“Why? What did he do that was so horrible, Dad?” Her voice rises. “Keep me safe. Find me when no one else could? Or is your problem with the fact that he opened his door when I tricked him into it? That he didn’t kick me out after I literally somersaulted through his doorway? Or is your issue that he had the audacity to want me as much as I want him?”
Lee’s eyebrows shoot up. “You somersaulted through the door?”
“Not the point, Lee.” Emma doesn’t take her eyes off Stone. “The point is that the only person who has the right to be mad about the tracker in my back is me. And I’m not mad. I was shocked in the beginning. But do you know what, Dad? It saved me. And then it gave me comfort knowing I’d always be safe. That Bones would always find me. But you even took that away. When you stripped his rank, when he stopped showing up to check on me, you took away the only thing that made me feel safe. So of course I came back. Of course I came running straight to him. So if you want to blame someone for this? Blame me—or maybe blame yourself. But I made my own choices. And I’m not ashamed of any of them.” She levels a look at me, too. “And to make it abundantly clear to all of you, I’m not going back to New York. Not right now. Probably not ever.”
Stone says nothing, but I know he’s wrestling with the long habit of being in command against the harder habit of being a father. He looks from her to me to Lee and finally, quietly, he says, “What do you want me to do?”
“Accept it,” Emma says. “Or at least tolerate it. Because I swear to you, Dad. If you strip the man I love of his patch, of the only family he’s ever had, then you’ll have lost me for good.”
“Emma!”
“I’m serious, Dad.” Tears threaten to spill from her eyes and her voice grows hoarse. “If you take his patch, if you kick him out, you lose me. Permanently. I won’t come back for holidays. I won’t call. I won’t visit. You’ll never see me again.”
Lee shifts uncomfortably. I can’t breathe. Stone looks like he’s been punched.
“You’d really choose him over your family?” Stone practically whispers.
“You’d really choose the club over me? Oh, wait. You already did that when I was thirteen and got the chance to dance at the academy. You stayed here while Mom and I moved to New York. You only saw me during the holidays, and even then you were too busy with your precious club to spend any meaningful time with me. And what about every year after that? Again and again, you picked club business over Mom and me. But do you know who didn’t? Do you know who always showed up when I needed him? Do you know who was always there to hold my hand when I cried or to celebrate with me when I won?” She swipes angrily at the tear that streaks down her cheek as the silence lingers.
“Bones,” she says, as she turns to look right at me. “He always showed up. He always cared. Even when I didn’t deserve it.” She shrugs, wiping the corner of her eye with the heel of her palm. “So, yeah. I’d pick him, Dad. I’d pick him every time.”
I still can’t breathe. Can’t even move now. I’m frozen by her words, and I know she means every one.
Stone turns to me, and I swear I see the exact moment something breaks behind his eyes. The realization that he’s already lost her once, that if he pushes this, he’ll lose her forever.
“You love her?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“You’ll protect her? Keep her safe?”
“With my life. Always have, always will.”
Stone closes his eyes, takes a long breath. When he opens them again, something has shifted. He’s not looking at me as a brother who disobeyed. He’s looking at me as the man his daughter loves—even if he doesn’t like it.
“Lee,” Stone says without turning around. “Get out.”
Lee blinks. “What?”
“Get out. Wait on the street. This is between me, Emma, and Bones.”
Lee looks between all of us, clearly wanting to argue, but something in Stone’s voice stops him. He nods once and heads for the door. It closes behind him with a soft click.
Stone walks to my kitchen window, stares out at the street below. The silence stretches so long I start to think he’s not going to say anything at all.
“You know what the worst part is?” he finally says. “I saw this coming. Years ago. The way you looked at her, even when you were both too young. The way you never complained about what the others called ‘princess duty’ when every other brother would rather eat glass. The moment she walked in a room or called,you’d always drop everything and all your attention would be on her.”
He turns to face us.
“But even with as much of your focus on her, I knew you never crossed that line. Knew you were so loyal to the club—to me—that you would never break my trust. Until last Christmas, anyway.”
“Stone—”
“I’m not done.” He holds up a hand. “When Emma was in your care, I slept easy. Every brother I’ve got, I trust with my life. But I trusted you with more. With my daughter. My legacy. The one thing in the world I ever got right. Sometimes I wondered if you even understood what a job that was—keeping her safe.” His eyes flick to Emma, softer than I’ve ever seen them. “And she made it hard, didn’t she? Wouldn’t stop running. Chasing the next thing. Defying every word just to prove she could.”
Emma shifts.
Stone’s gaze lands on me. “And you never once let her down. Not until I made you, anyway.”
