Damien

The smell of sausage and eggs could be smelled all throughout the elegant high rise condominium in the metropolitan section of New York City. The sausage sizzled on top of the beautiful electric stove as the tall, dark handsome man with his dress shirt sleeves rolled up on his arms flipped over the eggs. He had made himself a promise a long time ago that if he had lived through his turbulent life to see the day he would have his own family, he would cook breakfast for them every morning. He had lived long enough to keep that promise, but not long enough to escape the turbulence that was his present life.
He placed the scrambled eggs next to the Cajun sausage on the plates that rested by an all black Beretta. He looked at the lonely pistol on the marble counter top and realized that he would be a gangster for the rest of his natural life. He even knew that he would raise a gangster when he heard his son enter into the kitchen. "Wassup, pa?"
A young, tall replica of his handsome father entered into the kitchen. His father looked into his son's eyes and smiled. Nothing made a father more proud than seeing his son in a suit ready to tackle the day, living up to the success his father had dreamed for him so long ago. He turned his attention back to the ready toast and placed the toast on a plate for his son. He grabbed the plate and handed it to his son. "What's going on, Don?" His son shook his head and rubbed his eyes still recovering from the troubled sleep he has the night before, a trait he had inherited from his father. "Where's your sister?"
Don smiled, revealing a beautiful smile, and he laughed with a hint of malice, not that there was any bad blood for his sister, his soul was just filled with just as many heinous thoughts as his father so his laugh was naturally cold. "You know Diamond likes her sleep. She isn't haunted by her dreams like us, pa."
He shook his head at his son's statement, knowing it to be true. He was definitely the son of a kingpin, the don of the Black Mob. "And for that, she is truly blessed. Go eat your food, son. You have a long day of school ahead of you. My son, a senior in high school. I'm proud of you."
Don smiled his devilish smile and thanked his father, humbled by his father's statement. His head sunk to the floor as his father picked up Don's face with his index finger and looked directly into his laughing eyes. "I know, I know, pa. Always look a man in his eyes."
They both shared a laugh after Don repeated a lesson his father had taught him a long time ago. He patted his son on the shoulder lovingly and proceeded to his daughter's room. As he walked through the hallways, he looked at the family portraits on the wall. His eyes caught the eyes of his wife in still and stared in her beautiful, dark brown eyes and he felt as though he had fallen in love with her all over again. His Angel.
When he reached his daughter's door, he knocked moderately hard, in case she was still sleep. When he heard no answer, he opened her door to reveal the sleeping beauty that laid half naked in her queen size bed. She laid sprawled out on her bed, mouth opened, looking as though she were dead to the world. He crept over to the side of her bed slowly and took his fatherly throne on the side of her bed. He looked at her angelic, smooth brown creamed face and stared at a direct reflection of his wife's face. He smiled, proud of the Diamond that laid in her bed. She truly shined like the most precocious diamond ever pressurized by the earth. He moved the long strand of hair that had found itself inside of her mouth and wiped the sleep around the corners of her mouth gently. Her eyes fluttered and she began to stir, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Hi, daddy." Her soft voice trailed into his ears. She had the same melodic voice of her mother's she even sounded beautiful in the morning, but her eyes, her big, doe brown eyes were inherited from her father.
He smiled as he wiped more sleep from her face as she relaxed under his hand. It warmed his heart to have a daughter who had loved him as much as Diamond had loved him. "Wake up, sweetheart," Her large bust sat on top of her comforter, but her father's gaze never left her eyes. He had told her a long time ago that if a man could not look into her eyes every time he spoke to her, then he didn't deserve the Diamond of his heart. She was daddy's little girl. "Breakfast is ready and your brother's waiting for you in the dining room. Hurry up and get ready, you don't wanna be late to school do ya?"
She smiled and said softly, "No."
He smiled and playfully tapped her face, "Good. Well your breakfast is waiting for you in the kitchen, okay sweetie?", he said while rising from his throne on the side of her bed.
"Okay, daddy."
Her father had walked to the door and before he turned the knob to exit out of her room, he turned his head and said a phrase he made sure to tell his daughter everyday. "I love you, sweetheart."
She smiled and repeated the phrase to her father. "I love you too, daddy."
