The Lost Heir

Family Legacy

2 Family Legacy

For several decades, the Benedetti family has reigned in the underworld, becoming the most powerful mafia in the region. Almost every family, everyone I know in my town and country is loyal to the Benedetti family. Agents of the Benedetti empire are scattered across the island and spread throughout the world. At some point, about fifty years ago, the Benedetti empire formed the government of the island we call home and ruled as the supreme power until the day my mother was born, when a rival mafia group started making claims that there should be a democratic country instead of being ruled by one family. As my grandfather recounted, a great war arose among the two empires, and in the end, the Benedetti’s finally won and removed the Randall Empire from the face of existence. As the story goes, there was a truce party where everyone from both families were summoned at the town hall so that arrangements would be made to bring peace to the island. All businesses were crumbling down and the war needed to end if prosperity was to be experienced once more. At the town hall, the Randall empire tried massacring members of the Benedetti family through lynching but there was one thing they didn’t account for; underground tunnels below the town hall which my grandfather had ordered they be dug incase anything happens. It’s his paranoia that saved our family from being burnt alive because when the fire started, members of the Randall empire were safely evacuated and at gun point, the Benedetti family was forced to stay inside while the doors were locked. Fortunately, the tunnels were wide enough to accommodate the whole family and just like that, survived a possible death, paving way for my birth years later. As for the Randall empire, my grandfather ensured they received a taste of the same medicine they had hoped to end us with and while in their mansion, celebrating their victory, my grandfather burnt their house down and ordered his men to shoot any moving thing that came out of the house. It’s said that my grandfather’s men started with raping the women before meeting them with their maker and a lasting fear has prevailed since this horrific incident. After this, while only a teenager like myself, my grandfather, a strategic and thoughtful leader of the Benedetti family thought it best to rule with fear, loyalty and compassion. To achieve that, he made sure that there was democracy. His idea of democracy was making people believe that Bergen was free and they could do anything they wished but the Benedetti family would provide protection against any external forces. My grandfather managed to convince the entire country that the Benedetti’s have called Bergen home for centuries and it was their responsibility to make sure that no one takes the country away for their own personal gains, vilifying the Randall family and in the process threatening anyone who thought they could resurface and challenge the mighty Benedettis.

Peace excelled during this time and so did the Benedetti empire. With my grandfather’s strategy, the Benedetti empire expanded far and wide, making our empire unstoppable and all powerful. Nothing would happen without my grandfather knowing. The problem with power like that is how enemies lurk in the shadows. One of my grandfather’s greatest lesson is how a Benedetti needs to be on his guard always and learn not to trust anyone easy. Benedetti II, my grandfather, would always tell a story of how he was almost killed when he was a young boy by his friend, who was planted by rival gangs to monitor his moves and end him because his death would mean the end of the empire. But since my grandfather was a paranoid and observant young boy, he was able to defeat his enemies and since then, my grandfather hardly trusts anyone. He once told me that he only trusts anyone with Benedetti blood in them and nothing else. “Always have your eyes open and ears wide, and make them believe you are just unaware of them and strike when they don’t expect you.” That was his motto and he perfected the art in all ways possible. Growing up, I heard stories of how my grandfather once gorged someone’s eyes out just to prove a point. Everyone feared him and definitely feared touching his family. He chose the name Benedetti II, after his grandfather who is coined with starting the empire in the first place. In the early days of the Benedetti empire, there was an even older empire in the region that my great grandfather forcibly removed from the region. No one really knows about them because when I tried asking my grandfather about them, all he said is “They were a force that needed removal and my father did them justice not eradicating their entire race.” When you are only ten and hear that your family has the capability of removing an entire race from existence, your skin can cringe a bit. It’s just that I was part of the family, which is why I wasn’t so afraid but I couldn’t say the same for anyone not affiliated with the Benedetti’s. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the privilege that came with the Benedetti name. I loved being the center of attention and each time, I also made sure that people respected me, for who I was and most importantly, my family’s heritage. I knew that we had done some pretty bad things in the past but they were all necessary for our existence. The ancient empire was not too good, the Randal empire wanted to kill us first and anyone who was crippled, decapitated or drowned, brought it on themselves. Like my grandfather always says, “never kill anyone for fun but always have a reason, this way people will show you respect and will love you all the same.”

Besides the dark history of our family, the Benedettis love their own so much. It is one of the unwritten rules in the family history to put family first. Anyone known to disregard the family members was considered an outcast and often be disowned, losing all privileges of being a Benedetti. The last person who faced such a punishment was my grandfather’s brother who was greedy enough to jeopardize the will of the Benedettis. With a crime of treason, my grandfather banished his brother from ever stepping into the family house or using the family resources for him or his family. It’s said that my grandfather bent the rules because of his brother because the crime of treason only attracted a death penalty. Because of the love they shared, and the newly born child, Franco Benedetti’s life was spared and was told never to be seen again unless he was willing to make things right.

Growing up I hardly had friends because everyone was afraid of interacting with me, say the wrong thing and find themselves in deeper trouble. The only people who dared befriend me were part of the government that my family helped form and control. They were family members who also feared us in some way. I could tell by how they reacted when I was around. At first, I couldn’t understand how my friend’s parents would bow down to me each time I visited their homes. It was weird to me and for some reason, didn’t want to meet them anymore. It was too much and felt that my supposed friends were just being friendly because they needed goodwill from me; after all, I was the next leader of the Benedetti family and anyone who thinks of the future would do their best to be on my right hand.

With great power comes great freedom and I enjoyed the freedom vested on me. I could do anything, in school, in the malls but no one would dare question me but agree with my reasoning. One day, when I was from school, I told my bodyguards that I was hungry and would like to go to some famous hotel, Aliens, which was just by the corner. When there, I took what I wanted and left without paying, and no one told me to pay, and the owner added that it was a blessing I ate from their place. Nonetheless, my grandfather showed me how education was important and was crucial in ensuring I stayed atop of my enemies at all costs and I listened. In my class, I always came as the best student and I loved it. For as long as I could remember, I was the first one in our class but deep down, I questioned if I was really excelling or someone feared for their lives and just decided to make me become the first one every time. With no one out there to give you the honesty you need, I continued with my belief of being the best and read hard to ensure I was at the top because no one had the hopes of beating me, except for one girl in our class, Elsa.

Elsa was the most beautiful girl I knew and when I turned fifteen, she grew even more beautiful. She had dark hair, with coffee brown eyes, and a calmness that made me attracted to her. I think for the most part, Elsa was that kind of girl who didn’t have a thing for material things and that is what I was made up of; heir to the most powerful mafia family in our country and it’s as if she didn’t see all that. To Elsa it felt like I was stripped naked and all she could see is me, who I am as Meridian and not a member of a powerful family. That was attractive to me because for once, I thought I had someone who saw the real me. looking at her reminded me of my mother whom everyone blew her torch saying she had a smile that could draw people to her, a tone that wa soothing and some even said that my mother was the most beautiful. Looking at the pictures I have of her, my mother seemed like a good person whom everyone loved and wanted to interact with; just like Elsa