CHAPTER 1

Five years ago,

Inside an office sat Damian Tucker, a 28-year-old dark-skinned man with blue eyes and jet-black hair styled in an afro. He had an eagle tattoo on his right arm and a cross symbol on his left arm.

His chest had a star-shaped symbol on the right side. Damian was a mafia boss, respected and feared in his territory. He ruled the secret mafia world and underground cartel in North Wind Town.

Inside his office, Damian wore a black suit and sat across his desk, going through his laptop to check his other coded business.

The office was painted white, and a knock on the door interrupted him.

"Boss, Mr. Max Dawson is here to see you," his assistant, Jeff Brody, informed him, and Damian sighed.

His father had just handed over the head position to him, and he looked over at Jeff and replied, "Let him in."

Mr. Max Dawson, a businessman involved in illegal dealings, entered Damian's office, and he made no attempt to stand up or shake hands with him.

"What do you want?" Damian asked, still seated and continuing to click on his laptop.

Mr. Max swallowed the hard lump in his throat, knowing that doing business with Damian was more difficult than it had been with Damian's father, Mr. Mark Tucker. The name alone instilled fear in other groups.

"It's business, Damian. It's a deal worth 10 million dollars." Mr. Max was pleased when he saw Damian look away from his laptop and shift his gaze to look at him.

"Sit," Damian gestured to the middle-aged man. "Go on," he ordered, and Mr. Max went into details about the business.

Damian listened with keen interest. "So, what do you need my assistance for?" he asked Mr. Max.

"As the mafia lord, I don't want the other groups to interfere in this business, and I will need your assistance to loan me money to proceed with it," Mr. Max explained.

Damian was interested in this business, but he had other ulterior motives. Deals like this, he would personally hijack instead of handing it over to his group to take care of it.

"I will lend you the money, but you must promise to pay it back with interest. I don't care if the business works out or not. All I care about is my money," Damian told Mr. Max, and the man nodded.

"You have nothing to worry about, Damian. I will pay you back, but I will need your assistance with it," Mr. Max said, sitting across from Damian, who was looking at him.

"Don't worry, I will have Jeff assist you. First, sign the deal," Damian offered the document to Mr. Max to sign and to loan him the money. His mind worked in mysterious ways as he focused his attention on the man who reached for a pen and signed the deal.

"Done," Mr. Max said with a broad smile on his face as he rose to leave Damian's office.

"I will be looking forward to the date." Mr. Max left Damian's office after the deal ended, and Damian kept thinking about the deal worth millions of dollars.

"I cannot allow Mr. Max to have that kind of money. It will invoke the higher authority's knowledge of us, so I have to take care of it." A smirk played its way up Damian's lips, and he called Jeff back into his office.

"Take care of Mr. Max's business and ensure that the money gets transferred to my offshore accounts."

"Okay, Boss," Jeff's eyes widened in surprise, but he dared not question Damian's orders. He looked up to him as his older brother and was only two years younger.

He went to do as told.

*****

A few months later, Mr. Max was heartbroken to see that the business didn't go as planned. After loaning money from the ruthless mafia lord, he had only a year to pay off $10 million.

"Honey, what's the problem?" Mrs. Jennifer Dawson, a middle-aged, 45-year-old woman, came into the room and looked at her husband, who paced about worriedly.

"I am finished!" Mr. Max said, placing his hands on his head.

"You cannot be finished, honey. Talk to me," Lady Jennifer tried to beg her husband, but he said, "I shouldn't have trusted that son of a devil. Doing business with his father hadn't been bad. Our dealings haven't been hijacked by the government, and now I have lost everything I worked hard for."

Mr. Max was on the brink of tears. He shouldn't have trusted Damian to handle the business for him. The man was still young and new as a mafia group leader.

"Calm down, honey. Talk to me," Lady Jennifer tried to talk her husband out of his misery, but he slapped her hand away and shouted at her, "Don't touch me! Where do I get $10 million to pay the T-Group?"

"The T-Group? Who are those? Calm down, honey. We can raise the money. Where did you borrow such money from? Why would you even borrow such a huge amount of money too? For what?" Mrs. Jennifer asked, shocked to hear the huge amount of money her husband was asking. But he told her, "Get out of my room. I don't have time to explain anything to you. Just leave me alone. If I don't raise that money in a year, they will come for us. All of them, and you need to leave with our children. They shouldn't return back here. I am finished."

Mrs. Jennifer stubbornly shook her head and told her husband, "I cannot leave you to die alone, honey. You cannot turn me into a widow at this young age. You shouldn't have borrowed the money in the first place. Calm down, we can see how to raise the money."

Mr. Max went to his office, leaving his wife alone in their bedroom, and she paced around, wondering what was wrong with her husband.

It was nighttime, and Mrs. Jennifer went out to see her last daughter, Alicia, in the living room.

"What's going on, Mom? I heard you and Dad arguing," Alicia, a 19-year-old nursing student who looked like her mother with fair skin and blonde hair, asked.

"It's your father. He loaned $10 million, and now he has lost everything," Mrs. Jennifer cried, and Alicia collapsed on the couch.

"What?! $10 million. Where do we start paying off such a huge amount of money from? Oh no! We are doomed, Mom, if Dad cannot pay that off," Alicia joined her mother in crying in the living room. They were rich, so why would her father have gone to loan such a huge amount of money? It meant they would have to sell some of their properties, but would it be enough to pay off such a massive debt? Alicia cried.