It warmed his frigid heart to hear that phrase from the second woman he had ever loved. He turned his head and allowed his daughter to get ready for her own day of school.
He walked to the dining room to see his son scarfing down the food he had prepared. He laughed on the inside and thought to himself, "He even got his father's appetite." He shook his head and took his place at the glass table. He stared at his son hungrily stuffing food in his mouth with thoughts swirling in his mind.
Don noticed that his father had been staring at him for the past five minutes and he began to wonder what was on his father's mind. "Wassup, pa?"
His father only smiled. "You, son."
Don laughed with a mouth full of eggs. He swallowed his food and asked, "What about me, pa?"
His father shook his head. "You a senior now, Don."
Don smiled. "Yeah, so?"
"What you wanna do after you graduate, Don? Yo' time is coming awfully, son. What's your plan after school?"
Don wiped the side of his mouth and formulated thoughts in his mind. "I ain't gon' lie, pa. I been thinking about that."
"So what you been thinking about, son?" His father asked sincerely.
"I been wondering what I could do, ya' know? But then I got this little nigga right, and he just like you in a way. He hungry and I realized I have his same hunger."
"You talking bout Lil' D?"
"Yeah and he got me thinking, this gangster shit, it's in my blood, ya' know. I ain't like Diamond. I don't really have no legit way of getting this money. All I know is crime. The only people I attract is criminal. All I know is trouble. So I thought about college and shit, but then I realized, I ain't no college boy. I'm the son of a kingpin, so for the rest of my life, people gonna be after me, either trying to take me to hurt you or to get close to me in hopes that I'd put 'em on wit you, so like my nigga be saying, why not take these streets and lock 'em, for the family, ya' know. I'm a street nigga going to a prep school, getting an education, and I feel like I'd have more use to the family than to anything else, so why not follow in the footsteps that my father laid out for me?"
His father smiled. "So is this your decision, son, or is this Lil' D's?"
Don looked deep into his father's eyes and gave him an answer that would warm his heart like the last phrase after every conversation they have. "Pa, nothing would make me happier than being a part of the beautiful organization you built from the ground up, and that's real."
His father stood up and offered his son his hand. Don took his father's hand and stood up to embrace his father. His father whispered in his ear, "Nothing would make me happier than to have you a part of this organization, but I want you to wait until after you graduate from high school, just to make sure you don't find another path, but if you don't, I am right here, and there will always be a throne for you, my prince."
Don kissed his father's cheek and clutched his father tight. "I love you, pa."
"I love you too, son."
Just then, Diamond had entered the dining room with a huge smile on her face. "Damn, daddy! Can I get some love too!?" He smiled and broke his embrace with his son, and grabbed his daughter. She kissed his cheek and hugged her father tightly. "What y'all talking bout?"
In an attempt to keep his son's conversation a secret, he switched the subject. "Your food is on the stove, sweetheart. You ready for school?"
Her business woman attire told her father that she was more than prepared to handle business at school. In that instance, he was glad he taught his children how to dress for success. He stood proud knowing that his children would be successful in whatever they had planned on doing. "Yeah l, daddy. I'm ready for school."
She had known that her father had changed the subject on purpose. She had seen him do this many times before whenever he had not wanted them to know exactly what was going on, but the wonderful thing about her father was the fact that he would always tell them what's going on when he felt they were ready to receive the news. So she didn't pay it any mind, knowing she would soon find out. She grabbed her food and stuffed as much as she could in her mouth before she yelled with her her sweetest voice, "Daddy! Could you put the rest in the refrigerator for me? I don't wanna be late to school." He shook his head and began to wrap the food up as she ran up and gave her father a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, daddy. You know as soon as I get back, I'm uh need my favorite meal of the day."
She flashed her dad her most brilliant smile, "I know."
"Okay. Love you, daddy!"
His smile was a replica her's. "I love you sweetie."
After both of his children had left, his mile had stayed on his face for but a second before his natural scowl had returned. Gone was the domesticated kingpin, and in his place was the evilest warlord that had ever resided in New York. Gone was the loving father and husband and in his place was the ruthless man who had no regards for human life. Gone was a father and a king and in his place stood Damien. He thought to himself, alone in that beautiful kitchen, "At least I am still able to cook for my family."