Breaking Habits

Prologue- How I started

I'm Micah Yorke. I'm 32 years old. I live in Bristol one of the major cities in the U.K.

I'm single and have been for the last hmmm...umpteenth years. It's not by choice. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a good guy but my relationships never goes past a year.

I'm a workaholic and that isn't why the relationships goes dead. I own and work in my private security firm. My employees are hard workers but those assholes need lessons in minding their business and... manners. Business is doing well; however, my profit margins could be better. It's just the economy is bad, so I count myself lucky.

My backstory is fucked. I'm an ex-con who was associated with a gang. Got drafted at age 12 and was locked up by 15. It happened when some older boys in my neighbourhood enticed me with friendship, and eventually, I became part of their crew, but when initiation day came, our leader, Eric, wanted me to steal a patrol car from the local station.

I knew better than to go that far but Eric pushed me because he wanted the items the officers confiscated that morning. When the time came, I chickened out and he knocked me around before putting me to sleep.

I woke up in a shit storm. We thought we were watching the police but they were watching us and surrounded us with guns. Eric wrestled with them as they tried hard not to shoot him while the others were cuffed to the car that we planned to steal. The hood was wide open, and the crowbar on the ground incriminated all of us. To say we were fucked is an understatement.

It didn't take long for them to charge us. They tried us as adults, and it took less than six weeks for the trial to complete where we were found guilty. I got five years. The sentence was bullshit seeing as I didn't do anything...well, except lying during investigations which came out in court. I did it to protect my parents because Eric's people wanted me to keep my mouth shut and kept harassing them which they didn't deserve.

My parents are good people who had no clue about the trouble I was in. Getting locked up took a tool on them but they came to visit. Every Monday afternoon I could expect to see them, and every Monday afternoon, I got to see how disappointed they were with me, so I wanted to make them proud again.

Bored in prison, I thought to become a veterinarian like them, so I looked it up in the prison library but after three months, I gave up because there weren't a lot of materials to use. I needed out in the free world to study something like veterinary, so I quit and studied various things instead.

After the books, my attention turned to the only thing that was ever-present and readily available inside the prison, the gym. Most of my time was spent on learning the techniques of weightlifting and core building, hence my physic.

By the time I got out, I got taller, my shoulders and back got broader, my abs were well and truly packed and my thighs and legs got strong. To say I was muscular would be right, even my parents commented on my size.

***

After prison, they put me in rehabilitation because let's face it, being locked up for the best part of your teenage years need some form of rehabilitation. I was given a rundown flat on the verge of the city which didn't bother me as any place is better than prison. Then after that, they let back into society.

At age of twenty, I tried to get work but unfortunately for me, no one wanted to hire a rehabilitated criminal with no work experience. Some employers turned me down gently, but others took delight. Those assholes enjoyed telling me outright that they weren't hiring an ex-con.

After a year of hearing, "sorry the role has been filled," I cracked.

Donning a suit and putting on my best damn charm wasn't getting me anywhere, and I lost the will to keep doing it. Pride stopped me from seeking help from my parents or from any one for that matter, but I had something to prove, so I looked around town for bar work and landed a gig in one of the popular clubs on the high street.

When I turned up for the interview, the manager took one look at me before he hired me to manage the doors. It's not the job I applied for but as he was desperate for someone, I became the bouncer for his club.

Over time, I proved myself reliable and my name spread around the night scenes. Club owners were reaching out to me first as other bouncers prioritized clubs that paid them the most. Business was booming and my bank balance was building fast. That's when I saw the gap in in market and took the opportunity to start my security company.

***

During startup, I studied basic criminal law so I could apply for a security licences, while I trained in martial arts and self-defence as I figured the skills will be handy in neutralizing a fight.

Things went well and I got the qualifications and licences, but there were issues finding a building. All the prime spots were way out of my budget and it took four years to raise enough money to rent a building with a 3-year lease, as no one wanted to risk giving me a loan.

The building I rented had lots of potential but after the owners found out about my past. They terminated the agreement and refused a refund so I took them to court. There, the judge ordered me to pay rent until the case was resolved which took two years.

For once, justice was on my side. I won, and the landlords were ordered to pay my legal fees, along with reimbursing the rent and deposits, plus compensation for loss of business. I got a hefty lump-sum which they found hard to pay, so they signed over the building to me as part of the settlement.

As soon as the dust settled, I sold the building, bought a new one then launched my company, MY Protection, with only one good, reliable employee, myself.

***

Now my company has surpassed the levels that I planned or hope or even aimed to achieve. It turned into an enterprise. Branches developed.

I continue to hire and manage security guards and bouncers because let's face it, clubs and bars needs patrolling these days. The city council also has me on contract. We manage their commercial and recreational spaces.

Word got in the corporate world and companies hires us to test and break their security protocols, even the banks hires us to move or guard their money.

However, some businesspeople had peculiar requests, so I hired bodyguards but the clients had used them as couriers which was a big risk and to overcome that, a special forced branch formed.

Special agents like me, can operate in any part of the company. We get hired to carry out questionable operations that borderlines between life threatening and law breaking. This part of my business is still growing, and I have four agents who works directly under me.