Jackson leans against a wall, a picture in his hands.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words.”

The photo in his hands is of him standing between Joey and their father. They look happy, proud.

“A story captured in eternal stillness.”

“When you look at this picture, what do you see? A family standing tall? A father proud of his sons for their achievements? A still frame radiating with love, with warmth?”

“Because I see a man filled to the brim with optimism. His smile is bright, his heart is full, his future dripping with promise.”

“Yet all you need is one event, one moment, to change the story.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip.

Cade rips the picture, letting CJ’s visage fall to the ground.

“Now what do you see?”

“A family torn apart, their lives and dreams shredded by another man’s hands and left in ruin. You don’t need a thousand words to say their future is dark, it’s gray, and the world is crumbling around them as the picture is permanently, irreparably changed. There’s agony, longing, and an undeniable absence that permeates the picture.”

“Tears yet to spill down my face, an aching in my chest that will never go away.”

“A family fractured.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip.

Jackson tears George’s picture, watching it float as he falls next to CJ’s.

“Damaged beyond repair.”

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it, Jasper? A picture of me all alone, no one to stand by my side, my heart torn into bits at your feet. You have a thousand words to tell my story but only use three.”

“Despair.”

“Agony.”

“Blood.”

“Every last moment you’ve spent since we stepped into Olympus has been spent taking my story, wrapping your hands around my picture-esque life, and mutilating it for your own wicked designs. Paper and ink dripping like blood and flesh at your fingertips as you molded my life into your most depraved piece of art.”

He steps on the photo of George, holding up the single piece still in his hand.

It’s just Cade, alone.

A tear on either side of him.

“What do you see, Jasper?”

“A man all alone, a man who you took everything from, ripping it from his life just as you ripped his heart from his chest? Someone sad, someone broken, someone who could never ever feel whole again?”

“An art piece nearing completion?”

Cade chuckles.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I see.”

“I see the Law.”

“Someone who’s been pushed to his limits. A man of virtue, of preservation who refuses to say die. No matter how much he loses, how much blood is spilled, he just won’t quit.”

“Because he never forgot what the picture used to be.”

“He remembers the warmth of love, the blinding brightness of his future.”

“Something that you could never take away from him no matter how much you rip and tear.”

“I don’t need a thousand words to finish the story, Jasper. I’ll do it in ten.”

“Nobody is above the Law.”

“And I am the Law.”