Chapter 1 - The stolen bread
The grand kitchen of the Baron estate was swallowed in the quiet, heavy darkness just before dawn. Elias Baron stood perfectly still in the shadowed archway, his tall, muscular frame blending into the gloom. He wore his signature perfectly tailored black suit and an open-collar white dress shirt, his luxury wristwatch catching a faint sliver of moonlight. His dark hair and light stubble framed a face that was famously, frighteningly calm.
He watched in silence.
Across the marble island, Adeline Hayes moved with desperate, practiced silence. Her beautiful, fair face was pale with exhaustion, her rosy cheeks lacking their usual warmth. She wore her simple purple maid uniform with white trim and a clean white apron. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a loose ponytail that swayed slightly as she reached into the pantry. With trembling hands, she took half a loaf of bread and carefully placed it into a brown paper grocery bag. She clutched the bag to her chest, looking around the empty kitchen with wide, cautious eyes, completely unaware of the legendary Mafia Boss watching her from the shadows.
Elias did not stop her.
Ten minutes later, Adeline slipped out of the mansion's service entrance into the cool morning mist. Elias followed. He drove an unmarked black sedan through the dark city streets, keeping a careful distance behind her bus route. His tattooed hands rested lightly on the steering wheel, his intimidating presence filling the quiet car.
Adeline stepped off the bus and walked quickly into a small twenty-four-hour pharmacy. Elias parked across the street, watching her through the brightly lit glass storefront. She stood in the medical aisle, holding a large box of specialized medical supplies. He watched her open her small coin purse, counting the change in her palm. Her shoulders slumped. She placed the larger box back on the shelf, picked up the cheapest, smallest box available, and walked to the register.
Elias’s jaw tightened.
He trailed her on foot as she hurried into a crumbling, worn apartment building on the edge of the city. Elias moved with lethal silence, climbing the creaking stairs until he reached a partly broken doorway on the third floor. It was slightly ajar.
Inside the cramped, worn apartment, Adeline set the grocery bag on a small table. Sitting weakly on a narrow bed in the corner was her seventeen-year-old brother, Noah. He was thin and pale, his fair skin almost translucent, wearing a faded green T-shirt and simple lounge pants. A medical bandage was wrapped tightly around his left wrist.
“You brought food again,” Noah said softly, his gentle, intelligent eyes looking up at his older sister with deep guilt.
“Just eat, Noah. I got your bandages too,” Adeline whispered, brushing his messy brown hair from his forehead.
Elias stood motionless in the hallway, looking around the impoverished room. His dark eyes suddenly stopped. Hanging on the peeling wallpaper above the small dining table was an old, faded framed photograph of a smiling man.
Elias’s expression changed instantly. The frighteningly calm mask shattered. He recognized the man in the picture. He knew those eyes. He knew that face.
Noah noticed the tall, imposing shadow standing in the cracked doorway. The boy looked past his sister, his gaze locking onto Elias’s tailored black suit and intimidating stance.
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“That was my father,” Noah said into the sudden, suffocating silence. “He died saving a man named Elias Baron.”
Elias froze.
