Page 299 of Wicked Brutal

“He’s MY son!”

“Then act like his fucking father!”

And now the whole yard tips over the edge. Everyone starts talking at once. Arthur tells both of them to stop. Roman tells Arthur to get the fuck off his property. Callum moves closer. Gideon with him. Clifford and Theodore spread out behind us, quiet, just closing the space so Roman can feel how outnumbered he is. Ally reaches back and takes Tobias’s hand.

Roman sees it. “He isn’t going anywhere.”

Ally’s fingers tighten around her brother’s. “He is with us.”

Her voice shakes. But she says it anyway, right to his face, and I have never been prouder of anyone or more terrified for them in my life.

Roman laughs. “You think you get a vote?”

Dad lunges forward a step. Arthur catches him again. Then headlights sweep across the yard.

Ally freezes. Every bit of color leaves her face. I don’t have to turn around. Victor. His car comes up the driveway too fast and stops behind the others, half across the lawn. The door slams.

“What the fuck is going on?” Victor comes toward us, his eyes moving over the yard — Arthur, the dads, the boys, me, Roman. Cataloging it. Then Ally. “Alison.” She doesn’t move. “Come here.”

Her hand tightens around Tobias’s. “No.”

Victor stops. Roman gives a sharp, humorless laugh. “There. You see what I’ve been dealing with?”

Victor turns on him. “Shut the fuck up, Roman.”

Roman’s head snaps toward him. “Excuse me?”

“I told you not to put your hands on her again. You couldn’t control yourself for one fucking week, and now look at this!”

He throws an arm out at the yard — at Arthur, at all of us — like Roman’s temper is the only thing standing between him and a clean acquisition.

“You think this is because of me?”

“I think I told you what would happen if you kept putting your hands on my fiancée.”

“She is my daughter!”

“And she’s my fucking fiancée!”

“Not yet.”

Victor gets closer. “Close enough.”

Arthur moves between them. “Enough.”

Roman points at all of us. “Get these people off my fucking property.”

“Nobody is going anywhere until Alison and Jane are safely out of this house,” Arthur says.

“Nobody is fucking leaving!”

“The fuck they aren’t,” Dad snaps.

Victor doesn’t give a shit about any of them anymore. He’s staring at Ally. “Alison. We’re leaving.”

She shakes her head. “No.”

His jaw flexes. “Don’t start this shit with me. Come here.”