Because the man I am trying to become cannot afford selective integrity.
Because loving her does not cancel the oath I am about to take.
“Because I am either Defiance or I am not,” I say finally. “And I would rather find that out now than after the patch.”
He exhales slowly, the tension in the room shifting in response to something internal recalibrating behind his eyes. When he speaks again, his tone carries a different weight, less interrogative and more directive. “You donotmake that call alone again.”
“I understand.”
“You bring me anything that touches club infrastructure, regardless of who asks you to keep it quiet.”
“Yes.”
“And you remember that personal loyalty and club loyalty are not parallel lines. One sits above the other… whether you like it or not.”
“I understand.”
There is a pause, then he regards me with a level of directness that feels almost personal. “You love her.” It isnotphrased as speculation.
“Without question.”
He nods once, the smallest acknowledgment, before turning away to complete another slow circuit of the table, as though sealing the conversation into the space itself. “All right,” he says at last.
It is a simple acknowledgment, but it shifts the ground beneath my feet all the same.
Sin holds my gaze for a long moment. Then he gives a single nod, the kind that settles things without needing another word.
“We’re going to talk about this more. There are decisions to be made about Jonas, about the mine, about what Millie’s situationmeans for the club going forward. But today…” He straightens. “Today I’m letting it go. Because you came clean, and because I know what it cost you. But don’t make a fucking habit of keeping shit from me.”
The relief that moves through my chest is so complete it almost knocks me sideways. “I swear I won’t.”
“Good. Now get the fuck out of my Chapel. Ceremony starts in an hour.”
“Yes, Pres!” I duck out of the Chapel into the hallway and stand there for a moment with my back against the cool wall, eyes closed, letting the weight of the last two weeks drain out of me.
I thought I was going to lose this.
I thought I was going to walk in there and come out the other side with nothing.
No patch, no club, no future that looked like the one I’d started to let myself want.
And instead, Sin looked at me and told me to come back in an hour.
I’m still standing there when Millie walks through the front door. She comes in with the cake box held in both hands and her eyes scanning the room the way they always do when she’s in a familiar crowd, that small, careful assessment that she does before she lets herself relax. Then she finds me against the wall, and her entire face settles.
She looks beautiful.
Shealwayslooks beautiful.
Today, she looks like something I don’t yet have the right words for.
Or maybe I do—Old Lady.
I cross the room to her and take the box without asking, setting it on the nearest flat surface. She’s already looking pastme toward the far corner of the clubhouse, and when I turn to follow her gaze, I see why.
Jonas is already here.
He’s positioned near the wall where he can see the whole room without being in the middle of it, a cup of something in his hand, and a look that says he’s going to enjoy today, no matter what it costs him physically. Penny is beside him, talking to Ro with the easy comfort of someone who has made herself at home in under ten minutes.
