LUCA
"So talk to me, hijo," my father stated in clear English with a smirk on his face. "Tell me about this mole in your territory that I'm hearing about and what you're doing about it."
I took a deep breath. This old man would not have the satisfaction of seeing me break... not ever.
Adjusting my suit, I reclined in my seat opposite him. "I'm working on it."
His jaw ticked slightly. "I want to know exactly what you're doing about it. You can't just sit here telling me you're working on it. I need results to be sure I didn't make a mistake leaving the mafia in my son's hands."
He was getting riled up. Good. He could give himself a heart attack for all I cared. I had never met anyone as selfish and insatiable as he was.
"Yes. I am working on it. You'll get an update when I'm done fishing the mole out."
He slammed his hands onto his desk. "Are you in your right senses? For all I know, the stupid lady you randomly brought into the mafia in the name of marriage could be the mole." He snapped.
His words would not get to me. I shut my eyes tightly as I calmed myself. "You asked me to get married, padre, so if she's a mole, it would partly be your fault as well." I snapped.
His eyes widened and then darkened, narrowing slightly. "I am not to blame for your irresponsibility and impulsive behaviour!"
That was it. "Listen, padre, you can say whatever you want. It won't change my mind. I've always known you to be a selfish, obnoxious old man, but this is just the height. By the time the mole is fished out, we'll both see who is right or who is wrong!"
Irritated, I rose to my feet. As I turned to leave, I added, "But I want to you remember this, I am the head of the mafia now, and you'll eventually hand over the position of the head of the clan to me as well. If this is all some ploy to not discourage me, it's too late!"
His face grew redder by the second. "I do everything I do for you, you nuisance! Can't you see?! Sometimed I wonder if I made a mistake making you the Don. The Mafia doesn't deserve a leader who is weak and incapable of leading them. Who sees an eyewitness and gets married to them instead of killing them?!" He growled.
My palms clenched into fists, and my jaw ticked with annoyance. "That's on you. You are the one with the unreasonable demands. I just fulfilled your clause. And by the time I have my heir, I tell you nothing would stop me from taking my rightful position!"
Just as I turned to leave, I spotted tio at the entrance. He had a wry expression on his face as he walked in.
"Hijo, have your seat," he stated warmly, sitting on the chair just beside the one I had just stood up from.
My father looked relieved at his presence. "Mateo, talk some sense into this boy! If he keeps going this way, I'm going to lose my temper!"
I couldn't stay in the same room with my father another minute. He always had a way of getting under my skin.
"I have a meeting to attend to, Tio," I stated to him matter-of-factly.
His eyes were hooded as he struck the desk slightly. "You are the don. They can wait. Have your seat."
My blood was pumping in rage now, but I couldn't disobey my tio. At least, he understood me even more than the man who called himself my father.
I strode to the abandoned seat and sunk into it, trying my best to mask my reluctance and irritation.
"Tio, before padre here says anything, I must remind you that I'm a grown man who can make his own decisions."
He said nothing for a while and just stayed between me and my father.
"Mateo, tell him how stupid he is being for not believing that his wife can be a mole. He barely even knows the lady. Is this how you raised him to be? Impulsive? Stupid?!" My father growled at my uncle in Spanish.
I shook my head at him, and disgust swirled within me. "Was it supposed to be his job to raise me or yours? Oh, I forgot. You forgot you had a child and dedicated your whole life to building your mafia and torturing me every time you saw me!" I spat in Spanish.
He slammed his fist on the desk. "All I did was to make you the strong man you are today." The words bubbled out of him like larva.
"No. Who I am today was tio's doing and not yours."
"That's enough," tio gritted out, slamming his palms on the desk.
"Luca, this is your padre, so you will accord him the respect he deserves," he chided me, his eyes stern. I knew that expression. He had used it on me countless times after my father abandoned me to him to raise. "He does have a right to be worried about the wife you got married to. We all don't know anything about her, and her background is not quite clear."
My palms clenched even more, but I remained silent.
"Exactly!" My father butted in, his dark eyes boring holes into mine.
Tio wasn't done anyway. "Hermano," he continued, turning to my father. "I think it's unfair for you to continually doubt your son. He has only ever wanted to make you proud, but you have never acknowledged or appreciated his effort. You pushed him to become this cold as well."
As much as even I hated to admit it, he was right. I cringed mentally as I recalled all the years of working hard to please the old man. But I had never been good enough for him. All my efforts turned out fruitless, so I channelled it into better things. Like getting on his pathetic nerves.
My father froze at his words but quickly recovered and shook his head. "That's preposterous! If he did anything right, I would actually commend him for it. But he barely does anything right. How can someone keep making the same mistakes? Tell me, weren't you here as well when he got entangled with a no-good lady from outside our clan and eventually lived to regret it."
That was the last straw. My glare was cold as ice as I turned to him. "Tio, I respect you, and I would never walk out on you, but if I stay here one second more, I might kill this man!" My words came out low and seething.
I stood to leave, and this time, tio didn't stop me. They all knew better than to thread on this same topic that padre just did...