Page 18 of Shades of Loyalty
“What’s a wonderful woman like you doing here, all alone? I don’t think I know you yet, love.”
As soon as I see a hint of panic in Jennifer’s eyes, I decide to let him know she’s not alone.
In fact, now that I know he seems to like her, I’m never leaving her the fuck alone anywhere and anytime.
This dirty bastard.
“She’s my girl, Julian. Get your ass out of here.”
All hatred I feel against him gets so fucking much worse the second he turns around and smirks at me and opens his mouth.
“Come on, Daniel. Why didn’t you tell me about her? She’s such a pretty whore. How much did you pay?”
“She just arrived ten minutes ago. It’s none of your business, anyway. She’s fucking mine. So don’t you dare touch what’s mine, or I’ll cut your hands off. Besides, dad told me you should be busy today; you have tasks to do. Don’t you, soldier?”
Soldier. The most painful reminder he’s not in a lead position, and therefore, not gradually important here. He’s hated it the whole time.
I’ve seen him convince my father once, trying to give him reasons why he should be the boss instead of me. Lucky for me, this is fucking family business, and my father wants it to stay that way.
I don’t mention which tasks he has to do specifically to protect Jennifer, but he knows damn well he shouldn’t be sneaking around here right now.
“You’re right,” he smiles as if he has a wooden stick up his ass. “My apologies. I’ll get right back to my tasks, boss.”
“You know damn well I’d never accept any of your apologies,” although I know I’m provoking him and my father would hate me for it, I don’t stop.
“So please leave me and my girl alone. Go do your work, servant.”
He clenches his fists, which only satisfies me more. Oh, I love getting on his nerves. Especially because he’s too loyal to my father to do anything to me.
He’d never disobey me. He’s a fucking pussy.
My dad does appreciate him as a good soldier, a loyal one at that, but he’d never choose anyone over his actual family.
Because there are people in our mafia who are family by blood, like my parents, Andrew, Victoria, and me.
And then there are guys like Julian who… Well, I have to admit he did an excellent job at trying his hardest to join our family.
I really wouldn’t say Julian is bad at what he does. Years of training under my dad’s leadership is showing off, I can’t deny that.
He’s an excellent soldier for our family, but I simply couldn’t care less about him.
In fact, I would’ve preferred it if instead of Roy, Julian would’ve died. Probably makes me sound like an asshole, but it’s the truth.
The actual problem I have with this bastard is that he does shit nobody else in our family supports, and he knows damn well.
Julian never cared about some of our rules; in fact, he tried to involve us in some of that shit once. Human or sex trafficking is something we despise.
We’ve been a clean business for years, ever since my dad took over the leadership. I’m not planning to change that.
Julian takes one last look at Jennifer, which makes me want to throw my fist into his face, yet I stay calm. I wouldn’t be a good boss if I acted out of anger, after all.
Strategy is always better than being emotional and letting my feelings lead the way. Always.
I’ve learned from my mistakes pretty quickly when I was younger.
“Alright, Jenny.”
“It’s Jennifer.”
