BY THE BOUND : I FALL

CHAPTER 1

NOP

I was a loyal soldier

Being Enforcer for the Thailand Outfit had been a matter of pride. That I enjoyed breaking bones and my task allowed me to do so had been an additional bonus. I was good at it. I enjoyed it.

What I didn’t enjoy was listening to the inane chatter of a teenage boy.

Unfortunately, my brutal talents had led to my Capo asking me to become his brother’s personal guard.

Playing bodyguard slash babysitter to his oldest spawn had never been my idea of serving the cause.

“You can’t say no,” my father had argued, his eyes wide with alarm when I’d told him I was considering to do so.

“I’m not like you, Dad. I don’t have the patience to hover beside a spoiled mafia boy and listen to his endless bitching with his friends. I’m a soldier, not a nanny.”

“You can’t say no to your Capo. It’s an honor.”

I shook my head. “I want to work with my hands. I want to break bones. I want to destroy our enemies.”

“You should reconsider your decision,” Dad said imploringly. “If your Capo asks you to become his brother’s bodyguard, there’s only one viable answer, Nop, and that’s yes.”

I had absolutely no intention of reconsidering my decision or say yes, no matter what Dad said. Arturo and I were a good team. We had been working together as Enforcers for years and yet it never got boring. Why would I give that up for a job I would undoubtedly despise?

No matter what vegas said, I would stand my ground and remain Enforcer.

“Why don’t you come over to our house to tell me your decision?” vegas had said during our brief call. “Five o’clock.”

He hung up before I could tell him my answer over the phone. Sighing, I resigned myself to a fucking awkward meeting with my Capo. Vegas had a way with words plus a subtle cunning that made people do what he wanted.

I rang the bell, glancing back at my black 1969 Camaro, hoping I would be back inside it, racing down the streets of Thailand soon. These kinds of social engagements were the bane of my fucking existence and I usually avoided them.

It wasn’t vegas who opened the door, nor a maid. In front of me, smiling in a sophisticated, polite way, stood pete theerapanyakul. he was tall, with long brown hair and black eyes that trapped you like a cat did a mouse. That he could make me feel like one of these small fluff balls of vermin made me even more wary to work in their household.

I gave him a nod and polite smile in return. “Your husband asked me to come over.”

“Oh, I know,” he said. “I thought it would be a great idea to have you meet our brother right away. Why wait?”

I cleared my throat, about to say what I’d come here to say, when vegas appeared behind pete and put a hand on his shoulder. “Nop,” he said with a curt nod.

“I’m glad that macau will have such a capable bodyguard at his side,” pete said, not missing a beat, giving me the smile of a men who had a subtle way to get his will, and seeing it I knew exactly why.