Chapter 1

"Nepeta Leijon."
I leaned forward and picked up the folder. Nepeta Leijon: a twenty-six year old mixed Hispanic girl.
"What does the boss want with her?" I ask.
"Said her parents had been trying to put him in jail for a while now," Vriska explained. "Said that we need to take her capture. Said he had some plan to get them off of him by using her."
I removed the picture of the girl from the folder and put it in my coat jacket. I set the folder back down on my desk. I stood up from my leather chair and looked outside the window behind my desk.
"Isn't abduction your specialty? Why is the boss asking me to take on this project?" I inquired.
"Boss said this one needs extra special care. Said I don't play nice," Vriska explained.
"Well he's not wrong."
"So, are you gonna do it? Boss said he is willing to pay extremely well this time. You'll have more expected of you this time, though."
I looked back over the picture of the girl.
"Yeah, I'll do it."
"Good," Vriska turned and walked to the door. "Don't mess up."

My name is Equius Zahak. I'm a twenty-eight year old Caucasian male. I had been saved by a black woman when I was six years old. My parents had left me dead in the cold and my adopted mother found me. She was married to an Italian man. They had lived in a mansion. As I got older I learned that my adopted father was the head of a prestigious mob in our city of New York. He had me call him Boss ever since his wife saved me. Twenty-two years and I've never seen a hint of love from my father. Vriska was always his little princess. She was his blood child. He had her with a woman before he met my mother. Vriska's mother had died giving birth to her. Vriska was full Italian and had long blond hair.

New York is a big city. 1926 has been a tough year. Prohibition has been in act for six years. Baseball is becoming more famous. The country is beginning to get close to a depression with the thought of war lingering in the air.

I was doing my normal run to the drug store. Every Monday I had to go buy new milk. Between me and my cat Jaspers, we went through a gallon of milk like no tomorrow.

I looked up to see someone walking fast in my direction. He bumped into me, apologized and continued walking a little bit faster than before. I reached the store, grabbed my milk and went to the counter.

"Two dollars and 79 cents," the cashier told me.

I reached into my pocket to find that the man who had bumped into me had stolen my wallet.

"It seems my wallet has been stolen," I explained.

"It's alright," I heard a small voice from behind me. "I'll pay for it."

The same girl who I had been assigned to kidnap earlier this day was now paying for my milk.

"Th-thanks," was all I could stutter out before the cashier took care of the payment.

"No problem," she replied as she began paying for her own items. I grabbed my milk and thanked her again more properly. We walked out of the drug store together.

"Do you live around here? We could go by my place so I could pay you back for the milk," I suggested.

"Don't worry about it," she answered with an innocent smile. "I just got my paycheck today, so it's no problem."

I thanked her again and began to walk to my apartment. Suddenly this job became a lot more difficult.