Page 306 of Wicked Brutal

Mom rips herself out of Dad’s grip. She gets between us, tears Victor’s hands off me, and drags me behind her.

“Don’t touch her!” Victor barely notices. He’s looking at my stomach. Then my face. Then Ryan. Ryan is staring at him like he wants to take him apart with his bare hands.

Victor understands. His face changes. “His?”

Dad’s head snaps toward Ryan.

Victor points at him. “Is it fucking his?”

Ryan doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

Dad’s face empties. Then fills with something so vicious I take another step behind Mom. “You.” Ryan looks at him. Dad starts forward. “You fucking touched my daughter?”

Ryan’s whole body goes rigid.

“Roman,” Arthur warns.

“You knocked up my fucking daughter?”

“Don’t fucking talk about her like that!”

“She’s eighteen fucking years old!”

“And she chose me.”

Dad lunges. Walter and Theodore both move. Arthur gets between them. “Roman!”

“You think you can fuck my daughter under my roof—“

“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that!” Ryan tears against Arthur. “You put your hands on her, beat the fuck out of her, sell her off to him — and you want to stand there and talk to ME about what I did?”

“You ruined her!”

Ryan goes feral. “YOU DID!”

“RYAN!”

“YOU FUCKING DID! LOOK AT HER ARMS! LOOK AT HER FACE! YOU DID THAT!”

“She’s my daughter!”

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE HER YOUR FUCKING PROPERTY!”

Victor laughs. Dad turns on him. “Shut the fuck up.”

Victor’s face hardens. “You might want to remember who you’re talking to.”

“And you might want to remember whose daughter she is.”

Victor stares at him. Then laughs again. “Your daughter?” He points at me. “I fucking bought her.”

The words hit harder than his hands did. Nobody moves. Mom makes a sound beside me. Ryan stops breathing.

Victor looks at Dad. “I bought her. Don’t start pretending to be a father now because somebody else got there first.”

Dad goes for him. Arthur shoves between them. “ENOUGH!”

“You watch your fucking mouth!” Dad roars.