Chapter 24
Norah understood.
Sofia, Elias, and Celia had hidden the truth in plain sight, waiting for the day when Nico would be strong enough to inherit something other than his father’s power.
Nico read the numbers twice.
“What do they open?”
Celia answered.
“An account your father used to hold the lives of the people around him.”
Nico’s expression darkened.
“What is in it?”
“Evidence.”
“Against him?”
“Against everyone who continued his work.”
He looked at Norah.
“If this is released, the organization will change.”
“Then change it.”
“You do not know what that would mean.”
“No,” she said.
“But I know what it means to keep protecting a system that teaches people they are disposable.”
The words landed between them.
Nico looked down at the blue ledger.
For the first time, Norah saw him understand that his inheritance was not the empire itself.
It was the choice of what to do with its remains.
Mara cleared her throat softly.
“We should leave before someone else arrives.”
Celia nodded.
“There is a back entrance beneath the flower shop next door.”
Nico looked at Norah.
“Will you come with me?”
The question was careful.
Not an order.
Not an assumption.
Norah felt the weight of everything still unresolved between them.
She loved him.
She was angry with him.
She was frightened by how easily the old tenderness returned whenever he looked at her without his defenses.
But she no longer wanted to disappear simply because the truth was difficult.
“I will come,” she said.
His shoulders lowered slightly.
“Where?”
“To see Elias.”
Celia offered a faint smile.
“He will be waiting.”
They left Bell Street through the narrow passage behind the kitchen.
The rain had stopped, leaving the pavement shining beneath the pale morning light.
Nico walked beside Norah but did not touch her.
The restraint was deliberate.
She noticed it.
After three blocks, she stopped.
He stopped too.
“You do not have to walk three feet away from me.”
“I thought you might want space.”
“I do.”
He nodded.
“But not enough to lose sight of you.”
Norah looked at him.
“That sounds like the old Nico.”
“I am still the old Nico.”
“Yes.”
“The question is what I do with him.”
She considered that.
“Start by changing the locks.”
His mouth tightened.
“I will.”
“Not because you expect me to return.”
“Because you should have had your own key.”
She looked away.