I turned to Demitri, crossing my arms. I walked closer, past Luca and about a foot from Demitri. He looked slightly down at me because of our height difference of a handful of inches.
“Did I say something that was incorrect?”
“No.” I hissed, knowing that what he said was true.
Uncrossing my arms, I sighed. Walking back into the kitchen, pulling out plates and forks for all the food. I knew what Demitri meant by his comment, but it was both true and a piss off for me, considering the debt I had.
Maddox didn’t accept money back unless he stated he wanted it back. He was both careful and not with his money. He made quite a large amount of interest on the loans he gave out and he didn’t have a problem resorting to violence to get that money back if you defaulted.
Opening the pans of pasta, I set a large metal serving spoon in the three different trays. Demitri had ordered a cheese pizza and a pepperoni one. Taking two slices of the cheese pizza, I set it on a plate. Picking up a single slice, I bit into it and it was amazing.
“Where did you order this from? Its amazing—--Oh for fuck’s sake.”
My phone was ringing on the table where I had dropped everything when I got in with Demitri and Luca. Dropping the pizza slice, I went and grabbed my phone. The caller ID said it was my father, and I picked it up, putting it on speaker, before setting it down on the counter.
“Hello?”
“Theodore, what is the meaning of this?” My father said, rather rudely.
“You could say hello. But also, I need context to know what you’re upset with me about.” I said, before shoving more pizza into my mouth.
“Maddox, that ungrateful little—-”
“Watch your mouth and the way you speak of him. That is your nephew and if you remember, you are still living in the life of luxury because of him.”
“He raised the interest on my bloody payments for the loan.” He yelled.
“Of course he did, but again, how is this your problem? You don’t pay a cent.”
“Well, I still don’t deserve to be treated like this. How are you ok with this, Theodore?” He yelled again, his privilege showing.
“What would you have me do, then?”
“Speak with him. He should lower this bullshit, not raise it.” He yelled again,
“I’ll get right on that. Any other demands you would have me make to a Mafia boss who doesn’t care if you live to see tomorrow?” I said, between bites of my second slice of cheese pizza.
“How dare you! I raised you. Where do you think treating me—--”
“You’re not dead because of me. I pay your fucking debt, not you. You have never paid a bloody cent. You need not worry about the interest raise. I’ll fucking cover that, too. Next time, try hello first before you bitch at me. Have a pleasant day.” I hit the end call and flipped my phone over.
Luca and Demitri paid no attention to me or my issues. They had gone to sit down on the couch with their food. Finishing the second slice of pizza, I flipped my phone back over, hit the side button, typed my password in, and hit Maddox’s contact. Popping it on speaker again, because I was going for a third and fourth slice of cheese pizza.
“Hello, Theo. Did I not see you this morning? Did you miss telling me something?”
“Hi. No, this has no relation to the bullshit from this morning, but rather the bullshit of my father and his debt.”
“The interest increase?”
“Yes, that. He called and demanded that I do something, as if I am not the one already paying the fucking bullshit.”
“Yes, Alexi hiked the interest on a few of the larger loans, your fathers being one of them clearly.”
“What am I looking at now in a month? Do you know offhand?”
Maddox was quiet, and I didn’t like that.
“Just give it to me straight, Maddox, please.”
“Theo, this increase will leave you with four and a half grand a month after you pay the monthly amount.”
“Shit.”
“Theo, I know you hate when I tell you to stop paying his debt, but you need to take this into condescension now. You are going to end up in a terrible place because of him.”
“He is my father Maddox.”
“Please, just take my words into consideration.”
“Thank you.”
We ended the call, and I wasn’t hungry anymore. Covering my plate with plastic film, I excused myself and went to my office. I needed to work before I freaked out about this. Out of the over ten grand I was making a month, I was about to only see under half of it. That was deeply worrying for me.
