Elara Vance was soaked and rushing home through Miller's Alley, a narrow path between two brick warehouses, when her boot hit something soft.
She looked closer and froze. It was a hand.
Elara let out a gasp, stumbling back. Her heart was beating fast.
She spoke quietly, "Hello?"
No response.
She kneeled and saw a man lying facedown on the ground, badly beaten and bruised.
"Hey! Can you hear me?"
She gently rolled him over. He looked young, maybe in his late twenties, and even now, his features showed he was very handsome.
She checked his pulse and saw it was slow but steady.
She checked his trouser pockets, and they were empty.
As she moved his coat, a phone fell out. The screen lit up, showing a dozen missed calls from someone named 'Caleb '.
"I should call an ambulance," she whispered to herself.
But she knew the local hospital would require a deposit she couldn't afford.
Elara looked at her small, rickety apartment building at the end of the block, then back at the man.
"Please don't die on me," she said, hooking her arms under his shoulders.
Bringing him back was hard. She pulled him up three flights of stairs, and finally, when they got to her apartment, she put him on her old sofa.
She spent the next hour cleaning his sweat and wounds.
The phone vibrated, and she picked it up.
'Caleb' was calling.
"Julian, where are you? We've been looking for you everywhere ."
"He's hurt," Elara replied, her voice trembling.
"I found him on Miller's Alley off 4th street. I managed to bring him to my apartment and clean him up, but he doesn't look good. He needs a doctor, fast."
"Who is this?" Caleb responded with urgency.
"It doesn't matter," Elara answered, looking at the man's pale hand resting on her sofa. "Just someone who couldn't leave an injured man in the rain. Come get him now."
She gave him the address.
"Stay right there, don't move him."
Elara glared at the phone as the call ended. "You're welcome."
She sat on the floor next to the sofa, watching him breathe. In his sleep, his hand reached out, and his finger brushed hers lightly.
"Don't go..." he said weakly, his eyes trembling but not opening.
"I'm here," she responded.
She held onto his hand until she heard the sound of car engines pulling up the driveway.
She looked out the window and saw two black SUVs. Their plate numbers read SILVER.
Men in suits rushed into her hallway. The leader looked a lot like the man on her sofa. "This must be Caleb." She thought to herself.
Caleb did not look at Elara or say a word to her. He just shouted orders to the men who came with him.
"We need to get him to the hospital now. Nothing must happen to Julian."
"Julian," Elara repeated silently.
Julian moaned as they moved him, his eyes fluttering.
Caleb looked around the room, then finally at Elara.
"What's your name?" Caleb asked, with a dry voice.
"Elara Vance."
"You will hear from us... soon, Miss Vance."
"Is he going to be okay?" she asked, ignoring his coldness towards her.
Caleb ignored her and left.
"Well, Elara," she sighed. "Back to reality."
By morning, Elara was overwhelmed. She had spent the rest of the night scrubbing blood from her sofa, and by the time she was done, the sun was rising.
She slept for barely three hours before a loud pounding on her apartment door woke her up.
"Open up, Vance! I know you're in there, you know you can't hide forever."
Elara groaned, walking slowly to the door.
She opened the door just a little, and when she peeped, she saw Mr Henderson, her landlord.
" Mr. Henderson, don't you sleep? It's just 7:00 AM."
"Not when I'm being owed three months' worth of rent''. He threw an orange slip of paper through the gap.
"Elara, I've been patient because your mother was a good woman, but being good doesn't pay taxes. You have twenty-four hours to leave my house."
Elara's knees weakened, instant fear gripping her.
"Twenty-four hours? That's not right. You should give me at least a thirty-day eviction notice."
"I have a permit from the government," Henderson smirked.
"The building is being renovated. Which means everyone owing rent has to leave. No court can save you. But if you want to try, hire a lawyer and go to court. Oh, wait, you can't even afford a cup of coffee."
He turned and left, stomping the stairs loudly.
Elara pressed her forehead to the door and shut her eyes, tears rolling down her face, wondering what to do.
Across the city, Julian Silver woke up.
He tried to sit up, but a hand stopped him. Pressing firmly against his shoulder.
"Careful, Julian. Those guys beat you badly". Caleb said with concern.
Julian squinted, thinking. He remembered a dark alley, the smell of rain, cold metal pressed to his ribs, and that was it.
"Wait! I think there was someone else." Julian said suddenly.
"Someone else?" Caleb asked.
"Yes, a girl", Julian replied. "She…she saved me," he added.
Caleb paused, pouring a glass of water. "The girl?"
Caleb set the glass down. "A girl found you in an alley, she took care of you, and gave me the address."
" I already had the PI look into her to be sure she wasn't part of your attack," Caleb added.
Julian shook his head," No, she wasn't. She saved me."
"I want to see her," Julian added.
"You're in no condition to go—"
"Caleb," Julian interrupted, eyes snapping open. "She saved my life. Get me her address."
Caleb sighed, knowing that tone. "I already have the address. But Julian, trust me. People like that always want something. You're about to start something you can't finish."
"What is her name?" Julian asked
"Elara… Elara Vance"
Julian had a driver take him to the address Caleb gave him. As he exited the car, he saw a pile of garbage on the sidewalk.
He looked up at the building. An 'OFFICIAL EVICTION' notice was plastered over the main entrance.
"Looking for the girl?"
Julian turned. An older woman was hauling a suitcase toward a car.
"Elara Vance," Julian said. "Do you know where she went?"
The woman laughed. "Wherever people go when they run out of luck, honey. She left yesterday morning."
"Find her," Julian said into his phone as he climbed back into the car.
As Julian's car pulled away from the driveway, a girl in an oversized hoodie and worn-out sneakers stood three blocks away, clutching a 'Help Wanted' flyer.
The search had begun, but in a city of ten million people, where would the billionaire Julian Silver find the girl in the oversized hoodie, Elara Vance?