Fanon:Altos in Bridgeport/Chapter One

The limo cruises down the hill-edged lane heading into Bridgeport. Inside the black status symbol is a small family of three: Nicholas, Victoria, and Holly Alto. Despite their high-class vehicle, they are desheveled, sleepless, and disgruntled, because, though they'd never admit it to the people they are going to meet, they have just fled their home in terror for life as they knew it.

"Nick," Victoria said, "Please tell me that our new house is already brought and servants already arranged and everything."

This was so unlike Vita's usual cool, poised self that it startled Nick. "Yes, it is. Marco arranged everything."

"Good." Vita pours herself a glass of juice from the minibar and sips it. "So. Who exactly are these people, and why should we trust them in our current...predicament?"

Nick sighs. "I've told you, Vita. They're my family--my brother, sister-in-law, their children, and my father. We can trust them. They...They do roughly the same kind of work we did in Sunset Valley."

"That's why I don't trust them," Holly, the daughter of the family, puts in. "I thought we were trying to turn over a new leaf here, for one thing. For another, they could easily turn us in, or blackmail us."

There's a bit of a silence before Nick says, "As only one of those points was valid, I'm going to ignore the other. But they can't turn us in/blackmail us because I've got quite a bit of dirt on them too." He grins. "They're not the only ones who know about someone else's businesses."

Holly sighs and puts her head in her hands. She'd thought that just maybe her parents could be a little less criminally inclined in this new city, but they apparently have no such intentions, and the talk about blackmailing family reminds her painfully of how out of place she is in this unscrupulous family. Her kindergarten teacher when she first started going to school was a kind but firm woman who had become a role model for the young girl and taught her better than to follow the family example. Still friends years later, both women were sorrowful at their seperation. All Holly can do now is hope that the good is deeply enough instilled in her.