1 CHAPTER 1

As the night fell, there arose a shout from a house down the street. Some men had come to a house, and they had barged into a house. A man stood with five men behind him while a man and woman knelt on the ground with their baby boy begging the man.

"Please! Don't do this to us. We have a baby." The father of the baby said.

"I don't care about your baby. I need my money!"

"I will pay you next week, we have no money now"

"You better be joking."

"I promise!"

"You said that a month ago, where is my money?"

Without saying another word, he commanded one of his men to take the baby from them.

"No, please! My baby!!" The mother cried out as she fought to get her baby but they pushed her off and she landed on the ground as her husband held her.

"Since you can't pay me my money then I will have to take your baby. He looks like you but I will make sure that he suffers for your mistakes." The man said as he carried the baby and walked away while the men held back the woman as she struggled to get her baby all to no avail.

She watched a man walk out the door with her baby. Her heart broke into pieces and she fell to the ground out of weakness and helplessness. She knew that her baby was gone forever.

Ten years old Philip walked his way to school under the heavy rain. He had gotten his father angry and his father told him to walk to school by himself not minding the weather condition. Not that this was the first time that it had happened, he had received this type of punishment uncountable times and he still was not used to it. He got into the class soaking wet and his mates laughed at him, his teacher never minding the behavior of his classmates permitted him to sit down and he did.

Philip was the quiet type but he was unusually smart, his grades were far better than the normal child in the class. As he sat down, one of his classmates named Enya Miller handed a towel to him after the class and he took it.

"Thank you." He said as he wrapped his shoulders with the towel and he walked away from her after saying another 'Thank you to her.

When school was over, he waited for his father to come to pick him up because the rain was falling. While his mates got into their parents' cars, he was left standing still waiting. Enya saw him and walked towards him

"Are you waiting for someone?" She asked.

"My father."

"Is he coming? You have been waiting for hours"

"I will just have to walk home then." He said and walked away from her. He was ready to walk home under that rain and it shocked Enya for a while but she knew better than to interfere in his life besides they were still young.

Philip walked all the way home under the pouring rain and when he got home, his father was discussing with his wife. He greeted them and walked straight to his room where he removed his clothes and changed into new and warm clothes then he sat on the bed and brought out his books to do his homework. His father would kill him if he brought bad grades home from school.

He remembered the last time it happened when he was just five, his father took out a stick and beat the hell out of him and he did not stop until his wife intervened. By the time he was going to sleep, he had marks all over his body and his whole body was hot as he cried and slept off. From that day on, he never came home with bad grades ever again. He was always at the top of his class and he never backed down from a challenge.

As soon as he was through with his assignments, he sat down at his reading table and started reading but as the darkness got deeper, he slept with the light on. Some minutes later, his mother came in and carried him to the bed where she covered him up with a duvet to make him warm.

"Don't fall for that boy Claudia, he is my tool" Paul Hammond said to his wife.

"He is just a little child, stop treating him like an adult."

"He will pay me back for what his parents owe me."

"Be careful with Philip, don't hurt him too much" she replied.

She had always been the one with the eagle eyes between the two of them. She could see what he could not see and she was right most of the time. She walked out of the room, while Paul stood at the door as he shoved his hands in his pocket and gazed at cute Philip as he slept. He didn't care if Philip had a goal or a dream, he was going to mold Philip into what he wanted young Philip to be.

Paul drove Philip to school and he drove away as soon as Philip got down from the car, he didn't say goodbye and he didn't look at Philip for even once. Philip felt the pain but he didn't dwell on it. As he walked to his class, four boys came and followed him and the leader stepped in front of him with all pride.

"What's your name?" He asked and Philip turned back but three other boys were behind him.

"I don't want trouble, I don't want to fight," Philip said.

"We are not here to fight you, it's just a question that I am asking" "I need to go for my classes."

The boy's countenance changed into a serious one. "I asked a question fool!" The boy hit Philip on his chest with his hands obviously looking for a fight.

"What are you going to do now? Huh?" The boy challenged. Philip raised his hands up in the air and walked back from the boy.

"Please leave me alone," Philip said. Philip wanted to run but the boys caught up with him and the leader beat him down.

With obvious anger, Philip got up from the ground and threw his bag on the floor, then he lunged at the boy and hit him hard on the face and beat him down but he was not satisfied until he smelt the scent of blood. Luckily for the boy, a teacher came by and separated them. The boy was bleeding and Philip spat out blood still not satisfied.

Philip was brought before the head of the school while the boy was sent to the hospital for treatment. He had fainted on the way to the head's office.

"You should have reported, this is the first time you fought someone."

"I am sorry Mr. Friday. I won't do such again" Mr. Friday nodded and permitted him to go.

He passed Enya and went into the class. He had missed some classes for that day because of the fight and waiting in the head's office for permission to go. His father was going to beat him more if he knew that he missed classes for that day.

When the school had closed, Enya approached Philip and handed her books over to him. "The classes you missed," she said and walked out of the class with her friends. They were in a hurry to go home. He didn't even get the chance to say thank you but he still had another day.

When he got home, he was welcomed by his father's smiling face. He had been called by the head of the school and was told about the fight that landed the other boy in a hospital bed.

"Your mother prepared your favorite food. So clean up and come down to eat lunch."

Philip knew that his father was happy about the outcome of the fight. He had been training Philip to fight and defend himself since he was five years. It would have been odd if Philip had been the one in the hospital after all the training that his father gave him.

His father taught him these rules of living. 'Keep quiet, mind your own business, don't back away from a fight, Punch harder until you are satisfied. Don't be afraid to kill but be afraid of getting killed. Don't come back with defeat and don't surrender to anyone.'

Those were the seven rules of living that his father had taught him and he had mastered the rules so much that he acted on them if there was a need. He ate lunch with his parents and then his father came up with the topic.

"You did well," Paul said.

"He injured someone Paul, and you say that he did well?" Claudia said.

"He showed me that he did not learn all I taught him in vain."

"You are teaching him to kill!"

"It is better to kill than being killed"

"Philip is becoming like you and I am not going to sit and watch it happen."

"Sandra is coming back tomorrow, why don't you prepare to meet her?" Claudia glared at Paul and left the table.

Philip wanted to follow his mother and comfort her but he kept looking at his food without eating it.

"Eat up boy. We have some lessons to do" Paul said.

Eleven years later, Philip was driving from college back to his house. He was now grown and independent. His father had given him his own house and cars and for every contract that he signed, it was attached with money that would be released after he had performed the assignment.

He parked his car in the garage and walked into his house. The very evidence of money. He sat down and kept his books aside. He had things to do including his class project. He had consistently kept up the good grades and he made sure not to miss any exams. He pulled off his clothes and walked into the bathroom to shower while his phone was ringing and when he had dressed up, he saw the missed call and it was from Enya. They attended the same University but different courses.

Philip sighed and cut the call, he didn't feel like speaking to her or anyone and it was not the first time but he felt rather uncomfortable when she was near and he made sure that she got that impression from him anytime they were together yet she didn't stop trying to get close to him.