Revenge of the Unforeseen Mafia Boss

Bad Reputation, A Harsh Past

He picked up the piece of paper on the floor and then barged out of the company while gritting his teeth and holding the box of his last belonging with him. When Damien was out of the building, he approached a nearby pillar, put the box down, and then took a while to breathe. 

His palms were bruised. So bruised because he had been clenching them since the beginning of the day. The little money he had was the last thing he was holding on to. He checked the money inside the envelope. 

This was two months’ worth of pay. With that money, he could pay off half of his debt to the landlady. He stashed the money into his pockets, securely and then left. He walked home that afternoon, and of course, he arrived when it was almost nighttime. 

His knees were near to giving up, but Damien was used to walking home from another city away at that point. Whenever he would pass by shops with television on, it always showed the prestigious wedding premiere of Clarissa and Richard.

Had Damien noticed it, would he have been in this situation today?

She was his poison from the beginning. A tasteless, odorless poison that he didn’t know had taken chunks of his life. 

He remembered what the landlady had told him. 

About the men Clarissa took back home when he was not around. Was that really true? 

He always noticed that the house needed to be cleaner when he returned home or why extra pairs of slippers were tucked behind the houseplants. Or that instance where he found someone else’s socks under the bed when he was changing the bed sheets. 

All those signs were so subtle. Clarissa had a brother, and he thought he had come over, which is why he had never suspected that this gentleman would be someone else.

The thought of pampering the woman with thousands and thousands of dollars crossed his mind. And like a spear piercing his heart, Damien couldn’t help but stop walking for a break. 

At least, it was peaceful dusk. The sun had set behind the hills, and he was already near home. But he was exhausted. 

He took a break at a nearby bench and started looking over his things in the box he was carrying. As he was going through some objects he could use, he felt a presence accompanying him on the benches. 

Damien slowly shifted his head to look at this person, who casually sat beside him, even if there were so many benches across. 

He could only describe the person as a woman with silver-ashy hair and crystalline blue eyes. She wore an expensive outfit— a tuxedo. And Damien knew it because it was not something they could just buy in the malls or boutiques. 

That particular label right there, that fabric and quality of design— it can only be handmade by the best tailor in town, found in the city— Castamyr. 

This person beside him was no ordinary neighbor. And he didn’t know why she was roaming around the neighborhood, let alone sitting so close to him. 

Damien minded his own business, wanting to avoid engaging. He didn’t want to be judged again like what the others did to him. But the lady spoke to him first.

“A peaceful neighbor, hm?” 

Damien breathed, not wanting to sound unpolite. He was not in the mood, but he hated to be disrespectful, either. “Yes.”

“Do you live here?” 

He hated to answer that question. “Not anymore.”

“Visiting a friend?” the lady’s accent made Damien pay attention to her more. It was clear to him that she was not from this country. She had a heavy accent and a broad intonation. 

“No. I used to live here.” 

“Oh?” she nods, then her eyes fall into the box he was holding. Damien stared at her as the girl frowned, seeing the cheque in the box. Her blue eyes flashed for a split second as if murderously hinting at her irritation, which Damien did not know the cause of. 

“Resigned from work?” she asked again.

“Yes.” Damien nodded. “Are you from this place?”

The girl smiled, but it was forced. “Was hoping to rent.” 

“Oh, I see.” Damien chuckled. “I thought you were a butler for a family in a second. Your outfit looks like the type.” 

The smirk on her lips grew wider, and Damien’s chest started to throb in disturbance. There was something off about this woman. 

“Is it too obvious?”

Damien blinked for a moment. “What..?”

“Nothing.” The girl moved her head to the front. “You look like you haven’t been eating for days, sir.” 

“I ate some earlier.” Damien hid the cheque underneath the items in the box. “I know the house to the landlady that owns this subdivision. Do you need help?” 

“It’s all right.” She said. “Spoke with her already. We had a good deal.” 

“Oh. I see. That’s good.” 

“You look familiar, though.” The girl began. Damien’s eyes started getting bigger. 

Damien took a deep breath. “You probably saw me in the news, didn’t you? That’s why you came to strike up a conversation with me? Look, I’ve had a bad day. All the shit they’re spewing about me, they aren’t true.”

