Abandoned to the Mafia, I Rose as the Don’s Most Trusted Lawyer Chapter 06
That evening, Marcus came to my apartment.
He sat on the couch with an unlit cigarette tucked behind one ear.
After cigarette smoke made me cough once, he rarely smoked in front of me.
Several new backpacks were arranged across the coffee table.
There was a black one, a blue one, a red one, and a light gray one.
“I didn’t know what color you liked, so I bought all of them.”
His tone was calm, as though it were nothing unusual.
“You went to my school today?”
“We did.”
He saw that I had more to say and cut me off before I could continue.
“Little lawyer, you’re still a child. Children aren’t supposed to carry everything alone. All you need to do is study.”
I didn’t know how to respond.
I wanted to thank him, but for a long time, I couldn’t force the words out.
Finally, I spoke in a quiet voice.
“Thank you, Marcus. No one has ever protected me before.”
My parents had never cared about me.
In their eyes, Claire would always matter more.
Whenever I was bullied at school, my parents said that if someone targeted me, I must have done something to deserve it.
Eventually, I told myself it didn’t matter.
I didn’t need anyone to protect me anyway.
I could study the law and protect myself.
But that day had been different.
Someone had stood in front of me and made it clear that I was no longer alone.
And the person who had done it was a tattooed debt collector I barely knew, a man who had once relied on threats to force people to pay.
After hearing what I said, Marcus remained silent for a long time.
“Little lawyer, do you know why I got into this business?”
He didn’t wait for me to answer.
“My father died when I was fourteen. My mother left
with her new husband, and no one would take me in. I slept beneath highway overpasses and dug through dumpsters behind restaurants. If someone hit me, I hit back.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“Back then, I swore I’d never stand by while someone
hurt a person I cared about.”
He paused.
“From now on, you’re one of those people.
I froze for a moment.
Then I raised my hand solemnly.
“When I grow up, I’ll turn your company into a legitimate, publicly traded business.”
Marcus burst out laughing.
“All right. I’ll hold you to it.
He gently ruffled my hair.
“Go live the life you want. If trouble finds you, I’ll deal with it.”
When I returned to school, I noticed that the way my classmates looked at me had changed.
The casual mockery was gone, replaced by resentment and fear.
I didn’t care.
Marcus had told me that I didn’t need everyone to like me, but they did need to understand that they couldn’t hurt me whenever they pleased.
Once, I asked him how I could make everyone like me.
He narrowed his eyes.
“No one can make everyone like them. Don’t waste your time trying.‘
The truth was, I didn’t really want everyone to like me.
I only wanted to know whether my parents might love me a little if I became good enough.
But when I saw Marcus’s expression, I didn’t ask anything else.
Brian transferred to another school soon afterward.
Before leaving, he apologized to me with his father standing beside him.
I looked at Richard.
He seemed like an ordinary middle–aged man.
Yet both my homeroom teacher and the principal had been unwilling to offend him.
At the time, I couldn’t understand why money had the power to change the school’s attitude, so I turned my attention back to my studies.
With Marcus’s support, I completed my coursework early and skipped three grade levels.
When I was fifteen, a top university admitted me early to an undergraduate program in legal studies and public policy.
By then, Marcus’s company had completely abandoned its gray–area collection tactics.
The company had more than forty employees and had expanded into several neighboring states.
Its main services included debt negotiation, asset investigations, and compliance consulting.
Noah enrolled in evening classes at a community college and majored in paralegal studies.
He had left school young and spent years around gangs and debt–collection crews.
Now he spent every night poring over textbooks and cases just so he could understand the contracts.
Whenever he finally understood a clause, he slapped the table in excitement.
“Erin, I got it! I actually understood it this time!”
George’s daughter also had her surgery.
Only later did I learn that he had entered debt collection solely to pay for her expensive medical treatment.
The little girl recovered well.
Whenever she saw me, she followed me around and talked without stopping.
At one point, Marcus tried to transfer most of the company’s shares to me.
He said the company would belong to me someday anyway.
I refused immediately, but he wouldn’t give up.
In the end, I had no choice but to lay the relevant corporate–law provisions and rules governing trusts
for minors in front of him.
“You think handing shares to a minor is the same as giving her a present? Who exactly is supposed to deal with the taxes, regulations, and fiduciary duties?”
He stared at the pages of dense legal provisions for a long time before finally giving up.
Life remained stable after that.
The company was thriving, my studies were progressing, and George’s daughter was growing healthier.
Until the day everything changed.