Two days later and Joey Sinatra was looking at his half-sister.  “Why does he always pull this shit?”

Gloria Sinatra looked at her younger half-brother.  “Pull what?” she asked.

“We’re his kids,” Joey explained.  “Other than the twins, we’re the only kids he has.  We all work for him.  You work for him here at the office, and Teddy and I work for him in the field.  But he always makes us wait to see his ass like we’re some freaking strangers!  It’s stupid, man.”

They were sitting outside their father’s office at Sinatra Industries: Gloria, Joey, and their oldest brother Teddy.  Gloria was in a dress and heels.  Teddy was in an Armani suit.  Joey, as usual, was in oversized jeans, an oversized jersey, with a gold chain around his neck.  It was just past seven at night, and they’d already been waiting for nearly an hour.

But it was no shock to Gloria.  “He had meetings all day,” she said.  “That’s how it works around here.  He wasn’t about to let his business associates wait to accommodate my request to see him.  I’m still just an assistant around here, remember?  My daughter status doesn’t work around here.”

“Your daughter status, nor my son status for that matter, works anywhere, if you ask me,” Joey said.  “At least not with him.  With strangers, we’re good.  Everybody respects us as Mick Sinatra’s children.  But with Mick Sinatra?  His ass don’t give a shit.”

Joey was the most stubborn of all of Mick’s children.  And was also slouched down in his chair.  “I’m not buying it,” he said, as if somebody had said that they were.  “It’s just not right.  Blair Witch has been in his office for nearly fifteen minutes.”  Blair Conyers was their father’s longtime executive assistant, and a woman none of them particularly cared for.  “Does he put her above us, too?  What’s she doing in there that long?  He could have made her ass wait.”

“She’s my boss, Joey, and she’s his head assistant,” Gloria pointed out.  “He’s probably dictating to her what he wants her to do as a result of all of those meetings.”

“You have an answer for everything,” Joey said.  “You’ll forgive him anything,” he added.  “He beat your ass over Will Flannigan, and you forgave him for that.  When he beat my ass that time?  I wasn’t forgiving shit.  He had to earn my respect all over again.”

Teddy, the one their father entrusted with the most responsibility, stood up from their threesome perch in the chairs in front of Blair’s desk, and walked over and leaned against the edge of the desk, facing his siblings.  The only thing that united them was the fact that they all had the same father.  None of them had the same mother.  And Gloria was the only one of the three that was biracial.  “I’ve got business to take care of, too,” he said, “and Joey needs to get back to the docks.  I sure hope we can help, Glo, but I’m not counting on it.  You know Dad.”

Gloria understood what he meant.  “I’m just happy you guys showed up.  Joey told me he would be here to offer his hand of support, but I had no idea you could get away, too, Teddy.  Dad has put so much on your plate.  Thanks.”

Teddy smiled a half-smile at his kid sister.  They were the closest of the three siblings, and he loved her dearly.  But even he doubted this attempt by her was going to change their father’s mind.  Mainly because, of the threesome, Teddy also knew their father the best.

His office door finally opened, and Blair Conyers stepped outside.  She was an attractive, but arrogant woman that Joey especially despised.  “Get off of my desk,” were the first words she spoke when she walked out of the office.

But Teddy, who wasn’t intimidated by her in the least, remained leaned against her desk.  Blair seemed to understand that he was not the one to push, and walked behind the desk without pushing it.  But instead of getting to the point, she began thumbing through a stack of papers.

Gloria stared at her.  “Blair?” she asked.

It took a moment, but Blair looked at her.

“When did he say we could see him?”

“Oh, right.  He’s ready to see you now,” Blair said.

They all gave her displeasing looks, but Gloria and Joey quickly forgot about her as they stood up and made their way toward the office door.  But Teddy, who only worked for his father’s crime syndicate/import and export business, but never at Sinatra Industries, stood up and gave her a sidelong look.  “Try that shit again,” he said to her.  She seemed annoyed that he would speak to her so nastily, but Teddy wanted to make himself clear.  He didn’t play like that.  Then headed into his father’s office too.

