Chapter 1 - The Shadow in the Shoe Room
Adrien Romano stood as still as a statue,
the cold marble beneath his feet feeling like ice,
yet his blood was beginning to burn with a strange,
unfamiliar heat.
The girl,
whose name he did not yet know,
continued to scrub the floor with frantic,
clumsy motions.
Her small back was hunched,
a fragile curve of bone and cotton,
as she tried to erase the black stain she had made.
Every time she moved her hand,
the polish smeared further,
creating a dark map of her desperation.
Adrien watched the way her breath came in short,
hiccuping gasps,
the sound of a heart breaking before it had even fully formed.
He looked at his own shoes,
the leather shining under the dim bulb,
and realized they were polished to a mirror finish.
She had been here for hours,
working in the silence,
working in the dark,
while he was miles away deciding the fates of men.
"What is your name?"
he asked again,
his voice cracking the silence like a whip.
The girl didn't look up,
her head tucked low between her shoulders.
"Lucia,"
she whispered,
the word barely audible over the sound of her scrubbing.
"Lucia,"
he repeated,
letting the name settle in the air.
It was a light name,
full of brightness,
but the girl was currently draped in shadows.
"Lucia,
look at me."
She stopped her hands,
the rag falling limp against the floor.
Slowly,
with the hesitation of a wounded animal,
she lifted her chin.
Her face was a mess of tears and soot,
but her eyes were clear,
fierce,
and filled with an ancient kind of love.
"I won't let them send her away,"
she said,
her voice gaining a sudden,
sharp strength.
"I can do the work,
sir."
"I can clean the floors,"
"I can polish the silver,"
"I can be very quiet."
Adrien felt a phantom pain in his chest,
right where his heart used to beat before the world turned cold.
He reached out,
his large hand trembling slightly,
and stopped just short of touching her hair.
"Who told you she would be sent away?"
he asked,
his eyes narrowing.
Lucia swallowed hard,
her throat moving with a visible effort.
"The lady with the keys,"
she said.
"She said the Romanos don't pay for broken things."
Adrien’s jaw tightened until his teeth ached.
The lady with the keys was Mrs. Gable,
the head housekeeper who had been with the family for decades.
She was a woman of rules,
of iron discipline,
and apparently,
of zero mercy.
"She is wrong,"
Adrien said,
his voice dropping to a dangerous,
low rumble.
"I pay for everything in this house,"
"and I decide who stays."
He stood up,
extending a hand toward the toddler.
"Show me where she is."
Lucia looked at his hand,
then back at his face,
searching for a lie.
Finding none,
she placed her small,
inky palm into his.
The contrast was jarring:
the man who broke empires,
led by a child who only wanted to save her mother.
Together,
they walked out of the shoe room,
May you like
leaving the mess behind,
heading toward the back of the estate where the light never reached.
