Valentina hadn’t always been involved in the family business. She’d been kept in the dark, thinking that Diablo was just another club and her brother had made his money selling weed. Only when she found of the truth, it didn’t send her running for the hills. She may have been impulsive and carefree, but loyalty meant something to Valentina. Family meant something to Valentina. And that meant protecting them, even if she didn’t always agree with the method of choice. She much rather preferred the fun side of things, the less violent sides. The part that made her blood rush, without someone else’s dripping on the ground. 

It was the one part she wasn’t all too fond of. Valentina wasn’t innocent by any means, but there was a level to chaos that liked. Perhaps knowing all she could was the only peace of mind she could offer herself these days. The false belief that knowing thy enemy could stop them. “I guess it’s a good thing I like the attention then.” Of course, she knew who the man was in front of her. Marcus Hamilton. But she had this funny little habit of pretending to be unaware. Maybe it was because she pulled it off so well. After all, people thought that the wildchild Navarro sister only knew so much. “So, what kind of guy are you? All about the spotlight or more in the shadows?”

Lucia would recognize that voice anywhere and she couldn’t help but feel both relived and not all at the same time. It was nice that she didn’t have to worry about an angry stranger, but she’d also been avoiding Marcus recently. He hadn’t done anything, they hadn’t gotten in a fight, she just sort of slowly distancing. It wasn’t that she necessarily enjoyed dodging his calls and attempts to see one another, but it was just hard to hide her mixed feelings around him. She didn’t want him to worry adding her burden onto him, he’d done so much for her and she didn’t want to ask for more.”Even so I’m sorry Marcus really.”

At his comment, she finally looked down at herself noticing the decently sized spot on her own outfit. She’d been so concerned about getting it on someone else she must not of registered it landing on her too. “ Do you think I could convince them that it’s the newest gucci?” She questioned lightheartedly. Luckily she hadn’t actually been going anywhere planned though now she supposed maybe heading home was the new plan. “ Hopefully my couch won’t be too judgmental, but you weren’t going anywhere important right?”

He waved off her apology with a blinding indifference. Little got under Marcus’s skin. Life had beaten the sensitivity out of him a little too young, now almost every problem was a molehill, even if that molehill was called everest on the side. “I think so, yeah. Gucci’s literal take on drip, you might start a rich hipster uprising with something like that,” he jabbed goodnaturedly.

No. Of course it was no. Every time she asked anyone if they had anything, the answer was always a resounding God damn fucking no. Julianna clenched her fist under the desk, knowing it wasn’t Marcus she was angry at and reminding herself not to lash out at him. He hadn’t done anything but what she’d asked him after all.

She thought he was probably joking about the Xanax, but then again, maybe he wasn’t. Did she look stressed? She felt stressed. So she lifted her hand from underneath the desk and held it out, palm up. “Well?” she asked expectedly. If he had one, she’d take it. If he didn’t, she’d teach him a valuable lesson about offering things when he shouldn’t.

Helmet in one hand, Max pushed through the lobby doors to his apartment building with ihs back, his other hand occupied by his phone, of course. Like most of his generation, his phone was almost like an extension of his hand. Seriously, if he was without it for more than two minutes, he panicked. He would tell anyone it was because of his job, but it was definitely more than that.

When he looked up, there was a guy standing by a leopard statue, and yeah, it definitely caught Max’s attention. He wasn’t subtle enough to not just stand there and stare, but the guy’s words made him laugh. Max didn’t need the hundred bucks, but he’d help the guy anyway. “What the fuck is that?” he asked, amused, wondering why the hell someone would have a leopard statue in the first place.

The thing stood taller than Marcus and while it seemed a good idea at the time of purchase, he had to wonder if it was too tall for his ceilings. It wouldn’t go through his door without a fight, that much was certain. “It’s Black Friday wayfair deals at work is what it is.” He scolded, looking it over scornfully. So what if he’d knocked two hundred off the price, this was one that should’ve gone on the ‘when I buy a big ass house’ wishlist. Anytime his parents came over, they remarked, it might be time to clear some of this stuff out. What he instead heard was, it’s time to buy something bigger so you can make that dinosaur greenhouse you fantasized about as a kid. Sure, it was a little unconventional, but it’s not like he was a big car fanatic. He didn’t have a wife or kids, nor any plans to ever have any. Reality was, one day his luck would run out and he’d see a cell, or the barrel of a gun and he’d have no time to regret the money sunk into his happy little habit.

location: literally any antique furniture shop

open starter.

It was to be expected that the city was on edge - even months after the deed was done. Roman liked to go against the grain, the path less travelled was where all the opportunity laid. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry could be consumed with the whispers on the streets but that shit would kill you quicker than a bullet. His fingers thumbed a price tag on a particular lamp. He might have no need to worry about money (ever) but one didn’t get rich by blowing all their money on stupid shit. It was a Tiffany lamp, circa the 40s. Taking out his phone, he snapped a photo. It was a lovely piece but he wasn’t quite sold on it. There was room for a new bar cart in his office that he needed to prioritize. “That lamp is truly a diamond in the rough. I’d recommend it, if you’re going to get anything.”

Marcus knew a bad decision when he saw one, it truly was a gift. If only he also was blessed with the humility to act on such impulses. He barely smothered a chuckle at the suggestion of him and a lamp like that. That was something you saw in the den of a family he’d have hated growing up; either for poor taste in imitation art or for having more money than god and spending it on Joseph and his technicolored torch. “Not for me, man,” Marcus dismissed, eyeing up the porcelain parrot fish sculpture near to the back. He was fancying something aquatic for his bathroom, after finally settling the corner space on that leopard last week. Call it the new money in him, but classic furniture held little appeal to him. Marcus liked animals, what had started with a hideous drunk purchase, part hippo sculpture, part couch, had continued into his rapidly expanding zoo of oddities. Some beautiful and timeless, but most unnerving even to himself when he made his early morning bathroom break only to be confronted by ceramic eyes no matter the room.

