The Mafia Empire

Julian waved him in, and Dave stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Wild Rose Bar ordered a hundred cases, and Graf thinks there's something off. I st him to deliver it, but we can't ignore his concerns. It could be, as he suspects, a trap this time," Julian said after thinking for a momt, organizing his thoughts. "We've shak up the original market with what we're doing, so it's bound to provoke a reaction from the big players.

Tonight, take some m, arm yourselves, and follow them. If anything happs, handle it."

Dave was now the only team leader within the community association, so if Julian needed to assign someone, it would naturally be him. He was earning more money and holding a higher position than the others, so it was only fair that he took on more responsibility.

Dave nodded firmly, indicating he understood. Before leaving, Julian reminded him again to be careful and not act unless absolutely necessary. But once they did, they had to clean up thoroughly.

Julian didn't have his own network in Ternell City yet, and he was still navigating in the dark. His only real connection was Kevin. Kevin had promised to introduce him to some contacts, but that would take a few days.

As this crossed his mind, Julian's gaze drifted downward to the newspaper.

"Prosecutor Camille has filed charges against the out of town girl Nasha, stating that he has solid evidce proving that the man known as 'Leather Pants,' Morris, was killed in a premeditated murder. This case has drawn atttion across the city. Rising star lawyer Kevin expressed his strong dissatisfaction with Camille and the city court.

He hinted that Camille's true motivation for prosecuting Nasha was to secure a high profile case that would help him rise to the position of State Prosecutor."

"Kevin's plan," Julian smiled. They had set up a crime sce full of holes, all to draw out Prosecutor Camille. Th Kevin would strike and bring him down. In the world of lawyers, prosecutors are lifelong adversaries, constantly challging every argumt, scrutinizing every piece of evidce to find fatal flaws.

Kevin had already signed a contract with one of the three top law firms in the capital, Wier Law, but before leaving, he had to score one impressive win. A case that would show the snobby capital lawyers that ev someone from a small town like Kevin couldn't be underestimated.

There was no case better suited for that than this one—taking a hopeless case, where all the evidce pointed to Nasha being guilty of conspiracy to murder Morris, and flipping it tirely.

Not only would this land a heavy blow on Camille, who had a high chance of becoming the next State Prosecutor, but it would also gain widespread public and social support, making people temporarily forget Kevin's past associations with questionable clits. This was the gift Kevin had prepared, both for himself and for Julian.

Once Kevin won this case, he would gain respect in Ternell's high society. The wealthier the setting, the more likely it was to hide filth in its corners. Were the city's powerful elites truly as clean as they appeared? No. No one was clean. That's why they would all want a "brilliant lawyer" frid like Kevin.

Once Kevin had public support, the backing of the legal community, and the dorsemt of high society, he would have the key to his career's pinnacle.

At that point, he would introduce Julian to the others. Whether out of respect for Kevin or not, they would accept Julian.

Of course, Julian would need to contribute something as well.

Money.

Not just a few hundred or thousand dollars.

But thousands, perhaps ts of thousands, to win over those who could help Julian's career.

The chief of police, the head of the Imperial Tax Office, the leader of the Imperial Gdarmerie, and ev the mayor of Ternell City!

That's why the $5,000 profit was still sitting in the safe. Julian needed that money.

Night descded without people noticing, deeping as they got caught up in other things. The streetlights flickered on, but there wer't many pedestrians. Three horse drawn wagons trotted along the road. For the wealthy, cars were their go to transportation, but for the average person, horse drawn wagons were still more familiar.

As the three wagons neared their destination, just one intersection away from the Wild Rose Bar, they ran into a bit of trouble.

Two police officers in gray uniforms stopped them.

"What's in the wagon?" One officer approached the back and lifted the canvas covering with his rubber coated baton. Inside, it was packed with goods, but in the dim light, it was hard to make out exactly what was there.

Graf stood to one side, scratching his head with a silly grin. "It's food. A kind hearted gtleman gave us some food, and we're taking it to the orphanage."

The officer sneered, placing his foot on the wagon's footboard and grabbing the side to hoist himself in.

Has anyone ever asked you how much you would risk for a big reward? To do something you knew was dangerous, something that violated both morals and the law?

Nobody had ever asked Graf that, but it didn't matter, because he had already made up his mind. His past struggles and the happiness he now held tightly in his hands left him no doubt about his choice.

Wh a person has nothing, they don't care much about loss or gain, but wh someone who once had nothing finally possesses something, their greatest fear becomes losing it.

The smile on Graf's face slowly faded. In the dim light, his usually dull eyes gleamed with a cold glint. He raised his hand and firmly gripped the police officer's hand, which was holding onto the wagon's edge.

The officer, halfway into the wagon, paused and turned to look at him, an unspok disdain in his eyes. "What are you trying to do?" he asked.

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