The kitchen hums with steam and knife-bright metal. Donatello stands by the prep table, a manila packet spread open beside a covered platter, while lightning strobes the bistro through the doorway behind him.
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Sit. Eat with me, both of you. Then we decide what happens next.
Tommy and Erika step in together. The packet catches the flash, pages of paperwork and clipped tabs staring up like evidence. Around them, the storm rattles the glass.
Victoria "Vicky" Capozzi
That paperwork looks a lot like terms. Funny place for a family meal.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
He’s not giving up control. He’s changing the shape of it.
Nichole "Nikki" Capozzi
If this is about trust, then say it plain.
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
It is plain. Tommy keeps his life. Erika gets the family’s protection. And everyone else learns to live with it.
The table goes still. The offer is also a warning, and everyone in the kitchen hears the same thing at once. Tommy’s autonomy is no longer abstract, it is being priced, witnessed, and challenged in real time.
“I ask what the paperwork really changes”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled -1)
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
What does the paperwork really change?
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
It makes your place real on paper, not just in my mouth. Erika is covered, the family can touch her only through me, and anything tied to you has to run through me first.
Victoria "Vicky" Capozzi
So it is control, just dressed up in nicer language.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
No, it is a leash with legal weight. That is worse.
Nichole "Nikki" Capozzi
And if he walks, or if she walks?
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Then the protection falls with them. That is the bargain. Eat, sign, and stop pretending this family does not keep score.
The packet sits open between the plates like a verdict nobody can unwrite. The storm flashes white through the doorway, and for a beat the kitchen waits on Tommy's answer without moving.
“I sign the contract”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +0)
Tommy takes the pen and signs without looking up. The ink cuts clean across the page, and the kitchen seems to hold its breath around the scratch of it.
Donatello's shoulders ease by a fraction, as if a weight has finally found the table instead of the room.
Donatello "Don" Capozzi
Good. Now it is real.
Victoria "Vicky" Capozzi
That does not make it wise.
Vincenzo "Vinny" Capozzi
No, but it does make it binding.
Nichole "Nikki" Capozzi
So what comes with it now?
The signed page lies beside the discarded manila packet, and the storm-light flashes over both like a seal pressed into wax. Don's hand turns toward the table, not the contract, waiting for the next move.