The moment James finally started to understand that what he dreamed of building, or at least what he wanted to do with his life, was working. People are now on their own willing to stay by his side, even though there is a high chance that they will not make it.
Even if they're cooks or a cleaner, they can die any day, that's how this life is. Nobody is in a safe spot, and well, they knew it too.
But how can they leave him when he did so much, not for just them but others?
They see what he is doing, how well he pays the others, the men, the women who are working countless hours, that he tries to help with his utmost to everybody.
"We are here, sir, and will be here." Albert spoke again with a little chuckle at the end.
"Yeah, it is important to eat the best meals, sir, and we are here to cook it for you, whatever you wish." Amelia said with her sweet voice and smile while Chris nodded to that.
"Well, I can only clean, but I will be here too." Alda said, and that's when it finally hit James.
These people were here for him, for something that he still needed to understand, that people really are for him, who he is. From young to old, they are all in there with their everything, let it be cooking, let it be cleaning, or killing.
Yeah, the people for him, these men and women didn't dip because James was the one that gave them the meaning of their life, a chance. They all had their own stories, the stories that led them to him.
To him, who they trust and are ready to be on his side.
"How much do I pay y'all?" He asked as he looked at all of them, one by one, meeting everybody's eyes.
"Well, to be honest." Albert started, folding his arms with a smile, "less than at my old job… but it doesn't matter that much."
James blinked. "Doesn't matter?"
"No, sir." Albert replied simply. "Because at my old job, I was just a chef. A name on a schedule. Here… I'm Albert."
Amelia stepped forward, brushing her hands on her apron. "I used to cook for rich people who didn't even look me in the eye. Here… you ask how we are. You remember our names."
James didn't know what to say.
Then Alda spoke up, the mop still in her hand. "My husband left me with nothing. Your mother hired me when I was cleaning toilets for pennies. Now I clean this house, and I do it with pride."
James looked at her, really looked and for a second, the world paused.
He just stood there, shoulders heavier than they'd been a moment ago, not from pressure but from something far rarer in his world.
Loyalty. Real, raw loyalty.
And for the first time that morning, James Bellini didn't feel like a boss or a target.
He felt like a man worth standing beside, even though they knew that they were only able to live a life because of what James does. They could only live a life that is good because he sells the drugs and makes people's lives miserable and desperate with it, because he kills and bribes… because he is a Don.
Don of the people… but moreover… he is the Don of Sophia, who came down from the stairs in James's old shirt and shorts, and launched herself at James hugging him tight.
"Good morning, darling." She said, and her grip was actually strong, and James felt it and also felt the eyes of the cooks, their eyes fell to the ground and resumed their work, because they knew Sophia was a freak… moreover, a maniac.
So they rather don't even look at her, because even if a woman looked at her or James, she might snap.
She is a monster on her own and they knew it, even though they were just cooks and a cleaner. They heard stories about Sophia because she was the underworld queen, at least that's what people call her, not just because of her looks but the things she had done to get into that position.
The massacres, the tortures she had done to people to get information, to step her foot in territories. The mad queen, who killed every single little gangster who stepped onto her territory, let it be a bike gang, a teenager who robbed, she literally wiped out any competitor off the map. She even killed graffiti artists who painted onto the building, because it wasn't aesthetic.
But that wasn't all of it.
They also heard it was best to not even try to speak with her, even if she was the one starting a conversation, because she could snap at any minute… and there was only one rule that everybody needed to follow when around her.
One, do not talk about James, don't even mention him.
Second, never look straight into her eyes, especially if you are a man, because she might kill you for staring too much and well, that was the biggest problem, at least for men, because Sophia is really a gorgeous woman with curves and an ass that is otherworldly.
Staring or even glancing at her was like an impossible mission, and that's exactly why these rules were made, because people died.
Measuring it on a scale, Sophia is topping Bella, not even close to her madness and obsession over James.
Like, he is the only one who can look at her, to speak with her, to do something with her.
Anybody else just needs to die. Yeah, she is different, like the reaction of a succubus or something, because everything about her is just otherworldly and evil in a sense. Killing innocent people because they looked at her too long, because they tried to talk with her, to ask her out...