Unless I walked away.
Unless I chose Melissa over everything else—over Sinclair, over the university, over the life I’d known for so long it felt like the only life possible.
Could I do that?
Could I burn it all down for the chance at something real?
The thought terrified me more than any fight I’d ever been in. Because in the cage the rules were clear. You won, or you lost. You lived, or you died. But this—this was uncharted territory.This was a vulnerability without the safety net of violence to fall back on.
This was love.
And love, I was learning, was the most dangerous thing of all.
I thought about Danika. About the way she looked at me with those wide, trusting eyes. About the responsibility I’d taken on when I’d promised to protect her. She deserved a father figure who wasn’t constantly looking over his shoulder, who wasn’t one wrong move away from ending up dead in an alley.
She deserved better than me.
They both did.
But maybe—just maybe—I could become better. For them.
The residence came into view, its windows glowing warmly against the night. I parked and sat for a moment, gathering myself. My arm ached, my head pounded, and exhaustion pulled at me like an undertow.
Inside, Melissa was waiting. Inside, decisions would have to be made. I pressed my forehead against the steering wheel, allowing myself one more moment of weakness before I had to be strong again.
“Please,” I whispered to no one in particular. To God, maybe. To fate. To whatever force governed the universe and decided who got to be happy and who got to suffer. “Please let me make the right decision.”
Then I opened the door and stepped out into the rain-soaked night, ready to face whatever came next.
Ready to tell her the truth.
Even if it destroyed us both.
Chapter Forty-Six
Melissa
I sat by the fire, quietly watching as the flames danced and sparked. Their warm glow should have comforted me, but a persistent chill lingered deep within, untouched by the heat. Even when he entered the room, that coldness remained, stubborn and unmoved, as if nothing could thaw it. I didn’t bother moving. I knew why he had returned and what he was going to say. So instead, I saved him the misery and calmly said, “I lost one man to this life because of the secret he kept. I won’t lose another.”
He said nothing, just stood there dripping water and blood on Sinclair’s expensive carpet as if it were nothing, easily replaceable.
“I’ve never lied to you, Rowen. My past is an open book. I’ve been explicitly clear how I felt about the Biker Federation, the underworld, the world you live in. It scares the shit out of me. I was content to walk away, raise my child and Danika, and never look back. But then you happened.”
“I’m sorry, Melissa. I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“Don’t you get it? It’s never going to stop. No matter what you do, what the clubs do, what Sinclair does, this vendetta, whatever it is, will never end. People I love will die. That’s a fact you can’t refute.” Shaking my head, I chuckled. “God, I hate that he was right.”
“Who was right?”
Looking at him, I said, “Sinclair. He called me shortly after you and Gunner took off. He told me everything. Who you werelooking for and why. But more importantly, he told me what will happen when you tell the world who you really are and what would happen if you don’t. And then a visitor arrived and explained to me that it doesn’t matter if you say anything or not, because he’s always known.”
“Who?”
“Your birth father, Brian Buchannon.”
Rowen flinched. “What?”
With a weary sigh, I pushed myself to my feet. “Yes, your father—the notorious figure, the head of the IRA—showed up out of nowhere looking for you. When he realized you weren’t here, he left, but not before telling me to pass on a message.” My words hung heavy in the air, the enormity of the encounter settling around us.
