know, why did you approach Emma?", JoAnna asked Bruno and waited for his answer intently.

"I want to marry her.", Bruno responded flatly.

JoAnna was not sure if she heard him right. This is definitely out of her expectations. She thought about possibilities that would include kidnaping, blackmail, information gathering… but marriage? 

Jeff, Charlie, and Emma on the other side of the mirror heard Bruno and all three of them were stupefied. What kind of an answer is that?

It took JoAnna a second to recover and ask: "Excuse me? Can you repeat that?"

"I want to marry her.", Bruno repeated. It's not like he has a choice under the influence of the truth serum.

JoAnna found this ridiculous, and she decided to clarify: "Do you know Emma from earlier? Or did you mistake her for someone else?"

"I met Emma today and no, I didn't mistake her for someone else."

JoAnna thought that maybe this is some Italian thing, you meet a girl and bam: 'Do you want to marry me?', question pops up on the same day. Or is this the case of love at first sight?

"Uhm… Are you in love with Emma?", JoAnna continued probing.

Bruno shook his head. "No."

JoAnna frowned. "Then… Why do you want to marry her?"

"So that I can be the next head of the Nero armi."

JoAnna thought that maybe her truth serum malfunctioned. Or he got too many hits in the head. Why are Bruno's answers so random? She continued asking: "How can marrying Emma make you the next head of the Nero armi?"

"I have the knowledge, connections and skills, but Nero armi believes in family and blood relations. No matter how good I am, De Luca blood is not in my veins and part of Nero armi will not follow me willingly. By marrying Emma, I will be the logical choice for the next head…"

While Bruno explained, JoAnna read on her Eve-lens information about Nero armi and was hit with a realization: "Angelo De Luca and Emma are related?"

"Emma is Angelo's oldest child.", Bruno responded.

JoAnna put her pinky finger in her left ear and gave it a shake because her ears definitely malfunctioned and she needs to restart them. "Emma is what to Angelo?"

"Emma is Angelo's daughter."

JoAnna could feel the stiffening atmosphere from the other side of the one-way mirror and to say that she is surprised is an understatement. JoAnna is quite confident that Emma said how her father died when she was a child. He turned up to be the head of a crime organization in Italy?

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