By morning, Nico had acquired three things Julian had not intended to give him.

A laptop.

Coffee.

And the knowledge that dead men were still using Vance security credentials.

The laptop had no external network access, no removable storage ports, and enough monitoring software to qualify as a hostile witness.

Nico sat sideways at the kitchen island, one bare foot hooked around the stool. He had replaced his suit with black lounge pants and a gray sweater Evelyn had left in the west suite.

Julian entered at seven sharp.

His dark suit was flawless.

Nico looked deliberately at the clock.

“Do you schedule intimidation before or after breakfast?”

Julian placed a folder on the island.

“You have a visitor.”

“If it’s my father, tell him I’ve been adopted.”

“Sofia Russo.”

Nico’s humor disappeared.

He stood.

“Where is she?”

“In the elevator.”

“You brought her here?”

“She demanded proof that you were alive.”

“And you decided to expose your secure residence?”

“She already knew the address.”

That stopped him.

“How?”

Julian opened the folder. Inside were photographs of Sofia entering the building ten minutes earlier, flanked by Marcus and another guard.

“She said Victor gave it to her.”

Nico’s stomach tightened.

Victor should not have known where Julian lived.

Unless someone inside the Vance organization had told him.

The elevator doors opened.

Sofia stepped out wearing a navy pantsuit beneath a camel coat. Her dark hair was pulled into a low ponytail, and she carried the expression she reserved for courtrooms and family funerals.

She saw Nico.

Then crossed the room and struck him across the face.

The sound echoed through the penthouse.

Julian’s guards moved.

Nico raised one hand.

“I’m fine.”

Sofia grabbed the front of his sweater and pulled him down into a fierce embrace.

“You unbelievable idiot.”

Nico wrapped his arms around her.

“Good morning to you too.”

“I thought you were dead.”

“Several people considered it.”

She released him and examined his face.

Her gaze stopped on the faint marks Julian’s fingers had left beneath his jaw.

She turned.

“Did you do that?”

Julian stood beside the windows.

“He resisted.”

“He always resists.”

“That is becoming apparent.”

Sofia faced Nico again.

“You stole from Julian Vance?”

“I prefer ‘recovered evidence.’”

“You broke into a criminal financial network.”

“Allegedly.”

“I’m a federal prosecutor, Nico.”

“Assistant United States attorney.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Do you think correcting my title improves this conversation?”

“A little.”

Sofia struck his shoulder this time.

Nico smiled, but the relief of seeing her alive made his chest ache.

Julian approached.

“Victor knew this address.”

Sofia looked at him.

“I didn’t get it from Victor.”

“You told security—”

“I lied to security.”

Marcus appeared near the elevator, visibly offended.

Sofia removed her phone and placed it on the island.

“The address came from a sealed federal intelligence report.”

Julian’s expression cooled.

“You accessed a sealed report?”

“I saw it during an investigation eighteen months ago.”

“Into me?”

“Into an international money-transfer network. Your residence was listed as a protected location.”

Nico looked between them.

“Does every person in New York have a file on Julian’s bedroom?”

“No,” Sofia said. “But someone wanted federal investigators to connect him to a series of offshore transfers.”

“Someone inside my organization,” Julian said.

“Or inside ours.”

Sofia opened her bag and removed an envelope.

It bore no return address.

“This arrived at my apartment last night.”

Nico reached for it.

Julian caught his wrist.

The touch lasted less than a second.

He released Nico immediately.

Their agreement.

Sofia noticed.

Nico wished she had not.

Julian put on gloves before opening the envelope. Inside was a single photograph of Nico leaving Columbia’s Jerome L. Greene Hall.

A black circle had been drawn around his face.

On the back, four words had been typed.

RETURN WHAT HE STOLE.

Nico read it twice.

“Very dramatic.”

Sofia did not smile.

“There’s more.”

She unlocked her phone and displayed a message.

DELIVER GHOST TO THE RUSSOS BY MIDNIGHT, OR THE CEASEFIRE ENDS.

Julian read it without touching the device.

“Who received this?”

“Three surviving Russo captains,” Sofia said. “Victor called a meeting this morning. They want Nico returned.”

“Returned,” Nico repeated. “Like defective merchandise.”

