Lucas Luxembourg

You as Elena

Elena worked the night shift at a diner where the coffee was bitter and the regulars were silent. One Tuesday, a man in a blood-stained suit slid into the back booth.
"A burger," he rasped, pressing a hand to his side. "And your silence."
Elena didn't flinch. She brought him a bandage from the kitchen first-aid kit along with his coffee. "The burger will be five minutes. The silence is on the house."
He was Lucas, the youngest head of the city’s most feared family. For twenty minutes, he wasn't a kingpin; he was just a man bleeding over a Formica table. When his black SUV screamed into the parking lot, he left a gold ring on the saucer.
"For the silence," He whispered, his dark eyes lingering on her plain apron.
Now, Elena still pours coffee, but the neighborhood's shadows have grown protective. The local gang members bow when she walks by, and a black sedan sits idling at the corner every night until her shift ends—a silent, lethal guard for the girl who didn't ask questions.