Chapter 25 - NO PATRIARCH
After Arturo’s funeral, three relatives began calling me patriarch.
I stopped them.
“I’m Lorenzo.”
“You’re senior Bellini.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Somebody has to be head.”
“No.”
That answer irritated people.
The companies had leadership.
The family had age.
Those were different.
We created no new patriarch role.
No House Council chair for life.
Shared family-property matters used elected rotating representatives.
Charitable foundation had term limits.
Villa Bellini estate operations belonged to professionals.
Dinner invitations could still be political because humans remain humans.
But no one wore a title that let staff assume law followed age.
The old Mafia aesthetic survived.
Dark suits.
Private lounges.
Signet rings.
Men with voices too low for ordinary restaurants.
May you like
But the authority beneath it changed.
That was the important part.
