“Don’t make it necessary again, ma’am,” he said, giving her a stern look of his own. Olivia scowled back at him. “Um… do you think I could get up? I’m starting to feel really fucking cold.”

Funny how that had worked. He actually hadn’t felt the cold so much until just now, as his adrenaline finally started to wear off. Of course, now that it had he was very aware of how cold the ground was, how frigid the air was, and how uncomfortable the pavement he was lying on was.

As Olivia and Patrick helped him up and began walking him back toward Stronghold, she whispered in his ear.

“As soon as you’re feeling better, I’m going to hurt you so bad. Never, ever again do anything like that. I thought you all would call the police, not come running out here!”

“We did both,” he muttered. “Ellie’s called the cops and she was going to go get Kincaid.”

As if saying his name had summoned him, the door to Stronghold flew open once again and Kincaid came storming out.

Things moved pretty quickly after that.

Roland was arrested, the gun collected as evidence, and he left with the paramedics, Kincaid, and two uniformed cops to be treated before he could be taken in. Olivia had broken his nose and cracked his cheekbone when she’d pummeled him. The paramedics said they suspected testicular torsion after he’d started throwing up and from the way he wasn’t able to uncurl from the fetal position without help. The paramedic didn’t sound particularly upset as he confided that such an injury would likely need surgery to fix.

Since the cameras showed everything pretty clearly the police agreed it was self-defense, but suggested they keep the tape just in case Roland tried to claim assault. Not that he’d have a leg to stand on. Especially since his worst injury had come when Olivia had kneed Roland in the balls it actually looked like she had just unintentionally slammed him in the crotch when she’d been rushing to get up and get to Luke. The other three blows could be explained as making sure the man threatening them all with a gun had stayed down.