It was the kind of question that completely shattered the atmosphere Damien himself had created... the one he started and welcod them into so warmly, yet his question was the exact opposite of all that.
And it wasn’t just the words, not just the question itself, but the way he looked straight into Jas’s eyes with that unreadable face, a face that gave nothing away. Jas couldn’t tell if he was joking or not as it was just a numb expression and to be honest... Jas himself didn’t even know the answer to that question.
What happened back ho ssed up everybody, not only the drug sellers, the traders, the smugglers, but literally every single criminal business. The raids the governnt carried out fucked the entire underworld apart and dragged down every business with it. They fucked the prostitution rings, the illegal casinos, everything, all because of one single thing.
Fear.
It struck fear into everyone that the governnt finally did what they were supposed to do for decades, that the governnt suddenly turned around and wiped out criminal families, wiped out drug gangs, traffickers, they even wiped out their own officials, their own ministers... in just one fucking night.
In the history of the criminal underworld, everything stopped as fear hit them, as their connections and business partners all died, as their foreign contacts, their buyers and sellers pulled out one by one after seeing the news and feeling like they would be the next ones.
Zero tolerance, just like Linda said. The ssage was working because everyone received it loud and clear, but there was one small shock that sent even more ssages than anything else. Every single criminal organization has a compass that points toward the top mafia leaders, they watch them, they follow what they do and how they do it, because if they see them stop or fall silent, they do the sa knowing sothing big is happening.
But there is one problem.
The problem is that all of them died. The Augustus Family, the Ricci Family, the Circle, the ones everyone followed, the ones everyone treated as the lead... they all fell, and the exact opposite happened of what everyone expected.
And the empires they left behind, the sa empires that everyone wanted to fight for it... but nobody did, because of Jas. Because of that Jas Bellini, the Jas Bellini who survived everything and killed the chief with his own hands, in broad daylight, in his own fucking office inside the police station.
It wasn’t just massive, no... in that mont, on that day, he crowned himself as the one who rules the capital, and, moreover, everyone knows he had a hand in the raids.
From a king, he beca the dictator of every step taken in the capital, where his power and rule are absolute... and this is where Damien cos in.
Jas is no longer just the capital, he’s the whole country now, the most powerful Don because he works with the governnt, but at the sa ti Damien also is one of the people he fucked over.
Damien is a fucking arms dealer who sells to anyone with money, and not pistols or a couple of rifles, he sells in bulk, hundreds at a ti. He’s the big boy of the arms-dealer league, but after the raids he had to take a step back too, and on top of that, who the hell is he supposed to sell to when everyone back ho is frozen in fear, not even daring to move an inch?
With the raids, he lost a portion of his inco and Jas knew that.
"I appreciate you, Damien. You sent flowers, you were there at Rafael’s funeral, and you have never even moved toward in a threatening way." Jas spoke as he looked into his eyes. "I do owe you an apology, and I am willing to pay back your losses."
Darvik and Mike were imdiately stunned by how Jas replied to Damien. They expected everything, but not that... and yet he said it well.
Who would want to be the enemy of an arms dealer who, without any morality, sells to terrorists, to the worst of the worst? A man who supplies revolts, fuels wars, and arms private militaries?
Damien doesn’t necessarily have more power, more n, or more influence in the governnt, but he has foreign connections and thinking about it, Mike understands that too.
The cartel is fucked up them enough, they don’t need any private militaries to join the party.
"That’s why I like you even more, Don Bellini. I like the way you said it exactly like a mafia Don should, because I was worried."
"Worried?" Jas asked, still calm, still not stressing, but having that ick in him that with one word, this could go wrong.
"I am old, from the days when Silas and August ruled, and they were the mafia, but to be honest I liked Silas more because he had the origin of the mafia, the sophistication, the family. He was in the shadows, had his money in construction companies, he did it like a gentleman, but then Lucian ca like a fucking teorite." He shook his head with a grin. "I despise the cartels, the gangs that don’t know the beauty of the mafia, of a family, they just fucking murder people for no reason. They have no taste, the only thing they see is money and power, there is no beauty in that... Lucian was ugly in that extent, as he was a fucking wild beast killing everybody... but now it is you who rules, and you remind of the old days."
