Chapter 4 NICO's POV

"Do you know how many people have tried to betray me and lived?"

Juliette crossed her arms as the elevator doors sealed with a cold hiss behind her.

"Let me guess," she said flatly. "Zero."

"Wrong." I leaned against the panel. "Two. One got a new name in Greece. The other? Body was never found."

She tilted her head. "So which one do I get to be?"

"That depends entirely on how fast you talk."

The metal box groaned as it descended-slow, deliberate.

Silence swelled between us, louder than the machinery humming beneath our feet.

She broke it first. "Why not kill me upstairs?"

"Because upstairs is for appearances. Down here..." I smiled without warmth. "No one hears you scream."

She didn't flinch. "So this is about power."

"This is about respect."

"You already have that." Her voice was steel. "What you don't have is control."

I stepped closer. "You really think I'd let you steal from me and walk away?"

"I didn't walk away," she said. "I stood in front of you and dared you to stop me."

"You call that courage?"

"I call it being done with men who mistake silence for loyalty."

The elevator hissed open.

The corridor beyond yawned like a throat-dark and narrow, lit by a single pulsing red bulb overhead.

She hesitated.

I walked past her. "After you."

Her footsteps followed, even. No fear. Just fury.

At the end of the hall, I entered a code she couldn't see. The door buzzed, and we stepped inside.

Cement walls.

A table. Two chairs.

No windows. No exits.

"Welcome to the real negotiation," I said.

She looked around slowly. "This looks like the part where I beg."

"You won't."

"You're right," she said, sitting. "I don't beg. I bargain."

I shut the door. Hard.

Then sat across from her and slid a file across the table.

She stared at it. "That mine?"

"No," I said. "It's your mother's."

Her breath caught. "What?"

"She wasn't the first to try and take me down."

Juliette's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"She sold information to the Russians. Twenty years ago. Thought no one would notice."

"She left us."

"She ran," I corrected. "That's different."

She reached for the file. I pulled it back.

"Why are you showing me this?" she asked.

"Because you think you know the rules." I leaned forward. "You don't."

"She didn't sell out the family."

"She did. And your father let her go to protect you and your brother."

Juliette's voice dropped. "You're lying."

"I have her signature. Her prints. Photos of the wire she wore."

"Why now?"

"Because you've got ten seconds to stop pretending you're holding all the cards."

She rose to her feet. "And if I am?"

"Then your brother dies. Slowly."

"You promised-"

"I promised to let him go. I didn't say for how long."

Her fists clenched. "You think threatening my family will get me to talk?"

"I think if I push hard enough..." I stood. "You'll break."

"Then push."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Then stop trying to control me."

"Give me the name."

"Why?"

"Because whoever has those files now knows things I buried for a reason."

"So what? You're scared?"

"I'm careful."

She stared at me.

"What's in those files that scares you so much?"

I didn't answer.

She stepped around the table, close enough to feel the heat off my skin.

"Tell me what it is."

"No."

"Tell me or I swear-"

"You'll what?" I snapped. "Expose me? To who? Half the men in those files are already dead."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid."

"You are. You're terrified I'll figure out the one thing that makes you weak."

I looked at her.

"I know what makes me weak."

"Then say it."

She was too close now. Breath warm. Voice low.

"You want the truth?"

"Yes."

I leaned in, just enough to mean it.

"You're the weakness."

She froze.

I stepped back.

"And I hate you for it."

Her voice trembled. "Then why marry me?"

"Because I thought keeping you close would kill it."

"And did it?"

I stared at her.

"No."

There it was.

Not hate. Not anger.

Something worse.

Want.

She pulled back first.

"You can't have both, Nico. You can't want me and try to break me."

"Then stop giving me reasons to do both."

"You really think if I give you the name, you'll get the files back?"

"I know I will."

She looked away. "Then you're not as smart as I thought."

"What does that mean?"

"I didn't give them to anyone."

My eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"I split them up."

"You what?"

"Six cities. Six people. No one has all of it."

I grabbed her arm. "Who are they?"

She smiled. "You kill me, you never find them."

"You're bluffing."

"Try me."

The door slammed open.

Matteo rushed in, out of breath.

"We've got a problem."

Juliette yanked her arm free. "What now?"

Matteo's face was pale. "The Russians know about the files. Someone leaked a copy."

I turned to her.

She didn't blink.

"Wasn't me," she said.

Matteo tossed me his phone.

Bounty issued: Juliette Ricci. One million. Dead or alive.

She leaned in.

Then looked up at me.

"What now, Nico?"

I stared at her photo, the red target stamped over her face.

"Now you run."

Gunfire shattered the wall.

Juliette ducked. Matteo swore. I tackled her to the floor as another bullet hit the doorframe.

"We're breached!" Matteo yelled.

Her eyes locked on mine. "You said I'd be safe."

I pulled the Glock from my side holster. "You're only safe with me."

"And if I don't believe that anymore?"

"Then don't stop moving."

Sirens wailed through the compound.

Footsteps. Screams. Gunshots.

Juliette grabbed the weapon from Matteo's belt.

I didn't stop her.

"You better not be lying again," she said, voice shaking.

"I'm not."

She kicked the door open-

and ran.

I followed-

Then someone pulled the trigger.

And in the space between breaths, I didn't know if the bullet hit me-

or her.