Atonement

Chapter One- Seven Years Apart

"Cettina, were you drinking?" I had figured that my younger brother would be in bed by 4 in the morning and he wouldn't smell the booze on my clothes.

"Only a little."

"Sis, it's dangerous if you drink while you work. Anyone could take advantage of you!" He had obviously been waiting up for me, making sure I came home in one piece. He had a book and a blanket out at the dining room table.

"I know that Corteo. I know. That's why I only had a little."

He sighed, running a hand through his slicked back hair. Corteo knew better than to argue with me, especially when I was drunk. Not that I'd admit to being drunk at the moment.

"I'm going to go sleep this off. Wake me up before noon please." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before retreating into my bedroom.

I found a nightgown laying out on my bed, curtesy of Corteo. He was always trying to make things easier for me when I got home from a particularly late job and he stayed awake just to make sure I walked through the front door every night. I don't know what I did to deserve such a caring little brother.

After throwing my dress in a pile on the floor, I slid into the nightgown, let down my hair, flopped onto the bed and let sleep take me.

"Just go!" Corteo's shout from the other room woke me hours later.

I hauled myself out of bed and wrapped my blanket over my shoulders like a shawl.

"Sell us the booze." My hand hovered over the door handle. Was someone carousing my brother?

Corteo never responded, there was only the sound of large object falling to the floor.

My hand shook at the door handle. I had no idea how many people were for sure on the other side of the door.

"Gonna sell it to us?" That was the same voice as before. If it was only one man then maybe I could charm my way out of this.

Screwing my courage to the sticking place I opened the door to the dining room. Corteo was curled up on the floor by the entry way and I caught sight of a bat disappearing into the kitchen.

So much for charming whatever bastard was in our house.

"What's going on here?"

"C-cettina-" Corteo went silent at the loud crashing sounds coming from the kitchen, "stop it!"

I ran to Corteo's side, keeping him from bursting into the kitchen. It may have taken months for me to save enough of my earnings to buy all the equipment my brother needed, but his life was more important to me than his booze.

"Gotta nip the competition in the bud." The man went on smashing in the kitchen, unaware of the figure that raced through our door with a wrench.

Corteo and I watched from the doorway as the figure smashed the wrench over the back of the intruder's head, effectively knocking the burly man out.

Cerotto came into the kitchen behind the two of us, holding what looked to be a broken nose. That's when I put two and two together. Word was that Cerotto's older brother was working for the Orco's now, under a psycho by the name of Fango. Corteo must have refused to sell to Orco's like he always did and so Cerotto's brother came to bash up the equipment as punishment. The only unexplained variable was the wrench wielding man.

Our savior looked are way and the hazel eyes hidden under the cap took my breath away. I'd recognize those eyes from anywhere.

"Angelo..."

Seeing that was all taken care of I turned to Cerotto, hands on my hips. "If you and your brother aren't out of my house in the next 60 seconds I'm going to beat you over the head with a wrench myself!"

"Of course, ma'am. So sorry, ma'am!" Cerotto went about dragging his brother out of the house by his foot, and was even courteous enough to close the door behind them.

"Good riddance to them." A hint of a smile played over Angelo's features as he watched me glare at the front door. "Why don't you sit down Angelo, we have a lot to talk about." I ushered the boy into the dining room, where he threw his jacket over the back of chair and pulled out a cigarette.

Corteo pulled out a fresh jar of his increasingly famous booze and poured a glass for our childhood friend. "I made it. Try it."

I took a seat next to my sibling, tugging the blanket closer around my shoulders for decency.

"I know it's good." Angelo took a drag on his cigarette, staring out into space.

"Making moonshine isn't actually something I want to do...I just want to save up money to go to school." That was our only goal in life, get Corteo to school. All my extra money went into savings for it, and all the booze money went into savings too.

"Angelo...Where were you for the past seven years?" I didn't care about the alcohol right now, I cared about why Angelo had showed up after disappearing for seven years. We offered him a place to stay, even with our mother sick, we would have done everything for him, yet he ran away. Now he was back all of a sudden, wielding a wrench, no less.

"Avilio Bruno. That's what I go by now."

"Is it okay for you to be back in town?" Corteo had a point. His family had been murdered, even after seven years, the killers could still be looking for him.

Angelo only took a sip of Corteo's moonshine before going back to his cigarette.

"You're tired, right? You can use this room." Corteo stood, most likely going to grab the extra blankets from my bedroom.

"Where's your mother?"

My heart dropped at his question. It still hurt every time someone brought her up.

"Last summer..." Corteo shook his head, looking away from Angelo.

"There's no one holding you down, then." Both Corteo and I looked at Angelo with wide eyes. "Want to make a little money with me?"

"Huh?"

"I want to sell this to the family," Angelo looked down at his glass, swirling the drink before he took another sip.

"I don't want to get involved with the family. Didn't you feel the same-"

"Please, Corteo, Cettina." The look in his eyes spoke volumes for his resolve. "A raison d'etre gives a person power. Friendship is a more reliable tool than a knife."

He wasn't wrong, especially after all the things I had seen in my line of work, I had to agree.

Angelo smiled at Corteo, "we're brothers, right?"

Corteo caved. He couldn't say no to Angelo, not now, and I'm sure Angelo knew that.

"Well, I'll go get cleaned up and we can head out to do whatever it is you have concocted, Avilio." His name felt wrong on my lips but saying it now would keep me from slipping up later.

"Cettina, you should stay." I should have known my little brother would try to stop me.

"If you're going where I think you're going to sell your drinks then you're going to need my help getting in."

"Corteo, if that's true, then she should come with us." That didn't do much to ease the worry in my brother's eyes. "And I'll protect her with my life, I won't let anyone hurt her."

"Big words coming from one of my little brothers."