Page 103 of Ravage

"They will be okay," I try to tell her, dragging her back from the commotion.

To my surprise, Christopher throws a punch at the other guard still holding him, knocking him to the floor.

Arthur presses himself flat against the wall, managing to get out of the way just in time as Theo throws a guard through the air. He hits the wall next to Arthur, dropping like a stone.

"Guards!" Arthur yells, the sound of more rushing footsteps approaching us from behind.

My father turns to look at me, his cold, hard expression full of blind hatred. Even with the havoc behind him, he manages to stand out, his voice loud.

"Enough," he roars, grabbing a gun from one of the unconscious guards. He lifts it, pointing toward us.

Instinctively, I shove Avery behind me, my hand still gripping her wrist as guards surround us.

"Damon!" she yells, pulling my arm. I jerk her into my side, fighting to keep her back as she tries to step in front of me again, her eyes wide with panic.

"This is between us," I snap at my father. "Leave them out of this."

The hallway falls eerily silent, everyone watching us with trepidation. My eyes dart behind him as I fight to keep the worry off my face, noticing that the guards have managed to get the upper hand against Grey and Theo. We're dangerously outnumbered and I have no doubt that my father would be happy to spill blood.

"Technically," he responds. "It's between us andher." He points to Avery with the gun.

My stomach clenches as I shove her back again, feeling guilty for the little pained whine that quietly escapes her mouth from my forcefulness.

The air is thick with tension, no one daring to move. I keep my eyes locked with his, hating him even more than I thought humanly possible.

"I suppose I should congratulate you," he jeers. "Welcome to the family, daughter-in-law."

Avery breathes in sharply. "What?"

Grey looks at me, a flash of panic in his eyes. A guard has him in a headlock, crushing his throat, but that's not what he's afraid of.

"You're married now," my father says sternly. "And apparently, a shareholder in Lilydale. You'll have to excuse me for not being moredelighted."

She squeezes my arm, falling quiet. I can sense the dots connecting, her eyes darting over to Christopher—probably realizing that the piece of paper he had her sign this morning was a marriage license.

I should have told her, but I didn't want to ruin our little bubble of happiness. I didn't want to put that weight on her shoulders just yet.

My mother really thought of everything—including a clause in the trust that stipulated any shares in a company or organization tied to her inheritance must be partially distributed to my spouse…from the majority shareholder.

It was a safeguarding measure. If I was still the majority holder, a small percentage would go to my wife as marital compensation. But in our case, where I no longer held the majority, the clause was designed to protectmyinterests in the inheritance—meaning my father lost a fraction to ensure an equitable split since I'm the sole beneficiary. It's like my mother knew this was a possibility. If he hadn't forced my hand by making me sign over two percent, Avery's small marital percentage would have come from me, making him the majority shareholder even if our combined shares equaled more. But now, our marriage has tipped the scales—all because of his greedy actions.

Her five percent share has reduced his to forty-six… allowing me to take back the power with my forty-nine.

Sure, he can have Elsher try to sign off to say I'm not mentally capable, but thanks to Christopher's psychiatric assessment, I've been deemed mentally sound to enter into marriage—at least for today. Plus, he officiated our license, with his freshly ordained credentials off the internet—meaning my father can't strong-arm or bribe an outsider official to say it wasn't legal. We might end up in a stalemate, but we'll be able to stop them dipping their greedy fingers into the fund. The injunction request has already been filed with the marriage license, so for now, we've managed to stop them.

It also means that if he kills me, Avery gets everything.

And he is fucking livid.

"Put the gun down," I say, my voice low.

I never should have let Avery come with me. Grey and Theo struggle against the guards, eyes dark with anger as they fight to get to her, sensing the rising danger. We have to play it sensibly here—one wrong move…

"Arthur," he turns, looking at the other man. "What would you like to do here?"

I'm horribly aware that we are outnumbered. None of the guards seem confident enough to side with me, not while my father and Arthur have the upper hand—and certainly not while he's pointing a gun in our direction.

"Send the birthday boy down to solitary confinement," Arthur replies. "And the other two as well. They can go in together—we'll bend the rules just this once since it's aspecialoccasion."

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