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Her eyes searched mine for a moment as she pulled a blanket over her body, almost as a defense mechanism. “Your father. He doesn’t want us together.”
My stomach sank and dread filled the pit of it as I watched her nervously shift on the couch. I knew he had been the reason behind her panic attack, I just didn’t know what he had said that set her off. She was slowly giving me the pieces I needed to put the entire picture together.
“What did he say to you?”
Her tongue darted out as she wet her lips. “He knew we were seeing each other. He thinks I’m only hurting your golf career and that you deserve someone of higher status.” She paused for a moment and my blood was already beginning to boil. “Our families have never really gotten along, so this is all to be expected.”
“You know he’s wrong, right? You know what, I don't bother myself with his thoughts or opinions,” I reminded her as I placed my hand on her knee. Everything she was telling me was something I would have expected from my father, but I knew it wasn’t what had set her off. There was more she wasn’t telling me.
Tears fell from her eyes, solidifying my thoughts. I scooted closer, closing the distance between us as I lifted my hands up to cup the sides of her face. I caught her tears with the pads of my thumbs and brushed them away from her silky skin.
“Did he hurt you?” I questioned her, struggling to keep my tone even. It was taking everything in me to not go burn my parents’ house to the ground with him inside it.
Winter shook her head. “No, he didn’t. I only saw him at the restaurant when he sat across from me.”
“What really happened? What aren’t you telling me?”
“He told me I needed to leave you. I need to walk away and if I don’t, he will make sure I do.” Her words came out in a rush and her voice was splintering around them. “I didn’t leave because I wanted to, Malakai. I left because he made it clear that I didn’t have a choice.”
My heart stopped in my chest as my eyes desperately searched hers. Emotions I couldn’t dissect instantly flooded me. They were seeping into my system and running rampant through my veins. I wanted to gut him.
“No one ever gets to make that choice for you, Winter.” I was struggling to keep my tone even and I was failing. There was a chill in my tone that I couldn’t eradicate. “I am going to kill him.”
“Stop,” she said, shaking her head. Her hands were reaching for me as I pushed off the couch in a rush. I was on my feet and she was following after me. “Kai, please. Don’t do something irrational or something that is driven by your emotions right now.”
I turned around to look at her, my hands finding the sides of her face once again. “When have you ever known me to make a rash decision, darling? Everything I do is calculated. I don’t move without a plan.”
“What is your plan?”
Killing my father wasn’t exactly an option. I did have enough money and resources that I could potentially get away with it, but it was too risky. He was someone who if he went missing, people would start looking. People I didn’t want to be looking.
“Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.” I pulled her to me, pressing my lips against her forehead. “You don’t have to be afraid of him. He will never hurt you. I promised you I would always keep you safe.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” she said in a rush, breathing against my chest as I held her close. “I’m afraid of what he will do to you.”
I leaned her head back so she was looking up at me. “I promise you he won’t be doing anything to me. I’m just going to go over and have a conversation with him. He doesn’t get to threaten you and think he can get away with it.”
“It’s the middle of the night, Kai,” she protested, fisting her hands in my shirt. “Just stay, please. We can worry about it tomorrow.”
I shook my head at her as I pressed my lips to hers in a haste before pulling away. “I’m sorry, this is something that can’t wait. The more it festers inside me, the worse it will be. I need to deal with it now.”
There was a troubled look lingering in her features, but there was also resignation. Winter knew better than to try and stand between me and something I had already decided upon. What he did was unacceptable. It was unforgivable. And I needed to be the one to make sure he knew that.
It was time for me to take back the power he had stripped me of many years ago.
“Everything else in this world is insignificant in comparison to you. I will always protect you, no matter the cost or sacrifice.”
Winter bit down on her bottom lip and nodded. “Promise me you’ll be safe. Promise me you’ll come back to me.”
She said it as if I were walking into a burning building and in a way, I was. My father was unpredictable. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going up against, but none of that mattered. I would never allow another person to make Winter feel frightened and unsafe. No one would ever make her feel as though she had to walk away from me to keep us both safe.
He put her in a position I would never allow him to do again.
“You are my home,” I whispered against her lips as I kissed her once more and released her. “I’ll always come back to you.”
* * *
As I stepped inside my parents’ home, I couldn’t fight the anger as it rippled through my body. I slammed the door behind me with such force, it knocked a picture onto the floor. Glass scattered around it as it landed with a crash, but I paid it no mind. I was already moving, striding through the vast rooms, flipping on every light switch I passed. There was a soft light glowing from under the door to my father’s office and I heard the TV from their bedroom upstairs.
