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“Did you?” He opens the folder, spreading photos across his desk. “Then explain these.”

My breath catches. The photos show every major operation I’ve run in Columbus—every criminal taken down, every play for power. But from this angle, without context, it looks like something else entirely. It looks like I’m building my own empire.

“You see?” Nicolo’s smile is triumphant. “You’re more like me than you want to admit. The only difference is, I embrace what I am.”

“You’re wrong.” I force the words past the tightness in my throat. “I’m nothing like you.”

“No?” He taps one of the photos. “Then what do you call this? Vigilante justice? Please. You’re just playing the same game with different rules. But the game remains the same, brother. It always will.”

“The rules matter.” I meet his cruel eyes. “The people we protect from the likes of you matter.”

“Ah yes, the people.” He sighs heavily. “Like your precious Eve? Tell me, does she know the full extent of your activities? Does she understand what you really are?”

“She understands more than you think.”

“Does she?” His eyebrow arches. “Then she knows about Clara? About what really happened that night?”

My hands curl into fists. “That’s in the past.”

“Nothing is ever in the past in our world.” He gathers the photos back into the folder. “You know this. Just like you know deep down that you can’t keep straddling both sides forever. Eventually, you’ll have to choose.”

“I already have.” The certainty in my voice surprises even me. “I choose her. I choose Leo. I choose the life I’ve built.”

“Even if it means losing everything?”

“Even then.”

He studies me for a long moment, something unreadable in his dark eyes. “You really do love her, don’t you?”

I’ve never said the words, have hardly even allowed myself to think them directly. But standing here, facing down the man who taught me love is weakness, I acknowledge this truth.

“Yes.” It feels like breaking chains. “I do.”

“Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought.” He closes the folder with a sharp snap. “Love won’t save you when Alessandro comes for revenge. It won’t protect Leo from what’s coming. Only power can do that—the kind of power I’m offering you.”

“You’re wrong.” I turn toward the door. “Love is the only thing worth protecting.”

“Pretty words.” His voice hardens. “But words won’t bring the boy home.”

I pause with my hand on the doorknob. “No. But I will with or without your help.”

“You don’t want to do this, Ezekiel” For the first time, there’s real pain in his voice.

I keep the head trained on the door as I swing it open. “Stay out of Columbus. Stay away from my family. Or the next time we meet, I won’t be so gentle.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“No.” I smile grimly. “I’m finally doing something right.”

“This isn’t over,” Nicolo calls as I rush down the hallway. “You can’t protect them forever.”

“Watch me.”

I make it to the car without resistance—either Nicolo’s men aren’t prepared for this level of defiance, or he’s letting us leave to make a point. Either way, I don’t care.

As the SUV peels away from the compound, Eli glances over at me. “That went well.”

I laugh despite myself. “Define well.”