And I’m staying.
Brandon’s mouth twists,recovering his mask. “You think saying that out loud makes it true? Typical. Always mistaking drama for strength.” His gaze flicks to the cops, like they’rehis jury. “I invested in her. Money. Time. Patience. More than anyone else ever would’ve bothered. And this is what I get? Ungrateful. Delusional.”
The wordinvestedhits like a lash, the old familiar sting of ownership disguised as care.
I lift my chin higher, though my voice shakes. “Invested in me? How? By telling me every day how useless I was? By clipping my wings, making me beg for crumbs you never intended to give?”
His jaw tightens, but I see the flicker of unease. The first crack.
Knox’s growls lengthen and deepen, his muscles flexing against the cuffs. The cops holding him stiffen, warning him back, but I know that sound.
One more word from Brandon, one more slip, and Bear will tear free no matter what it costs him.
Brandon scoffs, forcing bravado back into his voice. “I treated you with nothing but respect. Built you up?—”
I laugh then. Actually laugh, sharp and bitter. “By breaking me down?”
The cops shift, their gazes snapping back to me. The balance is tipping.
Brandon’s face contorts. “You think you can walk away? You think I poured time into you just to see you strut off with…” His lip curls toward Knox. “…this circus act?”
Knox snarls, muscles rippling, every muscle bulging as if he’ll snap them by sheer rage. “Take one step closer.I fucking dare you.I’ll show you what a true circus looks like.” His voice is a death sentence.
Brandon hesitates. For the first time, I see unsullied alarm flickering in his eyes. He glances at Knox like he knows in his bones he’s not entirely sure he’s safe, even surrounded by cops.
Then he looks back at me, venom seeping through every syllable.
“You don’t even see it, do you?” he hisses. “This—this obsession you’re mistaking for what? The attention you crave like air? He’ll chew you up. Spit you out. And then what will you have? Nothing. Because I won’t be there this time.”
I take a step forward, pulse hammering, my gaze never leaving his. “You’re wrong. I have everything.” My voice cracks on the word, but I don’t care. “Because he doesn’t want to own me. He treasures me. And he wantsme just for me. Whatever and whoever I am, I’m more than enough for him.”
The silence that follows is electric.
The cops look at Brandon like he’s just lost something vital. Like they’re almost embarrassed for him. One clears his throat. Another shifts his grip on Knox, firm but steady, like he knows this mountain belongs to the man they’re holding back.
And Knox… God.
His eyes blaze, locked on mine. Pride. Possession. Pain. All tangled in one feral look that pins me to the earth harder than any cuffs ever could.
And I know, as sure as I know my name, this fight isn’t over. But for the first time, it feels like it’s not just mine anymore.
19
KNOX
If ever there was a time for a worthless motherfucker to shut the fuck up…
But no.
He keeps talking. God, hekeeps fucking talking.
And I’ve never wanted someone in a choke hold more than I do now. Except I won’t stop once he’s passed out. I’ll keep going until he stops breathing.
Because the things this asshole is saying about my petal. To my Lily?—
“Officers, seriously, Lily’s not in her right mind,” the idiot says, loud and oily, the drone of a man who’s always convinced the world owes him an explanation. “She’s been isolated. Deluded. This man”—he jerks a thumb at me likeI’mthe shit stain—“has no right to?—”
“To what?” I cut in, voice low, and the sound of it makes every cop’s head snap like they swallowed a bullet. “To keep the best thing that’s ever happened to me? To keep what’s mine?” The words come out as cold and definitive as I intend.
