Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
Lukas located his uncles, Benjamin and Robert, the sons of Mattia who murdered Albine and was cast away from the family line. While Benjamin fathered Gabriel, Adele, Cindy (plus his two late sons), Robert was the proud father of Arthur and Lance. Out of the two brothers, Robert was the most confident that he would return the rulership to their side of the family with the help of his son, Arthur. He was proud of him.
And speaking of Arthur, Lukas’s gaze rested on the scene of the young man bullying his younger brother without anyone noticing. It was no secret news to Lukas that Arthur and Lance were in intense competition with one another.
While Arthur effortlessly gained his father’s attention and approval, Lance was trapped under his elder brother’s shadow. No matter what he did, Arthur does it better or has done it already. It was quite frustrating.
Lukas did not know what they were discussing but he saw the way Arthur suddenly held Lance, his head trapped in his arm. While it might seem like a playful grapple amongst brothers, Lukas very well saw Arthur slap his brother’s cheek trice condescendingly. Lance was red in the face with embarrassment and tried to break free but Arthur held tighter while laughing.
Arthur would have continued with his act if his eyes hadn’t traveled across the room and as if he sensed Lukas watching him, their eyes connected and his face broke into a grin; the way a predator animal would when he senses a prey. Except that he was mistaken, because Lukas was sure that no matter the circumstance that he was the predator and Arthur was nothing but a scavenger.
With one final drumming of his fingers on his brother’s head, Arthur finally let go of Lance who was filled with indignation especially after discovering that Lukas had seen what happened. It was obvious that if they weren’t in such a public setting, he would have tackled his brother to the ground and begun a fight for all it’s worth, since he was going to lose anyway. But it doesn’t hurt to try.
Watching that scene Lukas was thankful that he didn’t have a sibling. Well, he did have one he loved – that was taken by his father – and it’s a female. Get the point.
Arthur came over to where he stood with that arrogant smirk playing at the corner of his lips, “I should leave it up to you to always be different from the others,” He referred to Lukas looking conversative in his dressing compared to them looking refined in their suits.
“Ahh…” Lukas breathed, “Sorry, but I tend not to follow the ignorant crowd,” He sassed.
There was a split in Arthur’s face at once, annoyance creeping up. Lukas sighed inwardly, when it came to exchanging words, why does the idiot always bother him when he knows he would be defended in the end.
“Fine, be smug all you want, we all know how today is going to end anyway,” He finally came off with his pretense.
“Yeah, I know,” Lukas surprisingly concurred, “I landed in a den of wolves. But we would see who the alpha wolf is in the end.” His smugness returned.
“And I’m his beta,” Victor came out of nowhere, draping his hand around Lukas’s shoulder, “I suggest you get your ass moving, you lowly omega,” He made an act of growling at Arthur in a threatening manner.
Arthur’s nostrils flared, “We’d see!” He promised yet walked with his tail in between his legs.
Lukas and Victor had smiling faces the entire time Arthur walked away and the minute he was gone, it dropped.
Victor said at once, “You are in trouble,”
“Yes, I am,” Lukas concurred.
Support For A Member In Need
Victor walked with Lukas by his side, scanning their surrounding like a thief scouting his target, ensuring there was no one eavesdropping on their conversation as he revealed, “I spoke with my mother and -“
“You actually spoke with your mother?” Lukas 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.” Lukas 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 Lukas’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 Lukas 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.
Lukas 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.
Lukas 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 Lukas 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 Lukas’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 Lukas 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 Lukas 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 Lukas 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, Lukas 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 Lukas as he took his seat having done his part.
When Lukas 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,” Lukas 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.
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree
“About the accident,” Lukas began and the hall went so silent that if a pin had dropped that moment, it would have clanked loudly across, “It was purely an accident and I’m working my best to see that all sides are settled with no hitch,” Was all Lukas said and sat down, and apparently, it wasn’t enough for everyone in the room.
“What do you mean it was purely an accident!” Lance was the first to speak up, looking livid, “Is that the attitude of a responsible leader? How is that an accident when it’s obvious that the brakes in the car were tampered with by that mercenary?!”