Page 155 of Rookie Rules

Luca looked at the tape target on the floor. "Sometimes. Until protection meant I could not ask for anything."

Theo's jaw tightened. "Were you able to say no?"

"Not at first."

"Because he would not let you?"

"No." Luca searched for the distinction. "Because every rule sounded reasonable by itself. I kept agreeing to one more until there was nothing left I was allowed to want."

Theo leaned back. The attorney in him might have asked about authority, retaliation, or written records. The brother chose a different question.

"When you finally said no, did he respect it?"

"He let me leave."

"That is the minimum."

"I know."

"Do you?" Theo's voice remained quiet. "You have always been generous with people who teach you something. You start treating the lesson as proof they must have been right about everything else."

Luca looked at the practice ball in his hand. At sixteen he had stayed an extra year with a skating coach who made him faster and miserable. Theo had driven four hours to watch one session, then asked why improvement required humiliation. Luca had hated him for the question until he had found a better coach.

"He was right about a lot," Luca said.

"That is not the same as having the right to decide your life."

The clean certainty of it loosened something under Luca's ribs.

Theo's jaw tightened. "Do I need a name?"

"No."

"Do I need to come to Northstar Bay?"

"Also no."

"Those are separate questions."

"Theo."

"Fine. I will remain where I am and imagine crimes in a disciplined manner."

Luca closed his eyes.

"I ended it," he said. "I am not going back because being alone is quieter."

"Good."

The approval stung. Theo saw that too.

"Good that you honored the boundary," he corrected. "Not good that it hurt."

"He taught me things."

"Then keep what you learned. People do not retain ownership over the useful parts of you."

Luca turned that sentence over.