Page 235 of Wicked Brutal

Tobias immediately releases my hand. “Sorry.”

I smooth his hair. Dad notices. I let my hand fall. Tobias looks at the ring again. “Does this mean you’re getting married now?”

“Not today.”

“But soon?”

“Yes,” Dad says.

Tobias looks at me. His excitement disappears. “Then can I live with you?”

My heart squeezes. Dad answers before I can. “No. Alison will live with Victor. You will live here.”

Tobias moves closer to me. “I don’t want to.”

The kitchen goes silent. Mom’s hand tightens around her mug. My stomach drops.

Dad slowly turns toward Tobias. “What did you say?”

Tobias’s face changes, he hangs his little head staring at his shoes. “I—“

“Look at me when I’m speaking to you.”

Tobias looks at me. Dad slaps him. Hard. The sound cracks through the kitchen. Tobias’s head snaps sideways and he stumbles into the island.

“Tobias!” Mom screams.

For half a second, I can’t move. I can’t understand what I just saw. Then Tobias starts sobbing.

Dad grabs his upper arm and yanks him upright. “When I speak to you, you look at me!”

Tobias tries to pull away. Dad’s fingers tighten. He cries out.

Something inside me snaps. “Let go of him.”

Dad ignores me. “Tobias, when I give you an instruction—“

“Let go of him!”

His head turns. That look has stopped me my entire life. Not today. I cross the kitchen and grab Tobias. Dad doesn’t release him.

“Stop!” Tobias screams when we’re both pulling him.

I shove Dad’s arm away and wrench Tobias behind me. “Don’t touch him.”

Dad stares at me. “Move.”

“No.”

“Alison.”

“No.” My voice is louder this time. Tobias grabs the back of my sweater with both hands.

Dad steps closer. “You will move when I tell you to move.” I stay exactly where I am. His hand closes around my upper arm. Pain shoots all the way to my shoulder. I don’t tell him. He knows. That’s the point. “Move.”

“No.”

Dad jerks me forward. Tobias loses his grip on my sweater. I twist back toward him immediately, but Dad grabs my other arm and shakes me so hard my teeth snap together.