It was a Saturday evening. At the O'Brien mansion, Dean was having dinner with his family. There was four of them. His father, Daniel, his mother, Donna and his sister, Dina were having a quiet dinner. His parents and Dina were happily talking and eating but he was mostly silent. His thoughts was with Rose. Was she alive? Was she safe? He had no idea. For years the thoughts of the possibilities of Rose's predicament after she had escaped the Mcloughin property had really haunted him. He wanted to believe she had escaped. He wanted to believe no criminals had gotten their unclean hands on her after her escape. He knew if the Mcloughins wanted someone hurt they would have chased them to the ends of the earth to capture them. They took grudges. The thought of someone hurting his beautiful rose really bothered him.

Now since he had spoken to Christian he felt at so much peace. That hope that she could be alive and protected had made him feel so satisfied with his life. He felt like he could die happy now in peace knowing Rose was saved. The facts Christian had shared had left him no doubt that the father and daughter that the Alessandrinis had saved had to be Rose and her father. The name of ranch and the dates were matching. The incident had happened two weeks before his twelfth birthday and just around that time a father and daughter fleeing a land dispute with the Mcloughins over a ranch by the same name had taken refuge with the Alessandrinis. This just filled his heart with so much joy. He had never felt so much happiness in his life before.

He wanted to see her. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her how much he had admired her bravery that day. He wanted to get how much he loved her. He was willing to do anything to do for her. To make sure she was protected and happy. That could make him feel complete. It really could.

Dean's mother, Donna O'Brien said "Dean. Dina told me you break up with your girlfriend son. Is it true?"

Dean gave his sister a look and Dina shrugged. His mother would have found out anyways so he wasn't mad at his sister. He looked up "That is correct mother."

Donna sighed "Son. A girl needs to be promised to you this summer and you will have to marry that girl when we tell you too. That's how things have to be. You do know if you don't choose a girl, we will. So you must make your mind up."

Dean said "I understand." He then carried on eating. He had to follow what his parents instructions. His parents had been promised to each other officially when they had been seventeen and had gotten married when their parents had told them to later on. That was how they had done things and they wanted him do the same. The warning had come a year ago. They had told him he had two years to get himself a girlfriend who he was going to be promised to after his seventeenth birthday and he had to marry her and no one else when it was time that he was to be married and they were going to decide that. Before that warning he did not ever look at any girls twice. He really didn't. After meeting no girl could be his girl in his heart. He did not want to date and basically his parents had kept telling him off for not even talking to girls let alone go to have milkshake with a girl on a weekend. They thought if he did not choose his girl soon in his life to be promised to and the couple did not spend their college years getting to know each other, then the marriage was not going to be a strong marriage and their heirs could not have a good home life. Finally their complaints became too much for Dean and he had to be realistic. His parents were right.

His parents were going to force him to choose a girl and the girl was going to be promised to him anyways in the summer when he turned seventeen and he had to end up spending the rest of his life with her after marriage. If he didn't choose his girl they were going to choose her for him. So he had to meet a girl who he loved. He had to date to fall in love. His parents were not unreasonable really. Most boys his age in other crime families had already chosen the girls they loved and were dating them now with the intention of marrying them one day. His parents wanted him to be that kind of heir. They wanted him to choose a girl now as his girlfriend. Stake a claim and get to know her over the years and marry her. They were worried why he was not like most other heirs. How could he fall in love another woman when he only loved Rose. He could not fall in love.

With that thought he had started dating. He hated it. He hated every second of it. But he hoped maybe he could fall in love. He had to live on. He had no choice. He had to at least try to fall in love even though his heart belonged to Rose only.

Dean thought of his relationships. The first one was ok. Lasted a few months. They just went to cinema a lot. She caught her cheating and kissing with a boy who was the son of a guy worked for his father. He dumped her. Then came his second relationship. It lasted a month. They just went out to eat fries and burners. That ended too because she had said she did not like his family. So he had dumped her. Then there was the third girl who he dated. This relationship took six weeks to end. She was not nice to his sister so he dumped her too. Then came the next few girls. The relationships lasted a few weeks and now as Christian had said his relationship had become as short as a day.

In all his relationships he had never been mean. He had tried his best and had tried to treat the girls respectfully. But he did only end up treating one girl very harshly when they had gone to a restaurant. The same restaurant where he had bumped into Connor, Christian and Sean. The girl was not a nice girl. He normally did not look for excuses to break up but he had to get rid of her. But also he wanted to take revenge on her. She broke up with her with the excuse that she had never kissed a guy before. He also had never kissed a girl before and when he had kissed her, he had kissed her neck and cheek. Not on the lips. He had felt completely emotionless when he had done it. He only had one thought on his mind when he had been kissing her. Teaching her a lesson. But he wanted to throw her own words at her. She had the same words at another girl a long time ago for some reason. He could not remember what she had done but no one deserved to be called that. So he had dumped her and had thrown the exact same words she had said to others to her. No one deserved to feel that way. He had started going out with her for that purpose to make her realise how cruel she had been to the other girl. Maybe he had been too harsh. But that girl deserved it.

