The Don's Ruthless Empire
He bowed his head slightly, and the crowd, for a moment, fell utterly silent in response.
Vittorio did not defend himself when his turn came. He simply told the truth, plainly, standing beneath the very tree his own hands had likely planted decades before any of us were born. The original friendship between our two grandfathers. The manufactured rivalry built to keep both families dependent on his own careful guidance. Decades of quiet manipulation disguised as fate, disguised as tradition, disguised as the simple, unquestionable order of things. His voice never rose, never wavered, and somehow that steadiness made every word land heavier than if he had wept through the telling of it.
"I bel