“I know,” I said, stepping between him and the desk.

“I know what she did.”

“Then step aside.”

“If you kill her, you prove Marcus right,” I said.

My heart was hammering against my ribs, but I forced my voice to remain steady.

“If you use your old methods, you bring us right back into the dirt.”

Giovanni stood up slowly from his leather chair.

He towered over me, his shadow casting across my face in the dim room.

“This is not about the past, Lauren,” he said.

“This is about survival.”

“It is about who we are,” I argued.

I reached out and placed my hand on his chest, feeling the hard, rapid beat of his heart beneath his wool coat.

“We have to protect Luca, but we cannot lose our humanity doing it.”

“She does not deserve humanity,” Giovanni spat.

He looked down at my hand on his chest, his expression softening just a fraction.

“She took a bribe to let an infant suffocate in a waiting room.”

“Then we expose her,” I said.

“We use the evidence on that screen.”