Page 24 of Ruined By King

Near the door, I notice two others moving with us. A tall, broad guy with grease-stained hands and a hard jaw — Diesel, I think, the Road Captain. And another one, leaner, with a military stillness about him and eyes that miss nothing. Ghost. The Enforcer. He looks like the kind of man who could kill you six different ways and never raise his pulse.

They don't say anything. They don't need to.

They're protecting me. These men who should be my enemies, who should want nothing to do with Rocky's daughter — they're closing ranks around me like I'm one of their own.

My chest aches. Gratitude, maybe. Or the first fragile roots of belonging.

The front door opens onto the morning sun, and there he is.

My father.

My father stands at the gate, alone. No brothers at his back, just him and his bike. Just him, in his Road Kings cut, looking smaller somehow without his club behind him. His eyes find me immediately — standing beside King, my hand in his, the truth of where I spent the night written all over both of us.

Something in his face crumbles.

"Demi." His voice is raw. "What have you done?"

King steps forward, putting himself between us. Not blocking my view, but making his position clear.

"She made a choice," King says. His voice is calm, almost conversational. "The choice to warn me that your club was planning to ambush mine. The choice to save lives instead of letting you start a war."

My father's expression hardens. "She betrayed her own blood."

"She did what was right." King doesn't raise his voice, doesn't posture. He doesn't need to. The authority radiates off him like heat. "And now she's under my protection. Under my club's protection. That's not going to change."

"You think you can just take my daughter⁠—"

"I didn't take her. She came to me." King's head tilts slightly. "There's a difference."

My dad's hands curl into fists. I can see him calculating — the odds, the risks, the consequences of making a move right here and now. Behind me, I feel Ghost shift his weight, ready for anything.

"Dad." The word comes out before I can stop it. His gaze snaps to me, and I force myself to hold it. "I didn't do this to hurt you."

"Then why?" His voice cracks on the word. "Why would you betray everything — your family, your club, your own father — for him?"

"Because I love him."

The words hang in the air between us. I've never said them out loud to anyone but King, and hearing them now, in the harsh light of day, makes them feel more real. More permanent.

My father flinches like I've slapped him.

"And because what you were planning was wrong," I continue, my voice steadier now. "Ambushing men who didn't know you were coming. Twelve against six. That's not a fair fight — that's murder. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn'tlet that happen."

"This is club business. You don't understand⁠—"

"I understand enough." I step forward, moving to stand beside King instead of behind him. "I understand that you were going to kill him. Kill the man I love. And I was supposed to just... what? Stay quiet? Let it happen?"

My father's jaw works. I can see the war playing out behind his eyes — the father fighting with the patch, blood loyalty against club duty. I know how this goes. I've watched it my whole life.

"You can't come back from this," he finally says. His voice is quiet now. Defeated. "Chains knows someone talked. When he finds out it was you..."

"He won't touch her." King's voice cuts through like a blade. "That's not a threat. It's a fact. Anyone — anyone — who comes for her answers to me. And I don't care what patch they're wearing."

The air seems to crackle between them. Two dangerous men facing off over a woman who chose to stand in the middle.

But I'm not in the middle anymore. I'm on King's side. Where I belong.

"Go home, Rocky," King says. "Tell Chains whatever you need to tell him. But understand this — your daughter is mine now. She's Sons of Ruin. She's under our protection, and she's got my ring on her finger as soon as she'll let me put one there."