The Deceitful One

ing of death. Gradually he realized that his mother was never going to return to him. He realized that theyd never be a whole family again.

Following the death of his mother, Bryans father fell into severe depression and drowned himself in alcohol to numb the pain. Vincent turned into an alcoholic and didn bother about taking care of his son or the watch company.

When Bryan turned 7, his dad also passed away due to the over-consumption of alcohol. This left Bryan all alone in this world with no one to take care of him or guide him. Bryans fathers direct subordinate, Mark, usurped the watch company and all properties that belonged to the Lombardi Family.

He still remembered the day when Mark came up to him with a sneer on his face and declared that everything now belonged to him. Bryan tried to protest, but who would listen to a 7-year-old orphan? All of his fathers friends also turned a blind eye to him. It was then that he realized that everyone in this world only worked for their own benefit. This was a heavy truth for a young child to bear.

Ever since then, Bryan had been forced to live on the streets. He had to resort to all sorts of dirty work like taking up odd jobs, begging, stealing, scamming and swindling people. But he did all he had to in order to survive and he never regretted it.

Bryan reigned in his thoughts and put away the watch in his pant pocket. He got up, walked to his wardrobe cabinet and took out a shirt to wear. He tucked this stained white shirt in his pants and then wore a brown jacket. He wore the black workers cap that was hanging on the wall with the help of a nail he had hammered in long back when he rented this apartment.

He then left his apartment and set off for a crowded street. Hmm lets see, what shall I do today? Bryan thought as he put his hands in his pocket to see how much money he had. He took out 7 copper coins and said self-deprecatingly, 7 pence huh? I really am poor.

After a 15-minute walk, he soon reached the farmers market. Since it was still before 7 in the morning, there were quite a few people who gathered at the market. Mostly restaurant owners who were here to buy ingredients. There were also many food stalls that were selling breakfast and snacks to workers who had to go to work early in the mornings.

Bryan casually walked amidst the crowd. He approached a food stall that was selling fresh buns. While the stall owner was talking to his customers and advertising how fresh the buns were, Bryan walked past the stall and skillfully picked up a steaming hot bun and put it in his pocket, then he blended in with the crowd again without anyone noticing anything.

Over the years that Bryan spent time living on the streets, he developed quite a few skills that were crucial to his survival. When he was still a child, he got caught stealing many times and was beaten miserably till he was blue. However, he always learned from his mistakes. After all, if he didn steal, he wouldn be able to feed himself and live for another day.

Hence, over the course of time, his wrist and finger flexibility improved, enabling him to easily steal things in a covert manner. He also paid a lot of attention to his stamina. After all, if he was caught stealing, he would have to run for his life. His experience taught him that the outcome of getting caught was always two things: getting beaten up or being forced to work as free labour. However, Bryan was also smart enough to not steal things from the wrong people.

After Bryan walked a few steps past the food stall, he took out the bun from his pocket and started eating with relish. He then came to a nearby square and sat on a public bench. While he looked at the people, some in worker clothes while some in classic suits, hurrying to their jobs, he thought to himself, Im already 18 years old, how long am I gonna keep stealing and live on a day-to-day basis? Should I look for a job with a stable income? But whos gonna give me a job? Heh, I didn even finish primary school.

Right at that moment, Bryan caught sight of a middle-aged man in the corner of his eye. The well-built man had blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a blue three-piece suit, carrying a big brown suitcase in one hand and a gems-inlaid black cane in the other. Bryan smirked as his eyes narrowed. He had found his prey!