“Fuck you.”
“Truth hurts.” Adrian moved back to his desk and sat with the casual authority of someone who'd already won. “You want to throw your life away on a vendetta? Fine. Do it without my resources. Without my network. Without anything I've given you. Because I won't risk my organisation for someone too stupid to recognise when they're being protected.”
“Protected.” I spat the word. “Keeping me in the dark, lying about Harrow — that's not protection. That's control. And I'm done being controlled.”
“Then you're done working for me.” The ultimatum landed with finality. “You walk out that door planning to go after Harrow alone, you don't come back. No resources, no backup,no protection. You become just another investigator chasing corruption in a city that's killed better men than you.”
Noah watched us both with quiet distress. Adrian sat immovable and cold. I stood trying to decide if losing everything he'd given me was worth the chance at finding truth.
“That's not fair,” I said finally.
“Fair doesn't exist in my world. Only alive and dead. Smart and stupid. Useful and expendable.” His gaze stayed locked on mine. “You're useful to me, Dom. But that usefulness has limits. Cross them, and you're on your own.”
“Lily was my sister.”
“And she's dead. Nothing you do will change that. What you can change is whether you join her or survive long enough to get justice instead of revenge. Choose.”
I turned toward the door and stopped. “You should have told me.”
“Probably.” His voice carried no apology. “But I chose to keep you alive instead. If that makes me the villain in your story, I'll live with it. Question is whether you will.”
I left without answering, shut the door harder than necessary, and tried to ignore the weight of his threat settling in my chest like lead.
Noah caught up with me in the hallway, his footsteps quiet behind me. “He's scared.”
“He's a control freak.”
“He's both.” His hand touched my arm, brief and gentle. “Adrian doesn't know how to care about people without trying to manage them. It's how he's survived. But it doesn't mean he's wrong about Harrow being dangerous.”
“So I just sit here and do nothing while my sister's case stays buried?”
“No. You be smart about it.” His expression stayed calm, though concern bled through. “Adrian's not wrong that goingafter Harrow alone is suicide. But he's not right that you're incapable of handling it. You need help, real help, not Adrian deciding what you're allowed to know.”
“He'll cut me off if I don't back down.”
“Maybe. Or maybe he's bluffing because he's terrified of losing you.” Noah squeezed my arm once. “Adrian doesn't bluff about business. But he absolutely bluffs about the people he cares about. And he cares about you, even when he shows it by being a controlling arsehole.”
I wanted to believe that. Wanted to think the threats came from fear rather than cold calculation. But years of working for Adrian had taught me he didn't make idle threats.
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Whatever gets you closer to the truth. But do it smart. Don't throw away everything Adrian's given you unless you have to.” Noah's voice stayed gentle. “Lily deserves justice. But she wouldn't want you dead chasing it.”
He left me standing in the hallway, the folder clutched in my hands, my mind replaying every word of every conversation with the clarity that never gave me peace.
Adrian threatening to withdraw everything if I didn't fall in line. Noah suggesting the threats came from fear. Both of them treating Lily's death like a problem to be managed rather than a wound that wouldn't close.
I opened the folder again and stared at documents that proved my instincts had been right all along. The case had been compromised. Evidence had been sealed. Someone had wanted Lily's death buried fast and permanent.
And Harrow's name was attached to all of it.
