O'Neil was standing in Vincenzo's path in the basement of the building. O'Neil had taken control of the building as Vincenzo had ordered his men to surrender and not fight. Vincenzo hadn't stopped his plans and neither had he tried to come outside and face his father or O'Neil. He had come to the basement to deal with his grandfather and instead had seen O'Neil in his path in the long corridor that lead to his grandfather's cell. O'Neil was standing there with crossed arms leaning to a pillar as he was looking at Vincenzo with an unreadable expression.
Vincenzo walked slowly and cautiously towards O'Neil who was looking at him without blinking. He didnt know how O'Neil did it but he did go on without blinking for a long time just to say he was watching the opponent.
Vincenzo stood in front of O'Neil "Good day sir."
O'Neil gave him a bitter smile "Good day? Really son? You have the nerve to look into my eyes and say good day. What happened to make you become so irrational? You didnt come out when your father has been waiting for you outside..."
Vincenzo said "I have work to do. Then I will come out."
O'Neil said "No. You have no work to do here. Your father has work to do in this place. This is your father's right and not yours to deal with his father and that is if he wishes it..."
Vincenzo said " I have the right to deal with this matter. Now if you will excuse me sir..." He tried to walk past O'Neil who blocked his path.
O'Neil demanded "Let's take a walk back the way you came. I need to speak with you about you and your father."
Vincenzo said "But..."
O'Neil said "But what? You have to tend to your grandpa? Ha? He is not there. You really think I havent gotten him out of his cell? You are not the only one familiar with his passage ways. Now take a walk with me and if you resist, it will make me very cross. You dont want to see that side of me kid. Trust me." He then patted Vincenzo's shoulder "Let's go."
Vincenzo didnt resist as O'Neil put his hand on his shoulder and walked beside him "So. Lets look at your situation... You are mad. You want to take revenge for your papa. I get it. But you have messed up big time kid. You are too immersed in your own world to see that what you have in front of your eyes actually goes beyond your world and your imagination. You have no idea what you are dealing with Vincenzo. You think you do. But you dont..." He then opened a door to a chamber and pushed Vincenzo gently but with slight force "Step inside and we can talk."
As Vincenzo stepped inside, O'Neil closed the door soundly. Vincenzo turned around and looked at O'Neil. With this man he never could tell where he stood. He had the smile even if he wished death on someone. He was hard to read. He wanted to hear him. He had asked to speak to him and he was not going to be disrespectful and defiant.
O'Neil grabbed a chair and asked "Take a seat."
Vincenzo sat down.
O'Neil stood towering in front of him "Let's get to the point. You defied your father a couple of times in the past 24 hours. Your father is lenient and will let you get away lightly. But I dont agree with him. I think you must take responsibility for your actions..."
Vincenzo said "I take full responsibility for all my actions..."
O' Neil sat on a table nearby and faced Vincenzo " But you wont have to take responsibly because your father is just letting you get away with defying him. I think its wrong. If Tristan was as arrogant as you I would have put him in his place. You are lucky you are not my son."
Vincenzo said defensively "Sir. I am not acting arrogant... I choose my actions with great contemplation."
O'Neil said "Really? You call this contemplating? Defying your father's orders?"
Vincenzo said "I had no choice. He didnt want me to get involved but I had to get involved..."
O'Neil said "Did you ever ask him why he didnt want you to get involved?"
Vincenzo said "I did ask..."
O'Neil said "Did you? Really? You would not have defied him if you had asked."
Vincenzo said "I asked...He didnt disclose why..."
O'Neil said "What did you do about that?"
Vincenzo said "I decided to take action without his involvement..."
O'Neil said "Big mistake."
Vincenzo said "I couldn't just sit at home and do nothing..."
O'Neil said "But you expected your father to sit at home and wait for you to get home after you are done dealing with his father..."
Vincenzo said "I wanted to protect my father... I didnt want him to have to do this..."
O'Neil said "Â I encourage you to protect your father... That is not the problem. My problem is your poor communication skills with your father... Why didnt you get your father to tell you why he doesnt want you to deal with this problem? If you knew the whole truth there is no way you would have pulled this stunt..."
Vincenzo said "You do know how hard it is to get any word from my father. If he doesnt wish to discuss a matter, he wont..."
O'Neil said "With you... he will... If you ask him persistently he will. You are his son... You didnt insist. Practice what you preach to my daughter. You told her that your old man tells you "If you want something badly enough you will get it..." I dont wish to push you on what context you were referring to... But lets be straight here... You didn't really want to know about your father's reasons..."
Vincenzo stood up "I did. I do wish to know. He didnt want to tell me. His expression seemed pained. He didnt want to talk about it. I dont wish to cause him hurt by asking him about his reasons if he doesnt wish to share it with me..."
