They’d hurt him. Or kill him. I ran—down the hallway, behind the stairs, and into the dark kitchen.

The glass doors stood open on the other side of the island, and rain whipped in the wind caught in the funnel of the enclosed garden. Trees bent to nearly breaking point, and one of the doors banged against the wall.

Where are you?

All of a sudden, I was grabbed from behind and hauled back, an arm wrapping around my shoulders.

I gasped.

“You don’t love him, do you?” Damon asked, something wet touching my temple. “Because I’m about to make you a widow.”

A widow? I opened my mouth to speak, but then my hand brushed his other one hanging at my side, my fingers grazing the cold, steel barrel. A cry stretched my throat.

I turned my head, seeing blood matting his hair and dripping down the left side of his face. “Damon, what do you want?” I whispered.

And then I heard the front door whip open, echoing through the house, and I closed my eyes. “Please,” I begged. “Please, don’t. Please, just leave. Run.”

“I raised you better than that,” he bit out, spinning me around and gripping my shirt at the collar. “It was supposed to be us, Nik. Just us.”

“If you just wanted me, we would’ve been gone when you got out of prison last year,” I said, hearing Kai and the guys charge through the house. “What do you really want?”

Anger burned through his eyes. He glared at me, but I caught something else flash for a split-second, too. As if he was ashamed of the real answer.

He dropped his voice, replying, “I just want it to be how it used to be.” His eyes fell, but then he raised them again, the ice back in his stare. “And if I can’t have that, then I’ll make damn sure no one will ever be rid of me.”

He pushed me backward, and I stumbled, turning around. Gripping my shoulder, he forced me through the open doors and into the courtyard.

Fuck, what do I do? My instinct told me to fight. Turn around, attack, and then run. But that wouldn’t stop him or Kai from getting hurt.

What the hell would I do if it came down to one or the other?

“Get your fucking hands off her!” I heard Kai shout.

Damon whipped me around, putting me in front of him with an arm around my shoulders again. The icy rain drenched our clothes, and I blinked through the downpour, seeing Kai, Michael, and Will race into the courtyard.

Kai’s eyes fell to my brother’s hand, and I knew he saw the weapon.

“You won’t hurt her,” he told him. “I know you won’t.”

“I’ve been hurting her for eleven years.” Damon tightened his fist on the back of my shirt. “There’s not much I wouldn’t do.”

Kai remained still, his anger faltering. He wasn’t sure if my brother was bluffing, but he wasn’t certain he wasn’t. Not enough, anyway.

“Where are Lev and David?” Kai asked me.

“He tied them up in the basement.”

“And Rika and Alex?” Michael burst out.

“I sent them through the passageway.”

Kai turned to Michael. “The house down the hill. Go!”

Michael bolted back through the house, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. I still didn’t know where the other two masked helpers of Damon’s were at. Hopefully they bolted.

“Hey, man.” Damon’s tone turned gentler. “Missed you.”

I assumed he was talking to Will, who, for once in his life, didn’t look happy. A slight snarl curled his lips, and his glower was fixed on Damon like nothing had been forgotten or forgiven.

Kai took a step forward, calling out over the rain, “Why go through all this?”

“Because this is my home,” Damon replied. Then he pulled me back into his chest. “And so is this.”

“She’s not your pet,” Kai argued. “Or your property. She never was.”

“I gave her everything.”

“You treated her like a dog!” Kai bellowed, his worried eyes flashing to me. “You hurt her.”

I swallowed the massive lump in my throat. I knew Damon treated me badly, even though I hated facing that fact. I’d just made excuses for it. He’s not well. He’s alone. He needs someone he can trust.

I loved him. What was I supposed to do? I could make him better. Right?

But if the sacrifices only come from one side, it’s time to face the truth. He was hurting me.

“She tenses when I touch her,” Kai told him. “It’s subtle, and it’s only for a moment, but it takes her off guard, like she’s not used it.”

Did I do that?

“She’s got a great imagination, but I think she’s even better at taking care of business,” he went on, holding my eyes now. “She’s going to be in charge of things someday, and even though I don’t know what exactly, it’s going to be great.”

Tears welled in my eyes.

“And I even like her in men’s clothes,” he said, softening his voice. “As long as they’re mine.”

Then he raised his eyes, telling Damon, “Just let her go, man. She’s not going to hurt you. She loves you. And you love her.”

I could feel my brother’s shallow breaths behind me as he backed us up a step, still resisting. “The only ones who can hurt you are the ones you love.”

I closed my eyes.

“Choose,” he said.

I opened my eyes, and he spun me around, looking between me and them. “He can survive without you. You know that.”

He meant Kai didn’t need me. Damon did. That’s what he wanted me to believe, but it wasn’t entirely true.

“So can you,” I replied. “You just hate seeing us survive without you.”

His gaze narrowed, and I knew I had him. But before he could say anything, Damon was pushed on the ground, and I was shoved away.

I watched as Will jumped on top of him, knocking the gun out of his hand and swinging his fists like he’d been waiting a year for this. I guessed he had, after all.

“You fucking prick!” he shouted, grunting as he punched. “You’re nothing! Nothing without us!”

The next thing I knew, Kai grabbed my arm and pulled me back, and I spotted Michael, Rika, and Alex running through the kitchen and back outside to us.

“His friends ran off,” Rika told me and then turned her eyes on the action.

I spun around, seeing Will still completely losing it.

“How could you go so far?” he burst out. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

He gripped my brother’s throat in one hand, holding him in place, and hit him with the other.

Damon wasn’t fighting back. He just squeezed his eyes shut, blood streaming out of his nose and down his face as Will attacked him again and again.

“When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose.” His voice shook as he grunted. “Fuck it all, and fuck you.”

Then, all of a sudden, he hooked Will in a headlock and pulled him down, restraining him. Then he flipped over, taking Will to the bottom as the latter just kept hitting him, throwing punches, thrashing, and growling from the bottom. Damon just sat there, his forehead bowed into Will’s chest, breathing hard and taking the hits.

“Stop them,” I begged Kai. “Please.”

But he just stood there, letting Will get his revenge.

Blood matted Damon’s hair, trickling down his face with the rain. He gripped Will’s shirt and buried his head, trying to shield himself but not trying to stop it.

He knew he deserved this.

Will threw him off, stood up, and swung back his leg, kicking Damon in the head. I turned away.

I knew what he was doing, just letting Will punch him. If he was in pain on the outside, he wouldn’t feel it on the inside.

I bowed my head, staring at the raindrops hitting the blades of grass as the fight went on and the sounds of grunts and hits filled the courtyard.

Too long.

And then I heard nothing. Slowly raising my eyes, I saw Will sitting on the ground next to Damon, his hands behind him, propping him up and breathing hard.

Damon laid on his back, his knees bent up but unmoving.