Page 10 of Heartless Sinner

At least I tried.

Chapter Three

Micah

Power isn’t something that can be truly given to you.

Even when it’s handed to you on a plate, it still has to be earned. And you can only earn it when you make others bend the knee and acknowledge you as their leader.

That power inspires respect and the kind of loyalty where your men will follow you into death.

As the next don of the Delarosa empire, I’m sitting on my father’s right side at the long mahogany table in the meeting room. Around us are the most powerful men in the Delarosa famiglia along with the men who work for us.

My uncles Mario, Antonio, and Gio are at my father’s left. My cousins Brahm and Lorenzo, who are Mario and Antonio’s sons respectively, round out the circle, along with the eight senior managers who run the empire.

These are the men I will need to respect me when I take over the leadership.

We’re at the Grand Vittorio—named after my grandfather who started our empire in the US. This hotel is testament to his work because it’s one of the most prestigious in New York.

This is where we meet when we have important matters to discuss. Like the next line of leadership and all the changes that will follow for the family business when I take over.

It’s a subject that’s been in discussion for more than a year following my father’s retirement announcement.

The smell of cigars and whiskey clings to the air, mixing with the faint sound of laughter coming from somewhere outside the closed double doors. We don’t laugh in here. Not when my father, Don Giovani Delarosa, is delivering a speech on his expectations for the future of the empire.

At times like these he seems more god than man and so much more than just my papà. Even though I think of him as such .

We’ve been here for the last hour. This is the last meeting for the day.

My father wanted our minds clear of other business matters, so he waited until the end of the day to speak to us. I also think he purposely waited until today—Friday—to speak to us so we could have the weekend to reflect.

Tonight’s meeting feels like it carries more weight than any other. Although I won’t take over from my father for another five months, he speaks like he’s imparting his final pearls of wisdom to us.

“As the time draws closer to my departure, I need you all to tighten up the management of everything.” Papà’s voice cuts through the already tense air like a blade, sharp and deliberate.

He leans back in his chair, looking every inch the patriarch he is with his hair styled to perfection and his tailored Brioni suit fitting him like it was made to worship the ground he walks on.

People say I look more and more like him the older I get. I agree.

I could be the younger version of him. We have the same muscular build and height of six feet four. The same sharp hazeleyes. The same face structure, olive-toned skin, and even the same undercut hairstyle with the top spiky.

My father was also thirty-three when his father stepped down and he became the don of the family.

He continues talking about Delarosa Industries, our diamond mining company, and we hang on to every word spoken like it’s the law. But each of us has our own agenda.

My uncles listen with the same calculating stares as if they’re trying to see the secrets beyond my father’s words.

Lorenzo looks like he doesn’t miss anything because he wants to make sure he gets on the leadership.

Brahm is more like me. He’ll be doing what I usually do by taking note of what he deems important and discarding the rest.

I can’t do that tonight. With my impending assent to the leadership, I have to take note ofeverything. Even if I find these meetings tedious and tiresome.

My father and I may look similar, but we differ in leadership styles and our attitude toward life. He’s longwinded, whereas I’m straight to the point. Like a sharpshooter, I cut through the shit so I have time for other things. He doesn’t like that about me, nor my lackadaisical approach to life.

I don’t like most of his ways either but I respect him. I appreciate that we’ve been as successful as we are because of those ways.

I also won’t be foolish enough to defy him at a time when I know I’m being watched and scrutinized as the man who will fill his shoes.

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