Juliet stared blankly at the manila folder splayed across her kitchen table. The contents inside had detonated her sense of certainty like a bomb. Photos, bank records, redacted reports—all pointing to one unshakable truth: the Milan Police Force had long been infiltrated by the very mafia it claimed to fight. Giorgio Giovanni's reach didn't stop at street deals and midnight assassinations. It extended into law enforcement—into her own department.
Her hands trembled as she reached for the top document, the one she had read five times already. A list of surveillance assets within the force. Code names. Dates. One caught her eye—"Operative: 'Falcon.' Assignment: M.P.D. Counter-Intelligence Unit. Status: Active."
Falcon was Antonio.
She clenched her jaw, forcing back the nausea. Her partner. Her closest friend. The one person she had trusted after her parents died. And all this time, he had been feeding information to Giorgio.
The knock on her door came like a jolt of electricity. She instinctively reached for the Glock tucked beneath her blazer, her instincts sharpened by the chaos unraveling in her mind.
"It's me," came a familiar voice. Adonis.
She hesitated, then opened the door just enough to meet his eyes. He looked exhausted, his knuckles bruised, a cut healing above his brow. He was dressed in black again—he always was when something was about to explode.
"What happened?" he asked, stepping inside uninvited. "You've been off the radar since the raid."
Juliet tossed the folder onto the table and crossed her arms. "The radar is broken. Everything is broken."
Adonis scanned the pages in silence. She saw the moment it clicked. His posture shifted from defensive to still. Cold.
"So it's not just Giorgio who's been lying to us," he said, lifting one page. "Antonio. Your partner."
Her throat tightened, but she nodded.
"I trusted him," she said. "After my parents died, he was the only one who didn't treat me like glass. I thought he was loyal. I thought we shared a mission."
Adonis didn't offer comfort. He didn't speak platitudes. But he stepped closer, and she felt the heat of his presence.
"Now you know what betrayal feels like," he said quietly. "It burns slower than bullets, but it kills the same."
She turned away, the fury in her bones threatening to erupt. "We need a new plan. Everything we've done until now—Giorgio has been ten steps ahead."
"We don't need a new plan," Adonis said, his voice steady. "We need a new war."
Juliet looked back at him. "You sound like the old you."
"Maybe I am," he said. "But that version of me was right. The only way to break the system is to burn it down."
She picked up the folder again, staring at the list of corrupt officials, thinking about the countless criminals who had walked free because someone in uniform had opened the door for them. The rot ran deep. Deeper than she had imagined.
Her phone buzzed. A message. Untraceable number.
"You're getting too close, Juliet. Back off or watch your world burn."
She showed it to Adonis.
He stared at it, then calmly pulled his phone and typed something. "I can track the ping, but it'll take a few hours."
"Do it."
"After you tell me one thing," he said. "What are you willing to give up to finish this?"
Juliet blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you bring the system down—Antonio, the force, your badge—you might not have anything left. No uniform. No shield. Just a gun and the truth."
She thought of her parents. Of the nights spent learning case law while her friends went out partying. Of how Antonio had looked her in the eyes after every raid and promised they were making progress.
"I never wanted to wear the badge for the sake of power," she said. "I wore it for justice. If the badge stands in the way of that, I'll burn it too."
Adonis gave a faint nod, like he respected the answer but already knew it.
"We move tonight," he said. "I want to see how Falcon reacts when we feed him false intel."
Juliet's gaze hardened. "And when he takes the bait, I want to be the one waiting in the shadows."
They stood there for a moment, two stormfronts ready to collide with the empire that had broken them both.
Then Juliet turned, her voice a whisper but sharper than any blade.
"No more compromises. From now on, it's justice. Or war."