6. Lecturer Grizzalo

“Listen carefully, Sig Sebastian…”

“Sebastian”

“Fine. Listen carefully Sebastian, you must have already guessed the purpose of those messages so I will go straight to the point. The Guerriero Family is having a trial to select a new leader for the family, not merely members. Five contestants have been carefully vetted and selected to participate in the trials and there will be a series of tests and challenges.

During the duration of this trial, any contestant has the right to mobilize the full force of the family, as much as they can command to do whatever they want, however, it must be within reason and for the benefit of the family. At the end of the trial, the Boss and the family will choose the next leader. Did you follow all that?” Alessandro finished

“Why was I selected?” Sebastian asked

“Our vetting team found you worthy”

“What did they find worthy in me? I am an outsider and from what you are saying, this Guerriero trial sounds very important to your family”

“It is indeed. After all, the lives of millions will literally be in the leader’s hands” Alessandro added with a bitter smile, recalling a memory, “however, if you were chosen, you were chosen for a reason”

“Don’t give me that ‘chosen for a reason bull’. I may look like nothing but I value my life above all else and I care about my future.” Sebastian said with a raised edge to his voice

“Then, let me entice you with this”, Alessandro leaned in, “you are related to someone very important in our family. If you want to know who that is, you will have to do the investigation yourself. In addition, Leonard’s family background is not as simple and as clean as you think. You cannot easily cause a dent to him without shaking certain underground forces. You already said you care for your life and future, imagine if they made such that there was none to look forward to and…”

“That’s enough. If I let you keep going, you will make it sound like I need to join your family to even breathe. If it is for Leonard, I can always find my own way of making him pay without relying on the mafia and I don’t care about a nameless family member who abandoned me. So really, you don’t have any bargaining chip” Sebastian crossed his hands across his chest and leaned back.

“You were not abandoned, everyone thought you died” Alessandro’s lips thinned

“Died? Me?” Sebastian burst out laughing. “Ah or was it wished I died instead?” he said in-between laughs.

“We...”

“Forget it, sorry I digressed, I didn’t mean to enter personal affairs, we’re discussing business. The truth is, I do need the mafia, I didn’t think of it at first but since the opportunity is here, why not use it?

I don’t have power or authority, not even a face. Everyone feels they can walk all over me with a snap of their hands and frankly, they can because I do nothing about it.

I had wanted to endure it, ignore it and find a way to survive till I made a name for myself but I had a painful realisation yesterday, no matter how high I climb, as long as I keep letting people trample me, they will never stop. If they will never stop, why should I let them continue to do so?” Sebastian had a deep dark look in his eyes.

“It’s sad that it took me losing Gramps to realise this but never again will I let anyone, heir or not walk all over me.” Sebastian’s eyes were red at this point but he continued, “I will join the Mafia but it will be on my own terms”

“There are rules already Boy…” Alessandro started but Sebastian cut him off

“That’s fine but I have bottom lines. If the rules touch my bottom line, I will trample all over it and if the ‘rules’ should touch anyone I care about, it will regret the day it was ever made.”

“And what might your bottom line be?” Alessandro asked with a perfectly raised eyebrow

“You know, bottom-line things” Sebastian replied with a shrug.

“You do know there are certain lines the mafia crosses right?” Alessandro asked, a dangerous look in his eyes

“I’m aware. I don’t practice martial arts solely for self-defence and I am not blind to the reality of what my skills are capable of. I don’t have a superficial sense of justice nor am I in denial of what being in the mafia may make me do. However, I will never raise my hand to an innocent man or one shrouded in doubt. Other than this and the mafia not touching my bottom line, we’re good. So, what is it going to be? You sound like you need me more than I need you” Sebastian smiled

“Deal” Alessandro agreed with a sigh

“Hold on, do you even have the power to make such a deal with me?”

“If you choose not to believe me, good luck finding someone who would agree to your ridiculous terms” Alessandro eyed Sebastian

“Fine fine. A gentleman should never break his promise, he only has his honour and it's true especially for you sir, am I wrong?” Sebastian smiled playfully at him

“That’s enough with the deviation.” Alessandro said, a bit annoyed. “For your first task of the trial, you are to earn 30 million USD for the family in a week.”

