The noise had brought Karoline and Terrance to the door—as well as Everly, Piper, Amanda and Miranda.

“What’s going on?” Karoline marched out of the house before her husband could pull her back, and the rest of the family trailed behind her.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Harper said.

Tobias kept hold of Harper. He didn’t want her to get hit if he had to disarm her ex.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Axel used his bat to point at Tobias. “This bastard has a prison record. Did you know that? Did any of you know that you’ve been associating with a dangerous felon? A man who’s served time for attempted murder?”

“Axel, stop! That can’t be true.” Harper pulled away but shut up as soon as she looked at Tobias. His face revealed the truth. He couldn’t refute what Axel had said.

“No…” Karoline’s eyebrows knit in concern as she turned toward her sister.

“Yes,” Axel insisted. “Ask him. He’ll tell you. He shot a boy, crippled him for life. And that’s not all. He nearly killed another man while he was in prison.”

Tobias couldn’t bear the look on Harper’s face.

“Is that true?” she asked, turning to him.

“I was going to tell you,” he said.

“When?” she cried. “We’ve…we’ve already…” Tears welled up as she turned to see her children watching them. “I trusted you,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Trusted you with them.”

“I know. But it’s not the way he’s making it sound.”

“How can there be any way to make a shooting sound good?” Axel challenged.

Tobias tried to ignore him. He had to get Harper to listen. “The shooting was—” He struggled to remember the words he’d rehearsed in his mind so that she might understand. But Axel had painted the past in its worst possible light, and his accusing face and pointing finger made Tobias feel hopeless to even attempt to explain. “Sort of an accident,” he finished.

“Sort of an accident?” she repeated, obviously at a complete loss.

“And the man in prison knifed me first.” Tobias remembered that much of what he’d planned to say. It was true, after all. He didn’t feel bad about the thug who’d attacked him in prison. He’d fought back only in self-defense, and he’d nearly lost his life.

“Oh, my God!” She covered her mouth. “This can’t be happening.”

“I never meant to mislead you,” he said. “I was going to tell you today—I swear it.”

“I let you around my kids,” she said, going back to that. “I—I thought you were the most wonderful man I’d ever met!”