A couple of hours later, as he gradually came back to consciousness, Victor could hear faint voices. They became clearer and clearer with each passing second, yet he couldn't understand completely what they were saying just a few words here and there. He opened his eyes just a crack and understood why he couldn't make out anything definitive.
He was in a dimly lit room that seemed to be made of solid concrete, with a thick steel door that blocked out most sounds of the conversation happening right outside.
Victor looked around for anything that could give him a clue as to where he was, but there was nothing else in the room except the large, and surprisingly very comfortable, bed that he had woken up on. Determining there was nothing more he could do at the moment except wait, that's exactly what he did. He sat down on the bed and waited for someone to come check on him, trying his best to remain calm.
He didn't have to wait long. About five minutes later, he heard footsteps approaching the door. Soon after, the door swung open and an older gentleman walked in. He wore a dark black suit with a red tie, black pants, and pointed black dress shoes. He also had white gloves on his hands, and in one of his hands was a pitch-black cane with a massive, blood-red jewel at the top of it that his hand was resting upon. He had dark hair with streaks of white, sharp facial features, and piercing blue eyes. He seemed to be around fifty-five years old, but from the feeling of suffocating danger the man gave off, Victor knew that the man's age had done nothing to hinder him.
The man looked at Victor for a moment, and then the oppressive atmosphere vanished as the man gave him a warm smile that caught Victor off guard. Before leaning casually against the wall opposite of Victor, he said to him, "I apologize for the rough treatment. Marcus is a good man, but he often doesn't understand subtlety or bother to explain himself."
Victor eyed the man with caution evident on his face before asking, "Who are you?"
The man answered him with a small smile. "My name is Salvatore Accardi, but you can call me by my title: Uncle."
Victor was confused by Salvatore's response to his question, and it must have shown on his face because Salvatore began to explain. "In the organization we are a part of, all ranks above a certain point have the traditional rank designations changed to family members."
Victor looked at him, even more confused now. "What do you mean 'we'?", Victor asked.
"I never joined any organization, and I don't even know what organization you are even talking about."
Uncle raised an eyebrow before he spoke. "Ah, and now we get to the reason why you're here", he said, leaning forward and placing both hands on his cane. "You see, young man, you were promised to us at birth by your mother. You have always been a member of The Vesmierta Family as agreed upon by contract with the Vesmierta Family leaders of the Council of the Six and backed by the authority of the Six Great Families."
Victor's head was spinning from the new information presented to him, and while he was trying to gather his thoughts, Uncle reached into his suit and pulled out a platinum pocket watch with the Crest on it that he saw on the fountain in the cafe and in various other places around the town he lived. Suddenly, it all made sense to him. The reason why there were two crests. With the new information he had been given, he could finally see the full picture. Vesmierta Holdings, the most powerful company in the world, was controlled by a Mafia Family.
Now that all the pieces had been put together, he realized who his sponsor was. He looked at Uncle, the shock evident in his eyes, and took a deep breath before he spoke. "My sponsor is a crime syndicate, and my mother was involved with them?", He said it like a statement, but in his heart it was a question.
Uncle gave him a small smile before he responded. "You're partly right. I can't tell you much about your mother because your rank is not high enough, but what I can tell you is that the Godmother sponsored you personally. She is also the one who ensured you would be well educated and cared for until your twentieth birthday a week from now, when you officially join us.
If you want to know more, you will have to earn that right."
Victor fought to keep calm as he felt rage and fear bubble inside him. Rage, because he felt like his entire life had been a lie and that he had no control over anything and fear, because he had begun to question even the good things in his life that he felt were uniquely his such as his friends. Everything about his life felt to him like it needed to be questioned for validity now.
Despite his best efforts, his rage and fear must have shown on his face, because Uncle put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Victor looked up at the man and into his intense eyes as he wrestled to get control of his emotions. After a few moments had passed, he had calmed down enough to ask a question. "What if I refuse to join?"
Uncle took his hand off Victor's shoulder and leaned back against the wall before giving him a piercing stare. Uncle then took a deep breath and said in a steady and foreboding voice, "Then you must have the strength to stand alone against all six of the Families, or kill the guarantor of the contract."
Victor let the silent stretch between them for a moment before asking a question that he was relatively certain he already knew the answer to. "Who is the guarantor of the contract?"
Bloodlust so suffocating that it almost made Victor's heart stop immediately filled the room. Victor fell off the bed, collapsing to his knees from the sheer pressure of it. It was as if he was being instilled with a fear so deep that it manifested as a physical phenomenon.
His body wouldn't listen to him, and it took everything he had to keep his thoughts clear as he looked up at the older man who was looking down on him.
He then heard the older man say in a voice that was devoid of its earlier warmth and full of malice, "I am."
It was at this moment that Victor realized there was no way out for him. There was no way in hell he could win so for now, he would need to cooperate and see what was in store from here.
At the very least, if I play along, I'll be able to survive long enough to get some answers and then think of something later, he rationalized inside his own mind.
As if sensing that he had come to a decision, Uncle immediately stopped pressuring Victor, and the warm demeanor he had before returned as if the earlier malice was but an illusion. "I get the feeling you've made your decision, young man," he said in a warm but still matter-of-fact tone.
Victor waited for a moment before he responded, letting his nerves settle from the tense moment earlier. "I will honor the contract. I will join you."
Uncle gave him a brilliant smile. "Good," he said. "As per the contract, you will start with the rank of Soldato. However, you will not be given any official duties until you finish training and prove yourself worthy of assignment. When we get to the island, you will meet the Godmother and we will make it official."
Victor looked at him, very confused for a moment. "What do you mean 'island'?" he said.
Uncle simply smiled and said, "Follow me."
Uncle opened the door to the room and walked out into the sunlight. As soon as he opened the door, the smell of salt water and the feeling of crisp, cool air could be observed. Following Uncle out the door, Victor realized he had just stepped onto a massive yacht.
The room he was in was on the main deck and appeared to be some kind of extra room next to what appeared to be the captain's quarters.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Victor walked to the railing of the massive, luxurious yacht and looked down to see the deep blue ocean in all its majesty. Lifting his head to look up and covering his eyes with one hand, he looked out into the horizon to see the beautiful golden sun above a vast stretch of ocean.
Uncle walked up next to him and put his hand on his shoulder before speaking. "We are heading to a man-made Island where the six cities controlled by the six different families reside. It's in waters outside the jurisdiction of every country. Think of it like a gigantic, floating sovereign city-state—a city-state in which our family reigns supreme as the leader of the families.
It will be a while before we arrive, so let's go meet the members of the family on the ship and have some dinner."
Victor looked at the old man in absolute shock, thinking for a moment that the whole thing was a joke, as it was just too unbelievable for him to fathom, only to see the old man was completely serious. Victor looked out into the horizon and thought to himself, What the fuck did I just get myself into?