𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐌

68| S E S S A N T-O T T O

ALESSANDRO'S POV

I'm back in the house, I'm sitting in my office and keeping my nerves from exploding.

Adriano and I left my parents house immediately, no words spoken to Enzo and no words spoken between us. I left and didn't look back, I walked out and left him to live another day, to take another breath and get away one more time, one last time.

Enzo knows what's in the file, he wanted me to see it, he wants me to have it.

And I did. I do have it and it's flipping my world upside down. The file, it's all about the right heir, the rules of mafia leaders, rules of our court orders, the first rule of a leader, the first born, the only right heir to take over the mafia after his father retires.

After Marcelo's appearance, the news spread all around the globe in a matter of days. It occurs to the court and our greatest leaders that my placement was a mistake, that I have no right to be who I am, to sit on the throne while my older brother is the one who truly deserves it.

The court of the illegal, a court and laws for our messed up world. It's made of a group of men, twenty one voice in total, they attend coronations and check after us for any tricks, any errors or betrayal to our strict laws. They've sent us a warning, they've sent me a last chance to follow them, to get back in line with no harm from both sides.

They're demanding change. They're demanding I hand down my mafia before they strike, before the expose the crime we committed because while we can steal, murder and kindap, we can't mess around with our own rules, we can't pick the leader we wish and hope for, the oldest son has to rule no matter what, as long as he's alive and breathing on this planet, it can't be denied.

Marcello is aware of our business, he is aware of the job and even got himself one before I discovered who he is. He's almost three years older than me, he's not a weak man, he's capable and he wouldn't mind making a good leader. He wouldn't mind taking the opportunity out of my hands and not with hatred, not with jealousy but only with his rights.

It made me sit down in my place and shut up for the first time in my life and think. Think so deeply, lost into the depth of my mind if I ever was meant to be here, if I ever deserved any of this, if I ever am the person I'm supposed to be because now, it seems like I'm not.

I'm taking my brother's place, I'm taking and doing against the law, our few laws that I wish didn't exist, our few laws I spent years thinking I'm following, our few laws I didn't have to worry about because a week ago, I was the only son to Enzo Santoro, I was the only man who held his last name and now, it's revolving, it had been revolving three years before I was born.

I can't believe my mind is actually giving in, that I'm actually getting convinced after all these years, after years of growing up here, years of training and fighting for this. And after finally being able to lead, to become the person I worked the most for, it turns out not my story, it's all set in the wrong orders, it's all not real.

It's strange, looking at it this way, this way I'm trying to understand, trying to see a good side to but I fail, I fail so miserably because this is my life, this is my journey, I grew up knowing nothing but the mafia, I grew up craving it, I grew up hustling and getting back up for this, for all of this, this life and path and now it runs out on me because it shouldn't have been. None of this should have been.

For some reason, nothing breaks, nothing shatters and pains my heart. I love this place, I love and am proud of how far I've become, I wouldn't trade a second of it with the world. I was raised here, I learned here, I got pulled down here, I survived here. It seems to happen so fast, too fast I'm unable to react, I'm unable to put this into actual consideration, that I have to step down and hand the leadership to my brother, that I have to forget, to let it go and live as if it never happened.