All three entered the enormous office.  They could tell their father was super-busy by the way he was leaned back in his executive chair with eyes fully focused on the papers he was reviewing.  He didn’t even bother to look up.

They all knew him well enough to wait to be acknowledged.  He had been in the office all day, a rarity for him, and they could tell by the grimace on his face that it had been a long, exhausting day.

Gloria and Joey sat in front of the desk, while Teddy walked over to the side wall and leaned against it.  But even Teddy, with his elevated position in his father’s syndicate, knew to remain silent also.

When Mick finished reading the last lines of the paperwork, he folded the pages back over.  It was only then did he look at his children.  In his line of work, snap judgements were as necessary as air to breathe.  And although his children didn’t know his ways very well, he knew theirs extremely well.

There was Gloria, he thought, the apple of his eye.  She had grown into a gorgeous woman who looked more and more like her mother every day, but who still lacked that confidence and self-possession he wanted to see in her.  Of all of his children, she had the most potential to take over S.I. someday, but she had a long way to go.

Then there was Joey, Mick thought, as he looked from his daughter to his hip-hop, Eminem-looking son.  Joey was doing better than he had been doing in the past, but that wasn’t saying much.  He, too, had a long way to go before he would be up to Mick’s standards.  Joey used to work at S.I., but failed miserably.  His thuggish nature, like his father’s, wasn’t a fit for the stale corporate world of S.I.  But it fit perfectly at the docks.  His only problem was his need to blame the world for his own failures.  Of all of his children, Mick understood Joey the least.  Because of that fact, he was tougher on Gloria and Ted than he ever was on Joey.  But Joey would never believe it.

And then there was Teddy, Mick thought, looking at his handsome, oldest living child.  Teddy was the jewel in Mick’s crown, as he was the only one of his children who had already reached the standard.  Within the syndicate, he was Mick’s undisputed second-in-command.  Which meant he was a very powerful man.  Which meant, in the underworld, his word was almost as if Mick had spoken it himself.  The problem with Teddy wasn’t his gravitas.  He had plenty of weight and was well respected.  The problem with Teddy was his singular focus.  No woman.  No life beyond the syndicate.  All work the way Mick used to be.  And because Mick used to be just like him, he knew it was going to be a problem.

“Good evening,” he said to his children.

“Hey, Pop.”  That was Joey.

“Hello, sir.”  That was Gloria, who still was on duty at S.I. and therefore was expected, by Mick, to still behave that way.

“Good evening.”  That was Teddy.

“I didn’t know all three of you wanted to meet with me.”

“I wanted the meeting,” Gloria said.  “They came to support me.”

Mick nodded.  Inwardly, he could not be more pleased by the closeness of his three oldest children.  But outwardly, they would never know it.  Weakness, even of the emotional variety, was not a virtue he could afford to display.  He would rather his children fear him than respect him.  That was the only way, he felt, to keep them out of danger.  “Support you in what?” he asked.

“In my desire to get my old job back,” Gloria said bluntly.  “I want to get my job back, sir,” she added.

Mick stared at her with that icy look they all knew so well.  Even Teddy still found it unnerving.  He could only imagine how Gloria felt.

But despite that look, Gloria pressed on as she knew he would want.  “I was demoted from my position as Human Resources Manager after that fiasco with Will.  And I accepted my new post under Blair’s, I mean, under Miss Conyers’ supervision.”

She hesitated.  The idea that he would demote her that low still seemed unfair to her, given that she told him about Will’s schemes before they materialized.  But there was a lot about her father that she was at odds with.  She pressed on.  “I’ve learned from my mistake,” she said, “and I feel that I’m more than ready to retake my place in middle-management.  I feel I’ve lost a lot of ground I need to reclaim.  I know I let you down.  I let myself down even more.  That’s why I’m asking for my job back.”

