“Cleh!”
Before we even sat down, Vito Marinelli cleared his throat.
The meeting room, large enough to accommodate significant chairs for all the bosses except him, seemed massive.
Despite the distance, his throat-clearing was surprisingly clear.
“Godfather, Godmother. There’s something I’d like to discuss before the other bosses arrive.”
“Please tell me it’s not about Blue Eyes again.”
“What is it?”
Unlike Elena, who responded casually, I answered more politely, considering he was Felicita’s father, my father-in-law.
“I think it’s about time.”
‘Time for what?’
I didn’t bother to answer that, but both wives flinched almost simultaneously.
Elena’s and Felicita’s reactions were different, but their next move was the same: they closed in on me.
“You’re saying something quite right for a father.”
“….”
Vito Marinelli raised an eyebrow at Felicita’s ambiguous compliment.
“Alright then, could you get a little distance?”
Felicia hugged me from behind while Elena approached from the front, making me a sandwich before I even sat down.
Of course, I managed to slip away while they were focused on each other.
“Are you talking about a wedding?”
“Well, my son-in-law isn’t completely oblivious. We’ve handled the Sanchez Family, and the Vipers are dealt with, so isn’t it about time?”
“Are you still considering it, knowing Dragovich is left?”
Vito Marinelli knows Mikhail Dragovich well.
If we indulged in something like a wedding while riding the high of an incomplete victory, Dragovich would surely exploit that weakness.
‘Could he really be that clueless?’
“That guy is nothing but a lonely island adrift on the sea. Does the sea fear a single island?”
“The other islands may reach out to that island. It could go the other way too.”
The Five Families of Hebili.
The almighty rulers managing all the mafia families in this country.
Though that role passed to my father as they collapsed, neither Elena nor I have regained that level of authority since his passing.
With the Western, Central, and other families around Hebili, they wouldn’t just stand by while the Eastern Five Families and the Felini Family fell apart.
“So you’re saying we’ll postpone the wedding with my daughter again?”
“Just take care of Dragovich.”
Mikhail Dragovich and his family wield influence that matches the other Five Families, holding a substantial area in Hebili.
If we were to face an external force while such strength remained, the tide of war could turn in an instant.
The Russo Family has taken down the Vipers, so they could officially join the coming war, but it could also go the opposite way. They could declare war on our cousins beyond the northern Hebili who allied with the Vipers.
In that case, all four families would be thrown into the war again.
Carmen and Solomon have limited strength to allocate for stability in their newly acquired territories.
That leaves us, the Felini and Marinelli, with solid power.
Delaying any longer wouldn’t be beneficial. I wanted to explain this thoroughly.
“Enough, Luke.”
“…Huh?”
Felicia had come up behind me before I knew it.
“If you want… I can wait as long as you need.”
“….”
Her words weren’t what I wanted to hear. She was clearly saying it out of obligation.
At least I thought so.
“I guess our child is more important than the wedding. It’ll probably be more special than Elena’s wedding since it’ll be a wedding celebrated with our child watching…”
But perhaps I didn’t know her well enough. Felicia’s thoughts were far beyond my predictions.
“….”
At her response, neither I nor Elena nor Vito Marinelli could speak.
Especially her father wore a bewildered expression.
“Dad, this should be fine, right?”
“…Hahaha! Totally!”
Felicia’s gaze toward her father was icily cold.
I figured she might be thinking the same thing as me: that her father was trying to fish out the risky Dragovich by baiting his eldest daughter and grandchild.
I just hoped what Felicia and I thought wasn’t true.
“….”
Meanwhile, Elena couldn’t hide her discomfort amid the dangerous atmosphere between the father and daughter.
It wasn’t just the previous comment from Felicia that annoyed her; it was also that Vito Marinelli was trying to use me, her husband, and brother as bait.
“Let’s go ahead and take a seat.”
“Got it.”
It was my job to organize the situation.
Elena and I sat at the designated seats, while Felicia settled close to me on the armrest of the large chair I occupied.
From then on, it was a long, tedious wait.
However, the shock of Vito Marinelli’s earlier comment hadn’t faded.
To consider using his daughter. To use his grandchild as bait.
Especially when he had a daughter who had fought to keep the family safe while stricken with drug addiction.
Perhaps that’s why?
Since earlier, Felicia’s glaring gaze tracking her father was incredibly sharp. So sharp that it made me and Elena watch our backs.
Well…
If one of the bosses of the Five Families gave a bit of coldness in the face of power and crisis, it might be perfectly normal.
Before long, I found myself sharing a glare with Felicia toward Vito Marinelli.
“It seems we have other guests arriving.”
Just as I stated that, footsteps echoed outside the meeting room. Being an elf, Elena had sharper hearing than I did.
I wasn’t so sure if it would work while transformed into a wolf.
“Oh dear. It seems I might have missed the first arrival.”
Veronica Felini and Paula Carmen.
The boss of the Carmen Family and the Consigliere appeared quite amicably.
“Looks like they’re starting to arrive. The young Spider’s seat is over there.”
Vito Marinelli pointed his staff toward the place where Veronica was to sit.
“Marinelli, don’t you think there aren’t enough chairs in this large space?”
“That’s what they call the beauty of simplicity in the East.”
Vito Marinelli remained silent at Paula Carmen’s complaints about not having a place to sit.
*
This left three families remaining.
As soon as Veronica sat down, she brightly smiled at Elena and me.
“…This is a bit pressuring.”
“Oh come on, isn’t that a bit harsh on your little sister?”
“No, I mean not Veronica, but the one next to her.”
“Ah.”
At Elena’s words, Felicia inexplicably agreed.
While Veronica might be fine, Paula Carmen beside her sent us a faux smile that created tension anyway.
