Chapter 1 - The Hidden Heir
Julian stared at the faded ink written by his late mother twenty-seven years ago.
The handwritten instruction was absolute and left absolutely no room for debate.
It commanded the current head of the Hail family to legally adopt the child immediately.
I stepped closer to read the document over his broad, tense shoulder.
The paper stated that Toby carried the exact same rare bloodline as the Hail family.
Julian slowly lowered the ancient document onto the director's wooden desk.
He turned to look at the six-year-old boy sitting quietly in the hallway.
Toby was tightly hugging a battered stuffed dog that was missing one button eye.
The director of Saint Anne's nervously cleared her throat.
She reminded Julian that the state transfer paperwork had already been finalized this morning.
She said a specialized foster facility upstate was expecting the boy by noon tomorrow.
Julian did not even raise his voice when he spoke to her.
He calmly informed her that Toby was not going anywhere near that state facility.
He pulled out his phone and made a brief, demanding call to his chief legal counsel.
Within sixty seconds, the upstate transfer was permanently canceled by a corrupt judge on Julian's payroll.
The director looked terrified as she handed over Toby's meager file.
Julian walked out into the hallway and knelt down in front of the small boy.
Ivy grabbed Toby's hand and cheerfully announced that Julian was taking them home.
Toby looked up at the towering mafia boss with wide, hesitant eyes.
Julian gently promised the boy that he would never have to be alone ever again.
I packed Toby's single plastic bag of belongings with trembling hands.
We walked out of the orphanage and climbed into Julian's armored black SUV.
The drive back to the Manhattan penthouse was completely silent.
I sat in the back seat with the two children, wondering how my life had become so chaotic.
Julian stared out the tinted window with an expression of pure, cold calculation.
We arrived at the underground parking garage of the Hail tower.
The heavy steel security gates closed behind us with a loud clang.
Julian stepped out of the vehicle and reached back to unbuckle Toby's seatbelt.
Suddenly, the concrete pillar next to Julian exploded into a cloud of gray dust.
The deafening sound of automatic gunfire echoed through the confined parking garage.
Three black vans had somehow bypassed the multi-million dollar security system.
Heavily armed men poured out of the vans with their weapons aimed directly at Toby.
Julian shoved the children to the floorboards and drew his silver pistol.
He shouted for me to stay down as glass shattered all around us.
May you like
I looked through the bullet holes in the door and saw the insignia on the attackers' tactical vests.
The men trying to assassinate a six-year-old boy were wearing the official crest of the Hail family.
