The Blood of Family

Hello, my fellow readers. It is I, the great James Stryker bringing you another great chapter of The Blood of Family. Okay, before you read the new chapter, let's talk about last night's season finale. I just watched it on my Xbox One X since I bought the season pass. Last night, I was watching the season finales of The Goldbergs, Modern Family and American Housewife. But yeah, that finale. I'm not going to spoil it but I read a tweet on Twitter that Jughead lives, I won't spoil the ending. You'll have to watch it yourself, and if you watched it, you'll probably want to hate Hiram and strangle him with his necktie for what he's done. Plus, I think that Sheriff Minetta is corrupt and he's in cahoots with Lodge because I have a theory that he's the second Black Hood and pinned it on Tall Boy. But yeah, can't wait for season three and season three of American Housewife, season ten of Modern Family and season six of The Goldbergs. Anyway, it's update time. Last time, Veronica and Archie shared a kiss underneath the mistletoe at Cheryl's Christmas party. And Nick jumped Archie in front of Veronica's building. I hope that you're ready to read the new chapter. So here it is, chapter fourteen of The Blood of Family. Enjoy.

Chapter Fourteen

Noche Buena

New York City. The Pembrooke. Wednesday December 24th, 2025. 7:55 PM

"So, mija. Where is this Ralph DiConcini? Is he going to join us for Noche Buena?" Hermione asked while setting the dining room table with Veronica and Hiram.

"He's going to join us, mother. Maybe he's just picking something up to add to our lovely Christmas dinner." Veronica said, setting the wine glasses down. "He works for daddy. He's his bodyguard."

Hermione turns to her husband and looked at him. "Your bodyguard, Hiram? Having a little trouble with your line of work?"

"Well, I needed a bodyguard that can protect me and my family, mi Corazon." Hiram said.

"Hmm. That's what you said about your last bodyguard. And look what happened to him." Hermione said.

"We don't need to bring that up. Ralph is the best. He knows how to take good care of himself. He assisted Christopher with a couple of jobs and watched over Veronica at her job and accompanied her to Cheryl Blossom's Christmas party." Hiram said, sitting a plate of pasteles down on the table.

"But do you think that it's a good idea for our daughter to get involved with the man who's working for you?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry, Hermione. Everything will be fine. I trust Ralph." Hiram said as he kissed his wife on the cheek until they heard the knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Veronica said.

The beautiful Latina entered the living room and walked over to the mirror to look at it for a bit, examining her wardrobe. She wore a red collared cable knit sweater, a floral mini skirt and a pair of black pumps on her feet. Veronica smiled at the reflection of herself in the mirror hoping that Archie likes what she's wearing. Archie knocks on the door one more time as Veronica walked over to the door and answered the knock. She opened the door, only to see Archie wearing a navy blue winter coat, a red sweater, jeans and a pair of black and white Converse low tops. She also began to notice a band-aid covering the cut above his left eye.

"Ralph, what happened?" Veronica said as Archie entered the penthouse.

"Oh, nothing. Some creep was trying to mug me last night after I dropped you off." Archie said, removing his coat and hung it up on the coat rack.

"Are you alright?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You should've seen the other guy." Archie said as Veronica chuckled.

"I'm glad that you're alright, and I'm glad that you could join us." Veronica said as she moved closer towards Archie and kissed him. "Mom and dad are waiting for us in the dining room."

"So, what's for dinner?" Archie asked, following Veronica into the living room,

"Just the traditional Noche Buena dinner." Veronica said.

"Noche Buena. What's that?" Archie asked.

"It's a Spanish word referring to the night of Christmas Eve and it's celebrated on December 24th every year." Veronica said as her and Archie entered the dining room, only to see Hiram and Hermione setting the table up.

"Noche Buena is often the biggest feast for the Christmas season and is the annual Spanish tradition. Good evening, Ralph." Hiram said, greeting Archie with a firm handshake.

"Good evening, Mr. Lodge." Archie said.

"Please, just call me Hiram." Hiram said.

"Sorry, force of habit." Archie said.

"I understand. Would you like some coquito? It's Puerto Rican eggnog." Hiram said, pouring Archie a glass of coquito.

"Sure." Archie said as Hiram hands him a glass before taking a sip.

"Ralph, I would like you to meet my wife Hermione. Hermione, this is the man that I've been telling you about, Ralph." Hiram said.

"Hello, Ralph. It's nice to meet you." Hermione said, shaking Archie's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Hermione." Archie said.

"I see that our daughter has taking a liking to you and you've done some good work for my husband as well." Hermione said.

