Chapter Text
“What do you mean this won’t work out, darling?” Johnny asked, deeply confused with his fiancée’s words.
He had proposed 3 months earlier, with an approval of her parents, they were supposed to get married in August, Margaret was his whole world, he loved and cherished her deeply, something he had never previously felt for any other woman, and yet, she stood before him, fumbling with the diamond ring, trying to take it off her hand.
“I can’t marry you, Johnny. My heart belongs to someone else” the girl slid the diamond off her finger and took Johnny’s hands to place it in them.
“Don’t be silly, love. You… you love me, you agreed to marry me, everything is almost ready, I’ve been nothing by good to you, and now you’re telling me this?” he couldn’t hide his frustration and deep sadness caused by Margaret’s words, and yet he couldn’t believe what he heard. It was as if his mind understood her, but his heart refused to.
“No, Johnny I never loved you. I never wanted to marry you, it was my father-”
“Your father? Do you not have your own brain? You’ve been leading me on for God know how long-”
“I’m sorry, I really am. But I can’t live like this. I can’t spend my life with someone whom I don’t love” her voice broke, she was on the verge of tears, as if she was truly sorry for Johnny. “You’re a good man, you’ll find yourself a nice girl. I’ll go now” she turned around to go her own way.
“No you won’t, come back here!” Johnny called out with anger in his voice. “Margaret! Margaret come back here, we’re not done talking!” after a few moments, he gave up. “Fine! Go wherever you want, I couldn’t care less!” he shouted, before lighting a cigarette to cool down. He decided to go for a stroll to clear his mind.
He still couldn’t believe Margaret decided to leave him just like that. As if this whole relationship didn’t matter to her at all. If he saw this ungrateful, traitorous, filthy, lascivious…”
“Don’t lie to me, I know what you did”
Johnny froze as a man’s voice with just a hint of Italian accent derailed his train of thoughts.
“No, no, I swear, I have nothing to do with it” another man’s voice, pleading, bounced off the walls.
“You know, Davies, you should just man up and admit to your mistakes” the first man spoke again, his voice a little softer now. “Maybe I’ll show you mercy”
Johnny, driven by curiosity, and what one could say, extreme stupidity, got closer to the voices, watching the two men, peeking from behind the wall.
“Alright, alright! I killed him!” the owner of the pleading voice, a middle aged, overweight and balding man was in tears now. “I killed Tommy Santoro! You don’t get it! What he did to my boy-“
“Shh, I know it. And you know, I have two things to say” the other man, blond, long-haired, wearing a clearly expensive suit, leaned nonchalantly against the wall, running his left hand through his hair, while the right one held a gun. “One, your boy fully deserved for being nosy. Two-” he paused, adjusting his position to stay straight. “Zeppelis do not know mercy”
Johnny gasped as he heard the gunshot, the man’s brains painting the wall behind him. He hid quickly, but accidentally stepped on an empty can. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck…” he whispered, thinking of the way to get himself out of this situation.
“Get out! I’ve heard you! Show yourself!”
Johnny panicked. He had no way of avoiding the confrontation now. He slowly approached the man, trying not to look so terrified.
“Who are you?” the blond demanded an answer, pointing his gun right at him.
“Jonathan Joestar” Johnny replied quickly.
“Joestar? Do you happen to be Earl Joestar’s nephew perhaps?”
Johnny suddenly felt cold. There were to options: the answer will either save him or get him killed, depending on what connection that crazy old man had with the Italian in front of him. There was no point in lying, Johnny thought.
“Yes” he spoke up, avoiding the other’s gaze.
“As a friend of mine used to say, you got more luck than brains. Now before you leave, you never saw anything, got it?”
“Y-yes”
“Now get out of here, I gotta clean this mess up before anyone sees” the blond approached the dead body, briefly inspecting it.
Meanwhile Johnny walked the fastest he’s ever had to get as far away of that alley as possible. He had barely escaped death and had seen a man getting blown up by a gun. His pulse was impossibly high as he finally reached his apartment, collapsing on the sofa.
He hoped he’d never see the “Zeppeli”, as he assumed this was his last name, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he seemed to know his uncle well enough to let him go freely.