Chapter 1 _ The Deal

Damian Tucker sat in his office on the top floor of a magnificent five-story building called the Tucker Group. He had blue eyes, dark skin, high cheekbones, short black hair styled in an Afro, and several tattoos on his body. An eagle tattoo graced his right muscular arm, a cross symbol was printed on his left arm, and two women’s names were drawn on his masculine right chest.

Damian was a mafia boss, respected and feared in his territory. He ruled the secret mafia world and underground cartel in Northwind Town.

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

It was Friday morning. Sunlight seeped through the floor-to-ceiling windows and brightened the space. His office was painted in an off-white hue, and a knock on his office door interrupted him.

“Boss, Mr. Max Dawson is here to see you,” his assistant, Jeff Brody, a twenty-six-year-old man with dark skin, informed him.

Damian sighed. His father had just handed over the leadership position to him. He looked over at Jeff and replied, “Let him in.”

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

“What do you want?” Damian asked, still seated in his chair and continuing to click on his laptop.

Mr. Max swallowed the hard lump that had formed 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 fears in the 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 him.

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

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

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

Damian was interested in this business; however, he had other ulterior motives. In deals like this, he would personally hijack them instead of handing them over to his group to take care of.

“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 middle-aged man nodded.

“You have nothing to worry about, Damian. I will pay you back with interest, 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, presenting the document to Mr. Max to sign and 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 repayment date,” Damian stated.

Mr. Max nodded and left Damian’s office after the deal ended.

Damian kept thinking about the deal worth ten millions 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.

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Three months later, Mr. Max was heartbroken to see that the business had not gone as planned. After loaning money from the ruthless mafia boss, he had only a year’s interval to pay off the 10 million dollars that he had borrowed.

“Honey, what’s the problem?” Mrs. Jennifer Dawson came into the room. She was a middle-aged woman, forty-five years old, and she 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 should not 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 smacked her hand away and shouted at her, “Don’t touch me! Where do I get ten million dollars to pay the T‑Group?”

“The T‑Group. Who are they? 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 gambling?” Mrs. Jennifer asked, shocked to hear the huge amount 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’s interval, they will come for us. All of them. And you need to leave with our kids. They shouldn’t return back here. I am finished.”

Lady 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 home office, leaving his wife alone in their bedroom, and she paced around, wondering what was wrong with her husband.

That night, Lady Jennifer went downstairs and saw her youngest daughter, Alicia, in the living room.

“What’s going on, Mom? I heard you and Dad arguing,” Alicia, a nineteen-year-old girl, asked. She was a nursing student and had not yet graduated. Her skin was as fair as the sun, as she has long blonde locks and resembled her mother.

“It’s your father. He borrowed ten million dollars, and now he has lost everything.” Mrs. Jennifer cried, and Alicia collasped on the couch.

“What?! Ten million dollars. 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 borrow such a huge amount of money?

That meant they would have to sell off most of their properties. But would that be enough to pay off such a huge debt? Alicia cried.