We standin the doorway of my bedroom past 3 a.m., looking at each other across the distance between two people who have stopped pretending they don't know exactly who the other one is.
"I want to tell you something."
Her chin lifts. Waiting.
"From here on out — the truth. All of it. Every development, every threat, every ugly thing I'd rather you didn't have to carry." I hold her gaze. "Not because I've been lying, but because I've been editing. I'm done with that. You've earned the uncut version."
The silence is careful.
"Why now?"
Because a man installed a camera in your bedroom and I wasn't there to stop it, and the thought of what could have been on that footage makes me want to level this building. Because every time I try to protect you from information, you end up blindsided by something worse. Because you stood at a window with me tonight and broke open in ways I'm still feeling, and I will not insult that by continuing to manage what you know.
I don't say any of that.
"Because it's the right call. And I should have made it sooner."
She looks at me for a long moment. Then she uncrosses her arms.
"Okay."
Two letters. One syllable. The quietest form of trust.
My hands — which have been completely still through this entire conversation, through the kitchen, through Bruni, through all of it — curl once at my sides. Like my body needed somewhere to put it. Like even my hands understand that what just happened is not a small thing.
It hits me harder than anything has in years.
"Get some sleep." My voice comes out rougher than I intend. "You can have this room — it's the most secure in the building. I'll take the study couch."
"You don't have to?—"
"Serafina."
She stops.
"Let me do this one thing. Without it being a negotiation."
Her eyes search mine for a second longer than necessary. Then she steps back from the doorway.
"Fine. But I want coffee at 7 a.m. Real coffee, not whatever Niko drinks."
"Done."
"And I want to be in the room when you debrief Bruni."
I look at her.
"Full transparency." Not a challenge. A reminder.
"7:30. You'll be there."
She nods. Starts to close the door. Stops.
"Luca."
I look up.
"Thank you. For not killing him in front of me."