“Excuse me, what???!”

***

The next day in class, Sebastian was very distracted. What did Alessandro mean by earn 30 million USD for the family in a week?! He knew he should not have accepted to join their sketchy trials in the first place.

He was so lost in thought, he ignored that the hot topic of discussion in the school was about him. He was getting mixed responses from the crowd, some snickering, some angry, some sympathy? Soon the lecturer walked in.

“Our class today will be for the allocation of project topics and pairs; the project is due in a week and you are to work together to fully build and prepare a report on what you have worked on” The lecturer was a famous menacing figure in the university who cared not for rank or wealth. Rumours had it, he could make even the head of the school do whatever he wanted. Rich heirs dared not cross him and nobody knew why.

“I have prepared a ballot to group you in pairs. The ladies would pick their partners for the project through this ballot and work…” Everyone started grumbling, more accurately, the Rich heirs began to grumble.

“If someone has a problem with this method, may I hear their complaint?”

Someone shouted from the back, hiding in the crowd, “we will get mixed up with poverty scum if it's random! Let it be a specialized selection!”

“Can the person who just yelled that stand up and say it to my face?” The lecturer asked with a dangerous look in his eye.

Someone stood up and repeated what was said word for word, and the class burst out laughing.

“Tyler, Tin Corp’s heir I see. Clearly, you don’t care about your family’s participation in the Underground tunnelling construction. I heard it was to run throughout the country and your family was awarded the exclusive contract for reinforcement materials. It’s a shame the contract now has to go to another family with a non-exclusive provision. I always believed uniformity of construction materials was the best but maybe there’s room for innovation?

Tell your father I wish him luck paying off the loans from the loan sharks. Who knows, maybe your father might salvage a little right to supply, at least it’s better than nothing.” The lecturer said casually like he was teaching Algebra but with every word he said, the air in the room grew colder and frightening.

Tyler fell to his knees in a sobbing mess, crawling to the lecturer, begging him with a piercing cry, reaching out to grab his legs when he was met with a fierce kick to the face which broke his nose from the lecturer. He looked at him in disgust and called the security to drag him away.

To back his words up, he brought out his custom-made, limited edition phone, dialled a number and gave detailed instructions to the person on the other end. Five minutes passed and the lecturer was flipping the project allocation document in his hand as though he was waiting for something.

As everyone waited with batted breaths and uncomfortable posture, phones suddenly began to ding in the room:

“Breaking News: Tin Corp’s Exclusive Reinforcement Materials Supply Contract has been rescinded, and the contract has been awarded to T***s Corp with a non-exclusive licence!

“Is this the beginning of the fall of a great construction giant?”

The dings rang out non-stop. Everyone looked up and stared at the lecturer in fear. For the first time, they understood why this saying existed in the campus, “The fear of Lecturer Grizzalo is the beginning of endless riches and peace.”

Sebastian quietly took in all that happened from his seat. He had heard of Lecturer Grizzalo but he never thought he had this much power, he thought him to be one of those weak lecturers who cared about the bullied poor students but didn’t have the power to do anything about it, clearly his thinking was wrong. This was the first time Lecturer Grizzalo was teaching him so he never witnessed something like this before.

Leonard who was sitting behind glared at the lecturer for reducing one of his loyal followers to such a pitiable state and was met with an even fiercer glare from the lecturer, making him flinch back in fear.

“Any further complaints on how poverty scum should not be part of the ballot?” Silence swept through the room, not even a breath was heard.

“Good. Ladies, if you may, please step forward and pick your partners”

As each person picked a paper, they called out the name on the paper, then proceeded to sit in pairs from the front, for ease of identification and prevention of fraud. As the names rolled by, there were a few surprised gasps, some angry grumbles and some death stares till finally, an enchanting voice rang out in the hall saying the name, “Sebastian Trivulzio-Conti!”

“You have to be kidding me”

“Sebastian and one of the Bellissimi tre?”

“This is bringing dog poop into the Emperor’s palace and serving it to him as food!” Certain characters grumbled in the background

Sebastian looked up to see who he was paired with, only to see the face of the girl who always stalked him as his project partner. Now he was conflicted. Why did life never seem to go his way?