Taken By The Mafia Lord

“You actually spoke with your mother?” Marcel interrupted him, brows raised in interest, “I actually thought she was beating you the entire time,” He laughed, all by himself.

Victor halted in his step, giving him a deadpanned look.

“Sorry. Continue.” Marcel decided to be serious.

Victor resumed the conversation immediately as if someone had pressed the play button on him, “She said they are going to pressure you into choosing an underboss today,”

There was no change in Marcel’s expression at that disclosure. He didn’t even blink, “Thought that much,”

Unlike him, Arthur does not exactly hide his emotions well and there was only one good reason why his cousin could be that happy: he sensed his promotion.

In his dream.

One might ask why was everyone so desperate for the position of underboss?

.....

While the underboss is usually first in line to become acting boss if the boss is imprisoned, or dead, and is also frequently seen as a logical successor, he’s also the second in command of the family. He would often run the day-to-day responsibilities of the family or oversee its most lucrative rackets. As well as gets a percentage of the family’s income from the boss’s cut. So yeah, it was a lucrative position of power.

Victor stopped walking and after one or two glances over his shoulder, he asked Marcel in a lowered tone, “And now you know, please tell me you have a plan,” he hoped.

His cousin always has a plan B for everything which was why he had been able to maintain this seat without the support of his father. Daniel still hasn’t forgiven him for overthrowing him when his time wasn’t due.

Marcel was by far the youngest boss after his own father, Daniel. The only reason Daniel had ruled at a young age was that there was no one else suitable for the position: Albine was killed by Mattia and cast out, while his father Magnus rejected the offer, leaving him as the only eligible candidate. Sadly, Carmine was a female and ineligible for the position while other capable males remained.

Marcel stepped closer to say, “I’m happy to announce to you my dear consigliere that I have not a single plan up here,” He pointed to his head.

Victor’s facepalmed, he didn’t know whether to feel pity for Marcel who was about to go through a tough battle, or to feel miserable for himself who had no solution as his consigliere. He doesn’t deserve this position.

“There’s no one on our side of the family to hand over the position to, neither are my sisters interested in the organization, lest we could have used one of them to buy time till we come up with a solution,” Victor sighed, running his hand through his hair.

Suddenly, he grabbed Marcel’s hand saying, “Come on, we should meet my mother and come up with a countermeasure,” Victor hardly took a step when a loud clinking sound came from a microphone, snatching everyone’s attention.

It was too late.

Everyone turned to the sight of Daniel standing on the podium with a flute filled with drink and a spoon in hand – the noise must have been produced when he hit it – as he announced, “Settle down, everybody,”

It was an order no one could disobey. If Marcel was the boss, Daniel was the patriarch of the family and if there was anyone they feared greatly in the family, it was him.

The conference seating arrangement was used in the hall, one that offers a long, rectangular table for all of them to sit facing each other. Since Daniel had called for the meeting, he sat at the head of the table as the patriarch while Carmine, Benjamin, Robert, and older family members flanked him on both sides before Marcel and the others followed suit in the middle till the rest of the suits were taken and everyone seated.

Daniel as the head was the one that stood up and thanked the family members for heeding the invitation and attending the meeting. He went back to the history of the family; giving a few words of exaltation, charging family members to promote peace and unity, and blah blah nobody really cared about. Right now, they were waiting for that moment – the moment they swallowed Marcel whole.

“Finally....” Everyone held their breath knowing that the appointed time had arrived, “We would move to the issue of the day and the reason for this gathering,”

Some readjusted in the seat; a few leaned closer as if they couldn’t wait to strike; while the rest already had a satisfied look on their face confident of winning. All in all, Marcel sat unfazed nor bothered, and a few others who saw his comfort state took that as arrogance. They sneered, let’s see how long he lasts.

“We all heard of the news that made the rounds this week and our men were involved in a series of accidents in which we lost some good men to the cold hands of death and a few injured. Now I would like our boss and current leader of the Luciano family to give us an explanation as to what happened?” He gestured to Marcel as he took his seat having done his part.

When Marcel stood to his feet, there was not even an applause to acknowledge his position of power except an awkward one from Victor yet he didn’t care. If anything, he could see everyone’s true colors now and a few already had their fangs out, ready to tear their razor-shaped teeth into his flesh.

“First of all, I would like to thank every single member of my family that made it their goal to attend this meeting today. It shows that we are bound by love and can’t wait to show our undying support for a member in need,” Marcel used sarcasm so obvious that even the dumbest person in the room could read beneath the lines.

He rubbed their pretense on their faces and a few of them began to squirm uncomfortably on their seats while a few looked away, embarrassed at their sin being called out but the brazen ones were undaunted. They had a mission today and there was no turning back until they got what they wanted.