Chapter 26: Julian Changed the Card

Mila’s POV

I jog down the stairs from my new room and head for the front door of Isabella’s house. She wanted to walk me down, but no way am I going to let her act like a disapproving mom and question the heck out of Roman. So I promised her I would text her if at any time I felt in danger. That didn’t seem to make her feel much better, so she handed me a sparkly pink taser to put in my bag. She had a whole keychain of self defense stuff but I convinced her a taser was more than enough.

She seems to suddenly be taking on the role of concerned mother and it’s kind of sweet. It’s the first time someone really cared about me like this and I like it even if it seems a little much. When I step out of the front door, I stop short at the sight of a very handsomely dressed Rowan leaning on a very expensive-looking car. I have to blink a few times to make sure I’m not hallucinating, but no, he’s one hundred percent real.

He smirks at me before pushing to his feet and buttoning his suit jacket as he walks smoothly in my direction. I swallow and want to take a step back from the handsome predator stalking my way, but I hold my ground.

“H-hi.” I stumble the greeting out just as he stops in front of me.

“Hi beautiful.” He says before he leans in and leaves a kiss on my cheek.

I expect to feel something, anything, from that small touch of his lips, but there’s nothing. No jolts of fire along my skin or even a shiver of effect. I don’t feel anything. It takes me a second to recover from that unsettling fact and force a smile on my face. Maybe I don’t know how to feel about physical contact like that from a potential boyfriend.

Except Julian and I did far more, and it felt explosive and life changing.

No, it’s fine. I’m being too harsh about this. I need to relax and try to enjoy my time with Roman and stop overthinking things. Physically attraction is there, I just need to form the emotional part now. It sounds almost too forced and planned to look at it that way, but how else am I supposed to think about it? I’ve had one boyfriend. A really shitty one and all I know is how he treated me, so in a way, this is like having my first real relationship. There’s no way what happened before can happen again now that I know the signs. Looking back, there were dozens of red flags with Scott that I chose to ignore, but not this time.

“Shall we?” Roman asks from where he’s opened the door for me.

I jog quickly over and climb in. Well, that’s a green flag, right? Holding the door open for me is a good thing…right? I mean feminism and all, but it’s sweet!

No! I will not be blinded by small, charming acts of kindness!

I watch him walk around the front of the car and slip some very expensive sunglasses onto his face. He walks and looks like he’s made of money but me…

A quick once over of my current outfit makes me feel like I don’t belong in this car at all. Isabella let me borrow some clothes, but since there weren’t many options that weren’t bright pink, I didn’t have many choices. I settled for a pair of jeans and a simple white babydoll top. The clothes are not cheap by any means but they don’t scream riches either. I hate how self conscious I am about this, but how can I not be? My family wasn’t poor growing up but once dad died, my stepmom didn’t care if I wore a paper bag because she wanted to be sure she looked her best. So I bought my own clothes, and I have been working part time so obviously I can’t afford anything too expensive. Plus, if my stepmom saw me wearing something pretty and new, she would know I had money stashed away. So I kept things cheap and simple, and now I really had nothing. I am going to have to start saving up all over again. Shit! My tuition! My mind flickers to the black credit card burning a hole in my wallet. It would be so easy to use it, but then I would be indebted to someone again and who knows when they will call in my debt.

There’s no way I could pay back the amount of a whole new life. No, I can’t, but the least I can do is thank Roman for what he’s offered. Once he starts the car and pulls away from Isabella’s house, I muster up the courage to say something.

“I wanted to thank you for everything you offered to do for me, but it’s too much.” I tell him and pull out my wallet to hand him back the card.

He looks at it with a furrowed brow. “What’s that?”

Now I’m the one confused. “It’s the card you left for me at the cafe.”

“Cafe?” He asks. “I sent a few things to Julian when he told me what happened, but it wasn’t that.”

“You didn’t send me this card?” I ask him.

“I sent you a card, but it wasn’t that one. Did you misplace the one I sent?” He doesn’t sound all that worried, but confused for sure.

“No. This and my new phone was all I was given.” I tell him.

He curses and pulls out his phone. “I need you to cancel the card I had made in Mila’s name.” He says into the phone.

Shit, this is bad.

“No, she didn’t lose it, but she sure as fuck doesn’t have it. I have a feeling Julian kept it for himself and I don’t want him to have any bit of my money, even if it’s a limited amount.” He says harshly.

So he had a card made for me with a limited amount of funds in it? I look down at the black card and remember what Julian said about me buying anything I needed and paying for school on this thing. I take out my phone and look up the card type out of curiosity. My stomach drops at what the article I find says about the card. The thing has no spending limit at all! As long as the cardholder can pay it, there is no limit!

Oh, my god!

I quickly close the browser and open my conversation with Julian.

**Me**: What have you done? This card wasn’t from Roman!

The wait for his reply feels like forever, but he finally replies.

**Your Monster**: He gave you a basic debit card, which no doubt led to an account that he would filter money in when he felt like it. He didn’t even ask how much you might need. So I switched out the cards.

**Me**: Why? I told you I don’t want anything from you.

**Your Monster**: Mila, don’t let pride stop you from accepting help. There is nothing wrong with letting people help you.

I want to go off on him for assuming I needed help from him, but then his comment about pride makes me think twice. He’s not wrong, but it isn’t that easy to accept financial help like this. Even with Isabella, I always fight against her when she wants to spend money on me, but then she makes me feel bad for not wanting to accept her gifts. It’s an awkward place to be, and I don’t know how to accept the help without making it seem like I’m using them. That’s what I always feel, and I worry they might think the same thing. I don’t want to be like my stepmom and get used to being so pampered that I don’t know how to take care of myself.

**Me**: Why did you say Roman was the one who arranged this card?

**Your Monster**: Because he’s a cheap asshole and what he gave you wasn’t enough. You like him, so I figured there was no harm, and he’s too prideful to admit that he was one upped.

“That fucking bastard.” Roman hisses when he ends the call he was on.

“What did he do?” I ask him.

That charming presence he had a second ago is gone now, and what’s replaced it is a little scary. His knuckles are turning white as he grips the steering wheel harder.

“He emptied the account.” Roman says.

My eyes widen, and I quickly send Julian another message.

**Me**: You took his money?

**Your Monster**: I did.

For some reason, I can imagine him smirking devilishly about what he’s just done. Without realizing what I’m doing, I smirk slightly too before I quickly school my features. He’s trouble.