Tied to The Mafia Boss

Raphael, the Don

Forgiveness of sin…my sins…that was the part where I’d gotten stuck. The concept had popped up several times as I’d read the Holy Bible, right from Genesis.

My parents—my mother in particular—would have been proud. The circumstances in which I’d read it would have overshadowed the triumph, but still, she would have been proud. Both my parents would have been, even though I’d gotten nearly to the end and had now decided to park it.

It wasn’t for me.

This—me reading the bible—was like a metaphor for my life. I was nearly at the end of it, nearly at the end and wondering what I could do to change things.

I still had the power, but with power came responsibility.

So, did I spend the rest of my days using what little time I had left to gain God’s forgiveness?

Is that what the Don of the Rossi family should do?

Forgiveness of sin…my sins…

The previous night I’d hit a stumbling block when I realized it was a little too late for me and there were better ways to use my time. Trying to find forgiveness was better reserved for those who had a normal family, a vanilla life.

I could imagine a man with a wife, two kids, and a dog like the one from Peter Pan. They’d live in a neat little house that didn’t show indulgence. The garden would be immaculate because the wife would tend to it herself. The flowers and all that other shit. The husband would cut the lawn. They’d go to church on Sunday and be the goodly neighbors the Lord intended them to be.

Most of all, they would be classed by all as good people.

I did not have that, and sometimes it really was too late to change things.

The change had to start in the heart, and mine had been filled with darkness for years, probably since birth.

I’d had a wife once, and I believed she’d loved me at some point before she was killed. I also had a kid—a daughter.

That child was the apple of my eye. She loved me at some point, too, until the day when her eyes were opened to something else that was beyond my control.

When you truly love someone, you have to know when to let them go. To me, though, you also have to know when it is time to bring them back into the fold.

Here lay the reason for my state of flux.

When a man was dying, he had time to think about his life. Suddenly it is all he thinks about. Does he change his ways so he can meet his maker with a clear conscience, so his record will be white as snow? Or, does he do what he can to make sure his family is safe?

That was the question that had been on my mind as I closed my eyes the night before, and when I’d woken up in the morning, the answer had come to me.

A knock sounded at the door.

I straightened up in my chair and rested back against the padded leather. I couldn’t look as sick as I felt in front of these people. They’d known me forever and I valued and trusted them the most, but they were like sharks. I couldn’t look weak.

Never had and never would. I would be strong until the day I drew my last breath.

They were here for an important meeting with me. One they’d been looking forward to for a long time. Today was the day I was going to pass the torch and choose a new leader.

Choose the new boss.

The thing was, I was passing the torch but still had to maintain the presence of power and control. That was my choice, to take care of my family, to make sure the control and power passed in the way I wanted it to. This was the only way I knew she would be safe—my daughter, my Amelia.

It was a nice thought to think I could change, but I had to sacrifice God’s grace for her. It would be my last act as her father, a father who had to step outside the realms of what was normal to do what he thought was best.

“Come in,” I called out, templing my fingers and holding my elbows at my sides.

The door opened and Marcus came into my office with Lucian and Claudius, his two sons.

Marcus Morientz was my oldest friend, and we’d gone through life together, had borne each other’s secrets—too many secrets.

However, there was one secret he didn’t know, one secret I thought best to keep from him so he, too, would be safe. It was a secret I’d thought no one else knew until two days ago. It was the kind of secret that would be the harbinger of death, no question about it.

Death had always been in the equation, right from the moment things went wrong. It was fitting for me because I’d instigated death myself more times than I could count. I would never be white as snow with God’s forgiveness.

I’d maintained my silence for so many years, bearing the burden of the truth. It was poison to me. As I looked at my best friend, a man who had been like a brother to me, I couldn’t believe I’d kept it from him. We were as close as family could be.

Even his sons were like my own, although the brothers could not have been more different if they tried. Both were leaders; that was the truth. They both had strong qualities, but there was only one I had in mind for a number of reasons.

They sat in the three chairs before me, and Marcus smiled as he nodded his head in reverence.

“This won’t take long,” I announced. “We don’t have time for any lengthy discussion.”

“As you wish, Raphe,” Marcus replied.

Claudius straightened up with that smug attitude I’d gotten used to over the years. I liked the way he thought I was going to choose him even though he’d given me no real reason to.

Lucian—Luc, as we called him—on the other hand, sat in a similar fashion to me with his fingers templed and a contemplative look on his face. He wanted this more than Claudius, and so…

“Luc, I choose you,” I said, slowly and purposefully.

While Marcus looked pleased, Claudius bolted straight up, anger filling his face and turning his pale skin red. It was in these times that I noticed the striking difference between his eyes—one blue, one brown, both zeroing in on me with antagonism.

“How could you choose him?” Claudius challenged.

All I did was give him the look, and the man immediately knew his place. I watched the anger simmer as he tried to control himself in front of me.

He knew it didn’t matter who he was—if he challenged me again, he’d end up with a limb missing, or dead.

I didn’t like those who had no respect, and I didn’t tolerate insolence either.

I focused my attention back to Luc, who still had that contemplative look on his face.

“Luc, what say ye?” I asked.

“Thank you,” came his simple reply, and that was the difference between Luc and Claudius—Luc could control himself, for good or for bad.

I knew this choice could drive a wedge between them as brothers, but I knew I’d made the right decision. They were like oil and water but did their best when Marcus was around. Luc was the oil, Claudius the water.

Oil stayed in control of itself and did not bend at the will of emotion. It only mixed itself out when the conditions were right, and only at the right moment.

Water, on the other hand, flowed everywhere and tried to overpower everything in its wake. There was no control, just movement.

I needed oil, not water. I needed Luc, not Claudius, because when the situation called for it, Luc would take control and do what was necessary. He never failed, while Claudius was too reckless. Luc would be a true captain, but more importantly, he would do what I couldn’t.

It was a hard thing for a powerful man like myself to accept that I could no longer fulfill my duties in life. At least I had accepted it, and I had every confidence in Luc that he would be the person I needed him to be.

He’d figure it out.

He’d figure out that I was choosing him for more than just taking my place.

I wished I could say more. I wished I could tell them, but it had to be this way. I didn’t know the full extent of the situation at hand, and this was how I was going to find out more.

As the leader of the most powerful family in Chicago, I’d come to trust my instincts and feelings. That was how I still kept us going. That was how I kept us in power and out of the hands of those who would take it from us.

“Any questions before I continue?” I asked Luc.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Claudius was still seething.

“No.” Luc shook his head.

I smiled. “Nothing whatsoever, Lucian?”

Again, he shook his head. “I’m good. When do I start?”

At least that was one question.

“There are some terms I’d like you to meet, and you will only become leader once you’ve met them.” It was show time.

Marcus instantly looked thrown. He hadn’t expected me to say that.