His hands were shaking badly, and his vision was getting blurry. Perhaps it was because he had skipped all the meals that day and actually lied about getting one. What didn’t help was that his spectacles were also broken, so he couldn’t really see well. 

“I know.” The lady said, taking him aback.

Damien blinked a few times. “Pardon..?”

“I know you did nothing of that sort.” 

“Huh..?” 

Damien drowned in the stranger’s polar blue hues. “What do you do for a living?”

“I… am a technician. It’s getting late,” Damien said while standing up. “I think I should go back.”

The girl just gazed at him as he slowly made his way back home. A huge smile was plastered on her face as she crossed her arms against her chest. Two men then crept behind her, as if they had been watching the two from the shadows. 

“He’s a pity, truly.” 

“What are we going to do about him, ma’am?” the men behind her asked.

“Let’s just observe for now.” She looked at them. “He will need us eventually.”

Damien walked faster as dusk rose. He slightly turned his head behind and saw that the girl he spoke with was already surrounded by men wearing the same tuxedo outfit as she did. An expensive SUV then rolled beside them, and she gave Damien one last glance before entering the vehicle.

Damien averted his head away and furrowed his brows, thinking over and over again. 

‘She absolutely was not waiting for someone. What did she want from me?’

He only wished he’d never cross paths with her again.

Damien reached his home, finally. He expected the landlady to be there just like yesterday, but this time, she was nowhere to be found. Damien walked a few blocks and then knocked on the landlady’s door.

She opened the door and immediately sighed after Damien’s stature. 

“What is it?”

Damien took the cheque from his pocket and handed it to her. “Here. The payment. It’s not full yet, but please take it.”

The landlady looked at the cheque. She reached over to take it; however, from the corner of her eyes, she found an unusual man staring at her from the back of a black vehicle on the road. Sweat started forming on her forehead as she pushed Damien’s hand away. 

“Keep it.” The landlady said hesitantly. 

Damien blinked a few times, trying to register what she had just told him. “Keep… it?”

“Yes. Look at you. You’re dirty, and that’s probably the last set of clothes you have. Go buy yourself your necessities, and we can discuss your rent for the next month.”

“You mean… I can still live here?”

“If you choose to rent again, I will let you live here. But you cannot live in the same broken house. I’m just saying that I will not be taking your money yet. Looks like you need it.”

Damien smiled for a little bit, feeling a little bit of relief in his heart. “Thank you. You don’t know how much it means to me. I just got fired from my job, but I will try looking for one tomorrow. And the folding bed… can I still use it?”

The landlady waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, boy. Do what you want with it.”

“Thanks.” 

Damien kept the cheque in his pockets and politely said his goodbyes to the landlady. Upon turning his head, he caught a glimpse of the same SUV driving away. Damien paid no attention to it and merely went back home.

But he couldn’t seem to take it off his head…

Who was that girl?

And why is she following him?

____

The next morning, Damien put on his best clothes to look for job hiring around the town. 

During lunchtime, Damien took a break at the park because he knew cheaper foods were there. He sat on one of the benches after refreshing himself with the free water fountain provided.

The children were all running around in the playground, and though Damien thought it was childish— he was somehow envious of how carefree these children were. No one has ever brought him to the park to play, nor did he even have the chance to enjoy being a kid.

By the time he had consciousness, the orphanage had always been Damien’s parent. He didn’t even have a family name, to begin with. 

He didn’t entirely know if they were dead or if they were alive. He was too focused on his own survival that he paid no attention to the people who brought him to this world. Had he been adopted, he would have had the time to spare them a thought— but he lived a painful life. 

It was odd, however.

Damien was the most intelligent kid in the orphanage, and a lot of children idolized him for being the big brother of the batch. The kids would say that he was definitely going to get adopted, and it was Damien’s Christmas wish every year.

To have a family and be like the other kids. 

But for some odd reason, no family adopted him.

And little did he know that the orphanage had something to do with that. He suspected It. He asked why they refused the applications of other families that wished to adopt him. He kept waiting for an answer, until one day, in the darkness of the night— the flames ignited.

Damien’s friends— his brothers and sisters- perished that night, leaving him and Clarissa the only survivor and a nun hospitalized.