Closing the office door behind me, I took a deep breath and looked at the work piled on the desk. I understood Maddox had to raise the interest on loans to make back the money and make it worthwhile for him, but it was just really fucking shitty. While my father was living in his white brick mansion carefree, I was worrying about if it was possible for me to sustain everything.
Maddox was right. Something needed to change, but I couldn’t just let my father die. But that lifestyle of his, that could. The whole fucking deal frustrated me. I needed to figure something out really quickly. That stupid house was looking like my way out of this mess, but there was no way that my father was going to sell it willingly. He hadn’t before. But I wondered if that would change if I abandoned him to pay for it on his own.
Hitting Alexi’s contact number, he was quick to pick up the phone.
“What can I help you with, Theo?”
“Not sharing my personal details might be a start, but after that, debt total, please.”
“He asked, so I told him. He wanted to know more about you after he got some ass, so I figured I would at least warn the guy he was your type. As for the debt, give me a minute.”
“Take your time.”
“While I wait for the computer to load, tell me about this morning. I wasn’t home, but I heard about it from Ryer. So spill it.”
I unloaded the whole incident on Alexi. He hummed before he spoke a complete sentence again.
“Right, because that’s really smart to do, trash a mafia boss’s office when he has already showed his level of pissed with you.”
“Please, Alexi, it’s Marco. This is a normal Monday for that man.”
“Not wrong, anyway, hold on to something. I have the debt total and it’s fucking ugly.”
“Just hit me with it.” I groaned.
“One million, two hundred and four thousand, five dollars and seventy cents.”
“What’s the cost of a funeral nowadays?” I groaned.
“For your old man?”
“No. Myself.”
“Theo. I will tell Maddox—-”
“Don’t bother. I already have two babysitters now, and Dr Martin is supposed to reach out to me about a time when I can come for a conversation because Maddox shoved his nose in my business.”
“Just make him figure out how to pay—--”
“I’m going to figure out how to force his hand on the house. That fucking thing is worth a few million and would settle his fucking debt, but he refuses to sell.”
“If you can get it, I can wave a good portion of the interest off.”
“No, I’ll pay the interest, too. To be fair.”
“Keep me updated, alright.”
“Yeah. I will.”
He hung up on me with no goodbye. I didn’t want to call my father again to deal with his shitty behaviour, so I put him on notice through a text.
‘Pack your things. You are selling that fucking house. If you don’t, you better start planning your funeral. This is me putting you on notice that I’m done. The house goes, or you do. Pick wisely.’
I would never not pay, but I needed to scare the man and hope that he didn’t call my bluff. I hoped he would believe me. This weighed heavily on my shoulders and mentality. I didn’t want to have to be the one to make the call in the end. But he was my father, and despite it all, I cared about him still.
While in the office, I finished a few papers that were standing in the way of the project we were supposed to be starting on and tucked them away back in the file to take to Maddox and Alexi. Organizing a few other piles of paperwork, I called it quits.
Stretching when I stood up, I left the office and headed back to the living room. Luca wasn’t there, and I looked for him.
“On the balcony, having a smoke and talking with Alessio.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“Are you alright?”
“Eh. I’m there. Thanks for asking.” I said.
The TV was playing nonsense shows. I grabbed the remote and flicked it to one of the playlists for trending music and turned it up slightly. I tossed the remote back on the couch and went to the kitchen. The dishes were done, but not put away. I worked on that while dancing ever so casually to the catchy song that was playing.
I knew when my dad saw the messages that it was going to be like hell on earth, but he was leaving me with no choice. He had never even attempted to help me pay a cent for the debt that was his fault. He had to take some responsibility for it at some point.
I popped open the wine fridge and pulled out the bottle of white I opened the night before and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. Pouring a glass, I shoved the bottle back into the fridge and closed the door with my foot.
“It’s two in the afternoon Theo, is now an appropriate time to drink wine?” Demitri questioned.
“Demitri, it’s one glass, and I’m Italian. Anytime is vino time.” I said, picking up the glass and taking a sip.
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