Ten Years Later
The question came during breakfast on a Tuesday morning, delivered with the casual precision of a fifteen-year-old who'd been thinking about it for months.
"Mama," Marco said, looking up from his newspaper—because of course her son read actual newspapers at fifteen—"who really rules? You or Papa?"
Serena paused in pouring Sofia's coffee. Her oldest daughter, now twenty and already showing signs of inheriting her mother's political instincts, raised an eyebrow in interest.
"What do you mean?" Serena asked.
"I mean, Papa runs the family businesses. But you control the laws that protect them. Papa makes deals with other families. But you decide which families get investigated and which ones don't." Marco's voice was thoughtful, analytical. "So who's really in charge?"
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