Chapter 36
Outside the Lancaster mansion, a modest car stood waiting with the driver by its side.
Alfred had chosen this low–profile setup, understanding it would help Alex stay unnoticed.
As soon as the driver saw Alex approach, he quickly moved toward him.
“Sir Alex, I’m Morris, the driver sent by Mr. Alfred,” he said politely, bowing as he opened the car door for Alex to
enter.
Inside the car, Morris handed Alex an electronic pad.
“Sir, inside that pad is 576 pieces of data on people named to from all over Vancouver, along with their pictures.”
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Alex was already rapidly scanning through the files. “Please select the one we should begin with, and I’ll guide you there,” Morris added, buckling his seatbelt as the engine roared to life.
“This one,” Alex said suddenly, handing back the pad without hesitation.
Morris was stunned by the speed. How could Alex sift through 576 profiles and choose someone so quickly?
His eyes glanced at the pad’s screen, seeing an old photo from an orphanage. A tomboyish girl stood there, smiling with other children.
The name beneath the picture read ‘Josephine‘.
“We’ll be there in 20 minutes,” Morris responded after checked the address. 1
As the car pulled away from the grand mansion and hit the road, the scenery began to shift.
The luxury and pristine surroundings faded into rougher streets.
A
They entered a poorer neighborhood, where the streets were filled not just with trash and jobless people, but with broken dreams and silent battles of daily survival.
The car moved through the slums, passing garbage and the homeless.
Junkies wandered aimlessly, their hollow eyes lost to drugs some already eyeing the car with bad intent.
In places where hope is scarce, the people’s eyes held stories darker than the shadows clinging to the crumbling
streets.
As they drove further, the surroundings deteriorated into a wasteland of ruins.
The car finally stopped, and Morris hurried to open the door for Alex.
A gust of hot, garbage–scented wind hit Alex as he stepped out.
All around him, burned–out structures and trash heaps littered the landscape.
This is the orphanage where Josephine stayed,” Morris explained, gesturing to the wreckage.
“Five years ago, a massive fire tore through, burning down half the slum. A dangerous criminal on the run hid here,” he said.
“Some say he was searching for something. The federal agents tried to capture him, but he set the place ablaze to escape. The destruction was so great it left this place the wasteland you see now.”
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Morris continued explaining the tragic events, but Alex had already drifted into his thoughts, his feet carrying him slowly through the ruifs.
Though the orphanage was reduced to rubble, a few concrete remnants remained the front gate where the rusty sign still hung, the outlines of rooms that once felt like a world of their own.
His heart recognized it before the mind could catch up
It all seemed so vast back then, but now, looking at it, it felt so small.
A memory tugged at him–more than a decade ago, someone had left him at the front of this orphanage.
He had no memories from before that time, but something deep inside told him he had a mother.
Little Josephine had found him there, filthy and sick.
He spent most of his time bedridden, plagued by headaches and pain that kept him curled up on the small, rickety bunk bed.
Some people at the orphanage had been hostile, but not Jo,
She was his only friend—the one who was kind to him.
Maybe her little brother, who always clung to Jo’s clothes and followed her around, too.
Back then, Alex thought Jo was a boy.
She was strong, even feared by the other boys.
He vividly remembered the day she protected him and punched a bully square in the face, saying, “This is my bestie! Don’t you dare mess with him!”
Though she lost her teeth that day after getting hit by the boy.
The memory made Alex smile.
He had no idea he was being protected by a girl.
He was so weak then, it felt like he needed her to shield him from everything.
In his mind, Jo was the toughest boy he’d ever met, though that illusion didn’t last forever.
A gust of wind blew past, rustling the trash scattered around.
Alex spotted a dirty plastic bowl and picked it up, remembering how all the kids used to be served food in bowls just like this one.
Once, when he was too sick and frail, some boys tried to steal his meal, knocking it to the ground.
Jo had come over and, without hesitation, shared her food with him.
“You’re so weak and sick. You eat mine,” she had said with that toothless grin. 1.
He ate like he hadn’t seen food in days, too hungry to realize he wasn’t sharing.
That night, he heard her stomach growling, but she just smiled, “Don’t worry, I’m not hungry. You eat up, I’ll protect you.”
bestie!
Alex pulled out his phone and dialed Alfred. “I’ve found a clue. I need you to track down someone named Josephine–at all costs.”
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Chapter 36
“Yes, Master. We’ll make it a top priority,” Alfred replied.
After ending the call, Alex looked around the ruins one last time.
In the shadows of his memories, he remembered those who had protected him when he was unable to protect
himself.
And when the time came, he returned–not only to show her that he had finally found his strength, but also, most importantly, to repay her.
