Chapter 1

“Luca, take a look at this equity restructuring proposal. It's just routine paperwork.”

Riccardo's voice was low and smooth, like whiskey over ice.

He slid a leather-bound folder across the table and tapped it twice with one finger.

The conference room smelled faintly of cigar smoke and old leather.

Around the long black walnut table sat the family's core leadership.

I didn't open the folder. I just leaned back in my chair and looked at him.

Riccardo Falco wore a charcoal-gray suit, his short hair perfectly groomed. He looked every inch the polished professional.

When I didn't move, he kept smiling.

“Luca, don't take this the wrong way. It isn't aimed at you.”

“Isabella has built this family into the most respected name on the East Coast, and now is the critical moment to expand overseas.”

He folded his hands on the table, speaking with the confidence of a man who expected no objections.

“If we want to attract top talent, we need a modern equity incentive plan.”

“Your shares aren't helping the family grow. They're tying up capital we could be using to expand.”

“So Isabella and I discussed it. We'd like to convert your equity into fixed-income interests. You'd receive a fixed monthly payout, but you'd give up your voting rights and any say in how the businesses are run.”

Isabella sat at the head of the table, holding a crystal wineglass.

She nudged her thin-framed glasses up her nose and gave me a look of practiced concern.

She raised her glass slightly and nodded at me.

“Riccardo is right, Luca.”

“Times have changed. The family can't keep running the way it did in the past.”

“You don't involve yourself in the business anyway. You only come to the estate for two weeks every summer, to sunbathe and drink wine.”

She set the glass down, her tone gentle.

“Let us take the burden of management off your hands, and you can relax. Keep living your carefree life.”

I picked up my glass and swirled the half-melted ice.

“If I remember correctly, my father's will says nothing about restructuring equity.”

My voice wasn't loud, but in that quiet room it carried clearly.

My father died when I was six.

He started out hauling cargo on the docks. Through years of hard work, he built an empire that controlled seven city blocks, three harbor warehouses, and two casinos along the East Coast.

His will was just one line.

“The family belongs to Luca. Let them choose who runs it.”

Afterward, the Family Council appointed Isabella Conti, my father's most trusted lieutenant, to run the family until I was old enough to take over.

Isabella was good at her job.

Over the next decade, she pulled the family back from the brink of collapse and made it the most respected crime family on the East Coast.

Everyone praised her for everything she'd done for the family. Some had even begun to forget whose name the family bore.

“Mr. Vitale, that's not a fair way to put it.”

Laura Brancato, the director of external operations, who sat to Riccardo's left, spoke up.

She was in her forties and had always treated me with respect. Now she was lecturing me.

“We all respect the old Don's will, of course. But that was twenty years ago.”

“For more than a decade, Ms. Conti has led us in expanding our territory and growing the business through negotiation and connections. That's how the family got where it is today.”

“You do nothing, yet you take most of the family's profits. Is that fair to everyone else?”

Giacomo Rossi, the head of operations, nodded in agreement.

“That's right, Mr. Vitale. We're all thinking of the family's future.”

“Riccardo's reform plan makes sense. We all support it.”

“Think of the other members of the family. Just sign.”

I looked around the table.

Every one of them had once been broke, and my father had given them a chance. Isabella had promoted every one of them herself.

Now they sat in the very room my father had once used, telling me to give up everything he'd left me.

I set the glass down with a soft clink.

“And if I don't sign?”

Riccardo's smile never wavered. He merely sighed and pulled the folder back toward himself.

“Luca, you're as stubborn as ever.”

“But that's fine. It's a big decision. Take your time.”

He stood and smoothed the front of his jacket.

“Let's end the meeting here.”

The executives rose one by one. As they passed me, they looked at me with pity, as though I weren't worth taking seriously.

As though I were some ungrateful freeloader living off the family.

Isabella was the last to leave. She paused beside me and gave my shoulder a light pat.

“Don't blame Riccardo, Luca. He means well.”

“Go home and think it over. I'll explain things to the Council.”