Sofia took his hand.

“Come with me. Federal protection—”

“No.”

“You are being targeted by two criminal organizations.”

“Three,” Julian said.

Sofia looked at him.

“The Marconi crew purchased part of the Russo infrastructure before it collapsed. They’ll assume Nico has access to everything.”

Nico pulled his hand away.

“Federal protection won’t hold.”

“It’s better than this.”

She gestured toward Julian’s armed guards.

Julian’s face hardened.

Nico stepped between them before the argument could begin.

“Sofia, if I enter federal protection, what happens to the ledger?”

“You surrender it.”

“To whom?”

“To investigators.”

“Which investigators? The ones who had Julian’s private address in a sealed report? The ones someone tried to manipulate with false transfers?”

Sofia had no immediate answer.

Nico softened his voice.

“I trust you. I don’t trust everyone standing behind you.”

Pain passed across her face.

“Then what are you going to do?”

Julian answered.

“He stays here.”

Nico turned.

“You don’t answer for me.”

“He stays alive here.”

“That still isn’t your decision.”

Sofia stared at them.

“Are you two always like this?”

“We’ve known each other twelve hours,” Nico said.

“It feels longer,” Julian replied.

Marcus entered carrying another tablet.

“The Russo captains are assembling at the Delacroix Hotel tonight.”

Julian read the screen.

“For what purpose?”

“To vote on whether Victor takes permanent control.”

Nico laughed bitterly.

“My father isn’t even cold.”

“Your father is alive,” Sofia said.

“Victor has never considered that relevant.”

Marcus continued.

“There’s a second vote. They plan to offer Nico to the Marconis in exchange for peace.”

Sofia swore.

Julian remained silent.

Nico watched him process the problem.

If Julian kept Nico by force, the Russo captains could describe it as an act of war.

If he surrendered Nico, he lost the ledger and the only person capable of exposing the traitor inside Vance Capital.

If Nico entered federal protection, every criminal faction would race to reach him first.

Julian looked at the photograph on the island.

Then at Nico.

“There is another option.”

Nico disliked the calm in his voice.

“What option?”

“A public alliance.”

“With whom?”

“With me.”

Sofia stared.

Nico folded his arms.

“You already kidnapped me. Are you planning to issue a press release?”

“The Russo captains retain authority over you only because they consider you part of their family organization. The Marconis consider you transferable property because Victor offered you as such.”

“I’m touched by everyone’s respect for personal autonomy.”

“If you become part of the Vance household, any attempt to take you becomes a direct act against me.”

Nico waited.

Julian’s gaze did not move.

Sofia understood first.

“No.”

Nico looked at her, then back at Julian.

A dangerous possibility took shape.

“You want to adopt me?”

Julian’s expression suggested that murder remained available.

“Marriage.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Marcus looked at the ceiling.

Sofia spoke slowly.

“You want my brother to marry the man who abducted him last night.”

“For six months,” Julian said.

Nico laughed.

No one joined him.

He stopped.

“You’re serious.”

“It would be a civil marriage and a public strategic alliance. The Russo captains lose their claim. The Marconis understand that taking you means war with the Vance organization.”

“And you get?”

“Access to the ledger.”

“There it is.”

“You continue your investigation. I provide security and access to the Vance records necessary to identify your mother’s killer.”

Sofia stepped closer to Nico.

“You cannot consider this.”

“Why not?”

“Because he is Julian Vance.”

“He was Julian Vance yesterday. That didn’t stop someone from putting my photograph in an envelope.”

“This is not legal protection,” she said. “Marriage does not shield either of you from prosecution. It does not make criminal evidence privileged retroactively.”

“I know.”

Julian regarded him.

“You understand that better than most.”

“I attend law school when people aren’t invading my house.”

Sofia lowered her voice.

“Nico, this would place you inside his organization.”

“I’m already inside his penthouse.”

“That isn’t the same.”

“No. Marriage comes with better jewelry.”

Julian’s eyes narrowed.

Nico walked to the windows.

Below them, Manhattan moved through another ordinary morning. Cabs stopped. People hurried toward offices. Somewhere, Victor was asking men who had despised Nico since childhood to vote on who could sell him.

