Читать книгу The End of the World Mafia - Rolf Nagel - Страница 10

In the early evening, Karl took his beloved Marian by the hand and led her through the grounds to the pool. Two musicians with violins joined them. They began to play old love songs giving the evening a charming ambience.

The staff had prepared a dream made up of flowers and lanterns for popular Marian and her companion. The evening was a perfect setting for Karl‘s plans and could not be more romantic. After the meal, the musicians and staff all withdrew quietly.

Karl stood up, took Marian’s hands gently and knelt down gracefully before her. Marian, surprised by all this, caught her breath for a second.

In a gentle voice he made his speech. "My love, you have shown me the stars in the sky. Within only a few weeks, you tore me out of my lethargic life and brought sunshine into my heart. My happiness is complete. I don’t want to miss you for one second in my life. My darling girl, I want to ask you if you are willing to share your life with me for eternity. Are you, my beloved Marian, willing to be my wife?"

He pulled the ring out of his pocket and slipped it slowly and gently over her ring finger. She looked at Karl and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She was unable to say a sound for minutes. Her heart was pounding, she was happy that he had fulfilled her deepest dream.

She gave her lover a long kiss and then whispered in his ear, "Yes, of course. This is my deepest wish, my love, until the end of our days. You make me the happiest woman in the world. Karl, you mean everything to me."

Both were in seventh heaven. They embraced and caressed each other the whole evening. When it became a little cooler, Karl picked up his bride and carried her in his arms into the house, up into the bedroom. That night was the longest in the villa and would have no end.

At noon next day they both woke up bleary-eyed. Before going to breakfast, Marian of course wanted to share the news with her father by telephone. She dialed his mobile number.

"My dear child," said Don Rosso on the phone, "what's wrong so early in the morning?"

Marian's voice came thick and fast as she told him the good news. Don Rosso sat down and listened attentively to the happy stories.

"Well, that's great! How wonderful, fantastic, I wish you all the luck and all the best from the bottom of my heart!" Her father's heart beat faster and he was choked and touched. He could barely hold back his tears of joy. "I have two more days here. I can’t come earlier. But pick me up at the airport please, then you can tell me about your happiness in more detail. I will finish my work quickly and earlier than planned and then I will come straight away. After all, I have to meet my future son."

After he had finished talking, he lingered on the chair for a few minutes more to gather his thoughts. He had not expected this happy news so quickly. He became a little nervous which was extremely rare for him.

After he had gathered himself a bit more, he felt great pleasure and laughed. Now it was only a question of whether he could integrate Karl into his organization in a clever way. He wanted to resolve this matter as quickly as possible. It was clear to him that he had to approach the matter in a careful and clever way. How would his newly acquired son-in-law react? A lot depended on Karl's reaction.

Two days later Marian picked her father up from the airport. She had gone there on purpose without her future husband so that she could speak to her father in private.

"Daddy, I am so happy, so indescribably happy. Karl and I want to get married very soon. Perhaps you will have a grandchild by next year. Oh, Daddy, everything is just wonderful." Marian was all smiles and her father was pleased to see her daughter so happy.

"Slow down, not so fast. We are not at a Formula 1 race, you have still time. Your dear mother and I didn’t marry straight away either. You need to wait a while. You know the family rules! Karl has to officially ask for your hand in marriage. That is the tradition and we don’t want to break it."

Now everything was going a bit too quickly for Don Rosso and as long as he had no clarity as to whether Karl would join the organization, he wanted to delay giving his consent a bit. But this, of course, he didn’t want to reveal to his happy daughter.

Time was pressing now for Don Rosso, but he couldn’t and didn’t want to afford a hasty reaction. "Marian, as long as your sweetheart agrees to assist me in my business, I’m happy to see you marry him. After all, he is going to be part of the family soon. I think he can take care of our company interests. What do you think?" Marian agreed to this idea.

"But please, I want to discuss this in a private conversation with your future husband, so keep quiet about it." Don Rosso looked at his daughter sternly and there was no doubt that his comment was not meant seriously.

The next day, father, daughter and Karl sat in the park chatting. The future son-in-law had quickly gained the friendship of Don Rosso and they talked to each other like old friends already. They had respect for each other and Don Rosso felt encouraged that his project would be completed soon.

"Karl, I would like to have a chat with you alone. Would tomorrow be okay for you? In the meantime, Marian can go and do a bit of shopping in the city. I could imagine our conversation from man to man will continue into the evening." Don Rosso looked at Karl in a friendly and questioning manner.

