PART 1
“Can I sit with you until my mom comes back?”
The little girl’s voice trembled in the middle of the most expensive restaurant in Manhattan, just as half the room turned to stare at her red rain boots, soaked coat, and purple backpack clutched tightly against her chest. She looked too small to be standing there alone, and too scared to be ignored. The hostess had already told her twice she could not stay there.
“Sweetheart, this is not a waiting area,” the hostess said, forcing a polite smile that did not reach her eyes. “Your mother is probably outside.”
“My mom told me not to wait by the door,” the girl answered, blinking back tears. “She said if I ever got separated, I should find a place with people and stay still.”
A few women at a nearby table looked annoyed.
A man in a tailored suit muttered that this was ruining the atmosphere. No one stood up. No one except Alexander Vale.
Everyone in New York knew that name. He owned ports, shipping companies, warehouses, and enough real estate to make powerful men lower their voices when he walked into a room. Alexander was the kind of man who did not need to raise his voice to be obeyed.
His security team stood behind him in dark suits, watching every movement inside the restaurant. “Sir, I can remove her,” one guard said quietly. Alexander did not even look at him.
“Don’t touch her.”
The little girl walked carefully to his table, leaving tiny wet footprints on the polished floor. “Sorry. The lady at the front wants me to wait by the door, but there are too many people pushing outside.”
Alexander studied her face, and the hardness in his expression slowly faded.
“Sit down,” he said. Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really.”
The girl climbed onto the chair with both hands, careful not to knock anything over.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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