Finn throws a punch, knocking my father back. Another punch. “You want to pick on someone? Pick on me. You want to fight? Fight someone who will fight back.”

I’ve always known Finn was tall and lean. I never realized how strong he was. Not until he pushes my father against the wall and shoves him a foot off the ground—all two hundred and fifty pounds of him. He holds him up with one hand.

My father curses in gasping breaths.

Finn scoffs. “Oh, you’re going to fuck me up? You and who else? Would your own sons back you up in a fight? Your brothers? You sure as hell can’t take me yourself.”

“I’ll ruin you,” my father rasps.

“You can’t touch me, old man.”

Adrenaline rushes through my veins. I run to grab his free arm. “Finn,” I say, out of breath, panicky. “Please. Stop. You have to let him go.”

Finn looks at me, hazel eyes made brilliant by violence. “Why? Because he’ll punish you for this? I should break his fucking neck.”

“No,” I say, tears stinging my eyes, humiliation a hard knot in my stomach.

Some people might wonder why I want him spared, this man who runs rampant in my nightmares. He’s hurt me in countless ways, but he’s still my father. Flesh and blood. Family loyalty was drilled into me, etched into my skin, from the moment I was born. Love is tangled up in guilt and shame and duty. I can’t even tell them apart.

None of this should make sense, but as Finn looks at me through those green and golden eyes, I have the feeling he understands. “Fuck,” he mutters, releasing my father in a single, quick move, letting him slump to the ground.

I take a step forward to stop him and then halt. Approaching him now would be like approaching a hungry crocodile—I could have my neck snapped in an instant.

“How dare you,” my father says, glaring at Finn. “I’ll have you run out of town. I’ll have you horse whipped. I’ll have you drowned in the fucking river.”

Anyone would be scared when being threatened by him. He’s powerful and wealthy—and vindictive. But Finn doesn’t even seem concerned. He seems… contemptuous. As if he’s watching a hornet wage war on a mountain. My blood pounds with anxiety. Danger, danger, danger. This is a terrible situation, but still, there’s something so brave about Finn’s nonchalance.

I wish I had his courage.

“You do that,” Finn says, his voice colder than I’ve ever imagined it. This isn’t a carefree playboy. This is a man with power and responsibilities. “Later. For now you’re going to walk off that black eye. Anyone asks? You ran into a fucking door.”