"This is a fucking joke." I turn to The Councilors, chest heaving. "You know what he's done. The poisoning, the attempted abortion, kidnapping my wife, Colette Van der Smit—"

"For every offense you have laid against him, he has provided an alternate version of events," Hildebrand tells me. "It is our duty to investigate these alleged crimes.”

"Fuck your investigation!" I shrug one guard off me successfully, but the other still clings to me.

Marco steps up to his side, narrowing his eyes. "If you aren't ready to face your death, I suggest you let him go. Now."

He does as Marco suggests after a moment of hesitation, and I thank him by turning and slamming my fist into the side of the guard’s skull, dropping the man onto the floor in a fit of pain.

"You will behave yourself," Hildebrand warns. "Or we will be forced to restrain you."

"I'm a goddamned De La Rosa," I remind him. "My father was your mentor. And you have the nerve to sit up there and question me like a common criminal?"

"We are simply doing our job," he replies coolly. "You are aware how this process works. Every member of IVI who brings forth a claim has a right to be heard. Even the accused."

"He doesn't deserve to bear the mark of this Society." I glare at Abel. "And if you seek to make a mockery of the serious offenses he has committed by challenging me—"

"Enough!" A voice echoes from behind me as the door slams shut.

I turn as Marco does, and the guards launch themselves toward the intruder as Hildebrand bellows in irritation. "Who interrupts our proceedings now?"

"It's Eli," the silhouette answers just before he comes into view. "Eli Moreno."

There's an audible sound of shock from Abel, but my gaze is pinned on Eli as a sickening realization occurs to me. He's part of this. He came here to set me up. Just like before.

"Eli Moreno?" Hildebrand repeats, his voice alarmed. "Back from the dead?"

"I can assure you I am as healthy as can be for my age, considering the events of the last year." His gaze moves to his son, and something pinches his features. A look of discomfort, perhaps. I can't quite place it.

"Dad..." Abel chokes out. "I thought... you were dead."

"No thanks to you, I am very much alive," he answers.

I watch the exchange between the two men, trying to decipher every micro expression. Every hitch in their tones and shift in their posture.

"Well, congratulations on not being dead," Hildebrand tells him dryly. "But I'm still unsure what your purpose is here."

"I came here to put a stop to this." He looks at The Councilors and then back to Abel. "Once and for all. It's enough, son. There has been too much damage. Too much destruction. I can't allow it to go on any longer."