6. Cross
CROSS
By the time Lola and I reach the front of the compound, Kingdom Come is already in position.
The rushing around is over. Bikes have been moved away from the gates, weapons are out and men are spread across the yard instead of bunched together waiting to become easy targets. Kane stands at the front with Judge beside him, both of them watching the road.
Kane looks at Lola. "You sure?"
"Very."
He nods and leaves it there. I could probably learn something from that, but I still move closer to her.
The first engines carry through the trees less than a minute later, and Lola stiffens beside me. I glance at her. "Last chance."
"I'm doing this."
"Figured you'd say that."
The gates stay closed as Perdition rides into view. I know most of the bikes before the men even stop. Ten years of hearing those engines come through the same compound gates means I could probably identify half the club blind.
Cyrus rides at the front. Raze is near him, his damaged ribs apparently not enough to keep him home. Chains sits farther back beneath Perdition colors that still look wrong on him.
There are fewer men than Cyrus would've brought six months ago, but there are still enough to turn the road bloody.
The engines cut one by one until the sudden silence feels louder than the bikes did.
Cyrus gets off first and his eyes find me almost immediately. They flick across Lola standing beside me, but only for a second before coming straight back.
There it is. He knew she was here. He knew she'd walked away from Perdition in the middle of the night. And yet, I'm still the reason he came.
Kane steps closer to the gate. "You wanted Cross. He's here."
Cyrus barely looks at him. "Open it."
"No."
"I wasn't asking you."
"That's unfortunate, considering they're my gates."
Cyrus's attention fixes on me again. "Walk out, Cross."
"Not going to happen, Cyrus."
"You've had your tantrum. You've made your fucking point. Now you come back and answer for it."
"My answer's on the workbench where I left my patches."
His face darkens. "Ten years and you think you get to decide it's over?"
"Already did, Cyrus."
"You belong to Perdition."
That's the thing he can't stand. Not that I left because somebody tempted me away. Not because another club bought me or Kane promised me colors.
I made a decision Cyrus didn't permit. His gaze drops to my stripped cut. "You think standing behind Kane's gates makes you Kingdom Come?"
"Never said it did."
Kane answers for me. "Doesn't matter what he is tomorrow. Tonight he's under Kingdom Come's protection."
"You'd take a war over a fucking traitor?"
"I'd take one before I hand a man over to be murdered because you can't cope with being told no like a petulant child."
Several Perdition men shift at that.
Lola steps closer to the gate. "Dad."
He finally looks directly at her.
"What?" Just one word. Not *Are you all right?* Not *Why did you leave?* Just irritation that she's interrupted him, and something changes in Lola's face, but she doesn't back down.
"You knew I was here."
"This isn't about you."
I feel the hit of that from where I'm standing. Lola does too.
Her chin lifts. "I know. That's kind of the point."
Cyrus's eyes narrow.
"You knew I left Perdition. You knew I drove into Kingdom Come by myself and you never asked whether I was even safe. You called Kane and threatened a war because Cross walked away from you, but you didn't ask him one thing about me."
"You're standing there, aren't you?"
The casual cruelty of it makes my hands curl.
Lola is quieter when she answers. "Yeah. I am."
She looks past him at Perdition, then back at her father. "And I'm telling you to take your men home."
Cyrus actually laughs. "You think you're giving me orders now?"
"No. I'm giving you one last chance not to destroy your own club."
The amusement disappears as Lola keeps going. "Kane knows enough about Perdition to make sure you don't win this."
His face goes still. "What did you tell him?"
"Everything I know."
This time the reaction behind Cyrus is impossible to miss. Men look at each other. Raze doesn't move, but his attention sharpens.
Cyrus stares at his daughter as if he's never seen her before. "You don't know anything."
Lola almost smiles, but there's no humor in it. "That's what you always thought, right?"
"I know exactly what you know. You listened to men talk shit at a bar and now you think that makes you clever?"
"No. I think listening while everybody assumed I wasn't important made me useful."
His face twists. "You've been behind those gates one fucking night. One night spreading your legs for him, and now you're dumb enough to believe whatever shit he's put in your head."
The rage hits so hard my vision narrows, and I reach the gate before I know I've moved. "Lola didn't get any of this from me."
Cyrus looks at me with contempt. "Of course you'd say that."
"No. That's your fucking problem." My fingers tighten around the steel. "You never knew how smart she was."
Cyrus laughs once. "Smart? She betrayed her own father because you fucked her."