"Do I?" Jas asked back; for so reason, he felt... proud about it, especially hearing it from sobody who had experienced the Lucian and Silas era.
"Yeah, though you had so tweaks." Damien giggled. "But you dress sophisticated, and that cane..." He glanced at it "...magnificent. It has its own aura, and the family itself too. A big mansion with guards around it is just beautiful, and moreover, you tried your best to revive this old way of forming alliances between families, it’s lovely, though there were definitely tis where you acted like a cartel Don who just sniffed ten grams." He laughed, and Jas knew exactly what he ant. "But still, I like a mix of the old ways and the new ways. Like the fact that you only kill when necessary, yet when you do, the entire underworld goes silent. And I don’t care whether you work with the governnt or not, because half the mafias do anyway, even if they deny it."
It was true. Half, if not more, of the mafia world worked with governnts as ti went on, and everyone eventually recognized that the mafia’s traditional structure was old-fashioned, with no ground to stand on compared to cartels and modern gangs.
"Can I be truthful with you too?" Jas asked, feeling like the atmosphere between them had lightened and that he could ask whatever he wanted.
"Of course. Let hear it."
"To be honest, you were invisible up until now, and I like that. That you just did your own job... but I don’t like that you sell to terrorists who kill innocent people."
Silence as Jas said it, the way it ca from his mouth almost sounded like a threat, like a warning aid at Damien.
"Ohh... I like that even more." Damien said as he chuckled a bit. "I like that you’re looking out for the civilians, though you had your fair share of killing so of them, even if not directly," he said. "...but I do not sell to terrorists." It was different... the way he looked at Jas made him feel that familiar sensation again.
That feeling of soone sitting in front of him, soone much older, much more experienced, much stronger. It wasn’t fear, but a sense of an abyss, that darkness in Damien that could wipe them out.
"I don’t know if I believe you, Damien. There are a lot of words about you out there." Jas said in a way that was well worded, not a threat, not a lie, and not the truth, just sothing he heard.
"That’s because people are dumb, and hearing it from you I would say you’re not educated about or the world and what is happening... you know it is a bad thing to listen to whispers and believe them. Can I educate you, Don Bellini?"
If Damien had been asked this twenty years ago, it would have been considered disrespectful. Even today, for so, it still would be, but for Jas, who was young and still learning, the question wasn’t disrespectful.
"Of course, I’m listening." He replied as he grabbed the glass of wine and drank a bit of it.
"There are two countries far, far to the east." Damien began. "Where the military took control of the governnt and started butchering everybody who dared to say a single word about wanting even a resemblance of democracy. And for so reason the Union and all the big alliances decided that the people fighting back against that military regi are terrorists." He shook his head slowly. "Those so-called terrorists are civilians. Young students from universities, kids from high schools, doctors, neighbors, teachers... people whose families were butchered in broad daylight, whose villages were burned to the ground, whose won were kidnapped and kept as sex slaves by the military. I support them, I sell them weapons. I arm those so-called terrorists, and yeah, I’m evil too in so way because I get rich off them, while they’re suffering and I’m drinking champagne, taking private jets... but that’s how the world works." He paused for a mont, keeping his gaze locked on Jas’ eyes. "So let ask you again... are we enemies, Don Bellini?"
Jas didn’t know what to say, because he didn’t know if Damien was lying or not, if those so called terrorists were actually civilians fighting for their freedom, or if it was just so made-up bullshit to convince him... but there was one thing he could rely on, Darvik himself.
He nodded the whole ti while Damien spoke, explaining what was really happening. The problem with Darvik was that he was only there for the money, but at the sa ti, Jas knew he wouldn’t let a man into Maraci who deals with terrorists, because that would pose a major threat.
Though he didn’t know for sure, since even the cartel was considered a terrorist group, he still had to make the decision, and he did.
"Friends or business partners? One of them would be great... both of them are even greater." Jas answered, offering his hand.
"Let’s be both, Don Bellini." Damien replied as a big smile stuck on his face as he shook Jas’s hand.
Within an hour, he had made two new friends, two new business partners, one a cartel leader who holds his own country as a hostage, the other an arms dealer who supplies wars, rebellions, and private militaries.
What a trio.
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