Bound By The Contract

CHAPTER 4

Henry

Three Years Ago

"You'll have to take charge of your family's empire," my father used to say.

"I can't, I'm only 15 years old." We were at the mafia headquarters.

"You have to start now," he took a deep breath and introduced a bald, thin, and very tall man. "This is your tutor."

"He will teach you everything necessary to continue honoring our name."

My father was always very harsh, he didn't give me love. My mother died when I was twelve, she had a liver tumor, and by the time she found out, it was too late.

Luckily, I had Sandra, she was always my nanny, and when I moved to NY, she came with me. She always took care of me.

My family was part of the Italian mafia.

I never wanted to be the Capo (mafia boss), but it was generational. I forced myself to accept it. Over time, I trained my younger brother. He takes care of the mafia for me. He keeps me out of everything.

"Look, Henry, I handle the mafia business, but with one condition."

"What is it, Hendrick?"

"You'll have to take over all of this when I get married." He pointed to the room in the building we were in.

"Until then, I'll have to train someone else."

"Why did you never tell Dad that?"

"You know how it is, when it's hereditary, you just accept it!"

My past was a bit dark. I didn't kill anyone, I just gave the orders. Everything had to be the way and at the time I wanted. Especially the women in my life, I had the ones I wanted when I wanted them. If they were married, my henchmen always managed. They bought their husbands with money or made them sign a confidentiality agreement. I told them that if anyone found out, they would be expelled from their home country or their family would be annihilated. Of course, this always worked.

My tutor had a son older than me, we trained together. I called him uncle, he went crazy about it, but over time he accepted it. Eric always loved this life in the mafia and loved to travel. He worked at a law firm in NY, ran everything there, he was the right-hand man of the owner. On one of his trips, he was killed. I'm sure it was the German mafia trying to send us a message.

I decided to return to New York and have a normal life as a man, only then would I know what happened to Eric.

As soon as I arrived in New York, I received a letter, saying that the plane the ANDRADE family was traveling on had exploded in the air. The story frightened me a bit; they died, and soon after, so did Eric.

Did they have something with the German mafia? Eric never went into details about what the Navarro family was like, but anyway, I'll find out what's going on.

"Glad to have you back, kid." Sandra was waiting for me at the door of the mansion where I lived in NY.

"I missed you too, Sandra!" I said, hugging her.

"Promise me you'll stay here for a long, long time."

"I don't know." I took a deep breath. "I just want to know what happened to Eric."

"I still can't believe what happened, kid." Sandra accompanied me to the office. "Do you think it was the Germans?"

"I don't know, Sandra, I don't know." First of all, I had to know what Eric was involved in.

"There's mail for Eric." I raised an eyebrow, feeling a little uneasy.

"This one." She handed me the mail.

"Strange." The envelope had no return address.

I quickly opened the envelope; there were two papers.

As soon as I opened it, I started reading.

"Yes, Eric, if you received this letter, it's because we left earlier than expected. Fate was cruel to us; we didn't have the chance to see our little one become a woman. But, as life and business haven't been generous, I hope you fulfill our contract. Take care of my daughter, if you can't, I hope this McNight fellow is as good as you."

"What the heck is this?!"

"What's going on, kid?"

I didn't respond, I just opened the other paper that was in the envelope.

"The contract stated that if something happened to the ANDRADE family, Eric would have to marry their daughter; they could only divorce once she finished college or when she turned 25. If something happened to him, he would have to appoint someone he trusted. Otherwise, his secret would be leaked to the entire company."