LUCIANO
I sat on the swirling leather black office chair, a stick of cigarette twirling in between my slender fingers while I puffed out white foggy smoke from both my mouth and nose.
A huge mahagony brown table which was capable of hosting about fifteen people seperated me from my capos and also brothers.
“Wow Jose and Valentine are still in Ecuador?” Petro asked upon sitting down.
“Yes. Apparently we have more issues on our hand than we know” I replied.
We were currently having a meeting concerning the various shipments of our drugs along the coast of Mediterranean.
“Jose informed me that you had instructed for Estaban shares in profits gotten from the sales of Crystal metamorphine to be reduced, may I know why? Because it is really puzzling Luciano. Estaban has been one of our most loyal underdogs and he oversees the distribution all the way from New Mexico to Argentina” Petro lamented.
I rolled my eyes at his words. I loved Petro more than I actually loved the rest of my brothers but sometimes I felt he was so sentimental. Estaban had been his friend and I guess he just could not see beyond the friendly exterior of his long time friend and notice the cheat that laid within.
“Petro I feel Estaban has been cheating us. And I am surprised you are not suspecting him. The sales he reports are way too little considering the amount of hard drugs we deliver into his territories. Stefano will be in charge of everything from now on. Estaban shares has been reduced and he has signed the new contract to transfer everything into Stefano’s handling”
“But Stefano was appointed by your father before his death to oversee the distribution in Europe. Can he handle all that?” Diego, another of my cousin questionably asked.
I leaned forward and placed my hands on the desk, “Petro will handle that from now” I smiled.
“What!” Raffaele slammed his fists on the table.
Petro had his jaws dropping to the floor and the same expression of shock was mirroring on the rest of my brothers, “Me?”
“Yes you Petro. For quite some time you have been in charge of our shipments in Africa but I want to change that. I want to change a couple of things in this mafia.
We will no longer be involved in the trafficking of women from eastern and northern Africa to become prostitutes in various parts of the world. I have informed all our former partners and I have cut the deal. This is a mafia not a brothel. Those rules became defunct with father’s death.
Petro you shall oversea the distributions of our drugs and weapons all around Europe and to the middle east. Train your underbosses on this new assignment” I meticulously explained.
“The hell! Luciano are you even listening to yourself. Father specifically assigned you to pass that duty to me before he died. He wanted me handle it all after Stefano and I have preparing myself and my men for that job. You all were there! You can not fucking take this away from me!” Raffaele thundered. But I was not fazed by his empty fury.
He could not do more than a dead horse.
“I can and I will! I call the shots around here and not you!” I retorted back.
“You are way too full of yourself brother” Arturo gritted, his fists pummeling.
I smirked devilishly at him, “see it however you see it. I can not entrust such heavy assignment to you Raffaele when you have been nothing but disloyal and sneaky in your current assignment”
“What the hell are you blabbering about?” He scowled.
“Raffaele I pump money every month into Bolivia, Paraguay and Guyana. I send those freaking politicians sitting at the borders money, a huge amount in fact so that our goods can go without any hassle but still I get complaints.
I get lots of complaints concerning our goods being stuck at the border. I pay little to my men in Venezuela, Colombia and Peru compared to what I pay to your underbosses and yet my goods go in smoothly without any issues. Infact a new drug farm is to be opened in Colombia. We have gotten eighty hectares of land already.
You can not handle three southern American countries and yet you want me to put the entire Europe into your jurisdiction? Not a chance brother and as for you Arturo…” I faced my anger at the livid orbs of my youngest step brother whilst Raffaele frothed on the inside like a beast.
He dare not say a word.
“What about me?” Arturo growled.
“I instructed Rodriguez to reduce the shipments of morphine and narcotine to three instead of six tons. I know you are fully aware of the hitches those goods have been experiencing along the coast. Someone has been stealing from us and I cut down our shipments until we can fish out who the rat is. Handle that else I will have your duties taken away from you too” I instructed sternly with a terrible and baleful glare.
“Luciano you are really acting this way because you are the capo dei capi right? Reducing my duties and cutting down on my various authorities huh? Well enjoy it while it last. Enjoy the power you have while it last because one day you are definitely going to breathe your last and I will be more than happy” Raffaele ominously warned.
“Enough please. Can we not have a meeting without swearings, curses and threats flying?” Milan, another of my cousin finally made his voice known. He was very quiet but he had a terrible anger when let loose.
“Raffaele you can not do any shit to me. You are a sorry excuse of a man. The only thing you and your stupid wife knows how to do is to cause problems for everyone, my wife inclusive” I matched his angered tone with mine.
“Oh…” Raffaele chuckled. “So this is about our wives now? You are punishing me because of some silly fights going on between our wives? Luciano you are pathetic. A weakling. You are no man and you are no king here”
“Oh for the love of God” Petro grumbled, downcasting his head.
“Caution your wife Raffaele because the next time she attempts to play a game on my wife, I swear I will kill her with my bare hands” I threatened him with a forefinger pointed right at his face.
Raffaele pushed his chair back and ambled towards me with raptorial steps. “Do your worst you son of a bitch. Do not think this is where it ends. The battle line has been drawn. I wish you all the best in this bloody game” He whispered with a sinister smile before shoving me and walking out of the conference room.
Indeed the batter line has really been drawn.
“I am the capo dei capi of this mafia and my word stands. I will face every threat to my reign as the capo with boldness and a gun in my hand. Any of you who tries to stand in my way or undermine my authority shall fall. I hope this message is very clear. You all are dismissed” I gritted in anger before marching out myself.
* * * * *
“Aurora!” Raffaele yelled out the moment he walked into his home. He had the sleeves of his shirt folded at arms length and the buttons tucked out.
His hair was ruffled up and he paced angrily in the living room.
Luciano’s words could not just leave his head. He could not believe Luciano had the guts to actually reduce his authority and power in the mafia. Thinking the more of it got him more enraged to the core.
All he wanted to do right now was to embed multiple bullets into Luciano and watch his body loose life.
“Aurora!” He yelled once more.
“Darling you are back? I never expected you to be back quite early. What shall I prepare for you?” Aurora sweetly asked climbing down the stairs to meet Raffaele.
“You this stupid woman!” Raffaele marched to her and gave her a resounding slap on her face causing Aurora to loose her balance and fall.
“Y-you just slapped me?” She gasped, terrified of how murderous her husband was.
“And I will slap you over and over again! You are such a fool. You bring me nothing but troubles. What did you do to Jade?!”
“What?” Aurora became puzzled, fighting back her tears.
“Answer me!” Raffaele thundered causing her to almost jump out of her skin. “Today Luciano, her useless husband just reduced my authority in the mafia by laying me off from some of my duties and taking away some of my privileges and I know is because of something you did because he mentioned it. Now what did you do to that woman!?”
“I only did to her what she deserved. She has come to take place in this family and everybody just seems to adore her including you! What does she have that I do not have?! You even wanted to have her that fateful night in our own matrimonial home Raffaele! Whatever I did to her was what she deserved and I will do more if that is what it takes to maintain my own authority in this house” Aurora stood up and bodly uttered, not minding if she would receive another slap from Raffaele.
“Whatever you do with her is truly none of my business but if your ploys and schemes are beginning to threaten my own authority in the mafia, then you will have me to contend with Aurora!” Raffaele spat before retreating his steps out of the house.
Aurora stood glued to the spot, more angered than she had ever been and her heart palpitated. “Jade I just got slapped today because of you. I swear I will make sure you receive twice my pain”