Teddy thought it was a good pitch, but he could tell their father was not impressed.  And he was right.  Mick didn’t skip a beat.  “That ship has sailed,” he said with his own style of, as Joey put it, upside-your-head bluntness.

Gloria’s heart dropped.  “You mean I won’t ever get my job back?”

“That job?  Human Resources Manager?  That’s exactly what I mean.  I replaced you.  The man now in that position is doing his job.  I’m not removing him because you decided that you’re ready to be responsible again.  The world doesn’t work that way, Gloria.  Not as long as I’m in it.  I gave you a shot.  You blew it.  That’s over.  If you’re asking for a promotion, then you ask for that.  But HR management is not going to happen.”

Gloria was shocked.  She never expected to have that door closed completely in her face.  She had once loved her position as HR Manager.  Now it was over?  He told her, when he demoted her, that she could rise back up in his eyes.  Now he was telling her this?

“She’s asking for a promotion then,” Teddy said, helping his sister’s cause.   “Aren’t you, Glo?”

Gloria, regaining her footing, nodded.  “Yes,” she said.  “I’m asking for a promotion, sir,” she said.

Mick stared at her.  That alliance she had with Will Flannigan, an alliance that forced him to take matters into his own hands, was a wound that was not yet healed to Mick.  And Gloria, he felt, if she was ever going to rise like the phoenix he knew she could be, had to understand that.  “Not yet,” he said to her.  Joey and Teddy were as shocked as Gloria was.

“Not yet?” she asked.  Then suddenly, she let her professional guard down.  “What more do you expect me to do, Daddy?”

Mick’s heart broke a little when she called him by that name.  But he knew, in the end, he was doing her a favor.  “What more do I expect from you?” he asked.  “Don’t ask me a question like that.  What the fuck have you done, is the better question.  Tell me what you’ve done to deserve a promotion.  Tell me why I should promote you over everybody else in this organization.  Tell me that, Gloria.”

Teddy and Joey looked at Gloria.  They desperately wanted to help her, but they didn’t know what to say either.

“I work hard,” Gloria finally said.

“Everybody in my organization works hard,” Mick responded, “or they wouldn’t be here.”

Gloria’s anger was rising.  “Working under Blair Conyers is not easy, but I have been a team player.”

“That’s expected of everyone too,” said Mick.

Gloria stared at him as she inwardly struggled to come up with a compelling reason why she, above everybody else, should get a promotion.

Mick could see the hurt and pain in her pretty eyes.  He could even feel her pain.  But she had to understand something.  “I run a business,” he said.  “A major corporation.  My ass will be out of business tomorrow if I allowed you or any of my other children to play the kid card.  I’ve watched you closely after I demoted you.  You think I forgot about you?  I’ve watched.  But what did I see?  I saw a hardworking young woman doing her job.  I see that on every floor in this organization on every day of the week.  Have you developed a new program for S.I. to consider the way one other young lady just did?  Have you made suggestions for better service delivery the way another one did?  Or have you come to work, did what you were required to do, and gone home?  And that somehow translates in your mind that you’re ready to be promoted?  What would be my reason?  And equally important, if you weren’t my daughter, would you have even had the nerve to come in here at all?”

Gloria suddenly realized how shortsighted she had been.  She hadn’t done anything remarkable since her demotion!  She was too busy killing enough time to ask for her old position back.

“I moved you up the ranks lightning fast,” Mick continued, “because you were my daughter and I know what you’re capable of.  I got you that job.  But it was your job to keep it.”

Gloria understood.  So did Teddy.  She was relying on privileges that had been revoked when she messed up, and now she realized that fact.

But Joey, perhaps the most unrealistic of Mick’s children, wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.  “Glo deserves a promotion, Dad,” he said.  “For real, though.  You just don’t know.”

