15 years ago

Baba remembers like it was yesterday, he was with his dad at home it was just them. Baba was drawing in the kitchen while his dad sat next to him. It was peaceful sometimes as he wished it had stayed that way, then the door knocked, they werent expecting anyoen to show so it was strange, his dad got up to answer the door but the second he did he was pushed back by two men in suits.

The men had guns and they beat Baba's dad to the ground, he watched in horror while they kicked him, they kept shouting at him "Where's our money, Luis" They repeated that sentence over and over as they kicked him, Baba was too scared to move and was too afraid to scream all he could do was watch. 

Eventually, they stopped kicking him, Baba looked at his father who was beaten badly and was bleeding on the floor. One of the men glanced over in the direction of Baba, he only just noticed then gave a shocked expression "Shit Tommy look." He yelled to his partner beside him. Tommy looked at Baba with the same shocked expression that the first man had. Baba just sat there still frozen in place, unable to move. 

About a minute went by, them still staring at Baba. Tommy asked his partner "Well what do we do with him?" His partner looked puzzled for only a moment before suggesting an idea "We take him with us" Tommy looked at his partner and asked him "Have you lost your mind? We can't take a kid with us." His partner snapped back at Tommy "Well what do you want to do, leave him here to call the police, he's seen our faces they'll find us in no time, we have to take him" 

After a few minutes, his partner agreed "You're right we can't lave him here." Tommy walked over to Baba and at that moment Baba was able to run so he ran as fast as he could to his room, but wasn't fast enough, Tommy had caught him and has his arm wrapped around Baba's neck tightly enough that he couldn't move but not so tight that he couldn't breathe. He then carried Baba out of his house and into a black car, the other man carried Baba's half-dead father and put him into the trunk of the car.

Baba was tossed in the back and his hands and feet were tied and so he couldn't move, and the doors were locked. Driving without making a sound, Baba didn't try to run away, he was too scared of what would happen if he did try. They drove using the back roads so fewer people would see them, the windows were tinted so people couldn't see he was being held,hostage.  

Baba and his abductors reached a restaurant where they drove behind the building to the back of it. There was a back entrance which Baba and his dad were brought into. They both were separated into different rooms, after what had felt like an eternity three men walked in. Baba recognised Tommy and the other man that was with him but he never seen the third man before.

The third man was older than the other two, he seemed to like he was in charge of Tommy and his partner. The older man looked at Baba for a minute before saying to his two comrades "So you brought a child to me?" The older man asked. Tommy tried to defend their actions "Well boss we didn't know what to do with him so we took him here, we couldn't leave him in the house by himself."

The older man didn't care about what excuses they had, he snapped at them. "You brought a child into our business, what the hell do you two morons expect me to do with him? Neither of the men had an answer to that question, the older man took a deep sigh before saying "Well you two jackasses already brought him here so the damage is done, I will fix this mess for us"

Then the older man walked over closer to Baba and got down on one knee, he then asked Baba "What's your name kid?" "Baba" Baba replied back to him his voice was shaky, Baba was scared of what might happen to him. The older man spoke again "Well Baba my name is Leo, Baba your dad owes me a lot of money and he's not paying me back, now since he's refusing to pay me back, I am going to give you a choice, you can work for me or we can sell you on the black market as a slave. The choice is yours, Baba."

Even then Baba knew it wasn't a choice, he knew the black market wasn't an option so he chose to work for Leo "I'll work for you, sir" He barely managed to get that sentence out as Leo Smiled "You chose good kid" After that, they cut me loose and Baba was put to work and was made to mop the floors, wash dishes and took out the trash. He was never allowed out front and he was always supervised. This went on for two years before Leo called Baba to his office one day.

Baba walked into Leo's office and there was another man there, Leo introduced us "Baba, this man's name is Joey Smith, he's gonna train you how to fight." Baba was confused as to why Leo wanted him to fight, Leo must have been able to read Baba's thoughts because he started to explain to Baba why he needed to fight. "First we're gonna train you to fight with your hands after that we're gonna show you how to use a gun. Once you can do that well then you're gonna start doing more exciting jobs for us like taking care of lowlifes who don't pay their way, just like your old man."

Baba was surprised Leo thought he was the man for the job, but he was still in debt to him so Baba couldn't say no unless he wanted to end up like his dad. Baba's dad got beaten so badly that day that he died of his injuries. Baba didn't have any other family to go to  since his mother died when he was young so Leo took him under his wing and made him work. After a while Baba gotten used to it as this is his life now.

Each day after work, Baba was taken to a gym where he was trained in boxing and MMA. After that Baba was trained how to shoot a gun, 6 years of training led Leo to believe Baba was ready to start working for him. On Baba's eighteenth birthday Leo sat him down in his office and explained the situation. "Now Baba, there are a few things you need to be aware of, number one which I know you've figured out by now is that the restaurant is a front for our more profitable business ventures like lending people money and charging interest on the borrowed. The second thing is we're family here and you've been with us for a very long time now so that makes you family. If you ever betray this family, we will hunt you down and kill you, do you understand?

"Yes sir." Baba replied back, Leo smiled and stood up to walk outside his desk and hugged Baba "Welcome to the business son." It was the first time in a long time he heard those words. Baba felt like he belonged to Leo, he always treated Baba well even sometimes treated him better than Baba's own family did so it never felt like he was paying off his dad's debt, it felt like he was part of the family.