"She saw you clearly for the first time and you can't fucking stand it."
"Cross."
Lola's hand closes around my forearm. Not stopping me, but grounding me. I look at her and she gives me the smallest shake of her head.
She wants this part, and so I let her have it.
Lola steps up beside me rather than behind me. "Cross didn't tell me what to think. He didn't ask me to warn him, didn't ask me to leave and didn't ask me to tell Kane anything. Those were my decisions no matter how much you hate that."
Cyrus points at her. "You've made enough decisions for one night."
Her expression hardens. "Well, you don't decide that anymore."
"You think you're staying here?"
"I know I'm not going home with you."
"I'm not asking."
I move before Lola can answer, not in front of her but beside her.
Cyrus's gaze shifts to me.
"You'll get in your car and come back where you belong," he tells her. "And you'll answer for every fucking thing you've done."
"No."
"If I have to drag you back myself, I will," he tells Lola.
Every instinct in me turns lethal, and my voice comes out much calmer than I feel. "You come through that gate for her, you're dealing with me."
Cyrus smiles. "She's my daughter and this has nothing to do with you."
"It does the second you threaten her."
Lola's fingers slide into mine. She doesn't need me to speak for her, and she doesn't need me to decide where she stands. But Cyrus isn't going to frighten her, humiliate her or put a hand on her without finding me in the way.
He can see that, and for once I want him to.
Cyrus looks between us, and whatever he finds there only makes him angrier.
Lola squeezes my hand. "Take Perdition home. This can still stop here."
Kane steps forward. "She's right."
Cyrus turns on him. "Stay the fuck out of my family business."
"You brought your family business to my gates."
"I brought Perdition here for Cross."
"Then you are going to have to leave without him."
Cyrus's jaw works.
Kane looks beyond him now, making sure every Perdition man hears the next part. "Nobody inside these gates fires first. Anyone who comes through them armed gets treated like an enemy. Anyone who doesn't can get on his bike and go home."
Cyrus slowly turns. For the first time, he really looks at his men. Then he points toward Kingdom Come.
"Move."
But nothing happens. No engines start, no weapons lift and nobody advances on the gates.
Cyrus stares at them. "I said move!"
The same silence answers him.
I feel Lola's grip tighten around my hand.
This is the gamble Kane made. He bet on Cyrus eventually asking for more than fear could buy him.
Raze finally straightens beside his bike. "Enough, Cyrus!"
Cyrus turns toward him. "What?"
"You heard me."
"I'm your president."
Raze's expression doesn't change. "And this was supposed to be a club, not twenty men dying because one brother decided he was done taking your shit."
Cyrus looks around at the others. "You letting him speak for you?"
Nobody answers, because nobody needs to.
Raze glances along the line of Perdition men. "They're not moving, Cyrus. They want no part of your bullshit."
"You fucking cowards."
"Maybe." Raze shrugs carefully around his ribs. "Still not dying for this."
Cyrus's face changes. I've seen him furious before, but this is different. My leaving the club and ending up behind Kingdom Come's gates was humiliation. Now an entire road full of patched men has watched him give an order and nobody obeyed.
Raze looks him straight in the eye. "You don't have the club anymore."
Cyrus reaches for his gun. Fast enough that half the road reacts, but Raze is faster.
The shot cracks through the night.
Cyrus jerks once and hits the ground, and for half a second everything stops.
Then weapons come up everywhere. I grab Lola and pull her against me as Kane roars, "Hold fire!"
Kingdom Come obeys.
So does Perdition.
Nobody shoots.
Raze stands with his gun still pointed at the place Cyrus fell, breathing hard but not firing again.
Chains starts shouting somewhere behind him. Two Perdition men catch him before he gets near Cyrus or the gate, and I stop paying attention because Lola has gone completely still in my arms.
"Dad."
I turn her away from the road. She fights me for one second, trying to look back, then the strength goes out of her and she folds against my chest.
"He was still my father." Her voice breaks on the last word.
I wrap both arms around her. "I know."
That's all there is to say. I wanted Cyrus stopped. Ten minutes ago, if he'd come through those gates and tried to put his hands on Lola, I would've stopped him myself.
None of that means I wanted this for her. So I don't tell her he deserved it. I don't tell her she's free now. I don't even tell her Perdition did this to itself.
Right now, I hold the woman who stood in front of her father and finally told him no. Behind us, Kane and Raze deal with what comes next. Men lower weapons. Voices carry across the road. Somewhere Chains is still shouting.