Gloria touched him on the arm, to stop his sales pitch, but Joey, being Joey, kept on talking.  “She works so hard,” he said.  “She doesn’t even have a personal life anymore she’s been working so hard.  She’s almost becoming as bad as Teddy.  I’m almost becoming as bad as Teddy.  All we do is work, Dad.  We’re hardworking people and Gloria works the hardest because she’s stuck behind a desk here at S.I. all day long.  She deserves better.”

Mick looked at Joey.  “If you were in my position, you’d give her a promotion?” he asked his son.

“Damn right, I would!” Joey responded.

“Then get in position and give her one.  But I’m done with this conversation.”

They all knew what that meant.  They were being dismissed.  But then Mick’s desk intercom buzzed.  And he answered.  “Yes?”

“Mr. Savarino is here to see you, sir.”

Teddy stood erect.  Gio Savarino?  What was he doing there?  Gio was one of his father’s most senior lieutenants, but he still worked under Teddy.

Mick appeared a little surprised too, since he worked diligently to keep his two businesses, the legit and the illicit, separate.  “Send him in,” he said.

Before Teddy could ask any questions, Giovanni Savarino walked in.  He was nearly a decade older than Teddy, but he acknowledged him, and Gloria and Joey, before standing in front of Mick’s desk.

“What is it?” Mick asked.

“Can I speak freely, sir?”

Teddy frowned.  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Gio?  Your ass work under me and you’re asking if you can speak freely in front of me?”

“I’m talking about Miss Gloria,” Gio pointed out.  It was no secret in the organization that Gio had a crush on Gloria.  It was also no secret that Mick would kill his ass if he even thought about realizing that crush.  His daughter, he’d already warned every one of his men, was off limits.  “She’s not into this,” Gio added.

But that was a distinction without a difference as far as Mick was concerned.  Gloria was not into the illicit end of his businesses, but she was no outsider either.  She knew what was going on.  “What is it?” he asked Gio again.

Although Gio had an idealistic view of the beautiful daughter and didn’t like the idea of her knowing anything about anything when it came to the syndicate, Gio knew he couldn’t overrule Mick.  “Natalie needs to see you,” he said.

Teddy had never heard that name before, and therefore studied his father’s face to see how big it was. Based on the look that came on Mick’s face, it was big.

“You found her?” he asked Gio.

Gio nodded.  “We found her, yes, sir.”

Mick immediately rose to his feet and began removing the suit coat flapped over the back of his chair.

“Who’s Natalie, Pop?” Although all three were curious, Teddy was the only one with the nerve to ask the question.  Especially since he didn’t even know any of their men were looking for this Natalie person.

And they all could see the hesitation in their father as he put on his suit coat.  He, in fact, didn’t answer until after he had put on his coat and was pulling down his shirt sleeve.   “A friend,” he responded, and began heading from around his desk.  All three children had their suspicions about their father.  The late nights.  The sometimes never coming home nights.  The rumors.

And because of all of that, Teddy decided to go bold.  “A friend Roz knows about?” he asked their father.

Mick stopped in his tracks and gave Teddy a stare that could curl water.  And his look made a statement.  A keep your ass out of my business statement.  Since Teddy understood that look, he didn’t make another comment.

Mick left the office.  Gio glanced at Gloria, and followed Mick out.

Joey and Gloria looked at each other.  They, like Teddy, was very fond of their stepmother, too, and didn’t want her to go through the heartbreaks and headaches their mothers went through when they were in relationships with Mick.

But for Teddy it was more than that.  He ran a large chunk of his father’s operations, and was the man in charge on most matters syndicate-related.  If this Natalie woman was related to his father’s business, and she had to be for Gio Savarino to be involved, why was he, Gio’s direct boss, being left in the dark?  Why didn’t Mick ask him to find this woman if it was as innocent as all that?

Gloria looked at Teddy.  “You okay?” she asked him.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he responded defensively.  Then he realized it was Gloria, and settled back down.  “I’m okay,” he lied.