Headlights wash over Lucifer Capozzi as he stands in the road, broad as a gate and utterly calm. The driver kills speed. Inside the car, Tommy, Toni, Vinny, and Vicky all go still.
Lucifer Capozzi
Easy. I am not here to start a war in the street.
Lucifer steps aside just enough to let the car idle at the curb. His eyes track the bruised tension in the passengers, then settle on Tommy's office windows beyond them.
Lucifer Capozzi
I heard there is trouble with a shipment, and a leak inside the house. That kind of rot gets worse if nobody names it.
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Don gives him a hard look, then keeps his voice measured. "If you know something, say it."
Lucifer Capozzi
I know only that someone used a sealed channel they should never have touched. Start with whoever had the keys, then ask who wanted the panic.
The street stays silent around them, but the answer hangs there, heavy and useful, as the family weighs the next move.
“I know how to find a rat in my operation, Dad. Ive been doing this for 30 years.”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled -1)
Don’s words settle the car. Luca’s expression shifts, just a fraction, from warning to appraisal.
Lucifer Capozzi
Thirty years buys a man patience. Good. Use it.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
Then start with the access list. I keep the logs on my side, but I need a clean read.
Antonia "Toni" Capozzi
And the red mark on the manifest. That circle bothered me before, it bothers me more now.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
Whoever touched our line knew exactly where to push. I want the name before they get a chance to run.
Victoria "Vicky" Capozzi
We stop treating this like a mystery and start treating it like a pattern. Somebody inside likes leaving fingerprints.
Lucifer Capozzi
Good. Now you sound like a family that intends to keep its own house in order.
“"Speaking of your own house, dint you have a vinyard mansion in Italy full of beautiful women who are way too young for you to return to?" I ask him as a light hearted joke.”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled -3)
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Speaking of your own house, did you have a vineyard mansion in Italy full of beautiful women who are way too young for you to return to? Just kidding.
Lucifer Capozzi
Lucifer gives a dry little huff, then a smile that barely warms his eyes. "The vineyard is real. The women are people, not decorations. And if you mean to insult me, Don, at least make it original."
The car stays still. Tommy’s mouth twitches despite himself, Toni drops her gaze to hide a grin, and Vinny lets out one rough breath through his nose.
Lucifer Capozzi
"But no, you’re asking the right thing in the wrong costume. Family is leverage. Age, beauty, status, all of it gets used. I learned that long before you were born."
He rests one hand on the window frame, casual as a priest at a wake, and the red-circled note on Tommy’s manifest shifts into the center of the conversation without another word.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
Tommy nods once, already back on task. "Then we keep the question simple. Who had access, who benefited, and who thought they could hide behind family business?"
Victoria "Vicky" Capozzi
Vicky tilts her head, sharp and amused. "If we’re done flirting with the devil, I want the access list. Names, times, and who lied about being there."
“I ask Luca who had the access codes”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Who had the access codes?
Lucifer Capozzi
The list points inward. Tommy’s security, and anyone he let near the logs.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
So it is someone in the room, or someone close enough to touch the chain.
Victoria "Vicky" Capozzi
That narrows it. Send me the names and I’ll start stripping lies off them one by one.
Antonia "Toni" Capozzi
If the codes were copied, we need the last hands on the manifest and the line.
Lucifer Capozzi
Look at the red mark. It is not a signature, it is a warning. The person who used those codes wanted you to notice the pattern.
The name lands cleanly in the car, and the family’s focus tightens around the same answer.
“Is the traitor someone close to Tommy?”
YES, AND MORE (VeryLikely, rolled 8)
Donatello stares at the manifest, his eyes tracing the red circle until the truth settles in his gut. The betrayal is not just internal, it is intimate, pointing directly to the one person Tommy trusts with his own life.
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
It is not just a leak. It is a knife held by my own blood.
Lucifer Capozzi
The circle is closed, Don. Your own shadow is the one pulling the strings.
“I confront Tommy about the traitor”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +0)
From above the office feels smaller, the desk splitting the room into old loyalties and newer suspicions. Don leans in first, keeping his voice low as Tommy turns from the manifest and meets him squarely.
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Tommy, tell me who had the access. I want the name behind this.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
You get it now. This was not bad luck. Someone inside my line used my trust like a key.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
Maurice Delaro. He signs the dock entries, he knows the schedule, and he had the window.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
Then we drag him in and see who taught him to steal from us.
Antonia "Toni" Capozzi
Tommy is angry, but he is not hiding from it anymore.
Lucifer Capozzi
Good. Now you are naming the wound instead of staring at it.
Tommy slides the manifest across the desk with two fingers, and the red circle catches the lamp glow. The list of access codes sits beside it, thumb-smudged and exposed, while Don’s question has forced the room into a shared silence.
Quest Complete
Identify who sabotaged the shipment
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary
“Delaro's still alive after his embezzlement attempt? Vinny i thought you killed him!”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled -2)
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Delaro is still breathing? Vinny, I thought you killed him.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
I was ready to. He slipped the noose with a shipment excuse and a bad hospital note. Somebody wanted him alive long enough to talk.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
That means the leak was protected, not just hidden.
Lucifer Capozzi
Alive men can name their accomplices. Dead ones only make legends.
Antonia "Toni" Capozzi
So we use him before somebody else does.
The room eases by a fraction, not because the danger is gone, but because the shape of it is clearer now. Vinny's jaw loosens. Tommy taps the red-circled mark with one finger, then leaves it there.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
If you want him, I can bring the place he is hiding, not just his name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the traitor's accomplice
“Tell Vinny to drag Delaro out of his hole before he disappears again.”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Drag Delaro out of his hole before he disappears again.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
Good. I want him moving tonight, before the trail cools.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
Then I want eyes on every exit he could use.
Antonia "Toni" Capozzi
And if he runs, we cut off the room around him, not the other way around.
Lucifer Capozzi
Careful. Men who are being protected usually know the shape of the hand on their shoulder.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
I hear you. Give me the address, and I bring back a live mouth.
Tommy slides the access-code list closer, and Vinny reaches for it without looking away from Don. The red circle on the manifest sits in the lamp light like a warning that finally has a target.