You'll Need to Trust No One

Julian’s POV

I caught a whiff of a peculiar fragrance, which made me feel a bit uneasy all over. Just as I was in a daze, I was given a nudge.

A gentle nudge catches me off guard, a push so delicate that I barely register it.

A girl stepped into my line of sight, so my eyes drop to hers and those amber and beautiful eyes are burning with hatred toward...

Toward me?

Who the hell is this girl to be looking at me like that?

But why does the fragrance is so near? Comes from her?

“How dare you say something like that? Women are not play things to use and throw away any time you please! I don’t care what you told her. She deserves some respect!” Her words might as well be wielding pitchforks.

She's not about to wait around for applause. With a final huff and an eye-roll that could rival any teen drama, she turns on her heels, storming off with enough drama to put a soap opera to shame.

As if under some spell, my gaze remains glued to her retreating form, tracking her until she blends into the bustling scenery.

“Wow. She’s awesome.” The girl still standing next to me says.

Right, I'd almost forgotten she was there.

“She’s right. I don’t deserve how you treated me. You have no idea how to treat a woman properly. I don’t know who hurt you, but I won’t let you do the same to me. Goodbye Julian.” She walks off in the opposite direction, leaving me a little stunned.

What the fuck just happened?

“Sir? Your father is waiting.” Bash, my security detail says from behind me.

“Yeah…let’s go.” I shake my head to clear up whatever had just happened out of my head.

There’s no way I’m walking into my father’s office looking dazed from some bizarre encounter at a fucking bus stop, of all places. Bash opens the passenger door for me and I slide in with the smoothness that comes from extensive training.

Image is everything in my world, and after what just happened, I need to play the part of a mature businessman. Bash joins me in the car and pulls out into traffic with ease. He’s used to driving these streets and could maneuver through the web of traffic with his eyes closed.

It’s why my dad assigned the guy as my driver along and body guard or babysitter, whatever sounds better.

All he is to me is someone who gets in my way, but it’s a necessary evil I have to deal with for now. I’ve come this far, and I don’t intend to show my hand yet.

We drive silently, but I can feel my phone vibrating several times. I sigh and pull the annoying thing out to see ten messages waiting in the group chat.

Levi started the damn thing in highschool and has kept it going for five years now. Most of the guys just bitch about life or make plans to hit a club.

Not my scene, but every time I try to delete the damn app, Levi puts it back. I should just change the password on my phone, but I can’t be bothered.

Besides, this isn’t my real phone, anyway. I scan the messages real quick, but don’t bother replying. It’s nothing I care about. The only person I tolerate is Levi.

Those other idiots can go to hell for all I care. They have their heads so far up their asses that they don’t know which way is up.

They inherited their positions from their rich daddies and still complain like they have it so hard. They don’t know shit from where they're sitting in their ivory towers.

I’m nothing like them. My kingdom lies in the darkness where no one dares to look.

Sure, I have a spot in my father’s more…legal business, but that’s a front. It’s a mask I wear so that people don’t look too hard at what I do.

My father had taught me well. We hide the truth behind smiles and well mannered small talk in the business world while running a whole other world that is sucking those rich bastards dry.

So no, I don’t give a shit about some whining rich boys.

Bash pulls up to the front of one of my dad’s clubs and jumps out to open the door for me. I climb out and fix my suit jacket and cuffs. The place is empty right now, but by sundown there will be a line down the street to get in. This is the biggest spot in the city and yet another way for my father to clean his dirty money.

It’s also the place I’ll be taking over in three months when I turn twenty-one.

I walk toward the front door and get a nod from the guards in greeting. Bash stays behind to talk with them while I head inside. Even though the club is empty, there are several employees around getting things set up. I glance around at what will soon be mine and smirk.

This place is mine and all the hellish fun that lies within it. I pass the bar and head down the hallway where there are private rooms being cleaned.

This place is the place to go to indulge in fantasy and sin, so it needs to be thoroughly cleaned.

There are another pair of guards standing outside my father’s office door and one of them opens the door when I reach them. I walk in and spot my father sitting at his desk with his phone to his ear. He waves me in and I take a seat across from him to wait.

