“Mister… may I eat with you?” the maid’s three-year-old daughter asked Julian Hale, the wealthy mafia boss whose name could silence an entire room. No one in his mansion dared sit beside him at dinner, but the little girl simply saw a lonely man eating by himself. What Julian did next stunned his guards, but what the child whispered after taking that empty chair made the feared crime boss slowly put down his fork.
My name is Julian Hale.
At thirty-four, I had more money than I could spend and enough influence to make powerful men answer my calls at midnight.
Hotels. Clubs. Shipping companies. Real estate.
Those were the businesses people could read about.
The rest of my world wasn’t discussed in newspapers.
People simply called me the Boss.
But every night, I ate alone.
That evening, two guards stood outside my dining room while I sat beneath a crystal chandelier at a table built for twenty.
Only one plate had been set.
Two years earlier, there had been three.
I didn’t think about that anymore.
Or at least, I tried not to.
Then I heard tiny footsteps on the marble floor.
A little girl appeared in the doorway.
She wore a teal dress and had dark curls gathered above her head. Her hands were clasped nervously in front of her.
I recognized her immediately.
“Mister… may I eat with you?” the maid’s three-year-old daughter asked Julian Hale, the wealthy mafia boss whose name could silence an entire room. _018
