Terza was staring at him with defiance. Vincenzo would have given anything to read her mind. She pressed her lips as she was clutching the fork and plate in her hand. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Vincenzo "Who do you think you are talking to Vincenzo? I dont take nonsense from any boys including you. Just because there is something going on between us that I dont even know what its called doesnt mean you get a free pass to do as you wish and say as you wish. You dont have the right to talk to me like that. Now I am going to walk out that door. You will let me walk away. But that is something you are good at. When you are not meant to let me walk out of your life, you do nothing and standby. But when you are meant to keep away, you keep coming at me. It stops now. You will sort your life out and then come talk to me Vincenzo."
As Terza turned to walk away, Vincenzo put his hand on the wall blocking her path as he leaned close " Terza. You ask me to sort my life. Well, you are my life... It's true. Terza, I didn't say anything you didn't expect to hear. I don't take insults either. There is a price to pay when you confront me. Don't you agree? If you wish to leave it like this, then be my guest but I won't let you get away Terza. Before you walk out while we are not even, let's make one thing clear. I didn't let you walk away. I was going to make our secret relationship work."
Terza shook her head " I am not your side dish Vincenzo. I made it clear. I won't be your side chick. You can't have it two ways. I am not yours right now. You are taking advantage of my feelings for you. I do feel sympathy for you. That's why I let you get closer than you should have. But it doesn't mean I see you as my man. You are not my partner. We just have a peculiar relationship that I can't call anything but a teenage mess."
Vincenzo nodded " I don't deny that. It is a mess. I am sorry Terza. It is a mess I am willing to fix."
Terza replied " Save it Vincenzo. Words are meaningless to me. I like to see action."
Vincenzo chuckled darkly and spoke words that brought chills down her spine " Be careful what you wish for Terza. I am claiming you soon."
Terza froze as. Hills went down her spine from the meaning behind each word. Vincenzo meant his words. He was coming for her and she was nervous. But she wasn't afraid. She enjoyed her freedom till then but darker times were coming. Vincenzo was going to turn eighteen just as he was warning her he was going to claim her.
Vincenzo then looked at her with affection as he spoke softly " Terza. I am who I am. I am a man. I find you incredibly irresistible and attractive right now. For being hostile to me, I am giving you way out of my future retaliation. Let me taste what you are tasting... with your hand..."
Terza breathed "No Vincenzo. Bring it on."
Vincenzo nodded " Alright Terza. Maybe the next time I ask you for a trade, you will be more co-operative. Enjoy the silence before the storm while it lasts." He then brought down his hand giving her way to her relief. She really didn't have the strength to fight him. She hadn't slept much last night as her body was adjusting to the change in the hours. It was going to take her awhile after her return from Italy to be used to the eastern time. She whispered " You don't scare me with your threats Vincenzo. If I feel like doing what you say, I will do it. Otherwise I won't."
As she walked away to the door he whispered back " If I feel like letting you walk out with no consequence for your hostility then I will. Otherwise I won't."
Clarisa put her hand on the door knob and turned around " Have fun in the meeting."
Vincenzo smiled " I will." He watched her leave the room taking his heart and soul with her. He sat down on the bed as he popped open a can of soda thinking about everything in his life. He was on the edge of victory and defeat at the same time. He had his family, he had achieved so much. He was an observer to other people's struggles while he was revelling in success. He knew a lot. Knowledge was power in his view and he knew more than he should have. But all would have been for nothing if Terza didn't return his feelings. She was all he wanted right now. He stood up as he was taking sips from his soda. He touched the spot on the wall where Terza was leaning on. He closed his eyes and imagined she was in that room. Her perfume was lingering and her presence was still fresh in his mind. Why couldn't he always have her with him? That was the tragedy of life. He opened his eyes and drank the rest of his soda as he prepared himself to go into business mode. The battle was going to start for some and the end was near for many too. He was going to watch the demise of many with no guilt. He was who he was. A mob heir, a war lord, a gangster.
Vincenzo threw the empty can in the bin and walked outside. He walked to his father and smiled as he took his spot next to him for the rest of lunch time. His father was talking to Sterling Johnson and kept giving him glances that only he could interpret as curious looks.
Sterling liked Vincenzo's air of authority and elegance. He was so much like his father. As he was chatting with Francesco, the time came for the women to leave and the men to go to the conference room. Sterling whispered to Francesco " Do you have any requests Francesco. Do you want me to change the seating arrangement to suit you or anything else?"
Francesco shook his head " No. Sterling you have done enough. I will keep the peace. It's part of the conference."
