Chapter 27
The big kitchen doors swung open, and the noise of the whole club hit me all at once. Long tables had been pushed together end to end, the brothers piling into their seats, clattering cutlery and shouting over the music like a pack of hungry warriors.
I walked out carrying the tray of lasagna, but I wasn’t thinking about the food, or the noise, or any of them. My chest felt tight, heavy with everything I’d just heard. I set the tray down slow, and my eyes went straight to Rose, sat over by the stone fireplace.
Up until now, I’d only ever seen one version of her: that bright, wild, loud little firecracker who teased Rage like it was her favourite game, walked round like she owned the place, like nothing could touch her. But standing there in that light, I saw her properly for the first time.
The sun slanted low through the high barred windows, bright and clear, catching every detail. She was wearing a loose top slipped off one shoulder, hair pulled up messy, skin exposed. And there they were. The scars.
Now I knew what I was looking for, I couldn’t miss them.
Faint pale jagged lines running over her shoulder – quiet marks of something no one should ever have to live through.
She looked so small, so fragile; it seemed impossible she’d fought a monster with a scalpel, that her heart had stopped and started again.
She shifted, reaching for her drink, her sleeve pulling down just a little further. But I’d seen. Thin silver lines wrapped round her wrists, some new and faint, others old and rough, faded into her skin like shadows. She’d been tied up. Hurt. Broken into a thousand pieces. And here she sat.
Then Pres walked over. This big terrifying man who ran this whole place with an iron fist… he moved like he was approaching something precious. Sank down beside her, wrapped his tattooed arm right round her, pulled her soft against his side, resting his hand gentle over her bump.
Ivy had told me how this all went back to when they were kids.
Everyone thought Pres was just the bad boy and she was the girl he picked on.
But Rose never flinched. Never hid. She just leaned into him, calm and sure, like she knew she was safer there than anywhere else on earth.
And then I saw it glinting against his chest – her necklace.
That little sunflower pendant, right next to a tiny silver cross.
Ivy had told me about this too. The one Leo gave her years ago, the one Alan ripped straight off her neck to sell for drink money.
Rose had hunted for it in the dark for months, when Rose came to the club and Pres found out what happened…
he took it, fixed every broken bit, and gave it back.
Said it was her little bit of sunshine to carry through every storm.
My throat felt tight, eyes stinging.
“She’s a miracle, ain’t she?”
The low rough voice came right beside me, and I jumped. Rage was stood there, close enough that his warmth wrapped round me, watching Rose and Pres with a look so soft it almost hurt.
“I didn’t know,” I said quiet, voice wobbly. “Diamond and Ivy told me… what happened. That she died and came back.”
He nodded slow, that hard mask falling right away, leaving something raw and open there.
“That’s why we are how we are, Danika,” he rumbled, so quiet it was just for us.
“When Pres brought her home… she was nothing but a ghost. Fourteen months we spent scared she’d break apart right in front of us.
Scared we’d lose her all over again. Even to this day over two years down the line, we are scared one thing could tip the scales. ”
He lifted his hand, hovered there a second like he was checking he was allowed, then brushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Just that light touch, and it sent shivers right through me.
“When I see that bastard lurking inside your workplace,” he murmured, voice rough with that old fear, “when I know he’s watching you…
I ain’t trying to run your life. Ain’t trying to lock you down or tell you what to do.
I just… I can’t watch anyone else get hurt. Not you. You’re safe here. I swear it.”
All that stubborn anger I’d held onto just crumbled away to nothing. I looked up at him, and I finally understood. He wasn’t keeping me prisoner. He was standing between me and every bad thing that wanted to tear me apart.
“I know,” I said, stepping just that little bit closer, letting him feel I meant it. “I’m not mad anymore. I’m here. I’m staying.”
The tips of his ears flushed bright pink, that fierce scary Enforcer looking like a shy boy for a second. He breathed out slow, like he’d been holding it for days, and gave me one last long look before stepping back to let me go sit.
The room erupted into noise and laughter as dinner started.
I sat between Ivy and Rose, watching them all, watching that little sunflower glint against Rose’s chest. I’d come here running from a war, into a world I didn’t even understand.
But now… I knew I wasn’t fighting it alone. And I knew I was going to be okay.