Refinement is good. Vulgarity is better

Family dinner. Family dinners were fine. Nothing wrong with a family dinner. It made his father happy to see the family together, so it was a fairly easy way to please him. Just sit down, smile, tell only the stories he wants to hear (or only the parts of stories apt for a family dinner table), and bite back any obvious derogatory remark towards brother dear.

So, he smiled and ate and spoke of sports and Lucrezia’s latest charity, and even cast his brother the occasional kind smile. It pleased his father. It annoyed his brother. Win, win.

His phone rang and he excused himself from the table after downing his coffee and taking the last bite out of his dessert. It was something his father usually abhorred, but he allowed it now, because he knew Juan had important business to attend to.

As a matter of fact, in this case, it was important business. 

He stepped out into the garden, sat down on a bench and put his phone on speaker.

Time dragged on as the problem was explained to him. He sat back and rubbed his face. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand it, it was just that he found it very annoying to be disturbed by it. Why the fuck did he have advisors when all they did was sit back and wait for him to come up with answers? “Look, just tell them we won’t buy unless they lower the price.”

The voice on the other end protested. “Yes, that’s what Tom said, but I don’t think-“

“It’s what I say,” Juan said, resolutely. He hated being asked, he hated even more being questioned.

"Yes, sir," the voice said and so the conversation ended. He trusted Tom as an advisor. His answer was good enough. No need to bother himself with it for too much longer.