O'Neil said "You knew there was pain and yet you walked out on him..."
Vincenzo walked towards O'Neil " I will never ever walk out on my father. I will give my life for him. I will do anything for him to feel less pain. I dont want him to have to deal with my grandpa. I will do it. My grandpa messed with my life and secretly contacted me. I knew my father will not let him get away. And then I realised my father was hurt by him too. He didn't say it but I know grandpa made him kill and
my father sees nightmares. I don't know any more details but I know enough to want to make him pay. He has gone against my principles. He has to pay."
O'Neil closed the distance between them and said "And you thought, why not? Lets walk out... I will catch up with my father later. Thats a big mistake. You saw a glimpse of the truth and you should have insisted on finding out more until you found out the whole truth. Instead you painted a half done picture of the situation and went ahead with your half baked plans. Lets see where it made you end up? back to square one. Your father will force you to sit in a car and will send you home. Then he will deal with your grandfather. So let's see what this is... Its a circle. You cant out-smart your father. You an try but you can't beat your father. He may make you think you can winjust so he is entertained to see what you do next. Your situation is no different to where you were before running away from home. Your father runs this city. Not you. He knows who breathes in this place and who doesn't. He decides who lives and dies his way and his way only. Did you really think you can out-run your father?"
Vincenzo remained silent and stared at O'Neil thinking over his words. He breathed "I had to try..."
O'Neil gave him a half smile " You didnt have to try to run. You are wrong."
Vincenzo asked "What do you think I should have done? Watch my father leave and stay at home?"
O'Neil said "You should have asked him why he doesn't want you to deal with this problem. You should have insisted. You should have begged. You tried but you should have tried harder to get the truth out of your father. Its time you turn into an adult. Kids ask adults questions and then turn around nodding their heads accepting their fates. Adults ask until they have no breath left in their lungs or until they get the answer...."
Vincenzo defended "I respected his privacy. He didn't want to disclose more."
O'Neil said "I don't mean you should have pushed your father. You should have asked and kept asking until he told you... it could take weeks but he could have told you..."
Vincenzo asked "Weeks?"
O'Neil said "Yes. Or months or years or decades. Your father's words are worth waiting for. When he is ready he would have told you... He thinks you are too young to handle it but I disagree. You are no typical teenager. You are willing to see the truth. If you had insisted and had shown interest in your father's life as much as he has shown interest in every step of your life then you would have known much more. But like other teens you think you know better. You don't ever stop and look back to learn from your father. We look up to our fathers to learn from their mistakes, horrors of the past, pains, love and triumphs. There is so much to learn for you yet and you can handle it. Your father doesn't think so or rather it's easier to assume you can't handle it rather than acknowledging you are not interested in his life Vincenzo. Not everything around you is about you Vincenzo. There is a whole world out there."
Vincenzo breathed "I like to know my father better..."
O'Neil said "But you don't show it. You don't work hard enough for it... You could have heard what you were looking for if you truly wanted to hear it badly enough. But your focus was on action rather than getting information that will change your perspective on life forever. Your father is the wisest man I know and you are wasting away precious time playing around and chasing your fantasies..."
Vincenzo said " I do not make decisions lightly... This is no fantasy..."
O'Neil point a finger at Vincenzo and touched his chest "It is your fantasy... You think you are a big man kid. You think you are a big man... But you wont be as big as your father because he has wisdom he has gained by sacrificing himself and his life for his loved ones. You can learn so much from your grandpa about business. I don't deny it. I know you put up with him and didn't tell your father that you have been seeing him just to gain insight in his sick, twisted, psycho mind ,... You could learn so much from him. But no one... and I mean no one could ever teach you the true meaning of sacrifice like how your father can because he is your father. No one can teach you the true value of love and family like how your father can. He raised you. He knows you better than yourself. No one can teach you the true outcome of waiting and loyalty like how your father can. No one can show you how hardship builds character but your father can. You can relate to him because he is your blood... No one can teach you what you are missing except your father. You have the wisest mentor in your home and you look for advice elsewhere. I dont blame you... It's what teenagers do. They see others and their wisdom but they don't count their own fathers as ones to go to for learning until it's too late. You dont know your father like how I do. You need to get to know him. He may think you are too young to know everything about him. But you must never give up asking. You will be respectful but must persist. If you want to change your life and become a leader who is worth following you will ask him to teach you. Start by asking about what he has sacrificed for you to stand here. How much do you know about that?"
Vincenzo whispered "He won't tell me everything. I know he won't... You said it yourself. He thinks I am too young... But will you?... You said that I don't know my father like how you do... So you know much more. Will you tell me ... everything?"