Derrick couldn't get much sleep from the night, he had stayed up most of the night thinking about his parents connection with the Mafia boss.
He had only noticed it was morning, when the lights peeped through his curtain.
He managed to get up and rubbed his face, like that would cook whatever he felt down. But the fury from the day before was still present within him like a sickness he was unable to get rid of.
He hardly slept at all. Every time he shut his eyes, he just saw the young boys face, his parents' shame, and the image of the Mafia boss whose name alone meant great danger.
The same man known for ruining families.
The same man, who's pretty much feared by everyone in this south side of the city.
The same man his parents had been working for… in secret… for many years.
If Derrick was popular enough, he knew this would have made headlines far juicier than his engagement.
Derrick sat still in his bed, casually running his hand roughly through his hair. He thought about stories from when he was a child stories of people disappearing, lives destroyed, debts paid with death. And now understanding that the bad guy from those stories was the same man who was providing for his parents made him feel sick inside.
By the afternoon, he still had not settled down.
His phone made a vibrating sound. A text message.
It was his mom, "we need to see you today. It's important."
He laughed with no humor from the message and threw the phone to the side. He was not ready. Not after the previous night. Not after hearing the truth said right to him.
But then another text came in.
This time it was his dad,
"Please Son. You're refusing to pick calls. We wouldn't take much of your time and if you still don't want to hear a word I say, you could leave"
He wanted to say no. He wanted to let his anger control him. But the way the texts were presented as important, bothered him and stayed in his mind. With a frustrated sound, Derrick quickly put on a jacket and got out the house
"Fine," he said quietly. "I will listen to whatever this is. Then I am done."
The location they had sent him wasn't their home. It was somewhere else in the city, close to the factories, a place he had never needed to go. As he walked down the streets, he felt more and more nervous.
The streets were empty, the buildings old and falling apart, and the air smelled strongly of machines and dust.
He stopped at a storage building, with its big metal doors partly open.
His parents were standing outside, waiting for him.
His mother quickly came to him looking relieved with tears in her eyes. His father seemed guilty, anxious, and even embarrassed. None of it made Derrick feel any better.
"What's so important, that had you two texting me?" he asked bluntly.
His father paused, then pointed inside. "We thought… it's time for you to know everything."
Derrick looked confused, walking into the building, expecting a family discussion or maybe documents showing why they did what they did.
But instead
He stopped moving.
Standing in the middle of the storage building, surrounded by a few quiet men wearing suits, was the Mafia boss himself.
Don Toscano. Vincent Toscano
Older than Derrick had thought. Taller than he expected. Calm in his demeanor. His presence was strongly felt in the entire space even without him speaking. His eyes, dark and impossible to read, focused on Derrick with a disturbing sense of familiarity.
"Welcome," Toscano said, his voice smooth and calm. "I've been waiting for you."
Derrick's heart beat very fast in his chest. He gave his parents an angry look, feeling betrayed and becoming very angry.
"You brought me here to him?" Derrick said quietly and angrily.
His mother moved closer, her voice shaking. "Derrick, please listen to him. Just listen."
"No." He looked angrily at the boss. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
But Toscano just smiled, a quiet, unsettling look that made Derrick's hands tighten up.
"Young boys like you are always the same," the boss stated gently. "You always seem to hate me at first glance but love me at the other glance."
Derrick moved a step backward. "I don't have to understand anything about you."
Toscano put his hands together behind him and started walking slowly. "Your parents have been faithful for a long time. They gained my respect. And now, as their son " he turned to Derrick " I want to give you the same chance."
Derrick felt the words strike him like a hit.
"No," he replied right away. "Whatever they might have done, that's on them. I'm not involved in this. I don't want anything from you."
His father moved closer. "Son, listen to us. We didn't bring you here to trick you. We brought you here so you could hear the truth from him, not rumors. Not the stories that changed what he was."
Derrick stared at both of them, not able to believe what he was hearing.
"Can you even hear yourselves? You're asking me to take this? To take him?"
Toscano just looked on, as still as a rock.
Derrick shook his head. "No. I'm done listening now. I'm done acting like any of this is okay."
He turned to go but his father grabbed his arm.
"Derrick, please this is how we live. This is how we made it. We want you to know everything because we trust you. Because you're our son."
Derrick quickly pulled his arm away.
"You made it the wrong way," he said sharply. "You made it by doing things you shouldn't have. And you want me to be thankful? To join this?"
His mother tried next, reaching for his hand. "We just wanted a better life for you. We gave up everything "
"Exactly," Derrick interrupted. "You gave up things. Not me. I didn't ask for any of this."
His voice broke because of all the feelings he had tried to keep hidden away.
He looked at the Mafia boss one last time. "And you don't ever
give me any offers again. I don't want to become anything like you."
And with that he turned and left..