Chapter 1 - The Girl in Seat 14A
A little girl clutched a stuffed rabbit on an airplane seat and whispered: "Please don't let them find me." When mafia boss Alessandro Vitali was forced into seat 14A, he discovered a small silver pendant hidden inside the child's toy. Four words were engraved on the back: "For Alessandro. Always." Alessandro suddenly realized this wasn't a random flight.
For twenty-three years, Alessandro Vitali had lived by one rule.
Never trust coincidences.
In his world, accidents were carefully planned. A wrong phone call, a misplaced document, a stranger appearing at the wrong moment — everything had a reason.
That was why he immediately noticed when the airline staff changed his seat at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
"Mr. Vitali, we apologize. There has been a seating adjustment."
The employee avoided his eyes.
Alessandro noticed.
People usually avoided his eyes when they were hiding something.
He adjusted his black suit jacket and stepped onto the private aircraft without saying another word.
The flight was supposed to be simple.
Three hours.
One meeting.
One signature.
Then back home.
But when he reached first class, he stopped.
Someone was already sitting beside his assigned seat.
A little girl.
She couldn't have been older than six.
She wore a pink sweater, held a stuffed white rabbit tightly against her chest, and stared at the floor like she was trying not to be noticed.
Alessandro looked at the boarding pass.
14A.
His seat.
He looked at the girl.
Then at the flight attendant.
"She is traveling alone?" he asked.
The flight attendant hesitated.
"Yes, sir. Her guardian was supposed to accompany her, but there was a last-minute change."
Alessandro immediately felt something was wrong.
A child traveling alone was not unusual.
But a child sitting beside him was.
He had enemies in every country.
People who wanted his money.
People who wanted his power.
People who wanted him dead.
But nobody had ever used a child before.
He sat down slowly.
The girl glanced at him.
Then quickly looked away.
Alessandro ignored her.
He opened his laptop and began reviewing documents.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
The girl remained silent.
Too silent.
Finally, she whispered.
"Are you Alessandro?"
His fingers stopped moving.
He slowly turned.
"What did you say?"
The girl looked nervous.
"My mother told me I would know you when I saw you."
Alessandro studied her face.
There was something familiar about her.
Not her appearance.
Something deeper.
The way she looked at him.
Like she already knew him.
"Who is your mother?"
The girl hugged the rabbit tighter.
"She said you wouldn't remember her."
The words hit him harder than he expected.
Because there was one woman he had spent years trying to forget.
A woman everyone told him was gone.
A woman connected to the only moment in his life when Alessandro Vitali had been powerless.
His past.
The girl reached into the rabbit's torn seam.
Alessandro immediately became alert.
"What are you doing?"
She pulled out a small silver pendant.
The moment he saw it, his breathing changed.
Because he knew that pendant.
He had given it to someone twenty years ago.
Someone who disappeared.
Someone who was never supposed to return.
The girl handed it to him.
"My mother said you would know this."
Alessandro turned the pendant over.
Four words were engraved behind it.
For Alessandro. Always.
His cold expression disappeared.
Because only one person in the world had ever written those words.
Her name was Elena.
And Elena was dead.
At least, that was what he had been told.
The airplane lights dimmed as the flight prepared for takeoff.
Alessandro looked at the little girl.
Then at the pendant.
His entire past suddenly felt like a lie.
But before he could ask another question, the little girl looked toward the aisle.
Her face became frightened.
Someone was walking toward them.
May you like
And she whispered:
"That's the man my mother told me to run from."
