Elegance with Expense

32. Aspirations change

I was expecting to eat at a restaurant, one of the fancy types which best suited my family's style. I was surprised to say the least when the cars pulled up to a large westernized property, men were stood at the gates in outfits which resembled an army uniform. They were stood straight with tall guns pointing upwards and their faces were deadly serious.

One of the rooves were upturned, in a traditional manner, making this seem like we were not in New York, but instead in an Eastern Asian country.

I was one of the first to step out of the car, gazing around at the property which was decorated with lovely red lanterns, intricate detailing on the top of the gate showing writing in a Cantonese style. I recognized the language because I studied it for a while; I am not fluent like I am in the other languages, but I have a good understanding.

'Whose house are we at?' I leaned in closer to Lorenzo.

'Leader of the Chinese mob.' Dante answered instead as he magically showed up on the other side of me.

'That's what I thought.' I muttered.

'What was that?' Lorenzo cocked an ear in my direction.

'Nothing.' I said, following my other brothers who had already started walking to the grand front door. I caught up to Armani and walked beside him, he looked down to me and sent a small smile, almost as if he sensed that I was partly nervous for an important dinner like this. A butler, dressed in a similar way to the ones I was familiar with, opened the door and nodded to my two eldest brothers who were the first to enter the huge mansion.

Every architects dream was what I first thought when I walked in, a marble tiled floor ran all the way across, and a huge fish tank was built in the walls. 

Thousands of small water bound creatures swarmed around the area, bringing some needed colour into the entryway.

'Mr Rossi, thank you for coming today. Mr Li is eagerly waiting in the dining room.' A women bowed down to my brothers and held out her hand to guide us the way to the dining room. The woman had a naturally aged face, her eyes held kindness and her height was similar to a twelve year olds; I was the last to walk into the room, but on the way in, she bowed down to me and smiled a wonderful smile. I returned the smile which seemed to greatly surprise her. 

The dinner table was set out for at least 20 people, 4 people were already seated. One at the head, and others were scattered around. My brothers gave the man sitting at the head a handshake, nodding as they spoke in a hushed voice. I looked at the others sat around the table, they looked younger than the man who seemingly caught all of the attention, but then again that man was old enough to be my grandfather. One looked middle aged, another looked about Rocco's age and the last one looked in between mine and the twins' ages.

'Everyone, please take a seat.' Mr Li spoke, spreading out both of his hands in a welcoming way. I took my seat next in between Vincent and the younger guy who was already giving off a cocky vibe. 'My appreciation for coming tonight.' He nodded as he took a seat himself.

Just as everyone settled in, some other guards came in and presented Marcus who walked in wearing a 3-piece suit, looking dapper as ever. He barrenly apologized for being late and took his seat next to Armani and nodded politely to Mr Li who gladly returned the gesture.

'The food will be served in a few minutes, after that, we can disperse from the youngsters-move into the drawing room and discuss the repercussions of the possible deal.' The middle aged man tapped his glass with the tip of a small desert spoon, automatically setting off a chain reaction from the workers.

I immediately noticed that their treatment of the staff was nothing like how my family treated the people that worked for us. The Li's were arrogant, carelessly waving their hands around, impolitely dismissing the chefs after they placed a wonderfully presented dish in front of them. I said a 'thank you' which caused the younger guy to turn his head to me, looking as if he had seen an alien.