Dario
- Is everything ready for our trip, Caetano?
- Yes, sir! But I don't think it is wise to take your son with us, we don't know what we will find there, it has been a while since we have been to Brazil, that is why I don't think it is good to take Valentim.
It has been many years since we have been to Brazil, that place full of half-breeds never aroused any kind of interest, but the man appointed by Bernardino died a few months ago and we have not had a decent report on the profits in Brazil for months, besides, my brother needs to settle his business in those lands, he has delayed too much and I know how eager Saul is to get between the legs of his future wife.
Even the son of the soldier we sent to take care of her has become close to the girl and has even become best friends, sending daily reports on her life. Lidia is beautiful even though she is a half-breed, I don't know how my father will receive the news that my brother made a pact with the daughter of an Italian and a black Brazilian.
Old Bernardino is attached to old things and prejudiced traditions, I have already told Saul to tell him soon and take advantage of the fact that I am the Don and he is the second so that the old man can not meddle in our affairs but my brother always postponed this conversation, I believe that today he will finally talk to our father about the matter.
- It's not risky, my son needs me, this trip is a great opportunity to show him how important I am in our relationship.
The work and my obligations in the mafia have kept Valentine away from me, I know that my son has a lot of love for me, but because of all the distance that my job has caused and the lack of a mother, they are making Valentine an introverted and shy boy, his only confidant is my sister because my son lives in the world of books.
In the few spare moments I had I used to read him a story or to talk about Cecilia, I never mentioned Nina because I didn't want my son to know how his mother died. Then his grandparents never had any interest in my son, saying that he belonged to me and not to them, some time later they died of treason.
I found out that they were working for the Tolentinos passing on information about our business, I know that they wanted me and my whole family dead, so they started to play double games, but they didn't count on my cleverness, I found out everything they did and I eliminated them from the face of the earth.
For Valentine, his mother is Cecilia, I know it was not right to talk so much about her, to make him have a true devotion for her but like me Valentine needed to cling to something good and pure to survive. During all these years, I kept attached to the memory of her as if she were my daily medicine, prescribed so that I would not go crazy for good, I read her diary for hours, I tried to look for her good and delicate perfume everywhere but unfortunately I never found it.
Killing still had its addictive and delirious effect but what I experienced with Cecilia I would hardly have again, I am a sick bastard but I would do anything to have her just once. I felt all the love, devotion and obedience in the beginning that only came from her but now this is impossible because Cecilia is dead.
- The situation here is under control, we have never had so many profits and good results during all the last years so I deserve a vacation, I won't stay a month there, just one week, who knows, maybe travel the Brazilian coast with my son, Valentine loves the sea.
Caetano just nodded in agreement with my son going on this trip, my head of security has become a bitter and increasingly cold man, not meeting the addict has transformed him during these years. I know he hasn't forgotten Luana but I faked it well as I forbade him to look for the girl, his obsession was already irritating me.
I leave the office to check the preparations for the trip when I hear things being broken in the office, I knew at that moment that Saul finally told our father about Lidia.
- WHAT HE DID IS IRREVOCABLE! NOW THE HALF-BREED IS OUR FAMILY, SHE HAS JOINED OUR BLOOD TO HERS! WHAT WAS IN YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU DID THIS?
I arrived at the office listening to my father's scolding of my brother, Saul had his head down listening to all the shit our father was saying.
- You should have this girl killed, that way you would solve your problem that is now ours!
- Oh father, I am sorry to inform you, but you are not going to do that! As Don I have to enforce the rules, even if you touch a hair on her head, you know that I personally will have to kill you, regardless of the fact that you are my father, don't forget that the girl's father died to protect you, don't be ungrateful. Don't come with cheap moralism, have you forgotten what you did to my mother?
- What did you do to my mother, Dad?
It was time for Saul to know who my father was and to stop this foolish worship of someone who doesn't deserve it. My father remained silent, bowing his head in shame as he remembered what he had done to Mama Bettina.
- If you're not going to tell, you can leave it to me to share your secret with Saul! Our mother was engaged to old Tolentino but our dear father was in love with her and took advantage of the closeness he had with our mother's family and his own, raping her. Our father is prejudiced and doesn't want to accept a half-breed, but he had the courage to rape our mother, who was just a naive girl who believed in the friendship of an unscrupulous man.
