𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀

XXII

D

I can't afford to let you be that man, so you must make a choice here and now. The Famiglia or her?

My father's words echoed in my mind as I drove back home to Mina, coupled with the argument that followed.

His words left me speechless. I was shocked, not expecting him to outright question me and make me make that choice.

I was conflicted.

Choosing the Famiglia over Mina meant I would have to let her go, something I couldn't see myself doing because I cared for her. Was it too soon to say that I loved her? Sure, but the feelings I had for her were real and I knew if I let her go—if I let her leave, I would never find those feelings again. I also knew it was a risk to leave her now that we were at war. Similarly, Vincenzo was aware of who she was and he would take any given opportunity to get back at me through her. But I knew deep down that the Famiglia came before her. It came before everything—including family.

Choosing Mina over the Famiglia resulted in death. Choosing anything over the Famiglia resulted in death. It was the highest form of betrayal and nobody was exempt from that fate.

There was only one case of that form of betrayal and that was my Nonna. Though her death was by her own hand, the premise of it was her wishing to take her and her children away from lifestyle. Away from the Famiglia.

Her suicide was a dark stain on our family, one we didn't talk about as Nonno forbade it. I ruled it down to guilt. From what I remembered growing up, I was told that their union was loveless and their marriage strained—the fault lying on my grandfather who loved another.

She too probably had a lover of her own, but her duty to the Famiglia overshadowed it. That love blinded him and she was painfully reminded of it every waking second. Through the treatment of my father and his siblings to the loss of two of her children, my grandfather's neglect was too painful to bear.

Once you were bound by blood or marriage, you couldn't leave the lifestyle. The only way to leave was through dying. That was how it worked.

After her death, things changed but the damage was already done.

"You're making me choose?" I stated with a deadpan voice.

"I'm opening your eyes to the choices you'll be forced to make as Don in the future. Now as capo, you are swayed to her, what will you do when I pass the mantle onto you?"

"I will carry out my duty like I was trained to do but that doesn't negate the fact that I can still be in a relationship with her—" I challenged back, making my father sigh. He fell back into his seat, and I stepped closer to his desk. "You said a good man can balance both, why do you think I won't be able to do that?"

"It won't work out." He firmly replied, sifting through the piles of paper on his desk. I watched as he retrieved his reading glasses, putting them on before directing his attention to his paperwork.

I released a low scoff, earning a quick glower from him as he peered up at me from under his glasses. "How do you know that?"

"She isn't like us. She won't understand that there will be times where you will have to stay out late to prioritise working for the Famiglia, meaning less time with her. She will want more and when you can't provide that for her, what then?" My father said with assurance, his stance on my relationship with Mina unswayed.

"Your relationship with her is of personal benefit to you. That is a personal satisfaction that doesn't benefit the Famiglia—"

"The Famiglia is built on personal satisfaction! It is built on personal gain?! How does my relationship with her differ?!