Page 105

But the mask changes.

Sometimes that’s enough.

He takes one step toward me.

“Be very careful what you think you’ve won, Dominic.”

I don’t move.

“If anything happens to Piper—”

I stop.

The old instinct rises so fast it nearly wins.

Threat.

Piper.

Our child.

For one violent second, every lesson I have learned disappears under something much older.

Then her voice comes through my earpiece.

“Dominic.”

Just my name.

Nothing else.

I let the breath out slowly.

Roman watches me do it.

And that, more than anything else today, is how I know I’ve finally beaten him.

Not because I can hurt him.

Because he can no longer make me hurt myself.

“You don’t get to use her to move me anymore,” I say.

Roman smiles without warmth.

“Everyone can be moved.”

“Yes.”

I think of a woman four blocks away who built an entire trap out of understanding exactly that.

“The trick is getting to choose who you move for.”

I step aside.

Roman walks past me.

At the door, he pauses.