Page 33 of If You Fight

“I’d like to know why you would have your thugs attack your favorite, Dad. That’s what I’d like.”

Returning to his desk, he sat down and took a sip of his drink. “I haven’t attacked you at all, and since you’re my favorite, Serena, I can’t imagine what’s got you so upset.”

Rage built up inside me until I felt like I was going to explode. Me, his favorite? How ridiculous! Did he think I was stupid?

My eyes narrowed to angry slits as I glared at him. His grey hair, so perfectly slicked back, and his face so many people thought of as handsome now made him look like a real monster more than ever before.

“Please don’t insult my intelligence, Dad. I’ve never been your favorite. First, it was Janelle because you saw so much of yourself in her, and then it became Ryder once he arrived here. I’ve never been anything close to being the favorite in this house. So why don’t you explain to me why you had your favorite beaten?”

My mention of Ryder by name made his mouth tighten into a straight line. “My business requires many things you might not like, Serena. You should stay out of it.”

Suddenly, my anger exploded out of me. “You’re a coward! You had him beaten to show that you control him, but you’re a coward. That’s not control!”

My father bolted out of his chair and stared at me with eyes flashing his rage. “Ryder is mine and mine alone to command! Only I have the power to order a man’s death at his hands! Only me!”

I stepped back as the sound of his bellowing took me by surprise for a moment. I’d expected him to be furious when I stood up to him, but I hadn’t expected that level of anger at me or Ryder.

But I wasn’t about to back down.

“So that’s what this is?” I screamed. “A power play against your own daughter?”

“You had no right to order him to take care of Oliver!” he bellowed in return. “Ryder works for me.”

“I didn’t order him to do anything. He knew what Oliver did and didn’t want to see me hurt again. I told him how Oliver was acting when I returned home from the hospital, and I asked him to help me. You’re just angry that he’s with me, aren’t you?”

For a long moment, my father simply looked at me like he didn’t know what to say. Maybe he thought I didn’t know, or maybe that look signaled his disbelief that I had actually admitted the truth about Ryder and me right there to his face. Whatever the reason, my admission stunned him for a second.

Far calmer than just a minute before, he said, “I told him the night I brought him here he wasn’t to touch either one of you girls. He’s lucky I didn’t beat him before today for what he’s done.”

“He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s saved my life every day for months. He had to watch me marry another man and still loved me as much as I love him.”

“Love? Is that what you think this is between you two? You have no idea who he is, Serena. You’re so naïve. Who do you think is the person I turn to when I usually want someone beaten like that? Who do you think takes care of the Olivers in this world for me? Your beloved Ryder.”

He smirked like anything he said could surprise me. I knew who Ryder was. I’d known for a long time. The girl who watched him wide-eyed and infatuated as he lifted weights in those days right after he came to the house had disappeared when she was sent away. I knew from the moment I saw him dressed in a suit and working as one of my father’s men who he was.

And I loved him anyway.

“I know all about Ryder. I’m not a little girl anymore, Dad. I’ve lived my life surrounded by your men. You didn’t think I knew what you’d made him into when I came back here and saw him working for you?”

My father snorted in disgust as he sat down behind his desk again and reached for his glass. “What I made him into. You have no idea, Serena. He was an animal long before I found him.”

I braced my hands on the back of the chair in front of me and felt the coolness of the leather against my palms. “I know what he was then too. I know everything about him, and I still love him. So I won’t allow him to be beaten again.”

Grinning that crocodile smile I hated, he said, “Well, I’ll do you one better. I won’t have to beat him again because he won’t be with you ever again.”

Just hearing him threaten that made my heart skip a beat. My mouth grew dry at the mere thought of losing Ryder, but I stayed strong and said, “You won’t do that or you’ll never see me again, Dad.”

“I know you, Serena. Your heart will keep you here for him because you’ll need to find a way to keep being with him. You’re like your mother that way. Always the dreamy-eyed romantic.”

He stared up at me like he’d uttered something that would stun me, but those days were long gone. “I’ll leave here faster than you can even imagine and never look back. And he’ll come find me because he loves me as much as I love him. Never underestimate the power two people can have when they join together, Dad. You can either agree to what I want or never see me again. That’s my final offer.”

My father slowly lifted his glass to his mouth and sipped his drink before taking a deep breath. “So those are your terms? I’m to just allow you and Ryder to be together?”

“And to make sure you never hurt him again, I want him as my bodyguard. He’ll work for me from now on.”

Shaking his head, he frowned. “No. Ryder is mine. I brought him here and he works for me.”

I knew he likely wouldn’t relent on my demand that Ryder be my guard, but I still had to try. That didn’t mean I planned to just give in, though. If I didn’t stand my ground now, my father would think he won.

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