The Protagonists We Love #7

Not all that glitters is diamond; sometimes it is only glass. But even its sharp edges will never hurt you like family. Stephan is living a life every teenager would envy. Son of a wealthy businessman, he lives carefree and carelessly. However, nothing is as it seems, and his perfect life is doomed; it has been since before he was even born. Days thrill-seeking, nights lock-picking; it’s all just about to fall apart.

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Meet Stephan Mills

Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Stephan Mills and I’m the second-born son of Jonathan and Jane Mills. Unlike my older brother, I’m not at all successful or rich. My youth has been nothing but trouble and misguided by the wrong circle of friends I ended up in jail. It’s not that I didn’t deserve it, but that time I’ve been set up and everything that happened after my first conviction was nothing else but a series of events orchestrated by someone who didn’t want to see me succeed.

Have you committed a crime? What was it? 
I am a thief, not to brag but I’m one of the best. There isn’t a lock, an alarm system I can’t crack. I can intrude wherever I want to, and one day I received a hint from a mysterious person about an empty apartment. That theft changed my life once again and gave me the possibility to revenge on the man who tried everything to destroy my life, even selling his soul to the devil: my brother.

Do you have a moral code? If so, what might it be?
I certainly do, I would never harm anyone. I don’t enjoy stealing and I wouldn’t if only I would have the chance to live a normal life.

Would you kill for those you love?
No, I would be ready instead to offer my life for them.

Who is your greatest friend?
In jail, I find not just my best friend, but a man I’m proud to have learned to call ‘Dad.’ Although I have a father, he’s the only one who behaved as such. Perhaps because in jail nobody can point a finger against anyone else, and we don’t stop at the appearances, rather we go deeper looking for the jewel hidden within the rough stone.

Excerpt
The hall was immersed in darkness, with only the buzzing sound of the air-conditioning system and his heartbeat breaking the silence. He sneaked from a secondary road to the basement, where, according to the information he could gather about the security system of the building, no surveillance cameras were installed. 
He studied the blueprints in detail. Every single corner, from the basement and parking hall to the emergency stairs and the floor corridor, was taken into account. However, he felt uncomfortably nervous, as he was rightly aware that surprises were not to be underestimated; flats in residential areas were well-watched by surveillance cameras. 
And for a reason, he thought, smiling. 
He took a deep breath and covered his face whilst walking along the shadow zones of the cameras in the parking hall, toward the emergency stairs. He opened the door to the stairwell and started to climb. 
His target was the fifth floor. If the information he’d got from J. was right, at Flat number 306, he should find an empty apartment. Empty of the owner, and soon, empty of all the things he would be stealing from there. He felt the adrenaline streaming inside his body.
Third floor. He stopped and took another deep breath, allowing his heart to regain the pace. 
Fourth floor. He was almost there. He felt his mouth dry.
Fifth floor. He remained still for a moment to regain his breath. 
Then, he opened the door leading out to the corridor. It would remain in darkness for a few minutes—just enough time for him to get inside the apartment. 
He walked to his target, silent as the shadows, unseen and unheard by the other inhabitants of the floor. And finally, he was at Flat 306. His daily El Dorado. 
He carefully examined the lock of the door and shook his head. The further technology advances, the easier it gets, he thought happily, singing in his mind. 
He was a burglar—and a skilled one, too. Well, surely skilled, but lucky... not quite. His misfortune put him in jail on a regular basis. 
There were times in the past when he had never thought this would become his life; and, if he had to be honest, he didn’t much enjoy it. He wanted to have an honest and steady job, to make a life. He wanted to be like all the people he robbed... normal. 
Once, when he was still a kid, he used to introduce himself to other people’s apartments just for the sake of it. Then, later, it became a necessity, the only way to survive for various reasons, all aliens from his real will. But perhaps it was what he truly deserved, and he should have stopped thinking of himself as a victim?

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