CHAPTER 1
Prison was not the best place to be, especially when you're wrongly convicted for the death of your entire family members. Being a popular street fighter, you make a lot of enemies and some of them end up in prison, forming deadly alliances with gang members that connect with them. Such was the case of Juan Carlos, an honest, street thug, just trying to make some dough fighting in an underground ring when a pissed bidder who had staked a lot of money on one of Juan's opponents had gotten so angry that he had gone to kill his family and decided to frame Juan as the killer.
As he stepped out of the iron prison gates, waiting for the boat sailor to take him back to shore, Juan reflected on his time in the prison and the impact it had in his life.
He didn't know where he would be starting from, but at least, he was outta prison and that was the first achievement for him, other ones would be sorted later.
"Hey, wanna go back in there?" the police officer asked him, interrupting his chain of thoughts.
Juan shook his head and stepped into the boat, along with other released inmates as they hoped to start a new life in the bustling city of Lage. For him, he knew there was no new life to get to, just some other versions of his past
Life.
The boat rumbled on the surface of the waters, picking up speed and Juan could feel one of the persons nudging him. He looked to the side to a man tattooed in the face with weird looking hair.
"Hey, you must be the 'Juan' that everyone talks about. I'm Ryder," he said, extending his arms for an handshake.
Juan took it firmly, "I'm the Juan," he joked and both of them laughed.
"What were you in for?" the man asked, curiosity written all over his face.
"Well, someone killed my family and had me in prison for it. A very powerful mafia king."
"That must be so…frustrating."
"What about you? What were you in for?" Juan asked, trying to get a closer look at the tattoo.
"Oh me? I simply came here to rest. The outside world was getting too loud so I needed some peace and quiet. Now, someone tells me those little boys I left to run the mafia are getting cold and are forgetting their job responsibilities. I'm going to set things right with them."
"You run a mafia?" Juan suddenly asked, his respite rising.
"Chill, chill, we don't kill people's families. And even, when we want to do that, we kill the entire family, not leave some of them alive."
Juan wasn't sure how to feel. Even if he got out and he saw the man that killed his family. Would he be able to take on the force of the Clover mafia alone? Or he needed better strategy than this? The only thing in his pocket was the phone number of his uncle and he could only help as much as he had the power.
As if he had been reading his thoughts, Ryder spoke up, "Hey Juan, you got some business to get back to?"
"Uhmm…not really."
"Okay, I might have one or two jobs for you to do and I know you're the man and I will make sure you are compensated heavily. What do you think about it?"
"I'm fine with that. When can I start?"
Ryder reached into his pocket and brought out a rumpled card, "Here, take this. This address is an empty safe house, you can stay there for the meantime and call the number on the other side of the card. That's my hiring manager, he will get you started.
Juan Carlos knew he was about to be plunged back into a life of crime; but this was the big league now, and he obviously didn't care.