Page 7 of Cross’s Reckoning

“Because Chains is now wearing Perdition colors after selling out the men he rode with for years, and Cyrus treated him like he’d brought home a prize. That made things simple.”

Judge says, “Simple enough to defect to the club you were fighting yesterday?”

“I haven’t defected to Kingdom Come. I left Perdition.”

“There a difference?”

“Right now, there is. I expect nothing.”

Kane looks at me for another long moment. “And what happens when Cyrus decides you belong to him?”

“He already has.”

Kane’s eyes harden. “He coming?”

“Eventually. He’ll send men first if he thinks they can drag me back without making this bigger.”

“And you brought that to my gate.”

“I brought you warning before he brought you bullets.”

The silence stretches before Kane turns his head slightly. “Open it.”

Judge looks at him. “Kane.”

“I said open it.”

The gate starts moving. Nobody lowers their guard. I walk the bike through instead of starting it, stop where Kane points and leave the key in the ignition when one of his men tells me to.

Kane looks at the stripped cut from closer range. “Every patch?”

“Except my name.”

“You leave the rest with Cyrus?”

“On a bench in his garage.” His mouth shifts, not quite approval but close enough to notice.

“You carrying?”

“Of course.”

Judge holds out a hand. “Then for now, you’re not.”

I take the gun from my waistband slowly, clear it and pass it grip first. My knife follows. Nobody pats me down or tries to humiliate me. They’re giving me enough dignity to see whether I deserve it, which tells me plenty about Kane. We’re halfway toward the clubhouse when the brother at the gate calls out.

“Car coming.”

Everybody turns. I know the car before it gets close enough to see the driver, and for the first time since I rode out of Perdition, my control slips.

“What the fuck is she doing?”

Kane looks at me.

“I didn’t ask her to come.”

The car brakes hard outside the gate. Lola is behind the wheel, hair loose around her face, both hands locked on it as she stares through the steel at a line of armed Kingdom Come men.

For one second I think she might reverse, but the stubborn woman gets out and walks toward the gate with her chin up, like she was invited instead of arriving at the compound her father has spent months threatening.