Syd turned away at the sound of approaching footsteps. The police were yelling something. I barely heard them. The world that’d crashed down on me outside was still falling apart. She was quiet, but her shoulders shook, and I knew if she faced me now, tears would streak her face. I wanted nothing more than to go to her. I started toward her, because I couldn’t bear to see her like this. No matter what fucked-up shit I’d done in my past, I couldn’t stand this. There had to be a way to make this better.

I made it about a foot.

Tackled from behind, my arms were yanked behind me and I was in handcuffs in less than a second. Probably had to do with the fact there was a half-dead guy downstairs and the cop had no idea who had done what here. With my cheek smashed into the floor, I cursed under my breath.

“Wait!” Syd’s shocked voice erupted, and I forced my chin up. Confusion poured into her pale face. “He’s not the one who needs to be handcuffed. He’s—”

“Just stay back, ma’am, until we have this situation under control.” The officer yanked me up, and the muscles in my arms and back protested, causing me to grunt.

Syd’s teary eyes went wide with panic. “You’re hurting him! Oh, God, please stop. He’s the one who called you.”

This really didn’t feel good, but in a sick way, I welcomed the pain. It dulled the burning in my gut. Another officer barreled into the foyer, causing Syd to jump. Silver ornaments on the tree rattled. A bulb fell to the floor, shattering. The second officer spotted the gun where Syd had left it on the floor. He hurried over, pushing it away from Syd with his booted foot.

The first officer barked orders and the story came out in a rush of words—Syd coming home to find two guys messing with the tires on my SUV, the one guy running off and Zach telling her that he wanted to scare her. She left out the part about Sasha and how her lip had ended up split, but those answers came out when the officers took the handcuffs off me and the EMTs rolled into the house.

Apparently Zach was moving around. Too bad.

I tried to keep an eye on Syd as an EMT checked her out while I told the officers about Zach, but when she winced at the guy probing at her lip, I didn’t think twice. I started toward her.

“She’s fine, son.” The officer clamped a hand down on my shoulder. “She’s being taken care of. The best thing you can do for her is to give me all the information you can. Start from the beginning.”