"That's correct." Archie said.

"I hope you all are hungry. Ralph, my wife, my daughter and I have prepared this wonderful feast. My wife has made this Latin-style turkey with mojo and sazon achiote. It's very good. And we also have Cuban-style roasted pork as well. This was my mother's recipe for when my family celebrates Noche Buena." Hiram said.

"Sounds very good. Can't wait to try them. I know it's much different than my family's." Archie said as Hiram grins at him before heading into the kitchen to get the turkey.

"So, Ralph. Tell me about yourself. From what I've known about you is that your husband told me that you were a jewel thief back in Chicago." Hermione said.

"Yes, ma'am." Archie said before sitting down right next to Veronica. "I used to work for my old employer before I moved to New York. I have some friends who are living here and we used to go to school together."

"What are they like?" Hermione asked.

"They're really nice. They're both in journalism." Archie said.

"Local papers?" Hermione asked, sipping her wine.

"Yeah." Archie said.

"That's nice." Hermione said as Hiram enters with the turkey.

"I hope you're hungry." Hiram said, walking over to the table and sits the turkey down on the dining room table and carving it up.

Archie's eyes widened at all the food and saw how good the turkey looks with Hiram encouraging them to dig in after he finished carving the turkey.

"Looks good, Hiram." Archie said.

"I hope that you enjoy eating it, Ralph." Hiram said, taking a tamale. "I know that you have family here that you're spending Christmas with tomorrow."

"I do, sir. I'm spending it with my friends and my parents are visiting tomorrow since they're in town and staying in a hotel." Archie said.

"That's nice to hear. You know, family is more important to spend time with." Hiram said, taking a sip of his wine while Archie eats.

While they were eating and talking, Veronica's phone starts vibrating as she stops eating while pulling her phone out to see who it was as Hermione sips her wine and notices her daughter checking her phone.

"Mija, I thought we've told you no texting during dinner." Hermione said.

"I know, mother." Veronica said.

"Is it work?" Hiram asked.

"No, daddy. It's from Nick. I thought I blocked him." Veronica said as she opens the text from Nick.

Your little boy toy just attacked me last night. Never trust your daddy's friends.

Nicky

Veronica sits her phone down on the table and looked at Archie before saying another word to him. "Care to explain yourself?"

"What?" Archie asked.

"That was Nick. He just sent me a text saying that you attacked him in front of my building last night after you dropped me off." Veronica said.

"What?" Hiram and Hermione both said before looking at Archie.

"Wait a minute, I attacked him? Veronica, that's not true. The son of a bitch is lying." Archie said.

"I don't know who's lying, you or Nick. Who do you think you are Michael Corleone from The Godfather?" Veronica asked.

"Veronica…." Archie said.

"I guess it's a mistake to be friends with people who work for daddy. People who are common criminals." Veronica said as she gets up from out of her seat. "Mom, daddy. I have to get going."

Veronica left the dining room and grabbed her purse from off of the chair and her coat from off of the coat rack before leaving the penthouse.

"Ralph, is this true about what happened between you and Nick St. Clair?" Hiram asked.

"Look, Mr. Lodge. Nick didn't attack me, I was defending myself. He was the one that came up from behind and attacked me while I was getting ready to leave after dropping Veronica off. I defended myself from that filthy animal." Archie said.

"But attacking him in front of my daughter's building? I'm impressed. I respect a man who can defend himself, that's the kind of man I'm looking for and after what happened between you and those thugs in the bar, I'm glad that I can trust you. In fact, I have some out of town guests coming in from out of town on New Year's Eve and I'm hosting a poker game at Pop's. I need an extra set of hands to help. Someone that I can trust, you know to keep an eye out on things. Are you interested?" Hiram asked as Hermione poured herself another glass of wine.

"Sure. I'm interested, Mr. Lodge." Archie said. "I'll be there."

"Good." Hiram said, grinning at Archie.

Out of town guests? Could they be some associates of Hiram's? Maybe some mob buddies. Will Veronica forgive Archie? Next time on TBOF, Archie goes to Jughead and Betty's for Christmas dinner and Betty has some news to share with Archie. Sorry for the long wait, I know that you were expecting a new chapter of this story and Juliet's World. I have been really busy with work and stuff. Don't worry, I'll continue to update my stories. Also, I have been really busy posting new chapters of The Mayhem Critic as well. Don't forget to review this story, add this to your favorites and follow it for future updates. If you want to help me out with some ideas for The Blood of Family, feel free to PM me if you're interested. I'll see you guys next time for chapter fifteen. Till next time, my fellow readers.