Marriage to Julian would not make Nico safe.

But it would change the board.

More importantly, it would put Nico near the Vance family’s financial records, charity galas, executives, and sealed rooms.

Near the person using Jonathan Vance’s dead identity.

Nico turned.

“I want full access to the Vance Foundation gala.”

Julian did not hesitate. “Granted.”

“My Columbia schedule remains protected.”

“Yes.”

“Sofia is untouchable.”

“She already was.”

“I want it written.”

“Fine.”

“I choose my own lawyer.”

“Yes.”

“My own bedroom.”

Julian’s gaze held his.

“Obviously.”

Nico smiled slightly.

“Disappointed?”

“No.”

The answer came too quickly.

Heat passed between them.

Sofia noticed that too.

Nico would have preferred another slap.

He took the cooperation agreement from the dining table and opened it to a blank page.

“Six months. Separate finances. Separate rooms. No control over my academic or legal decisions. No transfer of my encryption property.”

Julian approached.

“And daily work on the ledger.”

“Four hours.”

“Six.”

“Five.”

“Agreed.”

“Public appearances by mutual approval.”

“Necessary appearances are mandatory.”

“Define necessary.”

“The gala. Family council. Any event required to establish the alliance.”

Nico wrote the terms.

Julian stood beside him, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.

Almost.

Nico added one final clause.

Julian read it.

“No physical contact without explicit consent,” he said.

“That includes performances for your family.”

“A public marriage requires credibility.”

“Then learn to be convincing without grabbing.”

Julian’s attention moved to the fading marks beneath Nico’s jaw.

Something unreadable entered his expression.

He took the pen.

Nico placed his hand over the signature line.

“Say it.”

Julian looked at him.

“Say what?”

“That you understand.”

“I understand the clause.”

“Not good enough.”

Sofia and Marcus stood at opposite ends of the room, both pretending not to listen.

Nico kept his hand on the paper.

Julian lowered his voice.

“I will not touch you unless you ask, or unless there is an immediate threat to your life.”

Nico removed his hand.

Julian signed.

Nico took the pen, but before adding his name, he wrote one more sentence beneath the clause.

Either party may terminate the personal relationship at any time. Termination does not void the security guarantees.

Julian read it.

“You plan your exits carefully.”

“I grew up with Russos.”

Nico signed.

Julian took the contract and closed the folder.

Marcus’s phone vibrated.

He looked at the screen.

“The meeting at the Delacroix has been moved forward. They vote in forty minutes.”

Julian buttoned his jacket.

“Prepare the cars.”

Sofia caught Nico’s arm.

“You don’t have to do this.”

Nico looked at the contract in Julian’s hand.

For the first time since returning to the estate, someone had offered him a weapon more powerful than survival.

A position.

Access.

A choice with consequences he had selected himself.

He faced Julian.

“How do you plan to announce it?”

Julian reached into his pocket and removed a black velvet box.

Nico stared at it.

“You already had a ring?”

“It belonged to my grandfather.”

“That is deeply unsettling.”

Julian opened the box.

Inside rested a heavy platinum band.

Nico did not reach for it.

Julian lifted the ring between two fingers.

“May I?”

The question changed the air between them.

Nico held out his left hand.

Julian slid the band onto his finger.

His touch was careful.

Brief.

Entirely different from the hand that had held Nico’s jaw in the Russo estate.

The ring fit perfectly.

Nico looked at it, then at Julian.

“You had my ring size too?”

“I told you. We prepared.”

“You are either extremely efficient or clinically terrifying.”

“Both.”

The elevator doors opened.

Marcus and the security team entered first.

Julian offered Nico his arm.

Nico looked at it.

“Necessary public performance?”

“Yes.”

Nico placed his hand against Julian’s sleeve.

Julian’s muscles tightened beneath the fabric.

Nico leaned closer, letting his mouth hover near Julian’s ear.

“You don’t give orders in my marriage.”

Julian turned his head.

Their faces stopped inches apart.

“Then stop giving me reasons to.”

The elevator began its descent.

Below them, the Russo captains were preparing to decide who owned Nico Russo.

In forty minutes, Nico intended to walk into their meeting wearing Julian Vance’s ring—and destroy the question.