“The least I can do? Please. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t even have a career. Her lazy ass was too busy sniffing behind you to prioritize what was really important. I made her see what was important. I gave her the career of her dreams, son. And I could take it away with the snap of my fingers. This little knight in shining armor act you’re putting on to appease your sense of justice or to impress my fickle daughter is…nice. It’s honorable, even. But no matter what sob story she wants to tell you about how her daddy is just so terrible, the facts remain that she’d be lost without me and she’d do well to remember that.”

I’m not a man that is quick to anger. It’s just not an emotion I allow myself to access often. Maybe it’s because I have a younger sister that can often push me too far so I’ve had to learn to temper my thoughts quickly. Or maybe it’s because I deal with clients who are often angry about the circumstances that led them to me and I’d rather try to bring them peace than fuel their fire. People may fool themselves into thinking just because I normally keep calm means that I can’t hold my own. They’d be wrong, but I keep that close to my chest. The only place I like to come out the gate with aggression is the bedroom. Jason Harding is the one person who can push me past my limits, though, because he often dances right across my trigger point—Olivia. I don’t tolerate any mistreatment of her, even from herself. Listening to this fool disparage and threaten her makes me want to beat his ass so savagely he’d be unrecognizable to anyone with the misfortune of knowing him.

I step into his space and he immediately goes on high alert, though he tries to appear nonplussed. I lower my voice to a low growl. “You’d do well to remember that I’m not the young boy that grew up across the street from you anymore. You’d be wise to consider that you don’t know me or what I’m capable of before you proceed further.”

He smirks. “You’re taking a big risk for her. Is she worth it? As I remember it, she didn’t do the same for you back then. How sure are you that she wouldn’t leave you out in the cold this time too?”