The city didn't sleep that night.
Neither did Juliet.
Matteo Ricci was handcuffed to a rusted chair in an abandoned warehouse Juliet had commandeered for questioning. No police backups. No paperwork. Only raw, desperate truth-seeking.
Matteo shifted nervously, the cuffs scraping against the metal. His face was slick with sweat despite the cold drafts whipping through the broken windows.
"You understand what happens if you lie to me?" Juliet asked coolly, circling him.
He nodded quickly. "I swear—I told you everything—"
"Start again," she snapped, voice sharp. "This time, I want dates. Documents. Witnesses."
Matteo whimpered, but when she leveled a cold, warning stare at him, he spoke.
"Your father had proof Giovanni paid off three judges, two police chiefs, and several city councilmen. He was gathering it for months... meetings, recordings, transfers. He was going to leak it through an international reporter. Giovanni found out."
Juliet's jaw tightened. "And?"
"They made it look like a robbery. Set it up to send a message." Matteo's voice broke. "Giovanni doesn't forgive betrayal."
Juliet's hands curled into fists. Her father had trusted the system—and the system had murdered him.
The anger nearly blinded her.
But before she could react, her mind flashed back—
Flashback – Seven Years Ago
Juliet sat across from her father in the small kitchen of their home. He was older now, more tired, the lines around his eyes deeper.
"You don't trust anyone," she accused, crossing her arms.
"I trust people to act in their best interest," he said simply, sipping his espresso. "That's why you always keep the truth close to your chest, Juliet. You only reveal what you must... and only to those willing to bleed for it."
He reached across the table, squeezing her hand. "One day, you'll see. Justice isn't won by hope. It's won by survival."
End Flashback
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but Juliet blinked them away ruthlessly.
She had survived. Now she would fight.
Matteo was still speaking, but she heard only fragments—names, addresses, secrets. She recorded every word on her phone, knowing this testimony would either be her salvation or her death sentence.
Meanwhile, across the city, Adonis sat in a dimly lit basement with Nico and Luca Ventresca, the captured accountant.
The stolen drives were laid out across a table. Rows and rows of data—payments, bribes, shipping logs.
Evidence. Enough to topple Giovanni's entire empire.
Adonis stared at the computer screen, jaw tight.
He had waited years for this. Years buried under betrayal and blood.
"You're really going through with this?" Nico asked carefully. "You expose him, he won't just send soldiers. He'll burn the whole damn city to find you."
Adonis leaned back, a grim smile on his lips. "Let him."
He thought of Juliet. Of the fire in her eyes.
They weren't so different, after all.
Two soldiers fighting ghosts.
Still, a part of him hesitated.
Not for himself—but for her.
Because once this war ignited, there would be no walking away.
No peace.
Only survival.
He slipped the flash drive into his jacket pocket, a silent vow burning in his chest.
Back at the warehouse, Juliet unlocked Matteo's cuffs.
"You're coming with me," she ordered. "Protective custody."
Matteo staggered to his feet, confused. "W-why?"
"Because you just signed your death warrant," she muttered.
She led him to her car, heart pounding.
Every step closer to the truth was a step closer to open war.
And she wasn't ready.
Not really.
But she would pretend she was. She would armor herself with anger and justice and let the pain fuel her.
Because there was no turning back now.
As she drove into the night, her phone buzzed with a single message from an encrypted number.
"I have what you need. Meet me at the old harbor. Midnight. – A"
Juliet's heart leapt—and sank.
Adonis.
She glanced at Matteo in the rearview mirror.
One wrong move, one whispered word to the wrong ear—and they'd both be dead by morning.
But she didn't hesitate.
Juliet pressed harder on the gas, the city blurring into rivers of neon and rain.
Midnight awaited.
And with it, the unraveling of everything she thought she knew.