Hector said nothing, not because he had nothing to say, no, he had his own thoughts, his own view on all of this, and to be true, he was seeing the exact sa thing that Bella had just said to him.
Every point, every stance she made sense, it fit the entire picture about Jas, but it is human to think about the good things, to not see the bad in it, to not think what if, to not even let your thoughts go to the real danger of all that Jas can fall into, his own despair, and more importantly, Hector had this deep connection to Jas that did not even let him think about it too much, to not even play with the thought that he can fall, because he was always there with him.
From the beginning, he planned with him, he executed whatever he wanted to do, they reached the top together, and just thinking about it, that it all can fall, that his best friend, his partner, his boss, the man who trusted him the most, whose loyalty is his existence, is sothing way more painful than anything else.
Because without Jas, without the Bellini na, they could never reach this point, Hector himself would not be able to pay for the surgery for his sister, would not have been able to save her, and it is not just about him but many others in the family, the people who got their hope, their future because of Jas, and just thinking about it, that all of it can fall, is the worst.
That is why Hector stayed silent, because the mont he agrees with Bella, he would have to accept the idea that Jas can break under all this weight no matter how high he stands and Hector did not want to see that version of reality, did not want to imagine a world where Jas is not the one in control, not the one who always stands at the top while everyone else looks up at him.
But Bella was not wrong, and that was the part that made this harder to ignore, because every word she said had logic in it, and Hector could not deny that the pressure around Jas was growing.
Governnt deals, money flowing from every direction, control over prices, control over people, control over the entire country, all of it was stacking on Jas's shoulders like layers of invisible weight that no one else could fully see. Hector knew that even the strongest man can suffocate if the pressure keeps building, but still, admitting that out loud would feel like betrayal, because if Jas falls, then everything they built together starts to shake, and Hector cannot accept the thought that the empire created with blood, loyalty, and sacrifice could collapse just because the man at the center finally reaches his limit.
"Jas already broke apart and built himself back up, and I think that alone proves that he would not break again." Hector began. "He is strong. You saw it with your own eyes when Rafael died, that thing that stood there was barely human."
"That is what I am talking about, Hector." Bella's voice ca as she let out a frustrated laugh, angry that Hector was acting blind on purpose. "But that is over. They died, and he took the lives of many people, we took the lives of many, but it is not about that." She stared at him without looking away. "What remains inside you when you lose everything you loved, Hector? Nothing. There is no revenge left because it has already been done. What remains is literally nothing, and now we are still in that phase."
Hector did not answer this ti, because Bella was right, more than right.
Marcello, Rafael, Hans, they all died, and Jas paid back for every one of their deaths without rcy, without hesitation, but now he lost the last thread that tied him to his mother, who stayed away from him, and now nothing truly remained to hold him in place.
Just the emptiness and a child.
How fragile is that balance?
To be held together by two things, on one side the sheer emptiness, the silence that cos after all the revenge is done, after all the blood is paid back, and on the other side a single child with her innocence, with her pure and honest love, love that does not know about power, about death, about control.
And maybe, just maybe, that was Lucian's plan from the very beginning.
No, it was not just maybe, Lucian talked about it with Jas when he tried to kill himself because he understood from that point on that the only man who could succeed him, the only man who could rise higher than he ever did, would end in the sa way as him.
In the sa darkness, emptiness and the sa end, but there was sothing that Lucian still had, and in the end, sothing he gave to Jas.
A child who was born into their world, a child who did not choose it and did not ask for it, yet stands in the middle of it without even understanding the darkness that surrounds her every day. A child who can guide without trying to guide, who can change a man without giving a single order, without building a single plan, without ever touching a weapon or speaking about power.
She doesn't know about the control, she doesn't understand what her presence truly ans, and maybe that is exactly why it matters so much. Just by being wiht Jas, just by looking at him, just by holding his hand and loving him without fear, without doubt, without conditions.
Maybe that is the only thing strong enough to pull Jas back and exactly that was playing out as he was there with her, painting on the walls in peace, not thinking about anything else, not about the pain, not about the trauma, not about what is yet to co.
For that mont there were no enemies, no pressure, no ghosts from the past.
They painted in their comfortable silence, a silence that did not feel heavy, a silence that did not demand answers or strength or control and in that silence, Jas did not look like a boss, not like a leader, not like a man feared by hundreds.
He just looked like a man sitting beside a child, letting the world slow down for once.
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