Page 31 of Cross’s Reckoning

I hold her tighter. She never needed me to make the choice for her.

She just needed to know that when she made it, she wouldn't be standing there alone.

EPILOGUE

Two months later, I'm standing outside Kingdom Come church wearing my cut without club colors for the last time.

At least, that's the plan.

Kane hasn't told me how the vote will go, and I haven't asked. If I've learned anything since riding through these gates with nothing but my name stitched to my chest, it's that Kingdom Come doesn't make promises it hasn't decided to keep.

The stripped leather doesn't feel as strange now. For the first few weeks, I noticed the missing weight every time I put it on. Ten years under Perdition colors doesn't disappear because a knife cuts through some thread. There were mornings I reached for patches that weren't there and nights when I woke expecting to hear Cyrus shouting across a clubhouse that isn't mine anymore.

Then those moments started happening less often. Perdition MC still exists, of course.

Raze took the gavel after Cyrus died and ended the war before the blood on the road was dry. His first message to Kane was simple. Perdition stays out of Ransom and Kingdom Come stays out of Perdition territory.

Nobody pretended that made us friends.

Raze didn't suddenly become a good man because he shot a worse one. He saw where Cyrus was taking the club, saw the chair about to disappear with everything else and made his move when the rest of Perdition finally stopped being afraid enough to follow.

Kane had understood it in his own club long before Perdition had. He never needed to destroy Perdition because Cyrus was already doing that himself.

Chains found that out quickly. Raze didn't want a man whose first contribution to Perdition was proving he'd betray the club that patched him. Kane didn't want him back, and Colt made it clear there wasn't a road into Ransom that ended anywhere near Jayne.

So Chains left. No Kingdom Come colors. No Perdition colors. Just his name on his old cut and whatever was left of the choices he'd made.

I try not to think about the similarity too often because it feels too much like tempting fate.

The church door opens and Judge sticks his head out. "You planning to stand there all day?"

"Depends. You lot voting on whether to shoot me?"

"Already had that vote."

"How'd it go?"

"Come inside and find out."

I follow him in. The room is full. Kane sits at the head of the table with the gavel in front of him, Judge taking his usual place to the right. Every patched Kingdom Come brother who could be here is here.

Griz is leaning back in his chair with his arms folded, and that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

I close the door behind me.

Two months have changed more than the club.

Lola still has bad nights. Sometimes she wakes up crying before she knows she's doing it and reaches for me without opening her eyes. Other nights, she doesn't want me near her. The first time she did that, I thought I'd done something wrong.

The second time, I learned to leave her alone. Most days are better now. Not fixed. Better. She gets angry with Cyrus before she gets sad about him. She can miss the father who taught her to ride a bike while hating the president who threatened to drag her home. Both things can apparently be true at the same time.

I've stopped trying to make sense of it for her. I'm there when she wants me, and I give her space when she doesn't. Every day since the night at the gates, she's still been here when morning comes.

That matters more than anything she could've promised while grief was fresh.

Kane taps the gavel once against the table.

"Cross."