Page 97 of King of the Cage

“Let go of my wife,” he said quietly.

The security guy glanced at Archibald.

Bran chuckled. “I won’t ask again.”

The man let go, and Bran stepped in front of him, shouldering him back roughly to place his hands on my shoulders.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

I shook my head.

“What happened?”

“She was sneaking around in off-limits areas, that’s what,” Aldo cut in.

“Allow her to speak,” Archibald cut him off firmly.

I swallowed hard. Bran had excelled at lying earlier; now it was my turn.

“I got lost. This place is so big, I got turned around. I was looking for Regina… we hit it off earlier.” I sent a hopeful smile at Archibald’s wife.

She smiled back worriedly and then moved to take her husband’s arm. “She’s right, we were talking, and I left. She must have been trying to find me.”

“Bullshit, she was snooping, nosing in the basement for something, fuck knows what.” Aldo narrowed his eyes at me. “What did you see, Giada? Share with everyone.”

I glared at him. We both knew what I’d glimpsed in that room, but admitting that right now in front of a roomful of people who were in on that evil, and keeping it secret, seemed like a bad call.

I shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean. I was looking for Regina.”

“You heard her, she got lost, she didn’t mean to go to an off-limits area. Drop it, Sepriano.” Bran’s voice was powerful.

People nodded along with him. That was the power of his confidence and charisma.

“Well, she certainly meant to hurt me. She attacked me when I tried to redirect her to the right way. Look at my fucking face!” Aldo’s voice rang around the room.

People shifted uncomfortably and eyed each other.

“Do we have rules in this society or not? Violence against other members is prohibited, and they aren’t even full members yet. I want her punished. Now.” Aldo turned a satisfied expression to me.

“Rest assured we’ll speak about this at home, and it won’t happen again,” Bran announced authoritatively.

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way in The Enclave. We’re traditional in some ways, like you experienced during the firstinitiation. We have rules, and you told me you could follow them. She must be punished,” Archibald said heavily.

Bran laughed, but there was no warmth in it. “No one touches my wife but me.”

“Then you might volunteer to give the punishment,” Archibald suggested.

Bran’s smirk died, and he glared at the president of the society like he’d like to skin him alive.

“Whether you do it or we ask for a volunteer, it must be done. You understand, we can’t have one rule for everyone else and another for you and your wife.”

I wet my lips.Damn it.Unless this was the end of our journey into The Enclave, I’d have to endure the punishment. We were so close to knowing the details about the drug production and who the real head of the snake was. It had to be Archibald, right? But what if we were wrong? We couldn’t come this far only to fail now.

“It’s my fault. I’ll take my punishment,” I blurted quickly.

“No, you won’t,” Bran snapped. “It’s my fault. She knows that another man is never to touch her… so she acted aggressively, as she’s been instructed to do.”

I stared at him, wondering where the hell he was going with that far-fetched narrative.

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