All Chapters of His Halo is a Lie: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The smoke curled in heavy ribbons through the hall as the blast doors fell. My boots crunched over the wreckage, every step steady, every breath controlled. Behind me, my men held the line, but this was not their fight.This was mine.Vincent waited inside, exactly where I knew he would. He stood behind a long oak table littered with maps and liquor bottles, his suit crisp, his hair slicked back as if we were meeting for dinner rather than death. His smile spread the moment our eyes locked.“Finally,” he said, his voice smooth, lazy. “The saint himself. Took you long enough.”My gun was raised, my focus sharp. “You should have stayed in the shadows, Vincent.”He chuckled, tilting his head. “And let you keep pretending you’re untouchable? No. I had to peel back your mask. And what a sight it’s been.”I stepped closer, my boots echoing on the stone floor. “You made one mistake. You touched her.”His grin widened, sharp as glass. “Maya. Sweet, trembling Maya. You can wrap her in guards,

Victory should feel like something.The man who haunted her is gone. His body lies rotting in a hole by the river, his blood washed away, his name silenced forever. I ended him. I did what I promised.And yet, as I sit in the dark with the city spread below me, all I feel is hollow.The wound in my side throbs, stitched by her shaking hands. Every sting of the needle had cut deeper than the blade itself, because it was not pain that broke me. It was the way she looked at me. Like I was slipping through her fingers. Like she was holding on to someone already halfway gone.I should have stayed in bed beside her. Should have let her soft breaths pull me into sleep. Instead, I poured whiskey and let it burn down my throat, hoping it would cauterize the ache that victory left behind.Lucio finds me at dawn. He steps onto the balcony without a word, his sharp eyes sweeping over me, then the untouched glass in my hand. He has always known when to speak and when to stay silent. This morning,

The empire never sleeps.Even with Vincent dead, calls poured in. Men wanting orders. Deals needing signatures. Rival families sniffing at the edges of power, waiting to see if my blood on the street meant weakness.Normally, I would have answered every call. Directed every move. Reminded the city that Saint is untouchable. But today I let them wait.Today I sat in my office, staring at the skyline, whiskey untouched on the desk, my side aching under the bandage. My phone buzzed again, vibrating against the wood. I silenced it without answering.Lucio stood by the door, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. He had been watching me for nearly an hour, waiting. Finally, he spoke.“You’ve ignored more calls today than in the last five years combined. That is not like you.”I didn’t look at him. “Maybe that’s the point.”He pushed off the door and walked closer. “If you disappear, the city will burn. Your enemies will circle. Your allies will fracture. That is the reality of the throne

The city never gives anything for free. Every street corner, every deal, every man with a hand extended, there is always a price. I learned that as a boy, and I never forgot it.Now I was about to pay the biggest price of all.Lucio sat across from me in the office, a map of our territories spread across the desk. His eyes traced the lines, the ports, the warehouses, the clubs. Places I had fought for, bled for, killed for. Places that whispered my name in fear and loyalty.“Once we pull out of the docks,” Lucio said, tapping his finger on the map, “Torrez will move in. He’s been waiting years for that opening.”“Let him,” I answered.Lucio’s gaze flicked to me, sharp and searching. “And when he does, he’ll think you’re weak. He’ll think he can take more.”I leaned back in the chair, my side aching with every movement. “Then he’ll learn the truth when I decide to remind him. But he won’t get more. I’ll burn what I can’t keep.”Lucio’s jaw tightened. “You mean to starve them.”“Yes.”T

There was only one place left.The heart of it all, the club where I made my first deal, the office where I spilled my first blood, the fortress where men first bent the knee and called me king. It was more than a building. It was a monument to everything I had built and everything I had destroyed to get here.And tonight, I would set it alight.Lucio stood with me in the shadows across the street, the neon sign glowing faint in the distance. The city’s pulse throbbed around us, music, laughter, the drunken stumble of men who didn’t know the ground beneath them was about to vanish.“You’re sure about this?” Lucio asked, his voice low.“Yes.”He studied me, his expression carved in stone. “Once this burns, there’s no turning back. You’ll be nothing but a man. No empire. No throne. Just a name people whisper about over cheap drinks.”I lit a cigarette, the flame sharp in the dark. “Good. That’s all I want to be.”Lucio didn’t argue. He only nodded, pulling his coat tighter against the w