The relationship with the last girl he had dated had ended just before him talking to Christian about Rose. A lot of his relationships had ended because of this reason. The girls had humiliated and ridiculed poor people and had looked down at some people based on their social status. He did not like that. He mostly told everyone he had ended the relationships because they had been unfaithful. They were compared to Rose. Being faithful mean being like Rose. Being loyal to human life and human values. After dinner he decided to leave and go for a walk in their gardens. He looked at the night sky and the stars and wondered if Rose was happy while watching the stars right now. He used to look at the skies and wonder if she was even alive to see the stars. He then walked to the fountain and sat next to it looking at the water. He wished Rose's life was as calm and peaceful of the water in the base of the fountain.

Dean thought to his life. He thought of who he was supposed to be. Dean was going to be the next head of the O'Brien Irish American crime family after his father was going to step aside. All his life his father had prepared him for the role. Dean was loyal to his family. He worked hard to become the heir his father wanted him to be. He had the strength, calculating mind and the fearlessness that he needed to have. But he had his own principles too. If people asked around about his reputation they called extreme with his ways. He was. He was ruthless and unforgiving and his ways of dealing with some people was extreme in some peoples eyes. Some judges him to be temperamental and show anger. But he reserved this kind of extreme treatment to those who had deserved it. In his father's organisation he spent his time identifying those who had no honour, those who abused women, those who killed innocents with the excuse of their business dealings , the lost went on and on. He identified them and he had made sure to catch them doing something wrong and he punished them severely and made sure they were kicked out, banished and never to return.

So this way Dean was cleaning out his father's organisation from those who were especially able to hide behind the pretence of honour and maybe their high rank to be unjust. He had the power. He was the son of Daniel O'Brein. No one dared say a word about his decisions. His father had given him free reign in the business. So this way he used his position to punish the ones who were not worth being called men. He was especially unforgiving and cruel to those who were abusive to women. His father recruited his men for their working ethics and not giving much thought to the kind of men they were. Dean did care though. And he made sure the future recruits that replaced those men had better personality and lived by better values. Business was booming as usual now though. His father's underbosses warned Dean that these men who he punished severely and kicked out for their small faults were irreplaceable. He proved to them wrong. He managed to get better recruits but not men with unclean and crooked thinking. He made sure he mentally and physically punished those who committed moral sins based on his own definitions but he punished them in a cruel way with the excuse of minor offences. So everyone thought he was extreme and unforgiving. He was. Only to men with rotten minds and no values. In school when possible he did have the same routine but of course he was less extreme in his treatment with the culprits. If he identified any boys who committed some of the deadly sins like abusing and hurting girls especially he caught them doing something minor like looking at him funny and he taught them a lesson they did not forget. And he warned them off with rules that was a fitting action like banning them from interacting with girls if they were abusive for instance. For some offences he complained to head master and got them expelled. To everyone he was extreme in school. In his eyes he was exercising his definition of honour in the way he could.

He would have been a vigilante if he was not born into a criminal family. But he was an O'Brien. He was going to do his duty. But he could do his duty and live by his principles too. He was sure he was never going to choose a girl in the summer as his girl. He was certain his parents had to choose someone and he had to go along with it. He had no choice but to do as ask. Finding a girl who wanted to spend the rest of their life with him was easy actually. Many girls had made it clear they liked him and they did not care how many times he rejected them. In fact he had never really initiated any advances even towards the girls he went out with. They always came on to him and he went along with it.

Dean sighed. He wanted to go to bed early. Maybe when tomorrow morning came he could hear some news from Christian about Rose. Christian had said that Gianluca had not agreed to meet with him today saying he was busy but he was likely to go to Christian to give an answer to Christian about Rose. His Rose.

****

After meeting Luigi on Friday night to discuss Christian's, Gianluca had avoided Christian. Th entire day Saturday he had put off meeting Christian to discuss this matter. After talking to Luigi he had called Christian and had told him he could not come to see him the next day and it was best if Christian did not come over that Saturday. He had said he was busy and had promised Christian he would explain later about the meeting with Luigi. He had been busy thinking of course the whole day Saturday about what he wanted to disclose to Christian.

It was now an early Sunday morning now. Gianluca was now laying in his bed still thinking over what he was going to tell Christian. He was yet to make up his mind. He could not avoid Christian forever. He had to face him and give him an answer. He had no excuse. He told him he was busy Saturday. he thought one day was enough to think and decide. Was he going to call Christian and say he was busy again on Sunday to sit down with him and talk. Obviously this matter could have sensitive information that they could not discuss over the phone. They had to meet.

Gianluca took a deep breath and finally thought to himself he had to make his decision and be ready. He had to live with the consequences. He was going to go along his initial thoughts when he had started thinking. He liked that idea the most. He got up from the bed, dressed and got ready. Gianluca took a deep breath.

