CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: YOU'VE GONE ROGUE.

ACE

The tension between the Giordanos and the Masons could slice through steel.

After the FBI seized one of their warehouses, they’d been on a warpath, accusing everyone except themselves for the fallout. They’d been sloppy—greedy even. That was their mistake. But when pride and power are on the line, logic doesn’t stand a chance.

Still, they were barking at the wrong gate.

And then Enzo Giordano showed up. Not in some dimly lit alley or backroom club where secrets and blood deals were usually exchanged.

No.

He showed up at Mason Enterprise. My office.

I was reviewing reports when the elevator chimed, and the air changed. The kind of change that made even the air itself uncomfortable. My door opened without a knock, and there he was.

Enzo Giordano. Tall, tailored, and reeking of entitlement and misplaced rage.

“Quite the risky move,” I muttered, leaning back in my seat and folding my arms across my chest. “The underworld is supposed to stay under, Enzo. You forgot your rules?”

He didn’t sit. Just stood in front of my desk like he owned the building.

“Your people ratted,” he growled. “No one else could’ve known the exact time and coordinates of our shipment."

I raised a brow, letting the insult hang in the air for a beat too long.

“You’re losing your touch,” I said calmly. “Paranoia doesn’t look good on you. Maybe this pressure’s cracking that polished image of yours.”

“I’m not here to banter.”

“Then don’t come to my office waving threats like a toddler with a stick. Mafia and law are two sides of a coin, Enzo. We don’t mix. That’s the rule. One you’re clearly forgetting by storming in here like some cop with a warrant.”

He flared. “If I find out you had anything to do with this—”

“You won’t,” I cut in. “Because I didn’t. And if you think dragging your vendetta into my territory is going to fix your mess, think again. You lost your shipment because you got sloppy.”

His jaw tensed, but his eyes… they flickered. Rage? Or realization?

“I will find your weakness, Mason,” he said through clenched teeth. “And I’ll make sure the whole damn world knows.

I leaned forward slightly, voice like ice. “And I’ll remind you of the shipment you owe us. We’re expecting twice what was promised. You have three months to deliver… or start preparing your family crypt. Because if blood is what you want, I’ll pour it for you.”

He stared for a moment, eyes filled with boiling venom, and then turned on his heel and stormed out.

No guards. No backup. Just a man who was either too bold or too desperate.

I watched the door close behind him.

HOPE

The shift was subtle at first. A tension in the air. Conversations whispered behind half-shut doors. Meetings that weren’t on any calendar. Security presence doubling in and around Mason Enterprise.

I didn’t need to ask what happened.

Something big went down—something loud.

And while Ace walked the halls with the same controlled calm as always, I’d been around long enough to recognize when a storm was being swallowed instead of unleashed.

I watched it all unfold with the cold detachment of someone who had pulled the first domino.

The Giordanos were unraveling, and I was unapologetic about it.

A small, victorious smile crept onto my lips. They had no idea who tipped the scales.

Now the heat between the Masons and the Giordanos was rising like wildfire. Everyone thought the Masons had ratted them out, and the Giordanos weren’t exactly known for letting things slide. Tensions had thickened, the alliance between families shaken. Distrust hung heavy like smog.

But they were all wrong. It wasn’t the Masons. It was me.

I was the ghost in the system—the shadow in the room no one paid attention to,

I wasn’t just getting closer. I was getting through.

The Masons were falling into place.

Soon enough, they’d pay for what they did to my family. For the blood they spilled. For the lies they fed me through the years. For robbing me of the life I was supposed to have.

This wasn’t just revenge anymore. It was justice.

The Giordanos weren’t my target. But if toppling them bought me a little more trust in the Bureau—and a little more time around Ace—so be it.

Still, my handler wasn’t impressed.

The encrypted message came first: “Meeting. In person. Non-negotiable.”

I stared at it for minutes, cursing under my breath. A physical meeting was reckless. But I knew what this was about. He wasn’t requesting. He was calling me out.

The rendezvous spot was a quiet bistro tucked behind one of the city’s oldest libraries. I wore a nondescript hoodie and jeans, my hair tucked under a cap, and sat in the farthest corner with my back to the wall. He arrived seconds later, all suit and scowl, sliding into the booth like a shadow.

“You’ve gone rogue,” he said without pleasantries.

“No,” I replied calmly. “I’ve been feeding you gold and you know it.”

He didn’t flinch. “Gold on the wrong damn family, Hope. You were planted to take down the Masons. Not clean house for every rival syndicate they’ve got.”

I leaned in slightly. “And every hit I give you weakens their ecosystem. What’s the difference if I take them down all at once or piece by piece?”

He narrowed his eyes. “The difference is that you might be getting too comfortable. You’ve been in there for months. Where’s the core data? The evidence on Ace? The offshore books? I’ve seen nothing concrete. Just rumors and fluff.”

I looked away, jaw tight. I didn’t have a good enough excuse.

Because deep down, I knew he was right. I was getting comfortable.

Every time I got close to real evidence against the Masons, something in me froze. A hesitation. A fear. A... loyalty I hadn’t meant to grow.

The Bureau didn’t know what Ace had survived. What he carried. What he shielded. And they didn’t know what I felt when I was around him. God help me, I barely understood it myself.

“I’ll do better,” I said finally.

“Will you?” he asked, voice lowering. “Because anything that brings the Masons down will drag you down too. And I think you’re starting to realize that.”

I didn’t answer.

Because maybe I wasn’t ready to go down yet. Maybe I was starting to see that surviving in this world meant choosing which parts of yourself to betray.

And maybe, just maybe…

I wasn’t ready to betray him.