Charlie Magnussen wasn't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill daughter of a notorious billionaire. She was special. Like her father, her memory was as acute and unfailing as the many languages she spoke.
Unlike her father, however, Charlie was on the run...
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~ Six Months Earlier ~
"Oh, grandmother, what big ears you have," Little Red Riding Hood said.
"All the better to hear you with, my dear," was the reply.
"But, grandmother, what big eyes you have."
"All the better to see you with, my child. Why don't you come closer?"
"Oh, but, grandmother, what a terribly big mouth you have."
Arjun swallowed and lowered the book as he looked up at the blonde woman sitting beside him. "Will the wolf eat her?" he said in rapid Hindi.
Charlie smiled down at him and brushed back his dark brown hair from his six-year-old eyes. "How will you know unless you keep going?" she replied in fluent Hindi.
The little boy's eyes continued rolling over the cover. The image of the wolf hovering behind the red-caped girl made his mouth set in a frown. "If the wolf eats her, I will hate him."
She hugged his small shoulders. "I promise there's a happy ending."
With a deep sigh, Charlie glanced out the window. The Mumbai sky was cloaked in a blanket of dark grey clouds that refused to let even the full moon shine through. And a growing sense of dread started tightening her chest.
Where could Deepa be?
A small hand reached over and rested on the one she clenched in her lap. "Charlie?"
She gave the little boy a weak smile.
"Are you leaving?" he said.
Her throat began to constrict. She didn't trust herself to respond. How could she tell her young student that her entire life was spent... leaving?
The door of the hotel room swung open, and a dark-haired woman rushed in. She shut the door behind her and her hands fumbled as she secured the lock.
When Deepa turned, Arjun ran into her waiting arms. She held him tightly as the words spilled from her mouth. "They're here. In the lobby. Three men."
She stood and pulled her son beside her, holding out a camo-green knapsack to her longtime friend. "I wish you could stay."
Charlie took the bag, a crease settling on her brow as she unzipped the front pocket and brushed her fingers over the folded envelope inside.
"You must be careful," Deepa said. "Some of the workers took their money and told the men about you. They said a blonde woman teaches their children to read." Deepa stroked Arjun's head, the sadness filling her expression. "The people love you, but they're poor, Charlie. Don't think badly of them for accepting the money. It's a year's wages for them."
Charlie's heart hammered in her chest. "I know. I don't blame them." She rubbed the inside of her hand with her thumb, her throat tightening as she spoke. "I'll miss you and Arjun. Tell Sanjay I said goodbye."