Gianluca then found himself in front of the entrance of the Kavannagh mansion shortly after in that Sunday morning. He did not want to wait any longer. He wanted to see Christian that Sunday morning and he did not know how long Christian needed to discuss the matter with him. Maybe an hour. Or more? Who knew? So he cleared up his Sunday and decided to dedicate this day to this meeting with Christian. He just wanted to get this over and done with. He was lead to a lounge and was asked to wait for the servants to inform Christian he needed to see him. He normally did not need to do that and he could go straight to Christian's room. His men informed him when his car arrived in advance anyways. But this was early morning and Christian was most likely sleeping. They had not expected Gianluca. They had to check if Christian did not mind being disturbed so early in the morning.

Minutes later, a servant came back and said Christian was happy to see him in this room. Gianluca made his way to Christian's room and it seemed like the longest walk.

When Gianluca entered the room, the servants closed the door behind him. He saw Christian still laying in bed. Christian rubbed his eyes and said "This is way too early in the morning Gianluca. Have you at least brought anything to eat for me? Any Italian candy of any kind? Gelato?"

Gianluca sighed "Do you see me carrying anything in my hands?"

Christian sat up and said "Of course if you bring me any substances that are banned before meal times in this house, you would be hiding it under your coat or something. Right?"

Gianluca sighed. He took off his coat and put it on a sofa "Here. I am sorry to disappoint you. I have brought you no banned substance today..."

Christian made a face and got up from the bed "You are no fun." He then yawned and stretched. He then looked at his watch "This is so early..." He walked slowly towards Gianluca "Alright so you better have some news of Rose. Any leads from Luigi?"

Gianluca said "Christian... I wanted to talk to you about something else first."

Christian nodded "Ok. Let's talk..." He then stood in front of Gianluca and crossed his arms over his chest "I am listening..."

Gianluca said "Can we... sit down perhaps..."

Christian looked around and then pretended to think and then he said sarcastically "Oh... Where are my manners? I should offer you a seat? My mistake. Of course. You have woken me up so early in the morning and have brought me so much, candy and ice cream that I can not believe my eyes. For sure I am so drowning in gratitude right now..." Oh... hold on... What else have you done? I remember now, oh on Saturday you came by to visit me about what I had asked you to do with Luigi. You brought pages and pages of information written by Luigi.. You wasted no time and made time for me because you knew I wanted the information so eagerly."

Gianluca said "Christian. I am serious. We may need to talk to a while. I need to talk to you about serious stuff and need to focus."

Christian nodded and said in a serious tone "Gianluca do not test me... You kept me waiting all day yesterday man ...And now you turn up at this ridiculous hour on a Sunday Morning without bearing any gifts to even apologise for not coming over yesterday saying you were busy. Days ago, you said you may have some commitments like some meeting with the Italian families about the recent tensions between the Irish and Italians over the weekend so you maybe could be busy to come to my house to hang out. But there was no such meeting this weekend. It was cancelled. I have no idea what kept you too busy on Saturday then that you could not see me to tell me what Luigi said because we could not discuss this matter over the phone. So you are so lucky I am in a forgiving mood today and will not actually ask you why you did not allow any meeting to go ahead between us yesterday to discuss the conversation that you had with Luigi on Friday night. Now tell me what you want to talk about before you give me Luigi's answer..."

Gianluca had to ask. He had decided that this question was important to him before he decided what information to give to Christian. Gianluca asked "Christian. Have you ever heard of the Bianchis?"

Christian said "I am sorry. What? The Bianchis? Were you busy with the Bianchis on Saturday? Is that what you are saying?"

Gianluca shook his head "No. I am serious Christian. Answer me..."

Christian said "Ah... I need energy this early in the morning. He turned around and walked to his library. He removed a couple of books and to Gianluca's surprise he reached behind the row of books deep within the shelf and took out a huge paper bag that was filled with ... soft candy."

Gianluca said "Christian... You have got to be kidding me... Here I am having a serious conversation with you. This is about serious business and you are retrieving a secret candy nag?"

Christian sat down on his bed crossed legged and put the paper bag full of soft candy in front of him on the bed. He shrugged "Well. You did not bother to bring me any so I have to use my emergency supplies... Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a hold of such banned substances? You have no idea the number of hours I have to put into planning and executing an operation that can get me some of this stuff. Now I am gonna have to have another operation. My grandpa allows me have any of this stuff after dinner mostly if I successfully finish my meal and I do not get to have that many of them even then..." He then put the soft candy in his mouth and closed his eyes "This is so good..."

Gianluca could not believe Christian. Here he was, standing there waiting there to discuss a matter that he had spent the entire Saturday thinking over with Christian and he was discussing his candy issues. This was unbelievable. He sat down on a sofa and leaned back crossing his legs and putting his hands on the arm rests. He said "Tell me when you are ready to talk..."

Christian said "I am ready to talk." He then put another soft candy in his mouth.

Gianluca sighed "Then answer the question that I asked you. Then I will tell you my answer about my meeting with Luigi... So answer me... Have you heard of the Bianchis?"

Christian said "Yes I have..."

Gianluca said 'What do you know about them?"