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Chapter 6

In the afternoon that day at the Al Yaman mansion's residence, everyone was gathered to have dinner together as it was a very important meeting between all of them. All the elderly people were there to discuss the new politics with their leader, Hamiz and his families. Present at the dinner was also Omer with his little brother, Kane and their men around to bodyguard everyone and the house as always. All the women were in their residence, as because of tradition they should not mingle in men's affairs. Even the servants were trusting young men who came around to serve grape alcohol in those typical Turkish serving dishes, for those who wanted to drink and eat food for all the presents, dressed in traditional clothes with loose pants and shirts and their red fests on their heads.

The main course on the table was barbeque lamb with baked potatoes, spicy creams, olive seasoned with oregano and rosemary, Mediterranean salads and steamed vegetables. Large dishes with rice, check peas and sauce on top of them. Their rich cousin was inherited from the old ottoman and was cooked mostly by the women of the Al Yaman clan helped by their servants.

The most nervous among them was Omer who couldn't stop thinking about how Riccardo intervened in his plan of executing the south in order to claim those lands as one of his family treasures. He sat between his father, Mehmet, who was on the right side of his grandfather, and his younger brother, Kane.

-“What did you expect to happen when your action liquid from your own mens?”- Mehmet whispered to his own son Omer and Kane who were listening.

-”We have no traitor dog in my mens father!”- Kane answered while Omer drank his cup, fisting it hard.

-”We don’t, but it seems that your name does not impose the same fear and respect-attention as your cousin. And to think he did no killings with his own hand. This is what it is.”- Mehmet added.

-”Soon father, soon! Riccardo is enjoying his last days as a free man.”- said Omer.

-”That is to be seen…” - said his father.

Just as he wanted to say something else, everybody went quiet as his grandfather came.

As soon as everyone was seated, the head of the family, grandfather Hamiz, came and greeted everyone and directly after him Riccardo, who sat together with his grandfather on his left side. His presence only made everybody at the table shiver. Ricardo was not mentioned as someone brutal, but a word from him could make the men kneel and fight for him, because he fought in the name of justice, taking away the barbaric ways they used to deal with before. And they knew that the army his grandfather had was enough to follow him and make everybody obey. Many had tried to challenge him by trying to mention the old tradition as a way of being thankful for their survival and this was the only thing that was hard for Riccardo to change. He knew that many of the elders cared for the old customs only for their benefit as a new era was approaching and everybody wanted to absorb as much riches to secure their position. The country was starting to struggle, and their power was based on old morals, money, gold, guns and violence.

It was a custom that, before they started to eat Hamiz or, as The Great Father, was called by many to hold a speech before eating.

-”My dear gentlemen, as you can see, I started our meeting with no music because I have an important announcement that I want to make.I know every one of you has worked hard to keep our name on top and make sure everybody gets its peace of gold and bread. Thanking God for all the lives I see tonight for making us who we are. My people, my pride, my soldiers” - raising a glass for everyone gathered, he continued:

-”Now we live in a new era, since falling from one country to another during our last decades, from having independence from the Ottomans, then we soon became a colony of Spain, then France until we fought for our freedom. It’s been 45 years since our clan, my clan, led the country. And now we should move toward the future with no remorse and who better than anyone than my own nephew Riccardo, who has studied abroad as well and knows how to take everything in the right way. I shall decide that tonight our successor in our clan will be my dear nephew Riccardo, and he will be our chef and protector.”- said he with satisfaction and pride in his eyes.

Some of them knew this and some of them still thought that Omer was the most adapted person. As per tradition, the position should go the eldest son/grandson. And as the ruling chef was his father though Mehmet, then he would pass the title to his son and not his grandfather directly, something that showed that even though Mehmet was their chef, Hamiz still held the true power.

An angry Omar raised at once, slamming his fist on the table, disrespecting everyone. Immediately after him, his father was surprised and angry as well.

-”As the law says, the position should go to the eldest grandson. You can not do this grandfather. Do I not matter to you?” - Omer shouted.

-”Omer, calm down! I know you are right, but this is not the attitude in front of your grandfather.” - his father added to accelerate his anger.

-”I shall reply to you as to why I will be in charge! Your fierce attitude is something that no one can tolerate and when dealing with foreigners we need diplomacy and no fists and guns as you usually do. And this is not the way to develop our country.” - Riccardo retorted coldly, without any remorse towards his cousin.

-”And who in the first place invited westerners to show us what to do and run ourselves? How have we survived with their help for so many years?” -Omer said.

-”Killing each other brutally and last time I checked, that is called surviving and not living!”- answered Ricardo.

Everyone watched how the heated argument between two cousins went before their eyes. All quiet and listening about the new changes that were about to happen.

-”Almost everything is settled now. All our illegal businesses will come clean and adapted into a new company that will manage our money in all our casinos, restaurants, hotels, jewelry shops, army machines, everything we own will be declared and arranged to produce money for our benefit and our comfortable life"-said Ricardo getting up and directing everyone.

-”Unfortunately, my cousin doesn't have the education to lead a company or become a certified CEO, so that’s why I have implemented all the necessary. In two weeks, I have invited some western Europeans and potential investors to have a look at the Capital City and see the possible investments for them which will help us develop tourism and this means more capital comes to us from outside and to do this we need to offer them a secure environment. In this way, we can come open in the global arena, gentlemen. And if not for yourselves, consider this as a legacy for your children. No more disrespect to our women, no more fighting the southerners."

Feeling agitated that his son was cut off with no opportunity to even race for the successful place, Mehmet directed his words to Ricardo.

-”As the son of my father, I have to say that the West always benefits from us? Why Nephew...." - his uncle said with a burning heart, " with them when we still have connections with our old allies. Are you sure you have nothing under your sleeve other than the country's future?”

-”Yes uncle, old friends remain as such as long as they don’t show us the opposite. So why limit ourselves and not explore further when my leading plan with the right steps helps us once and for all? We all know that people depend on us. With new workplaces, they can gain their freedom and work on their own.”

Everybody present was skeptical of Ricardo’s words as, with fear, they had people, no slaves working for them with no doubt about their lives or future, but no one gave voice to their opinion except Mehmet, saying that they should stick to traditions. Some other elders said they were surprised Hamid supported Ricardo's idea, being a traditionalist himself and reminding old ways of fighting and killing to make more money and gain lands.

Omer, who was losing his mind, wanted to kill Ricardo also for interfering in his attack on the natives, as Ricardo mentioned it as a barbaric action. Action that Omer would present as a gift to his grandfather to secure his position as the successor, but he would deal with him in the best way possible by beating him in his own game.

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