Page 49 of Break Me

Knox slams his fist on the table. “Is that supposed to make this better?”

“No,” her father says slowly. “But it matters.”

Knox whirls on him. “How can you even say that?”

“Because I know what that once-in-a-lifetime love looks like,” he says quietly. “And I know it doesn’t ask permission.”

I blink. Hard.

The door bangs open.

“Get your hands off me.” Raven’s voice slices straight through the room.

Mouse stumbles in behind her, hands raised. “I tried to stop her⁠—”

“Like hell you could,” she snaps, storming past him.

Knox is on his feet in an instant. “Rae, what the fuck are you doing in here? You have no business⁠—”

“I have every reason to be here,” she fires back, chest heaving. “If you’re going to talk about me like I’m not a person, then I’m damn well going to be in the room.”

“Go home,” Knox yells. “Now.”

“No.”

Before Knox can fire back, Jon rises to his feet.

“Enough.”

Knox stares at him in disbelief. “You’re letting her stay?”

“I am,” he says firmly.

Raven steps forward, eyes blazing. “You don’t get to decide this for me,” she says, voice shaking but unbroken. “Not you. Not the club. Not anyone.”

Her eyes move deliberately, meeting Knox’s, then her father’s, then every man in the room who thinks he gets a vote.

“I chose Samuel,” she continues. “I wasn’t confused or pressured. He didn’t take advantage of me. I knew exactly what I was doing, and I did it with my eyes open.”

She draws a slow breath, steadying herself.

“Samuel never crossed a line I didn’t invite him to cross. He never touched me before I was ready. And if you think this makes him the villain, then you don’t know him at all.”

Her gaze snaps back to Knox, fierce and wounded all at once.

“You want someone to blame? Blame me. Because I’d choose him again. Today. Tomorrow. Every single time.”

Silence crushes the room.

No one moves.

No one speaks.

And I feel it then. The full weight of her choosing me.

“You want to end him for loving me?” she asks softly now. “Then understand this first. If you hurt him. If you force him to walk away, you won’t be saving me.” Her voice drops. “You’ll be burying a part of me instead.”

Her gaze lifts, unflinching.