Family meant everything in the world of business. Especially in their kind of business.

Phil knew this better than most. It was a lesson you learned through years of making your way through different criminal syndicates, working through the ranks and finding loyalty where you could. Family was the one who was loyal to you above all. Grunts could be paid off. Family could not.

To Philza Craft, family wasn’t defined by blood. It was a choice. Who you chose to love, who you chose to be loyal to, who you chose to trust. When Sam and Puffy had both chosen to leave their old criminal syndicate to join Phil, when they chose to put their trust in his vision and his capabilities, that’s when he knew they were family.

Over the years, Phil’s family had grown. A pair of twins found hiding in a dirty alleyway, scared and hungry but with a fierce determination in their eyes that Phil had only seen in the strongest of his men. When he saw that fierce glint in those identical brown gazes, that’s when Phil chose them as his. Only a few years later, another child found his way into Phil’s heart. A small blond thing with gangly limbs and enough anger to stoke the flames of loyalty for years to come. Once again, Phil knew from the moment he saw the child that this was another choice, and he again chose the boy to be his.

The he met you, it had been an accident, you were a street kid apart of a smaller group that was basically just a lot of runaways and street kids that made up a group with questionable loyalty and respect for one another.

You were just a kid, one of Phil’s grunts had brought you in and thrown you into his office for questioning since you’d showed up in his territory for whatever reason it was.

“What is this?” Phil asked, motioning to her.

“Some kid wandering around our territory.”