Chapter 4: Golden Dawn Academy [2]

I closed the status window and headed to the wardrobe. Inside on the rack hung row upon row of designer suits and I ignored most of them as I pulled out a black dress shirt, charcoal trousers and a leather jacket that screamed expensive brutality.

As I finished dressing there was a knock on the door.

"Young Master, there is one hour before the entrance examination."

I opened the door to see a man, in a black suit standing outside. He was rigid with tension despite being indoors.

One of my fathers subordinates.

I didn’t need to ask for his name as his presence was readily known to the memories of Lorenzo.

Salvatore, loyal, competent and completely unremarkable.

"Let’s go."

"Yes, Young Master."

As we descended the stairs of the penthouse I could smell expensive cologne, and then something else.

Something darker.

Eventually, we entered the grand dining room and as I took in the sight of it, I understood why so many memories belonging to Lorenzo had been filled with this place.

It wasn’t merely a dining room.

It was a throne room.

"You’re late."

The smooth, confident voice sent shivers of trepidation down my spine as I glanced up to see the speaker.

Seated at the head of the room on an elaborate table, his presence radiating nothing but menace, stood Don Aldric Riina.

Aldric Riina, the don behind the underworld, the man who had raised Lorenzo, and the NPC opponent I had fought against dozens of times in the game, during the various Mafia routes.

Except...

He was no longer an NPC.

A black fedora rested on top of his head and a cigar casually hung from the corner of his mouth, as he slowly exhaled a thick plume of smoke. His beard was a little unkempt but somehow, the look suited him, as though he was the only man alive that could get away with such an appearance.

Then I locked eyes with him.

And in that instant, I understood.

The sharp, cold eyes held the memory of countless murders, betrayals and decisions, made without a moments hesitation or worry.

Tick-tock.

Tick-tock.

The old clock that hung on the side of the room suddenly sounded deafening.

The sound rang within my ears as the entire room seemed to hold it’s breath.

Then, suddenly, I felt the pressure.

Like the heavens themselves have collapsed to bear down on my back and shoulders.

A sensation that sent shivers cascading down my spine, as every instinct I had screamed at me to drop to my knees and bow. My shoulders trembled under the force, and my limbs felt as if they would give way.

This was the first time I had ever experienced such a feeling, since wakening up in this world and living life in this body.

This man, had killed people who stood against him. Had cut down entire families in blood, to gain the power and influence he had today.

And he was my father.

Forcing my legs to move, I walked forward, the pressure weighing on my every step as though the sky itself was trying to crush me down onto my knees.

Control yourself.

I willed the words deep into my bones, recalling every lesson Samuel had ever taught me. I had been trained in how to negotiate deals and confrontations and I knew that one single moment of weakness was all it would take to end my life.

He was no mere Mafia boss sitting across from me, but a killer and power hungry don that even the game had made me fight against, in many of the Mafia routes.

One mistake and one could find oneself on the business end of a knife.

I took a chair and pulled it out as I sat down opposite Don Aldric.

I stared into the eyes of the man, who in this world, would decide the course of my life.

For a few seconds, we sat as silence stretched between us, the pressure still weighing on the room and my nerves.

Then, the Don’s lips curled up into a smile.

"There you are."

He took another drag from his cigar slowly, before flicking the ash away.

"I was beginning to think you had taken after your mother and taken a liking to cowardice instead of your father’s spine."

There was mockery in his words but as I delved into the memory of Lorenzo once more, I knew there was something else in there, something not directed at me.

Lorenzo’s mother had been unsuitable and from an outside family. She had died young, and it seemed, based on the expression on Aldric’s face, that he hadn’t forgiven her for it and never did. Yet, as far as I knew...

He had loved her.

And...

He was testing me.

"I was getting dressed." I replied calmly. "I assumed you would prefer me to arrive at academy already dressed in something presentable, rather than rushing there like a street thug."

Don Aldric’s smile widened at my words and the pressure in the room lessened.

"Good."

He set his cigar down.

"At least you have a sense of self-preservation, something I lacked in your age."

He gestured to the empty seat beside him and almost immediately, food appeared on the table. Plates of expensive delicacies arranged with an almost ridiculous precision.

"Eat."

It wasn’t a request, but I ate.

The food was wonderful, the kind of meal that an average person would spend a small fortune on, but I barely appreciated any of it, as I kept my gaze on the Don, analysing him.

"Your ride is waiting outside. They shall take you to the academy."

He took up his cigar once more.

"Show them what a Riina can do."

I nodded and glanced at him, pausing in my meal.

"I don’t want to be in his shadow..."

I thought it, or rather Lorenzo had thought it, but now, I was not Lorenzo anymore. Not entirely.

And then, without hurry and without tension, I leaned back in the chair at the opposite end of the room to him. One leg crossed over the other, my head tilted slightly to the right as it rested on my right hand, my hand on the side of the chair.

The pose of a man who had sat at the head of a large and extravagant dining room, ordering his underlings to be brought in and shot, or more likely, sliced into ribbons.

Aldric took notice.

How could he not, his seventeen year old son was sitting in a manner that only men of power and status did.

Lorenzo looked the spitting image of his father at the moment, as the two sat opposite each other on the table.

"Father," I said, voice even. "I won’t just show them what a Riina can do. I’ll show them what Riina should have been doing all along."

The Don set his cigar down and regarded me with a new found interest, also leaning back to mirror my posture.

"Is that so? I love to see what you can accomplish" he said quietly.

"Wait and see old man."

Aldric smiled as he satisfied himself with the answer.

Things are finally going interesting....