Stinginess is a crude survival trait

                       ~Kilroy J. Oldster~

                                Romano

It was some minutes to eight in the morning when I walked out of my home office to join Raphael, who was already ready for the yearly profit and expenditure meeting. Recently, he had started talking of grooming Bruno and me to take up his position if anything ever happened to him. It was a position neither Bruno nor I wanted, but he was the boss, whatever he said went.

"You know, I could run interference for that land in Italy today," I said, tongue in cheek as I tried one final time to get out of this meeting.

"Sorry Rom, Bruno didn't come home yesterday, you're all I've got" Raph announced, taking a giant bite on an apple looking disgruntled as he tucked a gun inside his coat. I shrugged, sitting at the kitchen island for a cup of coffee. "I knew he wouldn't make an appearance the minute you said he had to be awake by 7 am" I retorted pouring another cup of coffee in a to-go cup that Flora always placed on the table for us every morning. I exhaled loudly, dreading the meeting but anxious enough to attend so I could see the end of it as soon as possible.

The weather was unfriendly, wind whipping around my face chilling my whole body even though I wore a suit and a knee-length overcoat. Impatiently, I brushed my hair from my face, taking a sip of coffee which cup was clasped between my hands like I was afraid to drop it.

Thirty minutes later, Raphael and I walked through the doors of the venue to a boardroom of men, most of whom had cigars at the corner of the mouths. The smoke choked me, not because I didn't enjoy one on occasion but because everyone in the room was letting out smoke almost at the same time. They came to their feet, putting off the cigars the minute we walked into the room, the sound of chairs scraping against the floor.

I slowly edged my way to the seat next to Raph. I looked over at the five heads of the other families under Raph, some of whom secretly detested him for being the don at such a young age. I switched off during the meeting, filtering out their voices until I was suddenly thrashed to the present by grown men shouting over each other.

I watched them bicker over how much we needed to build and run a hospital. One of them suggested we contribute five million. Five fucking million was only a drop in the ocean compared to how much they owned both individually and as a group. I can personally spend that amount in a week without my bank account feeling a dent, granted, not all my money was in the bank, just as theirs, but five million was too little. I rubbed my temples, feeling the beginning of a headache.

God! This can't be happening.

I looked down at my watch to find that we had been sitting in that room for over two hours and no decision had been made. I stole a glimpse at Ralph, his eyes had turned dangerously hard and none of these idiots had noticed.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes, willing them to decide before I could be forced to make one for them.

I took my gun slowly, shot a glass of water placed at the furthest edge of the table, splashing the water all over the room as the glass splintered into pieces. The room went silent, none of them spoke, only stared at me in shock and anger except Raph who appeared amused and nonchalant.

"I fail to understand why we are still here," I said calmly, looking at each one of them in utter disgust. "It's one fucking hospital...and it's not like you can't afford it," I said, clenching my hand, forcing myself to breathe slowly until I began to relax.

"This meeting is not helping. How about each of you decide how much you would like to contribute and then get back to us" suddenly, the silence became so loud I was afraid they had all stopped breathing.

I stole another look at Raphael, trying to understand the cause of the panic that I felt in the room. Giulio, the oldest among us cleared his throat, nervously lifting his right hand slightly before dropping it without saying a word.

"Look, I'm not forcing you to pour out your annual profit on this hospital," Raph said democratically, standing up to leave. "But if you want to continue profiting out of your ill-gotten wealth, you need to give back to your community and hugely. You'll be commended for your philanthropic gesture, and nobody will question your income other than that which is already registered.

There was a reason I couldn't be a don, and this was it. I had no patience for this kind of thing, and while Raph wasn't known for being nice, this was one of those few times, he tried to reason without losing his patience.

Maybe it's because he knew he was asking a lot from them, or perhaps he was testing me to see how well I would cope under pressure, and if that was the case, then I had failed miserably.

"Let me know your decision by the end of the day," He said, opening the door. I walked out behind him feeling weary but surprisingly ecstatic, not understanding why but grateful to move with the flow.

"Stingy bastards" I breathed, and I heard Raph chortle beneath his breath.
"I hate your job," I told him as we both walked side by side to the car.

"It's not that bad...but man, can you scare a group of men."
I smiled, going round to the driver seat. "I thought they could use a little motivation."

"They did. But for people who seem to live by the gun, they sure can panic."

"I think I just took them by surprise" I drawled, putting the key in the ignition feeling a little proud of myself that I had survived that meeting without hurting anybody.

As I drove, I remembered something old man Giulio had said

"Did you hear anything else discussed other than the hospital?"

"You mean about Stefano auctioning his daughter on the black market? Yeah, I heard the old man whisper it when he thought no one would hear him over all that noise."

"I didn't know he had a daughter."

"I'm willing to bet he didn't know he had one until recently" Raph curtly said.