Sterling felt saddened by his lack of power to avoid a meeting between Francesco and his father. The Italian guests had not entered yet. It was their style to enter after lunch into conference room. He wished he didn't have to host this event. He hated for Francesco to be forced to endure his father's company on his territory but he didn't make such decisions. He nodded and made his way to the meeting room as he instructed the guards to guide the guests to the special conference room he had arranged for this day in his massive meeting hall.
The Americans took their seats looking at their watches in the oval shaped room that had chairs on platforms arranged like the senate. As the guards started serving wine to the waiting guests, the doors opened with announcement of the Italians arriving.
Vincenzo watched as the doors opened and the Sicilian families came through including his grandfather who was one of the last of them to enter through one of the doors with many others including Vitale. From the other door, Arturo Agostini with His son Andreas who entered next. Then there was Ambrogio Voltolini and his nephew Scorpius followed by Cristofero Constantini and his son Cesario Cain. Lucianos were the last to enter. Juliano Luciano came inside with the dangerous glint in his eye that Vincenzo was wary of. Vincenzo had a grudge against him after how he had gone after Viggo and Angelia. He didn't like him. He didn't want anything more than making him pay but of course the fact that Andreas was in love with Juliano's sister, Julietta complicated the matters.
As everyone sat down, Sterling Johnson addressed the guests. After formal introductions and stating the rules, he sat down giving the main platform to the Irish who talked about the FBI and how the regions under their control was affected. Then the Italians one by one discussed the impact of the new laws on their trade. The Americans were on the same page and the meeting was going well for day one of the conference.
Sterling stood up and asked for any other business to be discussed. That was Vitale's turn to go up there. Vincenzo knew the speech he was going to give word by word. Vitale had written it along time ago and had rehearsed it. It shocked the attendees when he referred to the attempt on the life of the Luciano bride by Letizia Marciano in that infamous incident. The recitation of the incident was confusing the people since they weren't sure of the outcome except for the angry interruptions from the Lucianos throwing threats at Letizia's father. That did it. Vitale roared at them to be quiet and stated his claim on her and explained how Vincenzo had been safekeeping her like any honourable Rosario would have in that situation. The room fell silent at that point as the entire room were staring between Vincenzo and Vitale. Vincenzo didn't care about that. He didn't mind. But then his father's stare on him was the heavy one. Viggo was looking at Vincenzo with his mouth open with total disbelief.
Paulo was looking at his grand son with a smile.
Then there were the other mob bosses staring at Vincenzo too with unreadable expression.
Emanuelle O'Neil alongside Tristan from the Irish side of the room were also looking right at Vincenzo too thoughtfully and silently. Emanuelle was shaking his head while Tristan could not believe what he had heard. How could he miss that all this time? He was observant and he hadn't managed to find out about his secrets.
Of course after seconds past I'm silence, it hit the room what Vitale was proposing. He was asking for a pardon for Letizia so she could go back to Italy safely. Uproar came from the Luciano family side. The others present were shouting their opinions as chaos broke out.
Vincenzo watched as his father stood up " Vincenzo. I need to have a word with you outside."
Vincenzo stood up quickly " Yes. Of course."
Sterling stood up and walked to the platform asking for silence. He put his hand up and immediately the room went silent. The host was to be respected. As the room fell silent, Sterling glanced at Francesco and Vincenzo's standing form " May I ask you to remain seated please. We can't resolve this without a Rosario vote from you, Francesco. He almost sounded like he was pleading to Francesco not to leave the room.
Francesco spoke as his voice boomed in the room " I need to speak to my son outside regarding this matter."
The voices from left and right objected to Francesco from all directions " You have an honourable son Francesco...". " He did his duty. Now stay to give us your vote..." . "Congratulations Francesco on your honourable son..." . " Francesco can we have a word with your son instead. The young man can pass on some judgement here."
Francesco glanced at Vincenzo " Outside now." He then announced " I will be back in five minutes." He then grabbed his son's arm and dragged him outside.
As Francesco stepped outside, he turned to his son " What the hell just happened in there? Is this all true son? You harboured this secret for a year and a half for Vitale? Why didn't you come to me? I need to know son. Most importantly do you have other secrets I don't know of?"
Vincenzo declared " I am so sorry father ... I ..." Just then he looked past his father as the door opened and Viggo rushed outside " You have to come in father. There is tension and chaos inside. You have to be present. Rosarios are involved."
Francesco rubbed his forehead with his hand "Vincenzo you better have no more surprises for me young man. We will discuss this later." He then shook his head muttering under his breath as he then entered the conference room followed by his sons but nothing prepared him for the tension in the room. He witnessed a heated exchange between the Voltolinis, Rosarios and Lucianos on the platform as arguments were thrown around the room. This was a feud like no other as the matters became more complex with the words exchanged between the youth in each family.