Page 128 of The Art of Ruin

“So am I.”

Matteo looks at me instead. “Tell me you’re not just letting this go.”

I hold his gaze for a second. “Did I say that?”

That stills him slightly, a smile spreading across his face when he sees the expression on mine.

“Go calm the staff down,” I tell him. “And tell legal I want every media outlet monitored for leaks.”

His expression remains murderous, but he nods once and heads for the doors, already pulling his phone from his pocket.

Nico waits until we’re alone before speaking again. “I’ll talk to Rossi,” he says, loosening his tie slightly. “See where this came from and whether there’s anything else moving behind it.”

“There is.”

“You think Jasper’s escalating.”

“I think he underestimated how closely I’d look once he involved this company. He thinks he knows who we are, but now he’s going to find out the hard way he was wrong.”

Nico studies me quietly for a moment, then glances toward the city beyond the windows. “What are you going to do?”

There’s no judgment in the question.

No hesitation either.

Because he already knows there’s only one answer.

I walk slowly toward the bar built into the side of the office and pour myself a drink, the burn of whiskey sharp against the back of my throat, making me think of Casey.

Then I set the glass down carefully. “He wants attention,” I say. “Visibility. Power.”

Nico stays silent.

I look back at him. “I think it’s time someone reminded him how quickly those things disappear.”

Understanding settles across his expression immediately. “You’re going to ruin him quietly,” he says.

“Obviously.”

“Adriano.” I meet his gaze. Nico’s voice lowers slightly. “Don’t do anything that drags us backward.”

I understand exactly why he’s saying it.

Because this building matters to more than just us now. It’s our legacy to our children.

Because our mother mattered.

Because we fought too hard to become something different from what we were raised to be.

“I’m not going backward,” I say calmly.

Jasper thinks ruin arrives loudly and with performance.

Men kicking down doors, but that’s amateur thinking.

Real ruin happens quietly.

A delayed payment here.