Uh… numbers. I hate numbers. Jas thought as he put on another black suit as he already knew that everyone would arrive dressed properly, like a real family attending a real eting and he was right.
This was the first eting in the family's history when everyone of higher rank was invited to sit down and discuss the most serious matter of the business… money, production, the future. A eting like this wasn't just formal… it was symbolic. And truthfully, everyone who was invited felt respected, because it ant they were not rely part of the family, but important individuals trusted by Jas, the Don.
So everyone brought out their best suits for the eting. Even Hector changed properly. Even Ramirez did, sothing that almost never happened before, as he usually preferred loose, military-style clothing instead of a proper suit. Still, even that alone showed just how serious this eting was.
Jas, however, was already tired of it before it even began.
Before everyone arrived, he stood in front of the mirror, staring at himself. The way he stood, the cane in his hand… his entire presence.
He looked different.
He looked like he had aged ten years from everything that had happened. His face was wrinkled, dark bags under his eyes, his whole being resembling a ghost.
I made a deal with Carllo before even knowing what the fuck was going on… then with Damien… Darvik needs money too, and so does the governnt..
The weight of it finally began to catch up to him. A constant, overwhelming flood of business. The relentless pull of it all, especially the money side of the family. He rembered Dani saying they were on the edge of going broke, and the reason was Dennus and that fucking war that destroyed the camps and the production lines. Since then, there hadn't been any real profit. A long war had broken out with the cartel, inside the Circle, and with the police too.
Everything went to shit.
Money drained fast, salaries, funerals, benefits, new business ventures ant to save them. Even without massive cash reserves left to their na, there was still sothing else pressing down on him.
We need to liquidate…
"Jas, everybody's here." Hector's voice ca through the door.
"I'm coming." Jas shook his head slightly, gave the mirror one last tired glance, and let it all go. He wasn't a money man. There were people in the family far smarter than him when it ca to numbers.
So he opened the door, stepped out, and walked toward the office with Hector.
And there they were.
The mont the door opened, the room changed. It was like a king returning to his seat. Everyone was already in the office, gathered around the table, so standing, so leaning, so mid-conversation, but the second Jas stepped in, every voice died.
They just turned and looked at him as Jas stood in the doorway, calm, composed, like he had never left in the first place. He didn't say a word and he didn't need to. The silence spoke for him.
For those who hadn't seen him in a long ti, it felt like seeing the real Don, not a na, not a rumor, but the man himself. The one whose decisions decided who stayed breathing and who didn't. He didn't rush inside, didn't look surprised, didn't react to their stares. He just stood there, eyes moving slowly across the room, acknowledging everyone without greeting a single one of them.
That was enough.
The cane rested in his hand, untouched, more a symbol than a necessity. The way he held himself, the way he looked at them, made it clear… this wasn't a eting anymore. This was his return, and the beginning of sothing far bigger than they had ever imagined would happen.
I hate this silence…
Jas thought. To him, the quiet was unbearable, embarrassing, even. No one was saying a word… they were just staring at him. Still, he noticed sothing strange, sothing that stood out.
The only ones who didn't really give a fuck were Bella and Ramirez. They stood there simply because everyone else did. The others, Dani, Basai, Sivy, and Jordan, were clearly intimidated by him. Dani had seen him recently, sure, but the other three hadn't. They hadn't seen Jas in months and now, looking at him, it was crazy to say the least.
He had completely changed… but that wasn't what Jas found strange.
"Where is Sophia?" He asked, turning his gaze to Hector beside him.
"She's taking care of her own family first, but she'll co tomorrow so we can tell her our plans. Hector answered and yeah, Sophia was securing her family, tying them closer to the Bellini family so they could work together more directly.
"Huh. Well then, let's begin." Jas said as he slowly walked to the head of the table and sat down.
The atmosphere was still off. This wasn't the feeling of friends sitting together, it was pressure as if sothing was wrong… so he asked the golden question.
"Dani…" Jas began looking straight at him. "Are we broke?"
The question itself was almost funny…. funny in a room filled with tension, where they were deciding the family's future, where the plans made in this mont would shape their lives.
And Jas opened it all with that question.
"Uhm… no." Dani said, eting Jas's eyes. "Considering what we have and what will be coming in, we'll be billionaires in no ti. We'll be swimming in money."
"Swimming in money…" Jas whispered, but sohow it didn't make him feel any better. He was tired as fuck, his head hurt as well as his whole body.
He didn't react to it with shock or surprise, more like… nothing.
Money was never really the point for him. Yeah, money dictated, money spoke, money was a weapon on its own, but money was also the bringer of chaos. And he knew, just like everybody else in the room, that once the money started coming in… hundreds of millions or billions… shit would co with it too.
But that's what the mafia was about… money, influence, power, and all the chaos and cash that ca with it.
And Jas had already seen all of it… so he was ready to take on more. Much more.
"Then let's begin…"
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