Saul looked at my father with the worst expression in the world, I only saw this look when he left the initiation. My brother finally knew who our father is because until then he worshipped him as if he were a god.
- I may have made the mistake of putting Lydia in this shit that is our family but I'm not like you, I don't want you to accept her, I'm just telling you about my engagement and marriage, rest assured that after this revelation about the monster that was with my mama I don't intend to stay under the same roof as you. You are a disgusting being, Dad! I hate you with all my strength, damned is the blood that runs in my veins for being the same as yours.
My brother left the office upset while my father stood there with a defeated look on his face staring at me without reaction.
- Why do you hate me so much, Dario?
- I don't hate you, my father, I just can't stand what you do, the way you manipulate Saul, Mariana and boob is Oscar worthy. You like to judge the faults of others but you are worse than everyone here. You can play with everyone but me, Dad!
I left my father alone without saying anything else, I don't imagine that he will change but it's good to know that I'm not under his control and that he doesn't manipulate me. I go to the library and listen to my son's conversation with his aunt hiding behind the door, he is a good listener and is developing very well in reading even if he still confuses the words or tries to guess, even so Valentine learns very fast!
- Auntie, I am going on a trip with the pope, we are going to Brazil.
- That's good, my love, you know you must behave, don't you? Be a good boy, polite, so that your daddy will be proud of you!
He shook his head showing that it would be what is expected of him, I stood there listening to my son talking to his aunt, perhaps because I wanted to know how he felt about me.
- I love papa, I have to make him proud but I prefer mama Cecilia, do you think she would like me?
My mother and sister never agreed with what I did but they help in the lie so they are conniving, my luck about what happened with Nina is that no one would dare mention her to my son otherwise he would be a dead person and the fact that he has nothing like her helps a lot. My son inherited all my traits, being totally an Albertini.
- Of course he did, his papa doesn't say that she loved books so he would be very proud to know that his son pulled her.
- I wanted my mama Cecilia with me, I wonder if some book here in Grandpa's library has a spell to bring her to me.
My son's innocence moves me, I am not a man given to emotions yet I believe that it weakens but I have lost a lot in life for being like that, including the only woman who was able to have love for me.
- I am sorry, my darling, your mother is now a little star in heaven, she is taking care and watching over you. Besides, you have me and Grandma, and we love you very much!
I decided to show up observing the way my son's posture changes when he sees me, becoming a serious boy with a different posture than when he was with my sister.
- Is everything ready for us to travel, Valentine?
- Yes, sir!
Many times, my son treats me like Don and not like his father, I know that it is my fault and the distance, but I understand that it is not normal for him to face me this way.
- Great, Valentine, we will go out tonight, I know you will like Brazil very much.
Valentine just nods and leaves the library, leaving me with Mariana, my sister is getting more and more beautiful, yet she can't imagine what awaits her.
- Mariana, I need to talk to you about something very important, I guess you know about the wedding with Vinicius Tolentino.
Mariana stood up and quietly put the books on the bookshelf, she did this so calmly that she didn't even seem to worry about saying anything about the wedding.
- Dario, our father has sentenced my fate forever, Vinicius Tolentino will make my life a living hell for hating you. I was delivered by a ridiculous truce that in reality never existed, I can't forgive our father for what he did and our mother for being so permissive to everything he does and says. I will fulfill my obligation but I want you to know that if anything happens to me it is not your fault or Saul's but our parents' who always felt it was right to decide what the course of our lives would be!
I imagine that as soon as I return from my trip, the Tolentinos will come to demand what is theirs but I'm at peace with that, one day we will all die and I imagine that my time is coming but I'm calm about it, I've done many things that have made me very happy and I even had the right to be innocent and naive like your boy but now I can no longer run away from what is in store for me.
My sister left without saying anything else and at that moment I knew that sweet Mariana no longer existed. She was no longer that needy, sweet and gentle girl, but now she is a serious, closed and extremely realistic woman. In the end, we are what we are for the family we have, being an Albertini was never a blessing but a curse.