Page 34 of Viktor

Sue Anne nodded. “Can you take me home now?”

Viktor nodded and started the Jeep, his mind already swimming with plans and contingency plans. This would not happen again.

Sara tried to run out the door as soon as she saw Viktor pull up, but Gabe blocked her. He simply shook his head. She snarled at him, but he refused to budge from in front of the door.

She wanted to hit him. She might have to if she weren’t afraid of the repercussions, an ingrained fear she wouldn’t soon get over.

The sound of the door opening pulled her out of her hostile thoughts, and she rushed to hug her mother, who looked shaken. What the hell happened?

“Mom, are you okay?”

“Mason,” Viktor called, and he poked his head around the door.

“Yeah, man?”

“Can you take Delia upstairs and let her show you her room or some shit?”

“Language,” Sara muttered. Her mother quaked in her arms, and she hurried to take her into the kitchen and help her sit at the table.

“Sue Anne, honey, what’s wrong?” Her father rushed from his place at the sink and crouched in front of his wife. He cupped her cheek, his touch as gentle as if he were holding a baby bird.

She burst into tears and fell into her husband’s arms.

Sara ran back into the front hall where Viktor was talking quietly with Gabe. They both looked up when she came running. Neither looked at all happy.

“What the hell happened to my mother?”

Viktor pursed his lips, and some unspoken agreement passed between him and Gabe. The latter nodded and ambled off toward the kitchen.

“Mason, stay with Delia!” Viktor shouted up the stairs and then took Sara’s arm, pulling her outside and closing the door behind them. He didn’t say a word until they reached the barn. Once they were inside, he let her go and started to pace.

He didn’t so much pace as he stalked some unseen prey in the shadows of the barn. Anger vibrated off him, and he let out a snarl, slamming his hand against the wall.

It scared her, and she backed up. “Viktor?”

He turned his head toward her, and she saw the fury burning in his eyes. They looked like black pools of fire. She’d never seen anyone so angry, not even Roger. She took several more steps away from him.

“Your ex forced your mother off the road.” Darkness coated his words, and she retreated until her back hit the wall on the opposite side of the barn.

“He dragged her out of the car, scared her half to death, and there’s not a damn legal thing I can do about it.”

Her mom must have been terrified. She’d never witnessed that side of Roger before. Sara counted her blessings he hadn’t hit her mother. He was smarter than that, though. If he’d laid a hand on his mother-in-law, it would have given credence to the pending court case against him for assault and battery of his daughter.

“I don’t want anyone leaving this property without either me or Gabe until the bastard is locked up.”

“I never thought he’d go after Mom,” Sara whispered, her eyes tracking Viktor’s movement. He was like a caged animal, waiting to spring.

“He can’t get to you, so he went after the one person he could. He knows scaring your mother will inspire fear in you. It’s his way of showing you that he still controls you.”

And there it was. Roger told her that no matter what she did, where she went, he’d always be right there, the master of her strings. Terrorizing her mother was his way of proving it. Her legs got weak, and she slid down the wall, landing on her ass with a loud thump. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. She’d brought this monster into all their lives.

“Hey, now.” Viktor’s jean-clad legs came into view. “This isn’t your fault. It’s that bastard ex of yours.”

She shook her head. It was her fault. She should have walked away. Pregnant or not, she should have left him. None of this would be happening right now if she’d done that.

Viktor sat in front of her, scooting until his bent legs rested alongside each of hers. She could still feel the anger pulsing off him, and she flinched when he reached out. She couldn’t help it. It was a reflex.

“Sara Jane.”

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