Julian noticed the protection before anyone explained it.
At first it showed up in small ways. A familiar face near the entrance of his building that remained there too long.
A man across the street who never seemed to leave before Julian did. A quiet presence outside the café he used to enter without thinking.
None of it was obvious enough to be called open surveillance, but Julian had already spent enough time near Lucian to recognize control when he saw it.
By the second day, irritation replaced uncertainty.
By the third, it became impossible to ignore.
He tested it once without warning. He changed direction after work, turned down a side street he did not usually take, then stopped in front of a closed shop as if he had forgotten where he meant to go.
Less than a minute later, one of Lucian's people appeared at the corner, pretending not to watch him.
That was enough.
Julian did not confront the watcher.
He went straight to Lucian instead.
