Chapter 46 I Trust You, Dad
The engine hummed beneath Julian’s gloved hands as he drove.
Phoenix sat beside him in the passenger seat, small legs swinging slightly above the floor mat, his glinting gray eyes wide as they watched the world blur past the tinted window.
Julian kept one hand steady on the steering wheel, his other resting loosely beside the gear shift. He had driven countless roads like this before, roads that led to bloodshed, to negotiations, to endings- but this one felt different.
This one carried his son.
“Where are we going?” Phoenix asked suddenly, his tiny voice bright with curiosity as he turned his head to look at him.
Julian’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, but his voice remained calm.
“Somewhere fancy, boy.” he replied. “Your mum asked me to take you there.”
Phoenix frowned slightly, his brows knitting together in a way that made something twist inside Julian’s chest.
“But mummy didn’t tell me,” he said.
Julian allowed himself a faint smile, one that Phoenix could see.
“She wanted it to be a surprise.”
Phoenix seemed to consider that, his small shoulders relaxing as he accepted the answer without suspicion. Children were like that. They trusted easily. They believed easily.
It made them fragile.
“When will we come back?” Phoenix asked.
Julian’s fingers tightened briefly around the steering wheel before he forced them to loosen again.
“I don’t know yet,” he said honestly. “But you’ll like where you’re going.”
Phoenix leaned back into the seat, his excitement already returning, his mind quick to embrace the promise of something new.
Julian reached for his phone, unlocking it with one hand while keeping his eyes on the road. He opened a photo from his gallery, and tilted the screen toward Phoenix.
Phoenix leaned closer, his eyes widening instantly.
“Woahhh,” he breathed, awe filling his voice. “Where is that?”
Julian glanced at him briefly before returning his gaze to the road.
“That’s where you’re going,” he said. “Where you’ll be staying for now.”
The image showed a sprawling estate surrounded by open land, the structure grand and quiet, far removed from the reach of men like Balto. A safe place. One Julian had secured long before this moment ever arrived.
Phoenix’s entire face lit up.
“I love it!” he said, his voice bubbling with excitement.
Julian felt that new unfamiliar stir that he had been feeling lately in his chest. He reached over without thinking and ruffled the boy’s hair gently, his fingers brushing through the soft strands.
“That’s my smart boy,” he said quietly.
Phoenix stilled.
He turned slowly, his eyes searching Julian’s face with an intensity no child should possess.
“Your smart boy?” he asked. “Am I yours?”
The question hit harder than any bullet ever could.
Julian’s throat tightened, but his expression did not change.
He chose his answer carefully.
“What belongs to your mother belongs to me too.”
Phoenix absorbed that, his mind working through it in the simple, direct way children understood the world.
“Does that mean you’re mummy’s husband?”
Julian allowed himself a small smile.
“Soon.”
The word lingered between them, heavier than it sounded.
Phoenix seemed satisfied with that answer, settling back into his seat with a soft hum, his happiness untouched by the storm Julian carried inside him.
Minutes later, Julian slowed the car as he approached a silent location. An empty stretch of road, quiet and isolated, bordered by overgrown trees that swallowed sound and secrets alike.
A black car waited there.
Vincent.
Julian pulled up beside it, the engine falling into a low idle as silence filled the space.
He turned to Phoenix. “We’re coming out now,”
Phoenix nodded eagerly, already reaching for the door handle.
Julian stepped out first, the cold morning air had nothing against his black leather jacket as he walked around the car and opened Phoenix’s door. The boy climbed out without hesitation, his hand instinctively reaching for Julian’s.
Julian took it.
Vincent emerged from the other vehicle at the same moment, his expression composed and professional.
And beside him, there was a boy of Phoenix’s age. And built almost exactly like Phoenix. Similar gray eyes…
Julian’s eyes sharpened as he studied him. Perfect.
The boy looked frightened, his thin shoulders tense, his eyes darting between the unfamiliar men surrounding him.
Julian released Phoenix’s hand slowly before crouching down to the boy’s level.
“Do you trust me?” Julian asked, his voice measured.
The boy hesitated. His lower lip trembled.
“Are you people going to hurt me?” he whispered.
Julian held his gaze.
“No, Adrian,” he said truthfully. “We just want to play a little game. And you’re involved in it.” This was one of the little boys he had saved from trafficking but hadn’t found his parents’ yet. He never knew he would have to use the kid today, but here they were.
The boy searched his face for safety, reassurance.
After a moment, he nodded.
Julian rose to his feet.
Everything was in place.
He turned to Phoenix, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder before guiding him toward Vincent.
“You can trust Vincent,” Julian said. “He’s a friend.”
Phoenix looked at Vincent, then back at Julian.
“I trust you, dad,” Phoenix said simply, oblivious to the effect of his words.
Julian’s heart stopped.
The word struck him with devastating precision.
Dad.
Even Vincent looked a bit surprised.
Before he could react, Phoenix threw his arms around his legs hugging him tightly, his small body warm and real against Julian’s legs.
Julian froze, then blinked, his long lashes fluttering.
He had been shot before.
Stabbed.
Broken.
But nothing had ever made him feel this defenseless.
Slowly, he lowered and stretched his arms around the boy, holding him firmly, deeply, as if committing the weight of him to memory.
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the side of Phoenix’s hair.
It was instinct.
It was surrender.
It was weakness, which he wasn’t afraid to admit to himself internally, because this type of weakness felt too good to be true. This was his own family, a creation he made without knowing for five years, his blood.
Phoenix attraction to him was natural.
He released him before he wouldn’t be able to let the boy go.
Vincent stepped forward, gently guiding Phoenix toward the other car.
And Phoenix did not resist- because he trusted who handed him over to this man.
Julian watched him go, forcing himself not to break.
Then he turned and opened the passenger door of his own car, guiding the other boy inside.
The boy sat quietly, his fear silent but present.
Julian closed the door and returned to the driver’s seat.
He drove.
But his mind stayed behind.
Phoenix had called him dad.
Phoenix had trusted him.
Julian tightened his grip on the wheel, his jaw hardening as emotion threatened to interfere with necessity.
First, it was Seraphina threatening his boundaries.
Last night had softened a part of him he had spent years building armor around. Her touch, her presence in his arms, the kiss- he didn’t know how to handle himself after that.
Now Phoenix.
His son had looked at him like he was safe.
Like he was good. And he wasn’t.
Julian exhaled slowly.
Was he not in trouble?
He crushed the thought immediately.
Balto was waiting.
And Julian had a role to play.
He glanced briefly at the boy sitting beside him—the boy Balto would believe was Phoenix.
He drove forward, carrying the weight of his son’s trust straight into the hands of a man who would never understand what vulnerability feels like.