OPEN STARTER Location: Hopper’s Bar & Grill

There really was no reason she should’ve been hanging out in Ross territory. Even if the truth wasn’t out yet, it was only a matter of time. It wasn’t as if there were many people in this line of business that sat on valuable information for very long, let alone how long she waited. But despite there being a part of her that feared greatly what just sitting at the bar could do, Valentina’s curiosity got the best of her. She desperately needed to know what happened. A part of it was about vengeance, closure, but artly, Valentina wanted to find a way to stop feeling so damn guilty. But even she knew she stuck out like a sore thumb in the restaurant, not that that fact alone made her want to run for the hills. It didn’t matter if the person next to her had been staring or not, their presence alone was felt, even if she couldn’t directly see who it was. Speaking up, her voice was light and airy, even if the feelings inside her head weren’t the same, “Bartender, how about a drink for my friend here? Whiskey neat?” As the bartender nodded, she finally shifted her her body and looked at the person now in front of her, giving them a smile as warm as she could possibly muster. “Please, sit.”

Marcus was a remarkably steadfast person. After a lifetime of instability, by the time the Ross’s had found him, he was aching for consistency while simultaneously chafing under the control of his adoptive parents. What sort of life could you hope to have if you were chasing unpredictable predictabilities? Oddly enough, he’d lucked into one. Slinging weed in high school had led to introductions at the dock, a decade later he was a trafficker by no small means. Truly from rags to riches. Every day there was a new problem, but rarely did anything take him by surprise. He was diligent, he did what was expected of him and everything else had a way of working out around him. Too many forget that lesson. They get arrested and squeal, or crack under pressure and end up in a firefight. If you do as you’re told and remain calm, it was rare that any of the problems were much more than molehills. Stay loyal to the team you chose, and keep your head. What did some people find so difficult about that? If the Ross’s were succeeding, so was he. Loyalty brought about its rewards. If only he knew that the woman shouting him a whiskey was the key to the biggest pay-day he could ever hope to earn.

Julianna Ross had always had sort of a one-track mind. Everything she did was about her family, and everything she did was to benefit her family. Since the death of her father, discovering what had happened to him had been the only thing she cared about. She’d even put her wedding planning on hold because she knew she wouldn’t be able to give it and Zelda the consideration it deserved while trying to find her father’s murderer.

After hours of working, she hadn’t really gotten anywhere. She was sitting in the office at Hopper’s because she’d promised Zelda she would come by and see her. But, of course, the bar was a madhouse today, so they’d barely even had a chance to talk. It was just as well because Julianna had called a meeting today. Her head was buried in her hands when she heard the door open, and she spoke without even looking up. “Please tell me you have some new information?” she asked warily. She needed a breakthrough desperately. 

He shook his head, barely a movement at all really but it was written all over his face Marcus was no better off for spending his day chasing up Ross loose ends. "No,” he confirmed. Everyone held a healthy amount of fear for the Ross siblings, Marcus included. But he’d come into his own among them. Ten years and he’d never strayed or wavered, if anything, he was a high spirited man in their company. From an eager kid to a man who could move a metric ton if you needed him to; there was a certain comfort that had been built among himself and the Ross children he’d come up behind. “Actually thought you could use a xanny.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the oversized box, his little zoo forming in his apartment was coming along nicely. What had started with a novelty sofa had grown to a collection. When Marcus finally bought a place of his own, this shit was going to go wild. “Hey,” He greeted, noticing the curious eyes on the package. “Stupid right? A hundred bucks if you can help me get it in the elevator and to my apartment.”

Rough nights had become part of Lucia’s normal ever since the incident, she was used to them, but as time went on she also got used to the distance between them. Ever since New years day and Victor’s assassination though it seemed they were becoming more frequent once again. The stress of the impending results of Julianna’s investigation and what this might start must have triggered something in her making it easier for the nightmares and restlessness to creep back in. 

Exhausted, Lucia lazily took a sip of her freshly gotten drink. She needed the caffeine something to make her feel like less of a zombie and this would hit the spot. Hardly focusing on anything else she started away from the counter not realizing the person just a few steps away. “Shit!” she exclaimed as she felt an impact. In an attempt to save both of them from spilled drink being their accessory of the day Lucia turned stepping back as she tried to steady herself. “I’m sorry i’m only running on like two hours of sleep and i’m not all here yet.” She explained, she knew it wasn’t much of an excuse, but it was the truth. “ You’re fine right? Nothing got on you or hurt you?” Lucia asked, finally accessing the person she’d ran into.

Marcus stepped back, glancing down at spatter soaking into the white of his t-shirt. “You got me,” He admitted sheepishly. He knew better than to sneak up on her, even if he hadn’t meant to be sneaking. Lucia was far from an unflappable person at the best of times, let alone with the glassy, sleepless eyes. She hadn’t been looking so good lately, hell, not that he’d seen her a whole lot. Granted, before they’d linked up, she was someone who’s intagram he might spend a night on once year, between their half plans at catching up. When he’d graduated and linked in with the Ross’s, he’d had every intent on leaving that part of his life in the rearview mirror. Lucia was meant to be some girl he’d from round the block, but shit changes and the new world they ran in was tighter than even school halls. Absences were now noted. “’S okay, it’s just target shit. No gucci, no foul yeah?”