Oblivion ✓

14| Misbehaving

THIRD PERSON

"Come on, share with me," begged the girl on Riccardo's lap. He just rolled his eyes in annoyance and decided to empty the cup in one go. The girl pulled her lips into a pout. "Oh, Ricci, that was really naughty of you."

He wasn't interested anymore. Instead, he noticed how ridiculous she looked sitting there on his lap, acting all innocent. She seemed to notice his increasing rejection, so she tried moving her hips, but the battle had long since been lost. Annoyed, Riccardo let his head fall back and looked pleadingly at his brother.

Matteo had to grin but still took pity. "Sweetheart, on any day, my brother here would definitely appreciate your... favor, but unfortunately, today is not that day."

Claire got up with a huff and disappeared without another word, although no one was sad about that. At first, Riccardo wanted to shout after her that she wasn't allowed to call him Ricci, but in the end, it wasn't worth the effort. Instead, he sat up straight again and reached for the bottle. "Thanks, Matteo."

Matteo waved his hand and took a sip from his cup. "No problem, but you should get over it at some point. You can't be mad about it forever!"

'That's rich coming from you,' thought Riccardo, but bit his tongue. Matteo really wasn't the right person to say something like that, no matter how right he might or might not be. "You can't seriously be okay with them letting a complete stranger into our house like that!"

"I don't know if you had another phone conversation or not, but I don't have to agree with it because it was decided long ago."

Riccardo loudly placed the bottle back on the table, causing the other bottles to wobble under the sudden force. "That's what it's all about! With such a big thing, how dare they not ask us first what we think about it! It's still our home, hell!" Matteo sighed and had to agree with his brother. He, too, was anything but thrilled about suddenly having a sister they knew nothing about except her name. On the other hand, neither Vito nor Domenico would make such a decision lightly, so there had to be an important reason for it. At least he hoped so, because otherwise it would be a really shitty move. "That's so typical of them! Just telling us to do things and then expecting us to do what they want. We're not dogs!" Riccardo continued. "I can't wait to finally come of age and then disappear. And you're coming with me. We'll sort it out with the authorities. It doesn't matter, as long as we're out of there." Riccardo grabbed Matteo's neck and pulled his head towards his. "Just you and me. Fuck the others."

Matteo looked his brother in the eyes. Riccardo was clearly drunk, but he knew he would do anything for his brother. Just like Riccardo would do for him. "Fuck them."

_____________

Meanwhile, Vito sat at home in his office and asked himself again why he kept insisting on checking the numbers even though his employees were more than capable of doing it themselves. It wasn't the '60s anymore; he and his father had increasingly brought a lot of what their family had done in the dark back then into a legalized form. The other matters that were better left in the dark were still active, but only to the extent that it was safe from the authorities. Money laundering, when done correctly, was a simple matter. Smaller sums could be laundered through nightclubs or casinos and required little planning. It was more difficult with large sums of money.

The first phase is the placement phase. The incriminated money must be brought into the legal economic cycle for the first time. This can be done by depositing large sums of cash at credit institutions, but also by purchasing real estate, company shares, etc., using cash.

The concealment phase is more complex and often involves international financial transactions. The main goal of this phase is to separate the illegally acquired funds from their source, thereby obscuring the paper trail and severing any connection to the original crime. During the mostly cross-border transactions, the funds remain in motion to avoid detection. For this purpose, loopholes in the legal regulations of the respective countries are used.