If you are easy to replace, loyalty becomes convenience, and convenience expires fast.
Make your value specific. Control a rare skill, a bottleneck, a relationship, a piece of information, or a pathway to timing and access. Share enough so others succeed with you, but keep the core ingredient in your hands so your presence remains necessary.
Dependence should feel practical, not humiliating, or it breeds sabotage. Aim for this: your absence creates problems, your presence quietly solves them.
Independence is protected by being needed, but never looking needy. The strongest position is when others choose to keep you close because it makes their life easier and their status safer. If you are central, you are protected.