"As a new head of the family, you have to have a wife, sir."
Kim doesn't even look up from his phone, "do not tell me what I have to do! Did no one brief you on the protocol?" Kim now looks up at who is supposed to be his new right hand, "I do not take orders from anyone. And definitely not from you."
"Sir, with all due respect, you are taking over the most powerful mafia family in Thailand. Having a wife will show our enemies that this family is stable and you are the man of his word. It is a tradition that the head of the mafia family has a wife who is always by his side."
"Fuck the tradition! Besides... my mom died years ago. She clearly wasn't always by my father's side." Kim looks out at the house he hasn't seen for years. Eight years to be exact. Since he was fifteen. It looks like nothing has changed. Apart from the fact that his father is dead. He looks back at his right hand — he still doesn't remember his name... Tall? Huge? or maybe Big? Yeah, it's probably the last one — "or you know what? If you can find me a cute boy... I might give marriage a second thought."
Kim gets out of the car, leaving Big speechless.
Arm looks at him from the driver's seat, and laughs, "khun Kim is gay. You really haven't read the protocol, did you?"
Big shakes his head, "I didn't have time to."
Arm looks truly concerned for Big for a second and then he says, "well... good luck. You gonna need that."
⁜⁜⁜⁜⁜
"The Lucaci is trying to get our territory in the south of the city since the tragedy happened, sir."
"Our informant, Matt Perez, decided to switch sides. We got information that he was seen at the Mallori's last night."
"We have lost a truck full of Cuban cigars this morning. Our men disappeared as well. Our suspicion lays on Lucaci, but so far, no words from him."
"The money we have invested in—"
"Can you shut up for two seconds?" Kim drops himself on the big comfortable leather chair in an office that now belongs to him. "First of all—what tragedy?"
"Y—your father's death, sir."
"That piece of shit is dead," Kim sighs, "finally! What is there to be sad about? Don't tell me that any of you here," he looks at about a dozen men all standing in the office, waiting for his instructions, "is sad that he is dead. Are you? Anyone? Because I'm not. So," Kim clasps his hands together and leans over the old mahogany desk. "here's how things are going to work now. As long as all of you will follow my orders and not fuck with my personal business..."
Big can hear Arm chuckle right behind him.
"...we all will have a fun time here. I'm not like my father. You don't have to report to me every night how you have spent your day. I frankly have no need to know who did you fuck or what's the latest drama with your mom. One mistake—I can forgive... two... I'll be sending flowers to your funeral with all my deepest condolences. And now, for the main issues..." Kim looks at Big, prompting him to continue.
"Yes sir," Big clears his throat, "so, as I said, Lucaci is trying to take the south part of the city from us. He took the opportunity after your father's death because he thought that the family would be weaker now and won't have that much power to fight back."
"My father died a week ago..." Kim looks around, "so, what did you do to stop Lucaci until now?"
"Nothing, sir. We were waiting for you to arrive," Big informs him.
"You were waiting for me to arrive?" Kim cocks his eyebrow. "Is everyone here so useless that they can't figure out how to stop Lucaci without my orders?"
"We didn't know what you would want to do—"
"I want to fucking stop him!" Kim says firmly. "What do you think I want? Give him what's ours on a fucking silver plate or what? Pol!"
"Yes, sir?" Pol steps out of the crowd of mafia men, standing in the office.
"Take as many men as you think is necessary and go pay Lucaci a visit. Tell him that either he'll go back to hell where he came from or the next visit will be from me and I'm not big on negotiations. Get it?"
"Consider it done, sir," Pol nods and turns around, walking out of the office.
"Fine, next?" Kim looks out of the window. There's a fountain with the statue of Ares in the middle. The last time Kim was here, the statue wasn't there yet. He kind of likes it. Having the view of the statue of God of War right from his office seems kind of poetic.
"The informant... Matt Perez. He—"
"Kill him." Kim looks back at everyone in the room. "Who wants to have the honour?"
"I can do it," the man standing the closest to the door says.
Kim chuckles, "Vegas."
"Took you long enough to notice me."
"I don't pay much attention to trash," Kim shrugs.
"Funny as ever," Vegas scoffs.
"What are you even doing here? Weren't you living your best life in America?"
"Bussiness, cousin, business. I'm here just for a couple of days. And you, taking over the family? There's no way I would miss this circus."
"And you are so bored that you are offering to do work for me? What it is that you actually want, Vegas?"
