Prologue : Caught

In order to find something, you need to truly look, look into places where you least expect it to be.

Sometimes, unexpected situations bring you closer to what you want than anything else.

Sometimes you find the things you have lost in places you never even thought about.

****

>> Hazel

Stealing is bad.

Like really bad

It’s a crime.

Something you shouldn’t do because it can land you in trouble.

Trouble with the police? Yes. But other than that, it can land you in trouble with a crazy psycho dude who seems like he belongs to the underworld.

Not just some random dude from the mafia but some high official at that.

I gulped as I had my hands tied behind my back and a muscular huge black man was holding me down while another man with jet black hair, blue eyes, with a fairly good height, and fair skin was looking at me while he sat on the chair in front of me.

“Stealing are we?” He smiled at me and flashed his perfect white teeth at me, “From me?” He smirked, “Do you have any idea who I am?” His way of asking the question felt like it was filled with sarcasm.

I sighed internally, trying to calm myself, “If I knew I probably wouldn’t have done it.” I gave him the most awkward smile I could conjure, “ So nope. You do look shady though.” I mean look at his suit, his shoes, his watch. Everything screams rich and yet he got me kidnapped because I stole a few bucks from him.

Super shady.

Well, after stealing I was still in the middle of running away when his men caught me so I didn’t even get the chance to use the money and he didn’t especially come for me and it was more like a natural response of his men but still why interrogate me like this? I was even dragged all the way to a strange warehouse. They could have just beaten me up and left me somewhere but no, they brought me here because this man ordered them to.

What the hell does he want?

“Never seen me anywhere?” He threw out his hands in the air in a questioning gesture.

I pretended to think about it, “Nope.” I tried to stay strong but no doubt it was a scary situation, “Never.”

“Hmmm.” He didn’t seem pleased with my answer. He stood up from his chair and walked towards me , “Ever heard of this name?” He crouched down right in front of me, “Valek Vincenzo.”

Valek? Vincenzo?

The name did ring a bell but what did it matter?

“What are you going to do to me?”

“Let’s see, there are quite many options.” He traced my hairline with his fingers and as his hand arrived at the right side of my face he threw my hair back which allowed him to see  my eyes clearly. Valek took a moment to look at my mismatched eyes that were of light brown and grey shades respectively, “I can kill you right now.” He shook his head as if he didn’t quite like the idea, “I could, sell you. You have a pretty face, you’ll sell at a high price.” He smirked, “Or.” He clicked his tongue. He was still thinking when the door of the warehouse started banging softly.

It seemed as if a small animal was banging on it, there wasn’t much strength in it.

That’s when we all heard something.

“Daddy?” It was a child’s voice. One that left me confused but more than me, someone else was more shocked. I saw Valek’s mood shift suddenly. He was surprised at first then turned angry.

“Wasn’t he being taken care of?” Valek glared at his men behind me.

“H-he was!” One of them answered.

“Then why is he here?” I could sense the anger in his calm voice.

“...” No one answered him and I could feel the tension in the air. Surely, everyone was terrified of him.

To make things even better the door next to the warehouse shutter opened and a three- maybe four year old child was seen on the other side standing on a small stool while tip toeing, his hands still on the door knob while he peeked inside.

“Daddy?” He looked at Valek. 

Oh! He’s the dad of such an adorable child.

Valek gritted his teeth and gave his men another glare. This one felt even more fierce than the one before and while I was thinking something bad might happen, the man on top of me released me and stepped back.

The child came running in and I sat up in surprise. Was I released because that’s what Valek’s glare meant? Did he not want any violence in front of his kid?

Wow

How noble of him… I thought sarcastically

The kid who was running towards Valek suddenly, out of nowhere, like literally, absolutely out of the blue turned his direction and crashed into me.

“Mama!” He hugged me. Everyone looked at me while I sat there with my eyes popping out of my skull in confusion, “Mama,” He looked up at me, “I missed you.”

Say what?!!