The city glittered beneath the glass windows of a luxurious penthouse, but the man standing before them had no interest in its beauty.
His attention was fixed on the photograph in his hand.
A woman in a white coat stood outside a hospital, holding the hand of a little boy with bright eyes and an Iron Man backpack.
Mia Harper.
And the boy beside her was Mayank.
A slow smile appeared on his face.
"So this is the woman who made Leo Alexander Kane forget that he was the most feared man in the underworld."
He placed the photograph on his desk.
Beside it lay several reports, photographs, and a file containing information about Leo's recent visit to Bangalore.
The man reached for a glass of whiskey but didn't drink. He was too interested in the information before him.
His name was Damian Blackhood.
He was the newly appointed Mafia King of the Blackhood family, a position his father had finally handed over to him after years of preparation. He possessed money, power, influence, and an army of men willing to carry out his orders without questioning them.
But there was one thing he had wanted for years.
To defeat Leo Alexander Kane.
Their families had competed for territory and influence for generations. Their fathers had maintained a polite relationship whenever business demanded it, but beneath those formal smiles lay years of rivalry.
Now, the two sons had inherited the same hatred.
Unfortunately for Damian, Leo had always remained one step ahead.
Until now.
"Tell me again," Damian said, looking at the man standing across his desk. "Why did Leo extend his stay in Bangalore?"
His informant straightened.
"Initially, sir, his visit was supposed to last only a few days. But he repeatedly changed his schedule. He visited a children's play area, a school, and Acharya Multispeciality Hospital."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
"A children's play area?"
"Yes, sir."
"You're telling me that Leo Kane, who once cancelled an international negotiation because someone had insulted his father, spent his valuable time playing with a child?"
The informant lowered his head.
"That is what our sources reported, sir."
Damian laughed quietly.
Something was wrong.
Leo wasn't the kind of man who became attached to strangers without a reason. He trusted very few people, and his enemies rarely survived long enough to understand his intentions.
Yet this woman and her son had somehow caught his attention.
"Find out everything about them," Damian ordered. "Their family, their past, their friends. I want to know why Leo was visiting them."
"It will be done, sir."
"And find out why he left."
The informant hesitated.
"Sir, there is something else."
Damian's smile disappeared.
"Speak."
"Leo's records show that he visited Switzerland approximately four years ago. Miss Mia Harper was there around the same period."
For the first time, Damian stopped moving.
"Switzerland?"
"Yes, sir. The dates are almost identical. However, Leo's medical records from that period contain gaps. Some of his hospital documents are difficult to obtain, and several records from his stay appear to be missing."
Damian slowly leaned back in his chair.
Four years ago, Leo had been attacked during a violent confrontation. He had survived, but rumours had circulated that the injuries had affected his memory.
Damian had never cared enough to investigate the details.
Until now.
"Interesting," he murmured.
He picked up Mia's photograph again.
"What exactly happened between you and Leo Kane?"
There was no answer.
Only the woman's gentle smile stared back at him.
Damian placed the photograph down and pressed a button on his desk.
"Get me the original records from Switzerland. I don't care how much it costs or how many doors you have to open."
"Understood, sir."
"And keep watching the Acharya family. Especially the boy."
The informant nodded and left.
Damian remained alone.
He examined the photograph of Mayank again.
The boy was smiling at someone outside the frame, holding a small red-and-gold Iron Man toy.
Damian tapped the photograph with one finger.
"Leo Kane," he whispered, "what exactly did you find in Bangalore?"
Across the city, life at the Acharya mansion continued as though nothing had changed.
Mia sat beside Mayank's bed, watching him sleep. His little hand rested against his favourite toy, and his lips moved slightly as he dreamed.
She gently pulled the blanket over him.
"Good night, my little Iron Man."
Mayank stirred.
"Mama..."
"I'm here, sweetheart."
"Will Iron Man Friend come back?"
Mia froze.
For a moment, she couldn't find the words.
She brushed his hair away from his forehead and forced a small smile.
"I don't know, baby."
Mayank opened his eyes halfway.
"But he promised he would help us if we needed him."
Mia's heart tightened.
Leo had said those words before leaving. He had offered his help without knowing how much his promise meant to her.
She kissed Mayank's forehead.
"Then let's hope we never need to ask him for help."
Satisfied, Mayank closed his eyes again.
Mia remained beside him long after he fell asleep.
She had spent four years protecting him from a world filled with guns, enemies, and danger. She had convinced herself that keeping Leo away was the safest choice.
She didn't know that, somewhere in the same city, a man had already begun pulling at the threads of her carefully protected past.
And she certainly didn't know that the man had just ordered his people to watch her son.
Later that night, Damian stood before the windows of his penthouse, looking down at the city.
His phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"What did you find?"
"The woman is Mia Harper, the youngest daughter of the Acharya family. She is a doctor at Acharya Multispeciality Hospital. The boy is Mayank, her son."
"And his father?"
There was a pause.
"That information is unclear, sir. There is no publicly confirmed father listed in the records we obtained."
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"No confirmed father?"
"Yes, sir."
He ended the call.
A woman who had been in Switzerland at the same time as Leo. A child whose father was missing from the records. And a Mafia King who had returned to Bangalore for reasons he refused to explain.
The pieces didn't fit together yet.
But Damian had never been a patient man when an opportunity presented itself.
He opened a drawer and removed a fresh folder.
On its cover, he wrote two names.
MIA HARPER.
MAYANK.
Then, beneath them, he wrote a third.
LEO ALEXANDER KANE.
Damian closed the folder.
"If you've forgotten something important, Leo, don't worry."
His smile was cold.
"I'll find it for you."
Outside, the city continued to sleep, unaware that a new danger had begun moving through its shadows.
And this time, the target wasn't Leo's empire.
It was the family he didn't even know he had.