A Mob Boss's Territory (Book 4-About Vincenzo)

61. Fathers Minds

Paulo was sitting on a chair next to a window with a view of the harbour. It was night time. He hadn't seen any one since he had been transferred there in the morning. His room looked like a cage with bars everywhere on the windows and even on the doors. He was basically in a cage. There was no point tying him up because he always escaped. It was not hard. He was not happy with waiting. It was not one of his strengths. But waiting was a quality that his eldest son surely had. He didn't.

Francesco was always patient but meticulous. He always did his research before acting but when he acted he did so with great attention to detail. When was his son going to realise that he could do much better than this. His son could be killing many of his rivals and earn billions more by overtaking their assets. He tried and failed. It weakened him so his son overtook and became the leader he was now. He created so many enemies that Francesco managed to either eliminate or make peace with. He didn't apologise for being ambitious but he had some regrets. One of his regrets was how he had handled the situation with the Giovanni family. He was the reason Costanzo hadn't been able to marry Sancia. He was starting a war with the Giovanni family and had stopped Costanzo making any advances to Sancia. It did damage his business but later on the relations improved when Francesco took over and O'Neil marrying Sancia. He had made mistakes. But so had Francesco with his pursue of the waiting game.

He never understood why Francesco waited for that Lombardi girl for 10 years. He was incapable of understanding it. He wanted him to marry a woman who didn't turn him soft. Adele was the softest woman he could find. Of all the girls to fall for he had picked Adele who had absolutely nothing to offer. She had managed to influence Vincenzo and had made him religious. He was never religious. In fact he was an atheist never going to church. His father was dying and his brothers wanted to convince him to go to church. He wasn't willing. Even at his father's funeral when the time came he was going to refuse to go in. He had raised Francesco to be an atheist too but Adele had other plans. For  his wife he had chosen to live like how she wanted. If it made her content to raise their children with catholism he was going to do it because he could. Francesco hadn't made changes to his crime life because it was impossible but what he could change, he changed for her.

The lengths Francesco was going to go to make his wife happy was surreal to him. To him, a wife lived to serve her husband. It was her duty. His wife belonged to him and he dictated to Maria how to live. Just like how in his view his children lived with their souls belonging to the man of the house. When his wife and children didn't meet expectations he beat them. He didn't hold back. For his beliefs and principles, the family doctor had diagnosed him with mental health. He said he had issues with anger management. He didn't. It was who he was. Medication didn't change him so he stopped it. Did he have regrets for beating his eldest son? No. But he regretted doing it to the breaking point. Francesco never submitted. He never cried unlike Costanzo. He wanted his son to obey him, to cry, to beg. But he never did. His son never gave up. So he thought he over did it to a child. When Francesco was about to marry Adele he had apologised his son for breaking him. He meant it. He had beaten his son to a point he hated him. Francesco was meant to be grateful to him for raising him to be strong. But he wasn't. Instead he had cut off ties with him calling his treatment abuse. As much as he was proud of who he was and didn't regret being a strict father, he regretted breaking Francesco to a point of despise and hate. It was Francesco's will that was to hard to bend. Even at a young age his son was dangerous. He was a threat to him if not controlled.

He believed every word his son said when he vowed to kill him and Piero If Adele got hurt. He was pretty certain Francesco was going to do it. Even the threat of his mother's life being held in his hands didn't stop Francesco. Paulo knew his control had slipped over his eldest son when he met Adele so he made sure his son's life was made harder and harder. He put him through hell for ten years controlling every day of his life. Francesco never protested and all he asked for was updates and news on Adele. As long as she was alive he didn't protest and did as his father told him. Paulo thought his son was going to thank him when he took over for all his mentoring and help to make him the leader that he was but he told him what he always said in their meetings. He sent him away telling him, he had no reason to see him again unless it was going to be at his funeral. That was when he had decided that maybe he had pushed his son too far. He had over done it. He believed cruelty to his children and wife was necessary but if they hated you, then you over did it.