Colby's POV
I watch Julia as she left the room. She was such a headstrong girl which was going to give me nothing but trouble.
It was admirable that she wanted to be a part of this but it was just too dangerous. She had no idea what would happen to her if she were to get taken.
She needed to realize that these guys were smart. They wouldn't put all their eggs in one basket so even if we were able to come and kill all the people who took her, there would be more.
She didn't understand how this worked, even though she thought she did.
Killing a couple people in self defense didn't mean shit in this business. There was a hierarchy that she didn't understand.
Power plays were much more valuable than just aimlessly killing people that are in your way.
"Didn't go well?" Sam asked as he came back into the room. "Why did you do that?" I asked and looked up at him.
"Do what?" He asked and sat next to me. "You know how this shit works. Why would you come up with a plan to put Julia in danger?" I asked as he sighed.
"She's got a point though, Colby. She's strong and it's the perfect way to get the ball rolling." Sam said as I rolled my eyes.
"Do you want her to get killed or worse?" I asked then clenched my jaw. "Dude, relax. I know how this works. She can handle it." Sam said as I scoffed.
"You don't see her after she kills people, Sam. She breaks a little bit more each time. She couldn't handle this and she won't. We need another plan." I said and scrubbed my face with my hands.
"I think you just don't trust her enough." Sam said as I nodded. "You're correct. I absolutely do not." I said with a laugh.
"I seem to remember her saving your life a couple of times. That's all I'll say." Sam said then stood up so he could leave the room.
"God damnit." I grumbled and closed my eyes. Sam was right that Julia had saved me a couple times.
I haven't had a close call since I left her though. She brought so much danger to me and everyone else.
Julia was more of a danger to herself than anyone though.
I needed to talk to her.
I sighed and stood up, making my way towards the stairs. When I got to Julia's room I knocked on the door.
"What?" She asked blandly as I opened the door. "What are you doing?" I asked as she looked up at me.
"I told you I'm leaving." She said and zipped up her bag. "You're so dramatic, Julia." I said as she nodded.
"Someone has to get off their ass and do something and you don't seem to want to do that." She said causing me to roll my eyes.
"Damnit, Jules. You just don't understand how this all works." I said as she nodded. "I know that someone is after me because of you and that we need to kill them." She explained.
"We shouldn't kill them though. It's not that easy." I said with a sigh. "Why not?!" Julia groaned with annoyance.
"Because, sweetheart. There's a thing called politics." I said and sat on the bed.
"I don't know who Adam works for or if he's the leader of this gang. There's a lot to figure out so just jumping in and killing people isn't a good idea." I said with a sigh.
"There was a time where you trusted me, ya know." I said and looked up at her.
"Yeah. Then you broke my heart." She said quietly. "I know." I said then put my hand on her bag.
"Just try to trust me, Jules. I know it's hard after everything but the only way we are going to get through this is if you trust me." I said as she sighed.
"Will you promise me one thing?" Julia asked and sat on the bed next to me. "Depends on what it is." I said as she sighed.
"When this is all said and done...I want you to promise that you'll stay far away from me." She said as my heart sunk.
It broke my heart how much she hated me but I couldn't blame her.
I wasn't going to promise her that because I knew I would fight for her.
I loved her and although she was annoying and headstrong, I wouldn't let myself make the same mistake twice.
"I can't promise that and I won't." I said then stood up. "Please just trust me and don't do anything stupid." I said as her eyes watered.
"How can I trust you if you can't respect me?" She asked quietly. "What do you mean?" I asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I asked you to leave me alone but you won't. No matter what I want you don't allow it." She said then sniffled.
"Julia...I'll never promise that but it's not because I'm trying to control you." I said and walked up to her, taking her face in my hands.
"I won't promise that because I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice."I said and looked into her eyes.
"Please stop." She whispered as I shook my head. "I can't." I said quietly as she took my hands. "Then leave me alone." She said and pulled them from her face so she could stand up and turn away from me.
I knew why Julia was so adamant on not letting me into her heart. I completely broke her and I didn't except her to forgive me.
It didn't make me feel any different though.
"Whatever you want, sweetheart." I said then turned to leave the room. I sighed and walked down the hallway and towards my room.
I had some work to do since I had no idea how to navigate this situation.
Sam and Julia were so convinced that having her get taken would be the way to go, but it had to be the opposite.
If Julia were to get captured I wouldn't be able to go rescue her. It would prove the point that I was in love with her.
Our plan had to be seemless and calculated. There couldn't be any mistakes because peoples lives were on the line.
My thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing. "Great." I mumbled and grabbed it.
"Hello?" I answered. "Hey. Is there supposed to be someone in Julia's house right now?" Corey asked as my stomach ached.
"What the fuck do you mean?" I asked with intensity. "We swung by her house to scope it out but there's someone in there." He explained.
Fuck.
This was deeper than I previously thought.
"What are they doing?" I asked and paced the room. "As far as we can see there's at least one guy rummaging through her stuff." Corey said as I nodded.
"Any cars there?" I asked. "Yeah. A van with a guy in it. So there's at least two people here." Corey replied.
"Okay. Don't go inside and don't let yourself be seen. Follow those guys but don't get caught." I instructed.
"You got it, man." Corey said then hung up. As soon as he was off the line I groaned, flopping onto the bed.
I didn't understand why there would be guys snooping around Julia's house. I had a bad feeling that things were deeper than they seemed.
I doubted that Julia had any involvement in the crime world before I came back into her life both the first and second time.
Would she have done some jobs for extra cash since she refused to use the money I left for her?
Surely she wouldn't have put her siblings at risk like that.
Her siblings.
Maybe her mom had something to do with this. She didn't give a fuck about putting her kids in danger and we killed her husband.
Surely she didn't care about Julia and would want to use her as bait to get me killed.
There were so many theories that were running through my head but only time would tell what was the truth.
For now we had to stay proactive and ahead of these guys. I had no idea what the future would hold for us, but I did know that I would protect Julia as fiercely as I could.
This wasn't her fault and I wasn't going to let her get hurt for my mistakes.