Chapter 2 - The First Steps
The heavy, polite murmurs of the wealthy gala guests instantly died. People turned and gasped in sheer disbelief.
Luca whipped around. The cold, impenetrable mask of the mafia boss completely vanished, replaced by the absolute, staggering shock of a desperate father.
His daughter, who top neurologists across the country had sworn would never use her legs, was standing.
Her tiny, pale-yellow shoes were planted on the glossy marble floor. Her knees shook violently, but she refused to sit back down. Her bright blue eyes weren't looking at her father. They were locked entirely on the waitress crouching across from her.
"Sophia!" Luca gasped, his deep voice cracking with raw emotion as he took a frantic step forward, terrified she was going to collapse and hurt herself.
One of Luca's massive bodyguards instinctively lunged forward to catch the fragile girl.
Sophia’s face scrunched up. She angrily swatted the bodyguard's hand away with surprising ferocity.
Then, she took one wobbly, unstable step. Then another.
The live orchestra at the back of the ballroom faltered and completely stopped playing. The silence was deafening.
Suddenly, Sophia found her balance. The wobbling stopped, and the little girl in the yellow dress actually began running across the pristine marble floor.
Luca reached out his heavily tattooed hands, tears of impossible joy welling in his piercing eyes, expecting her to run into his arms.
May you like
But Sophia ran right past her father.
👉 Who is the little girl running toward, and why?
