He grabbed her arm. “Pack your stuff, Kate. You’re coming home with me.”

Reid took a step toward them. “Jack, let her go.”

“I told myself I wouldn’t hit you. But if you don’t shut up, I’m going to flatten you.”

“I won’t let you treat her like this.”

Jack’s face turned red. “You won’t let me? You won’t let me? She’s my daughter, you son of a bitch. My daughter. I trusted you with the most precious thing in the world to me, so I’m going to say this once more, and I urge you to listen this time: do not talk.” Jack dragged Kate with him up the stairs to her front door. “Let’s go.”

With shaking hands, Kate unlocked the door.

Reid followed them into the house.

“You’ve got ten minutes to get anything you can’t live without, and then you’re coming home with me,” Jack said. “Your little adventure is over.”

“No,” she whispered.

“What did you say?”

“No.”

“Kate, you really, really do not want to screw with me right now. You’re going to do what you’re told.”

“I’m not going home,” she said softly. “I’m eighteen. You can’t make me.”

“I don’t know what’s happened to you here, but the one thing I do know is you’ll be on that flight home even if I have to drag you onto the plane.”

“I love him,” she whispered.

Jack snorted. “You love him. Isn’t that precious?”

Suddenly furious, she crossed her arms in defiance. “Aren’t you being a bit of a hypocrite?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“When Mom was sick and you fell in love with Andi, who supported you? All I ever wanted was for you to be happy. Why can’t you want the same thing for me?”

His gray eyes flashed. “Because two months ago I could’ve had him thrown in jail for this. Does that answer your question?”

“I fell in love,” Kate implored. “I’m sorry if that hurts you, but I didn’t do it to hurt you. I’d never hurt you. People love who they love. Isn’t that what we learned from everything that happened to us?”

“Don’t you dare try to compare my relationship with Andi to what you’re doing with this pervert. I never should’ve let you come here. It’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. No wait. It’s the second biggest. The first was to think I could trust my friend to keep an eye on my daughter. That was a much bigger mistake.”

Reid shook his head and appeared to be making a supreme effort to stay quiet.

“You gave me a year to get a recording contract, and I’ve done it in two months.”