This was Belle’s dream. She loved nothing more than to read and for most of her life her access to books had been limited. She’d read the same ones again and again, dreaming that she was in a world other than her own, living the stories in the words. She’d read about big cities like this one and here she was, finally getting to see one for herself. It was…overwhelming, but amazing at the same time.

Coming to Chicago had been a big step for the woman. She’d grown up an only child with a rather eccentric father; he’d done his best with her but for the most part she’d raised herself. Her mother had died when she was an infant; it was something her father never really spoke of. Just a few weeks ago he’d disappeared after telling her that he was going into the city to sell some of his inventions; she hadn’t heard from him since the day left, when he’d called to tell her he’d arrived safely. She knew what his typical time frame was and even if he’d had a good week, he should’ve been back by then. So, when he didn’t return, she’d decided to go looking for him.

She’d used most of her money to buy the train ticket that had brought her here, which meant she needed to find work as soon as she arrived. She had a variety of talents, mostly learned from her father, but her strongest was picking locks. The tools were like the ones her father used to fix clocks and fidget with his inventions. She used it to break into local homes, find valuable objects and sell them. It wasn’t the most prestigious, and it took some time to get used to breaking the law, but it put enough money in her pockets to rent a small room above a bar and food in her belly every day.

To sell the stolen goods, she’d had to find the right contacts. And for each person she met, she looked for information about her father. What her books had never taught her about was the underground crime element that seemed to run rampant here in Chicago; she’d found a way to use it to her advantage to sell the items she would steal but she realized that if she didn’t learn more about them she would become a victim fast enough. And she had a feeling that’s what had happened to her father. If she could find herself a place in one of these organizations, maybe she could track down what had happened to the man.

She didn’t think it would be too hard; there seemed to be plenty of jobs available and recruiters were just about everywhere. Belle just needed to make herself noticed. So far she had been fighting to blend in, to sell her stolen goods, ask a few questions and disappear. But if she wanted to find a safe home, she needed to take a different approach. Tomorrow when she headed out to sell what she'd collected, she'd start to ask around about more permanent work and see what she could find. Something secure would be a good place to start, both for her own personal income and to find out more solid information about her father. 

It had been a few days since she decided to try and find steady employment and so far, she’d met a lot of people. She had spoken to several recruiters from families across Chicago and had asked many questions, both to the ones trying to recruit her and to others she’d met in her journey. She was always exhausted when she got back to her room at night, spending her days robbing homes, selling the merchandise and searching for news on her father while at the same time trying to explore the city as best she could.

She thought she had narrowed down her choices and had one family in mind now - La Hermandad. She’d had some conversations with a man named Fuego Steve, who she later learned was the leader of that crew, and she felt it might be just the kind of place she was looking for. Still, she’d need to find a way to impress the man if she was going to try and get an invitation into his family, so she started planning out her biggest heist yet - a valuable piece of jewelry that she had recently learned was acquired by a wealthy family living on the outskirts of the main city. No doubt several people had their eye on obtaining it; she just needed to beat them all to it. The object was a butterfly shaped brooch that was covered in jewels. Small enough to fit in the palm of the hand, it had to be worth thousands.

Belle arose early the next morning to get started on her task. She dressed in a rather matronly outfit and wore her hair in a low bun. Making her way to the home, she walked right up the front and knocked.

“And who are you?” The man who answered the door asked. He was rather stern looking butler, but Belle didn’t let his tone of voice fluster her.

“Why, I’m the governess of course. Filling in for a few days, while Mrs. Potts is out sick.” Belle had made some…..arrangements….to ensure that the older woman wouldn’t be coming to work for a while. It would give her a chance to scope out the property and find the brooch. At first, she wasn’t sure that he was going to buy it, but then he opened the door wider and let her enter.

“The children are upstairs; they will be awaiting your arrival.”

She spent the next few days working for the family, trying to keep the children busy so she could search the house. It was harder than she had anticipated it would be but by the end of the third day she had found what she was looking for and knew how she would get her hands on it. The brooch was kept in a safe in the master suit; it wouldn’t be easy to get too, not unless the home was empty and from what she had learned that very rarely happened. Even if she could get the family out of the house, she'd need to deal with the butler. Not to mention the real governess would be ready to return to work soon, so she had to work quickly to figure things out.

Luckily, she had a plan, something she'd read in a book once. Some hard work and a little luck and she thought she could actually pull this off.