"Of course, that’s not a problem. What do you think Marian?" This was just a formal question and she agreed, nodding. She preferred to go shopping together with Karl, but she knew she had no right to be consulted when it came to business, just like her mother.

The next day Don Rosso was up very early and ran back and forth excitedly in the park. He wondered how he should start the conversation with Karl. First, he only wanted to involve him in the legitimate company investments as a controller. The question was whether he would automatically get insight into the network of the Mafia organization while doing this work. Therefore, should he maybe inform Karl about his true identity now already or should he wait?

He considered the pros and cons and played out all the possible reactions in his head. Outing himself without knowing how Karl would react could quickly backfire.

The engaged couple finally arrived on the terrace. They took breakfast together. Then Karl said goodbye to Marian kissing her deeply. "See you later, my love and leave a few things in the stores for the Sicilians", he said with a mischievous smile.

"Yes, all the best then, Daddy, all the best. Karl, I will be back in the evening." Marian disappeared in the direction of the parking lot.

"We have a conference room. Come on, let’s go there, we have a lot to talk about." Don Rosso stood up and slowly walked into the house. In the living room, he opened an armored door which was hidden behind another door and could only be opened with an access code. Behind it, a work area with offices and conference rooms equipped with every comfort opened up in front of Karl.

“Our predecessors created this work area and held their meetings here. You know, there is nothing worse than being spied on. That’s normal these days.", Don Rosso informed his future son-in-law and led the way through several rooms until he came to a room that was a bit cooler. The room looked odd and a bit depressing, more like a large prison cell.

"Very depressing", Karl said, looking a bit concerned. "This room is like a Faraday cage, covered with metal foil and completely bug-proof. Nothing, absolutely nothing can get in or out of this room. You can only enter the work area with a special access code and password." Don Rosso offered him a seat.

"My dear Karl, I am not sure if Marian has already told you about our traditions. It is simply a formality, but we still need to adhere to it. It is common in our circles that a prospective son-in-law asks the father for the hand of his daughter. I expect you to make up for that today. As a future spouse of my only daughter you will play an important role in our family. I would be very pleased if you would take this part in the same sincere and earnest way as my ancestors and I did." Don Rosso looked closely at Karl literally absorbing his emotions. The tension was written on both men's faces.

Then Karl smiled at him and the noticeable tension faded a bit. Don Rosso made ??himself a bit more comfortable in his large leather chair. There was no doubt that he was the boss, as he had been all his life. His natural behavior alone communicated this automatically to others.

Karl had crossed his legs and rocked one leg back and forth nervously. He was still very tense and was waiting for what Don Rosso had to tell him.

"My dear Karl, as you already know, we are quite a wealthy family. We have a variety of interests in renowned companies all around the world. Up till now I have managed everything together with a few confidants." Here Don Rosso paused briefly in order to analyze Karl’s reactions again in detail.

Then he continued, "I am now getting on in years and it’s all starting to get a bit much for me. Therefore I need a very trustworthy person who will assist me in my duties. However, regardless of how you decide, I must be sure you will treat this totally confidential. You may never tell anyone a single word about this, not even your wife. Karl, this is absolutely essential! It’s a matter of survival! Can I rely on you?" Now, both men looked at each other with serious looks on their faces.

Karl thought that Don Serjo Rosso might be exaggerating a bit when he said that this was a matter of survival. There was no way he could even guess what bond of secrecy he was being committed to.

Only a few weeks later would he be able to understand that Don Rosso had spoken true words. Regardless of who it was who violated the codex of confidentiality, regardless of why this betrayal took place and what weight it carried, it always ended with the death sentence for the traitor that was carried out within a short period of time.

A huge map of the world hung directly behind Don Rosso’s chair. It was packed with needles that had heads of different colors. Focus was on Europe and the United States. The boss saw Karl's confused look when he saw the map and told him that the needles symbolized part of the company investments of the family and the colors emphasized the focal points.

Karl heard Don Rosso's powerful voice. "So can I be absolutely and irrevocably sure about your loyalty to the family and that, no matter what happens in your future life, you will not pass anything on to others?" Don Rosso looked sternly at Karl with a questioning look on his face.

"I thank you, dear father-in-law, I assure you of my absolute confidentiality for all time."

Karl knew that with this sentence he had found exactly the right words that Don Rosso had wanted to hear him say.