“I don’t give a fuck what he thinks our agreement was. If he doesn’t have the money in our account by tonight, then he needs to be shown what happens when you cross me. Get it done.” He snaps.

I have to fight myself from rolling my eyes. The things he says sound like lines from an old cheesy mafia movie.

You don’t have to threaten people with pain.

In my experience, threats are better delivered through actions, not rehearsed monologues. In our world, you administer pain before they even have a chance to beg for mercy or spew excuses about why they're short of what we demand.

“Julian.” My father says in greeting.

“Father.” I reply just as coldly.

“I hear you had a situation this morning.” He raises a brow at me in question.

I shrug. “Just another girl who thinks sleeping with me means I’ll get down on one knee for her. It’ll blow over.”

My father’s face tightens. “I’m trying to move our business in a new direction, and you making a scene with some girl not on the side of the road isn’t helping. It would have been one thing if it happened once, but you popping up in the news because of another problem with a woman isn’t helping with the plans I have for us.”

“Right. Your plans to go legit. It’s a waste of time. We’re Monroes and we have run this city for the last five generations. It used to be something you told me to be proud of, and now this? It’s a fucking joke.” I shake my head at him.

“Julian, we need to be more careful. The world is changing and if we want to stay ahead of that change, then we need to understand how to run legitimate businesses. This isn’t about cleaning money anymore. This is about a shift in dynamics and leaving a lot of this stuff behind. We can’t be connected to any of this if we want to move forward. It’s time son.” He sounds stern and harsh like he always has, but there’s a softness there that is showing his age.

He’s getting old, and this whole thing about moving our fronts into legitimate businesses is because he can’t handle this life anymore. He tried to get his brothers on board with his new plan, but like me; they thought he had lost his mind. Our family has ruled this city from the darkness for too long, and none of us are ready to let it go yet.

“Since things will be changing, it means you need to be ready to take a bigger role in the business. You didn’t finish your degree after your mom, but it’s time.” He slides a brochure across the desk toward me.

I lean in and snatch it from the surface. It's a brochure, showcasing a school with a slightly awkward-looking man and woman flashing smiles on the front cover.

“What the hell is this?” I ask.

“I’m sending you to Mishnia University to finish your business degree. Our investors will feel more confident working with you if you have the proper education. You start tomorrow.”

“What? I’m not going back to school! Fuck no.” I throw the brochure down and scowl at him.

“You will go Julian. If you want me to keep my word, then you will go. Do you understand me?”

I clench my jaw and ball my hands into tight fists. He has used this threat on me before and if it was anything else, I would tell him to stick his threat up his ass, but this isn’t just anything. I can’t risk him making good on his threat, so I back down. Until I’m able to finish what I’ve started, I need his help, so I blow out a breath and nod.

“Fine, but I know you. You aren’t sending me there just to learn. Why this school?” I ask.

He smirks. “You are definitely my son. As a matter of fact, there is something else I need from you…”

He leans forward, his voice dropping to a low, conspiratorial tone. "Julian, you've always been the one with a way of... handling delicate matters. I've been hearing whispers about a potential threat rising in the underworld. Rumors of a rival faction gaining strength."

I narrow my eyes at him, trying to decipher the layers of his words. "And you want me to deal with this?"

He nods slowly, his expression as calculating as ever. "Yes. I want you to infiltrate this rival faction, gather information, and neutralize any threat they pose. We can't afford to have anyone challenge our supremacy, especially not now."

I lean back in my chair, a mixture of unease and excitement churning within me. This is the kind of challenge I thrive on—strategy, deception, and asserting dominance. The idea of diving into a dangerous game, even if it's in the pursuit of our family's legacy, sparks a fire in my veins.

But then a thought gnaws at the edge of my mind. "What's in it for me, Father?"

His lips curl into a wry smile, as if he had been expecting this question. "Once you're inside, you'll have access to a network of contacts, resources, and information that could prove invaluable for our expansion into legitimate ventures. You'll have the tools to secure our position as we transition into a new era."

"You understand, Julian," my father continues, "this is not a simple task. You'll need to be cunning, patient, and above all, you'll need to trust no one."