Chapter 1 - The Crescent Moon
Adrian stared at the little girl, his heart hammering violently against his ribs.
He slowly dropped to his knees so his face was entirely level with Lily's wide, frightened blue eyes.
He desperately asked her what else this boy named Matthew had said about his life before the orphanage.
Lily nervously twisted the cheap silver locket around her neck while she thought carefully about his frantic question.
She said Matthew had a very distinct, pale scar on his left palm that was shaped exactly like a tiny crescent moon.
Adrian let out a choked, desperate gasp because Noah had fallen on a sharp seashell at the beach when he was three, leaving that exact same permanent mark.
He reached out, his hands trembling visibly, and asked Lily if Matthew was still at the St. Jude's facility right now.
Lily shook her head sadly, wiping a rogue tear from her pale cheek.
She explained that a very wealthy, intimidating man had adopted Matthew just two months before Lily's mother secured her new job at this mansion.
Adrian pulled his phone from his tailored suit pocket with violently shaking fingers.
He dialed his ruthless head of security, Marcus, and ordered him to pull every single financial and legal file on St. Jude's orphanage immediately.
He turned back to the trembling little girl and asked if she had personally seen the man who took his son away.
Lily nodded quickly, her bright blue eyes widening with residual fear from the memory of that afternoon.
She said the man was very tall, had a cruel and heavy voice, and wore incredibly expensive dark suits.
Adrian gently pressed her for more details, asking if she remembered anything specific about the stranger's face.
Lily whispered that the man had a terrifying, jagged burn scar wrapping entirely around the left side of his neck.
The expensive phone slipped from Adrian's fingers and clattered loudly onto the polished hardwood floor.
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There was only one man in the entire state of South Carolina with that exact, unmistakable burn scar.
It was Adrian's own estranged, deeply bitter younger brother, Elias.
