Chapter 10 - Sunday Dinner at Fourth StreetThe rain had cleared by Sunday evening, leaving the pavement of Fourth Street washed clean and glistening under the streetlamps.
Inside Bellini’s Diner, the restaurant was closed to the general public for the evening, reserved entirely for family and close friends.
At the long wooden table in the center of the dining room sat General Thomas Sterling, Carlo the head chef, Sarah from logistics, and a handful of loyal dockworkers who had known Matteo since he was a kid in a t-shirt doing homework in the back booth.
At the head of the table sat Elena Bellini, laughing as General Sterling recounted a particularly disastrous shipping negotiation from twenty years ago.
The kitchen doors swung open, and Matteo stepped out carrying a massive, steaming platter of slow-cooked osso buco, the rich aroma filling the entire room and drawing an appreciative murmur from the table.
He set the platter down in front of his mother, wiping his hands on his apron.
Elena looked up at him, her eyes shining with pride and unconditional love. She reached out, taking his calloused hand in hers—the hand that now managed billions in global assets, yet still knew how to hold a heavy iron skillet.
“Well, Matteo,” Elena smiled, raising her glass of red wine. “To new beginnings.”
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Matteo raised his glass, looking around the table at the people who loved him for who he was, not what he owned.
“To new beginnings, Mom,” Matteo said, his voice ringing clear and steady across the room. “And to never forgetting where we came from.”
