I should probably explain one thing before this story begins.
You're going to see Indian names in a world that looks Italian, Mexican, and American at the same time. That's intentional. The cartel city of Santa Fortuna isn't meant to represent any one real location, it's a hybrid place, built from the cultures I grew up around, the stories I love, and the people I know. And in every group I've ever seen, whether it's colleges, gangs, tech companies, or clubs, there's always that one group of outsiders trying to survive and climb. That's what this story is about.
The "freshers" , the five recruits are modeled on the kind of people I've actually met: ambitious kids with too much heart, too much ego, or too much darkness in them. Their names stay Indian because that's who they are, even when thrown into a world that has nothing to do with where they came from. They don't magically blend in, they collide with the city, and the city collides back.
If the pacing feels fast, that's also deliberate. This is not a slow-burn political drama. This is a pressure cooker. Santa Fortuna doesn't wait for anyone, and neither will the story. Chapters will jump into action, conflict, and choices because that's how life moves when everything around you can turn violent in seconds.
You'll see fear, ambition, stupidity, brilliance, and survival. But nothing exaggerated, nothing supernatural, nothing overplayed. Just people thrown into a world that doesn't care about their comfort.
Treat this prologue as a handshake.The real story starts the moment they step into Santa Fortuna, and realize the city doesn't care who they used to be.