Fatal Bonds - A noir style Family Drama
As the sun shines its last light and heads west over the city skyline, the shadows that have been lurking in the alleyways and corners begin to lengthen and take their hold. Some people rush home to turn on their lights and fill their lives with a few more hours of brightness and laughter, while others rush head first into the night, eager to hide themselves and their sins. But they forget it’s impossible to live in either of them forever… and you know that better than most.
The smoke from your cigarette obscures the view as two black cars pull into the hotel drive and pause in front of the double doors. For a moment, there’s no sound except for the hum of the engines and the crickets serenading the sunset. The valets rush to open the doors and stand at attention, but you catch them stealing a few glances as one by one the influential Valliers and the infamous Malones step out onto the twilight air. You know their names and faces, who in this town doesn’t? For decades, these two families have sabotaged one another and done unspeakable things to tighten their grip on the city, its people, and its resources. Everyone has taken a side at this point, and those who refused… well, people disappear all the time, don’t they?
But just as the sun is setting on this day, it seems to be setting on this war between them as well. Six months ago, the heads of the families surprised everyone by announcing a wedding between their heirs and a new alliance between their empires. Everyone wondered how long it would be before it was called off, but against all odds, the wedding weekend has arrived and it’s time for these two young people to unite their familial empires in a new era of peace, no matter who, or what, may get in their way.
Silently, with the weight of so many bitter years and anger weighing on them all, the two families walk into the hotel with only the most furtive glances passing between them. You wait until they’re gone before taking another drag on your cigarette, shaking your head as you wonder whether or not this plan for peace isn’t actually a recipe for disaster.
But just as the sun finally disappears over the horizon and the city descends into darkness, a third car pulls into the drive. As it stops, the Carter twins step out into the shadows and slam the car doors shut, staring silently at the building in front of them. The crickets around you quiet, as if choked by the tension that’s fallen over the scene and the smoke burns in your lungs as you hesitate to exhale. They turn and glare at one another in silence before stalking into the hotel side by side, the chill between them as tangible as the ice in the cocktail you’re suddenly craving.
The Carter Company, with their rapidly growing numbers and their impressive bank account, have as much a stake in this city as everyone else, even if their slice of the pie has been much smaller thanks to the other two powerful families. You’re not surprised to see them here; there’s no way that they ever would have passed up the opportunity to use this wedding as a way to benefit themselves and their company somehow. But who invited them here? And for what purpose?
As you drop your cigarette and put it out beneath your heel, you have more questions than answers, more theories than facts. And as the shadows and light make their merry foxtrot over the next few days and the clock ticks towards a new world of these families’ making, you can’t help but wonder, at the end of this, where will these people find themselves: allied together in the light of day, or bonded together in the shadows?