It was quite a skill to look friendly yet discomforting.
“Felicia, by the way, whose horns did those that were cut belong to?”
“Who else? To himself.”
I asked Felicia about Vito Marinelli’s severed horns.
It turned out that after becoming addicted to Blue Eyes, Vito’s children had taken to using his horns before utilizing their own.
“Regardless of how many horns were used, the effects are still impressive, I guess.”
“Elena, but you can’t fix one’s inherent nature.”
Felicia was overtly mocking her father for anyone to hear.
Meanwhile, whether Vito Marinelli overheard this conversation was uncertain. With the distance between us, I suspected it might not be audible.
Unless the descendants of the Golden Dragon had hearing as sharp as elves or wolves.
Thud. Thud.
Without meaning to, my ears perked up at the heavy footsteps echoing from outside the meeting room.
“….”
The heavy door swung open vigorously, revealing Darius Russo, Arta Russo, and Damar Russo.
The boss, underboss, and consigliere of the Russo Family made their personal appearance.
“Is that little rat still not here?”
“You’re wrong. It’s a hamster, not a rat.”
“Hmph, isn’t that the same?”
Darius headed toward the remaining large chairs, asking as he walked.
Before I could say anything, Vito Marinelli pointed his staff toward the seat that he should take.
“Now we just need Marinelli and Solomon to arrive.”
Just as I mentioned it, both my wives reacted immediately.
“Aren’t your brothers taking too long?”
“True. Manfredi would never be this late.”
“Russo, did you part ways with the other two families during the journey?”
“Yeah.”
Darius replied succinctly. Not long after, the sound of multiple footsteps began to emerge.
Though the sounds were so many, they seemed irregular… but that wasn’t the case. The hurried short steps and the heavy, steady footsteps confirmed the identity of their owners.
“Damn it.”
The arrival of Manfredi Marinelli and Little Dom Solomon.
Little Dom, realizing he was now the most delayed, muttered curses under his breath.
Though the Marinelli Family just arrived, Vito Marinelli was already seated in the important position.
“Sit down already, young man.”
This time, Vito Marinelli didn’t even need to point with his staff to indicate where to sit.
“Ugh!”
As Little Dom sat down on the large chair with help from his associates, I signaled the start of our committee meeting. After all, I was the chairperson of this meeting.
“This meeting was initiated at Darius Russo’s request.”
“Eh? Not Marinelli?”
“Right, no. That old man merely changed the venue to here.”
Veronica and Paula cast glances at me upon hearing Russo’s remark.
“Russo is right.”
“Alright, then let’s get right to it.”
In this setup, if I was the chairperson, Elena acted as the vice-chair. It wasn’t genuinely accurate, but they felt that way since they were the Godfather and Godmother.
The committee was originally a governing body that controlled all mafia families across the country.
If a meeting was held in the committee, it usually meant very important matters were at hand.
For instance, it could be about disputes over heirs of certain families, resolving large-scale conflicts involving multiple families, and sharing enough business information that benefits one another.
“Let’s confirm the newly determined territories and regions first.”
Coincidentally, it seemed Vito Marinelli had prepared for this too.
On the map of the city of Hebili, we marked out the new territories of the Five Families.
Compared to the previous situation, the most notable change was indeed that the city center entirely belonged to us, the Felini Family.
Most of the Sanchez Family’s territory, barring a few exceptions, was absorbed entirely by the Solomon Family. Then there were the Carmen Family, which had expanded its territory north instead of south, and the Russo Family, which had completely suppressed the Vipers.
“Since I’m sure everyone has reached a cordial agreement about the territories, there’s no need to waste more time.”
This was just a formal re-confirmation, after all.
“Russo.”
I urged Darius Russo to unleash the words he had been holding back. I felt this might put undue pressure on the already short-tempered guy.
“I’ve confirmed the locations of the two functioning Viper Training Facilities.”
“….”
Elena and I were already aware of this.
However, the bosses from the other families, excluding us, looked quite shocked.
“So we could re-train the Vipers?”
“That would be correct. But dream on. We’ll take care of them.”
At Vito Marinelli’s question, Darius replied irritably.
“The Vipers are indeed dangerous. But how can we trust that those two Viper Training Facilities still exist?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. Spider. Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
Veronica’s pointed remark received a response from Darius.
Darius added that this information came directly from the mouth of a Viper he had dealt with last.
“You seem more naive than one might expect. It could very well have been something thrown out in pain.”
“I’ve already confirmed the locations he mentioned.”
Even in response to Paula’s taunt, Darius stood firm.
“The point is this: whether we handle the two remaining Viper Training Facilities. And whether we’ll entrust that task to the Russo Family.”
Before Darius and the other bosses could continue their debate, I intervened.
The vote was swiftly conducted.
Vito Marinelli opposed, but the other bosses, including Darius Russo himself, were in favor.
With that, the handling of the Viper Training Facilities was officially assigned to the Russo Family.
“Such a pity. What a waste.”
“….”
Darius did not explode upon seeing Vito Marinelli lamenting about a brother’s death.
“Alright, let’s move on to the next agenda.”
There could be other bosses with significant matters to discuss besides Darius Russo.
If not, then this would practically signal the end of our meeting. I wanted to wrap this up as quickly as possible.
“If no one else, then this old man will propose one.”
“….”
It was Vito Marinelli.
Just he alone raised his hand. The topics he had in mind were twofold.
“How about placing a bounty on Dragovich’s head?”
The first was to issue a manhunt for Mikhail Dragovich.
“The Wolf and the Spider have already become the Five Families themselves, and the Vipers should be disappearing completely soon. Don’t we need a new tool that fits the new Five Families?”
The second proposal was to create a new subordinate organization for the Five Families.
