Chapter 1 - The Midnight Intruder
The safety of the heavy pistol clicked off, a sharp, metallic sound that usually meant someone was about to die.
Vincent Torino, the most feared mafia boss in the city, pushed the heavy oak door of his estate’s pantry open. He had expected to find an assassin from the Moretti family. He expected a gunfight. He expected blood on his imported marble floors.
Instead, the dim kitchen light spilled over a tiny, trembling figure.
Sitting on the cold floor, wedged between sacks of flour, was an eight-year-old girl. She was painfully thin, her knees pulled tight against her chest. She wore a faded dress, and her shoes had visible holes in the toes.
In her small, shaking hands, she clutched a green plastic container filled with cold, congealed leftover pasta. She had been eating it with the frantic, terrified speed of a starving stray dog. Breadcrumbs glittered on her pale chin.
Vincent froze, his gun still raised. In thirty years of ruling the criminal underworld, he had never hesitated. But this completely broke his mind.
She stared at the barrel of his gun. She didn't scream. She didn't cry. Instead, she whispered a sentence that hit the ruthless crime boss harder than a bullet.
"Don't fire my mommy. Please."
Vincent slowly lowered his weapon. He recognized those eyes. This was his maid’s daughter. Carmen was the quiet woman who scrubbed his floors and cleaned up his violent messes without ever asking a single question.
Suddenly, heavy combat boots echoed on the marble behind him.
"Boss?" It was Marco, his lethal right-hand man, his voice flat and dangerous. "Everything all right in there? Sounded like voices."
The little girl went completely rigid. Every child in the city knew what Marco was. He was the man who made people disappear.
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Vincent looked at the terrified child. He pressed a single finger to his lips, demanding total silence. He stepped backward, pulling the pantry door completely shut just as Marco rounded the corner, his hand resting aggressively on his holster.
👉 What will Vincent tell his ruthless lieutenant to protect the little girl hiding in the dark?
