Purposeful.
Runes appears first, his face like thunder.
Fenrir behind him, expression carved from stone, and my father.
His jaw tight, his eyes filled with something I can't quite read.
Disappointment?
Anger?
Both?
"Everyone out," Runes commands. "Except Gunnar."
Ulf leaves without a word.
The door closes behind him, and then it's just us.
Me, Runes, Fenrir, my father, and the man who beat my fiancée half to death.
Runes' voice is quiet. "You went alone."
That's worse than yelling.
"Yes."
"Without authorization. Without backup. Without telling a single fuckin’ person what you were planning."
"Yes."
"You could have been killed."
"I wasn't."
"That's not the point!" My father's voice cuts through, sharp and furious. "The point is you acted like a lone wolf instead of a member of this club. You put yourself at risk. You put the investigation at risk. You went rogue."
"I know."
"Do you? Do you understand what could have happened? If he'd had backup, if he'd been armed, if anything had gone wrong?—"
"But it didn't."
"But it could have!"
Silence.
Heavy.
Suffocating.
My future father-in-law hasn't spoken yet.
Just stands there, arms crossed, watching me with those cold VP eyes that have made grown men confess their sins.
"Why?" he asks finally.
"You know why."
