Page 26 of Kane's Kingdom

"Because he put her there."

A chair scrapes across the floor. Kane speaks, but his voice is too low for me to catch the words.

Griz doesn't stop. "King would never have--"

The room erupts briefly, several voices colliding before Kane cuts through all of them.

"My father left a brother to die." Silence follows. "Don't use his name to teach me loyalty."

His defense should comfort me, and part of it does. Kane is fighting for me against men who rode beside my father for decades, which is exactly why it hurts. Men who called Red their brother still need reminding that his daughter matters, protecting me with one hand and resenting me with the other. I was right about this life. It eats its own.

Kane returns twenty minutes later and finds me dressed with my bag packed beside me.

"I'm leaving, Kane."

"No. No you aren't."

"You don't get to presidential-no me twice in one day."

"Watch me."

He remains in the doorway without crowding me, but his body fills the space.

"What did you hear?"

"Enough."

"Griz," he suddenly confirms to himself with a knowing nod.

"He said it, but nobody sounded surprised."

"I handled it."

"That's not the point. My father gave thirty years to this club, and men who called him brother still think protecting me is a debt they shouldn't have to pay."

"They don't decide," he says.

"They are the club."

His expression hardens. "No, I'm the club."

"No, Kane. You lead it, but you can't erase what it is."

Something in his expression closes. I hate the pain that moves through me because I know I'm hurting him, and he's the one thing inside these walls I wasn't wrong about. That only makes leaving harder.

"I know what my father was," I say. "I know he drank, and I know he failed me too. I've never pretended otherwise. But I can't live inside a brotherhood that only remembers loyalty when it's convenient."

"Bella, please.You can't leave because of them."

"I am and I will."

"Then you're letting Griz make this choice for you."

"I'm making it for myself.” I move closer, forcing myself to look at him when I say the part that matters most.

"I can't have you without this." My fingers run over his cut. The words nearly break on the way out.

His face remains controlled, but I see the blow land.