GOODFELLAS → EXO // WATTYS 2019

[22]

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PART ONE
BALDUCCI FOR TWO I.

[April 10th, 1982]

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Bastiano Balducci, that was the name of the top suspect for the spy. Several oddities pointed the man out as the top suspect, the first being his back story. Balducci was from Italy, a former baker turned crook, but no one knew how. Somehow, the man ended up in New York, where he became one of the top bosses in one of the top families running the city. Something about Bastiano Balducci impressed the likes of the cold, calculated Kim Joohyuk, but when people looked at him, they weren't too sure what that something was. Bastiano was a round man, with an even rounder face, a seemingly permanent, embarrassed blush on his cheeks, and a kind smile on his lips, no matter the situation. And the man had enough power to have his worst enemy dead in mere minutes, but he never used in.

In fact, Bastiano Balducci had never killed anyone. Ever.

The man spent most of his time in his kitchen, making sure that whatever family even was next was well catered. But in order to not make himself seem too suspicious, he stole restaurants and other culinary business from their owners. Or rather, he just walked in and claimed the place was his with that same old, red faced, kind smile of his. And the restaurant owners were too afraid of the mobster staring at them with enough men to start a small army to do anything about it.

To add to Balducci's record was the fact that he never had problems with anyone. Everyone loved Balducci, almost as much as they loved the meatballs and pasta that he made to perfection. But that made him even more fitting to be the spy. When everyone loved you, no one noticed what you did behind their backs.

But there was one thing that kept Balducci from having an almost perfect image, and that was his wife, Celine. Celine was beautiful with her dark curls that framed her back and mischievous cerulean eyes. She spoke in broken English, courtesy of her quick immigration from France. But when did speak, it was always playful and quick - she liked to touch whoever she spoke with, a brush on the shoulder, a caress on the cheek. She was easy to get along with, kind and thoughtful in every sense of the word, and she should have been the perfect wife for Bastiano, but she wasn't.

Though they tried to hide it, the two were headed for divorce. And while everyone else in the family tried to blame it on various things: their age difference ("what's Bastiano doing with a woman that young anyway?"), the lack of time they spent together, Celine's infidelity, and so on, courtesy of Ace and his digging, Chanyeol and the others now knew why.

Celine was afraid.

She knew her husband was the spy, and she didn't want to get punished if he got caught being it either. Ace claimed that people who saw Celine recently commented on how pale she'd gotten, they said she looked like she'd seen a ghost, maybe the ghost of her husband's actions. And she didn't want any part of it. There'd been a lot of talk of her having packed her bags as well. But she hadn't left, most likely waiting on the perfect moment to do so. She had confided in her close friends that she was divorcing Balducci, claiming that he was driving her crazy with his actions, but she wouldn't elaborate on what exactly. And that was enough to raise multiple red flags.