Page 49 of The Betrayal You Serve

"It means that I'm as much as a fucking puppet as you are, Kane. I don't fucking want this," she says, throwing her hands out. "I never fucking wanted this."

"You married in. You didn't have to be a part of this."

"Didn't I?" she scoffs.

"What are we missing?" I ask her before looking up at Reid, suspecting he knows more than he's letting on about this.

"It doesn't matter. Not knowing is safer."

I take a step back, my eyes back on her.

"Your medical records true?"

"Yes. I can't… I can't have—" Her voice cracks before she looks down at the floor. It's the first and only time she's appeared affected at all by any of this.

"I need you to tell Letty. Because you are going to apologize to her and you are going to tell her the truth."

"Okay," she whispers.

My eyes widen in shock.

"Believe it or not, Kane. I never actually wanted to hurt you, or her."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

Turning my back on her, I march toward the stairs.

"We need to talk," I throw over my shoulder, my eyes locking on Reid.

He nods. "I'll be right up."

I take the stairs three at a time, my muscles pulling from Coach's hardcore session this afternoon, but I don't look at Alana again.

I pace back and forth in Reid's hallway as I wait for him to appear.

"I need out, Reid. I need out fucking now," I bark the second he emerges through the door.

"You think I don't fucking know that. I'm trying but he's not letting go, man. He's going to rip everything away from you if we're not smart about it."

"I don't give a fuck. Let him take it. It's not worth it."

"You don't mean that."

"Don't I?" I ask, coming to a stop in front of him. "I'm done, Reid. I'm done with the demands, the deals, the fucking bullshit. If he pulls everything from beneath me then so be it."

With one last look in his eyes so he can see just how serious I am, I turn and leave.

"Just give me a little more time," he calls when I'm at the front door.

I don't respond, I can't. The thought of walking away from everything I've ever known terrifies me, but not as much as losing Letty for good does.

I might have only had her for a few days in reality, but she's always been there, even when she wasn't. Even when she was Riley's, there was always an us. It was always meant to be us. That I refuse to give up on.

The slam of his front door rings out in the silence of the night before I drop into my car and head for home. My home, for now at least.

10

Letty