Page 148 of Madness & Mercy

“You have any idea how much debt I’m in because of you?” Cassian snarls, his voice cracking with rage. “The loans I had to take to bail your ass out of jail? The bills for Mom and Dad rotting away in that fucking nursing home you haven’t visited in years? You didn’t just ruin your life, Julian—you burned mine to the ground. Do you know what I had to do just to fucking survive out there?”

He lifts the gun, sights locking on Julian’s chest. My vision tunnels. The world blurs. All I see is the black circle of that barrel.

“Nico Vitale,” Cassian calls, ice in every syllable. “Step out, or I put a bullet in your preciouslove.”

I slowly move forward, arms up.

Julian’s head jerks toward me, panic slicing through his expression. “Nico,stop!Don’t take another step.”

But it’s too late.

Cassian and I lock eyes. His mouth curves into something that’s not quite a smirk, not quite a snarl, like he’s savoring the moment before the kill.

“If it’s money you want,” I say, moving slowly, “I’ll give you five times what Silvio offered. And there’s plenty more where that came from.”

His brow arches. “You’ll give me five million dollars?”

Silvio, you bastard.

“Yes,” I bite out. “Five million. Cash.”

Cassian laughs, the sound grating against my nerves. “It’s not just about money, Vitale. You want to know why I’m here? Because my own twin brother left me buried in debts I could never crawl out of. Because when he went to prison,Iwas the one taking loans from men you don’t walk away from… to keep him alive, to keep our parents in that nursing home, to keep from fucking starving to death. And while I was drowning? He was nowhere. He never gave a damn about me. He didn’t even bother telling you I existed, did he?”

Julian’s head snaps toward him. “Cass, that’s not true. I didn’t know—”

“Yeah,” Cassian cuts in. “That’s the point.”

Then, the slow sound of footsteps echo down the hall.

Silvio Romano appears behind Cassian, a shadow in the flickering light. He steps in close, resting a hand on Cassian’s shoulder.

“You see?” Silvio says, his gaze flicking between me and Julian. “You two made my work easy. Cassian was already broken when I found him. I just gave him an outlet… and a reason to aim.”

He leans closer to Cassian, his voice lowering. “Do it. End him now. Make him pay for every sleepless night, every broken bone, every time you had to sell your body, every dollar you bled to keep him alive.”

Cassian raises the gun, his hand steady at first.

Julian’s voice cracks. “Cass,please.I didn’t know what you went through. I swear to God, I would’ve helped you. I’m sorry. For the debts. For walking away. Foreverything.”

Silvio’s tone turns venomous. “He’s lying. He always is. Do it.”

“No,”I cut in, stepping between them. “Kill me. I’m the one you want.”

Julian’s voice cracks like a whip. “Nico—stop!”

Cassian’s breathing turns sharp and erratic. The barrel hovers inches from my chest.

Cassian’s jaw tightens. The muscles in his arm twitch.

For a heartbeat, I think the shot’s coming.

BANG.

Silvio’s body jerks back. His expression freezes in shock as the blood blooms across his shirt. The control he’s had over this room evaporates in an instant. He stumbles, then collapses.

Cassian lowers the gun, his voice barely there.

“I took on those debts to keep you alive. I’m not killing you to pay them off.”