I ever went public, the scandal would hit the hospital first, not the Romanos.

She said pediatric funding would freeze, nurses would lose jobs, and I’d be the woman who burned a charity down on her way out.’

Lucas closed his eyes once.

That was the federal file.

Not just old family dirt – current laundering threaded through institutions people depended on.

When he opened them, the decision was already made.

He stood.

‘Then I burn it down myself.

Cleanly.

Before they can use it again.’

Emma caught his wrist.

Even weak, her grip was certain.

‘Lucas.’

He looked down.

‘If you do this, they will come for you.’

‘They already came for you.’

By the time he returned to Marchetti Tower, the rain had thinned to mist.

The building looked exactly as it always had – brass, glass, quiet money, controlled temperature, perfect surfaces.

He had never hated it more.

His mother was waiting in the same conference room, seated upright at the head of the table as if she still believed posture could control outcome.

Elena Marchetti had aged elegantly and cruelly, the way some people turned discipline into a religion.

Isabella stood near the window, jaw tight.

Reed had spread documents across the table.

Matteo stood by the door.

Lucas did not sit.

‘Tell me why,’ he said to his mother.

Elena folded her hands.

‘Because your father would have destroyed her.’

‘He’s dead.’

‘He wasn’t then.’

‘Why keep lying after he died?’

Elena’s gaze flicked to Isabella.

‘Because by then your father’s empire was braided with the Romanos.

Because there were investigations circling.

Because one scandal would have broken the stock conversion, the banking approvals, the international licenses.

Because you were finally in a position to drag this family into daylight, and I was not going to let a nurse with a baby undo it.’

Margaret, standing behind Lucas now, made a sharp sound.

‘A nurse with a baby? She was a human being.’

Elena didn’t even look at her.

‘She was a risk.’

Lucas felt something settle inside him, cold and final.

‘No.

She was the test.

You failed it.’

Isabella moved away from the window.

‘Enough with the drama.

Your mother did what men in your world have always needed women to do – absorb the ugliness quietly so the empire can keep moving.’

Lucas looked at her.

‘Did you love me at all?’

For the first time that night, Isabella answered honestly.

‘In the way I knew how,’ she said.

‘I wanted the life that came with you.

I wanted the seat beside you.

I wanted not to be dismissed after my father spent twenty years building leverage into your house.

Maybe that isn’t love to you.’

‘It isn’t.’

Her eyes flashed.

‘Then don’t insult me by pretending your version was pure.

You still took the throne.’

‘And tonight I give it a match.’

He nodded to Reed.

The attorney slid a folder forward.

‘At Mr.

Marchetti’s instruction, we have already transmitted a preservation notice to every subsidiary and notified federal counsel of an internal disclosure involving Romano-linked entities, charitable transfers, and document suppression.

Full cooperation starts tonight.’

For the first time, Elena’s composure cracked.

‘You went to the government?’

‘I went to the law.’

‘You will destroy us.’

Lucas looked at the