"Everyone out!" Vegas orders.
Kim feels a sweet satisfaction when no one moves a muscle. He lets the awkward silence linger in the air for a little bit longer, but then he says, "you heard him, didn't you? Out!"
Once they are alone, Kim walks around his desk and sits on it, eyeing Vegas suspiciously, "so..."
"Things got a little out of hand in America. I need money."
"Money?" Kim laughs, "that's it? I thought it was something serious when you looked like your dog died. How much?"
"Two... there..."
"Hundred thousand?"
"Millions," Vegas corrects.
Kim nods, "you have it... if you do your work."
Vegas chuckles, "the guy will be dead tonight."
"Fine, then after you are done, I'll transfer the money."
"You know that it's much easier to negotiate things with you than it was with uncle Korn."
"I'm striving to be better than him," Kim lits himself a cigarette and looks at Vegas, "anything else?"
"Nothing. I'll be waiting for the money."
"And I for the body."
⁜⁜⁜⁜⁜
"About the truck with the cigars," Kim starts as he and Big are walking around the streets of Bangkok. It's almost time to eat something and Kim thinks that they might just stop at one of the street markets. That's one of the things he missed when he lived in L.A. Even though L.A. has a few of those as well, it's a completely different experience here. "Is there some kind of business we are doing with Cuban cigars or is that just something my father had an interest in?"
"I was told that it was just for khun Korn's pleasure."
"Well then, forget the cigars. All I need you to do is find our men. Dead or alive, we need to find them. That's the least we own them for working for this family."
"As you wish, sir."
Big will be a good right hand, Kim thinks. He just needs some time to get used to Kim's personality, but then he should be okay. Kim appreciates that Big tries. And especially that it has been hours and he didn't mention the whole wife thing again. That gives Big a very important bonus point. Kim wonders how long it will last.
He wants to suggest turning around and heading for one of the street markets when he hears something. Someone is singing. Whoever it is, that person sounds beautiful. Every next tone, Kim hears, captivates him even more. He looks around, scanning every millimetre of his surroundings, and then he spots him. The boy is standing on the other side of the road. A guitar in his hands, he keeps singing as if no one is watching, as if it's the thing that makes him the happiest. The box next to the boy's feet says: FOR CHILDREN IN NEED
Kim is too far away to see his face properly, but even from where Kim is standing, he can tell that the boy is beautiful. Who would have thought that out of Kim and Big, Kim would be the one to bring the topic of marriage into their conversation again? But, here's a thing about Kim; if something captivates him, he makes sure to get it. Just like back in the last year of high school when his classmate's brother had a really sweet ass and it took less than a week to find out how sweet it actually was.
And the boy on the other side of the street looks exactly Kim's type of sweet.
Kim glances at Big, "you said that I need to get married, hmm?"
Kim crosses the street before Big has time to even process Kim's words.
Kim isn't that crazy. It's not as if he is planning to marry that boy already, but if he has to get married then he's going to do it on his own terms which means finding a cute boy who would be willing to marry a mob boss. Easier said than done, but something is telling Kim that he has to give this a go.
Kim gets closer to the boy just as the boy finishes another song. Now when Kim is close enough and he can see the boy's face properly, it captivates Kim even more than the angelic voice he heard before. The boy looks straight at him, and Kim swears that he has to take a deeper breath to get enough oxygen to his lungs. Those eyes—Kim has never seen something so extraordinarily beautiful in his life. And that smile that lingers on the boy's lips even after seeing Kim approaching, as if the happiness from singing was burning in every fibre of the boy's body, making him shine in Kim's eyes.
Oh, one thing is for sure—Kim wants him.
"For children, huh?" Kim smirks.
The boy nods. His smile gets bigger. The fingers curl tighter around his guitar, "yes... sir."
"How much do you want?" To Kim, it's a useless question. He is already planning to give the boy twice as much of whatever amount he is going to ask for, but he needs the boy to keep talking. Such a lovely voice; it would be a shame if Kim didn't have the privilege of hearing it for the rest of his life.
The boy shakes his head, "it's up to you. Any amount is fine."
Kim steps closer. He can hear the boy hitching his breath in surprise, and feel the heat from the boy's body enveloping his own. Kim licks his lips and whispers, "how about a million for a dinner with me?"
To be continued...
P.S. How did you like the first chapter? Mafia boss Kim is pretty fun to write 🥰