Page 98 of Knox's Boy

"He broke in," I said, the words tasting like bile. "He knows where I live. He knows whereyoulive. He's going to ruin everything. He always ruins everything."

"He did not get in," Knox corrected, his voice hard. "He attempted to breach the perimeter. My team stopped him. He never touched the door handle of this house, Florian. He can't."

The terror was a physical weight, crushing my lungs. I slid down the wall, curling into myself.

I thought I was safe.

"I can't do this anymore," I sobbed, burying my face in my knees. "I can't be the reason your life gets messed up. I have to leave. I have to go."

"No."

Knox was on the floor with me in an instant. Strong hands gripped my shoulders, pulling me out of my ball. He hauled me against his chest, wrapping his arms around me like iron bands.

"You are going nowhere," he growled into my hair. "Listen to me. You are not leaving."

"He's going to hurt you," I cried, clutching his cardigan, bunching the expensive fabric in my fists. Snot and tears smeared against his chest, just like the first time we met. "He's poison, Daddy. He's poison."

"I am immune to his poison," Knox said, rocking me slightly. "I am not some helpless civilian, Florian. I have resources your father cannot even comprehend. He is not a threat to me. He is a nuisance. And I exterminate nuisances."

I froze against him. I pulled back slightly, looking up at his face.

Knox wasn't looking at me with the soft eyes from the library. He was looking over my head, staring at nothing, his jaw set hard. His eyes were cold, calculating, devoid of mercy.

"What... what are you going to do?"

He looked down at me then. The coldness didn't leave his eyes, but his mouth curved into a small, terrifying smile. It wasn't a happy smile. It was the smile of a wolf that had just cornered a rabbit.

"I'm going to handle it," he said softly, wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb. "Permanently."

The air left the hallway. "You're... you're not going…?"

The question hung there, heavy.

Knox’s smile widened just a fraction. "I won't kill him, if that's what you're asking," he said, his tone conversational, as if we were discussing dinner plans. "I am a civilized man, mostly."

He leaned in, kissing my forehead, but I was trembling so hard my teeth chattered.

"He tried to violate my home," Knox whispered against my skin. "He tried to get toyou. He has forfeited his right to free will. I’ll handle it, sweetheart."

I looked at his hands, the hands that held me so gently, that reorganized books, that poured wine. Now they looked like weapons. I should have been terrified of him. Iwasterrified of him. But also not really. All I wanted was for him to hold me forever. As he pulled me back against his chest, tucking my head under his chin so I couldn't see the world, a dark, shameful part of me uncurled in the pit of my stomach. For the first time in my life, the monster at the door was smaller than the monster holding me. And God help me, I felt safe.

Knox didn't let me walk. He scooped me up, one arm under my knees, the other supporting my back, and carried me into the living room as if I weighed nothing more than the books I’d been organizing. He deposited me on the velvet sofa, arranging me like a broken doll he intended to fix, tucking a throw blanket around my legs before sitting on the coffee table directly in front of me.

He kept his hands on my knees, squeezing rhythmically, grounding me.

"Arizona," he said.

I blinked, my eyelashes still heavy and wet. I wiped my nose with the sleeve of my shirt, a habit he hated but didn't correct right now. "What?"

"There is a facility in Arizona," Knox said, his voice steady, devoid of the terrifying edge it held in the hallway. He was back to being the strategist. "It is not a prison, though the security is... comparable. It is a high-end rehabilitation center for difficult cases."

I sniffled, confusion warring with the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. "Rehab?"

"Your father is sick, Florian. We both know this. His addiction drives his desperation, and his desperation drives him to my gate." Knox reached out, taking one of my hands. His thumb rubbed over my knuckles. "I have arranged for a transport team. They are already securing him. He will be on a private flight within the hour. When he lands, he will be admitted there for a minimum stay of twelve months."

"A year?" My voice squeaked. "He... he won't go. He hates doctors. He hates rules."

"He doesn't have a choice," Knox said simply. "The alternative is I press charges for trespassing, attempted burglary, and harassment. With his record, he goes to state prison for five years. My team laid out the options for him. He chose Arizona."