Chapter 241

#108

I walk straight into the war room without knocking, and every head in the room turns toward the door at once – my father, Marcus, and three men I don’t recognize, all of them mid conversation over a table covered in maps and printouts I don’t have time to fully take in before Marcus is already crossing toward me.

“This isn’t a place for you,” he tells me lowly, not unkind, but final in the way he clearly intends it to be.

I don’t move.

“I want in.”

My father, standing at the head of the table, doesn’t even look up from whatever he’s reading as he answers, “No.”

I grit my teeth and stand my ground.

“I’m tired of being protected while everyone else in this house decides what happens to my own life.” Dad still doesn’t look up. “I’ve sp