Page 55 of The Forbidden

“Are you absolutely certain?” Ethan demands again and I get why he is pushing the point, but I’m out of goddamned patience.

“The only thing I’m fucking sure about is that I love your sister, okay? I’m going to get her now. You can come if you want but no weapons.”

Once again, the room goes deathly silent as everyone stares at me slack-jawed by my admission. But it’s Trey who breaks it by lunging again. “Going to kick your ass.”

I don’t let Tommy or Wade stop him, instead meeting him head-on. Both my hands grip his shirt and I drive him backward now, right into the counter. He grunts in pain as his lower back—hopefully his kidneys for extra enjoyment on my part—collides with the edge. “I don’t have time to deal with your bullshit. You can be a baby about this or you can man up, but I don’t have time to dick around with you.”

I release my hold on Trey and spin away from him, not concerned at all that he might attack. I saw his own fury change into chagrin when I called him a baby.

“I’m leaving. Ethan… are you coming?”

“Yeah, and I agree. Trey and Wade should stay here with Dad.”

A small argument breaks out among the brothers, the younger ones not wanting to be left behind. I don’t wait for them to figure it out but by the time I make it to the front door, Ethan’s the only one at my side.

Once we’re in my vehicle, I note the whole family standing on the front porch watching us. Tommy holds his wife close, Marcie beside Fi holding her hand. Wade leans back against the doorframe, a worried look on his face. Trey stands with fists clenched, looking like he wants to murder me.

Kat has a lot of people who love her and what do you know… that includes a Mardraggon.

I’d prefer silence between me and Ethan but he has too many questions as I drive to the distillery and I can’t say I blame him. I just dropped some bombshells and this has to be immensely shocking to him.

“Go over again the chain of events and how this occurred,” he says.

“A little over three weeks ago, not long after my dad was removed as chairman of the board, two men showed up at my house. They told me my father had been gambling with their boss… a man named Clinton Rafferty… and he bet a case of our 1921 Shadow Reserve in a high-stakes poker game.”

“And lost,” Ethan says.

“Not only lost, but refused to pay up. So Rafferty sent his goons to try to scare me into giving it up.”

“Scare you how?”

“Threatened me, went and roughed up Lionel—”

Ethan turns in his seat, his words crusted with ice. “And you didn’t think that would put Kat in danger?”

I glance at him briefly before turning my eyes back to the road. “Kat and I weren’t together then.”

“Wait a minute,” Ethan huffs with frustration. “When exactly did you and Kat start seeing each other?”

Hmmm, that’s a difficult question to answer but I might as well spill the entire truth. “Our freshman year at UK.”

“What in the hell?” Ethan exclaims and then rubs the bridge of his nose. “You were… back in college… but she never said anything.”

“Because I wanted to keep it secret.” I let that sink in and Ethan picks up on the regret in my voice.

“And she didn’t. She wanted to be open about it,” he surmises.

“And we broke up because I was an idiot. Caught up now?”

“No, I feel like I’m spiraling down the rabbit hole,” Ethan mutters. “But you reconnected when…” His words trail off and then he curses angrily as he puts it all together. “When I asked her to handle the winery with you. Goddamn it.”

“Yes,” I drawl sarcastically, shooting him a glare. “It’s all your fault.”

“No,” he snarls. “It’s all yours.”

“No,” I snap back at him, refusing to take the full blame. I can have regret, sorrow and anger that this has happened, but I didn’t cause it. “This is Lionel’s fault, but you know what… it’s your fault too. And your parents, and brothers, and Kat’s, and mine, and every other idiot ancestor we have. This stupid fucking feud that’s been egged on by generations of hate and I’m sick of it. It cost me the girl I loved eight years ago and once we get Kat out of there, I’m not going to let it interfere in my life again. So you and your numb-nut brothers need to get on board with the fact that Kat is mine and our families are tied together now, even more than Sylvie bound us.”

I brace for a blast of righteous indignation from the man but he stares out the window and I enjoy the silence.

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