Something dark flashes across Switch’s face. Blade’s eyes harden. Rev goes completely still. No one says anything for a long second, but I can feel it, the shift, the moment where this stops being about what happened and starts being about what is going to happen next. And I am not sure which part scares me more.
Blade doesn’t raise his voice. He doesn’t pace. He just looks at all of us, then back at me, and when he speaks, it’s calm in a way that’s way more dangerous than yelling. “Here’s how this goes,” he says. “We’ve got two options.”
The room feels smaller all of a sudden. Bella stiffens. Bri’s grip on my hand tightens. Rev doesn’t move at all, but I can feel the tension in him like a coiled wire under my skin.
“Option one,” Blade continues, “we call the police. We give them his name, what he did, where it happened, and we wait for them to do their thing.”
My stomach twists at the word wait.
“Option two,” he says, voice still level, “you let us handle it.”
Bri sucks in a sharp breath as she looks up at her husband. “Blade…”
He holds up a hand without looking at her. “I’m not talking about killing him. I’m talking about making damn sure he understands exactly how bad he messed up. Enough that he never puts his hands on another woman ever again.”
Switch finally speaks, his voice low and edged. “Men like him don’t learn from warnings. They learn from consequences.”
My chest feels tight, like I can’t quite get a full breath. Rev’s arm shifts around me, firm and steady, and when he talks, it’s right by my ear. “He hurt you,” he says quietly. “That means he made himself our problem.” The words aren’t loud. They don’t need to be.
Blade looks back at me, and for the first time since they walked in, his voice softens just a fraction. “This is your call, Brooke. Not ours. Yours.”
My heart’s pounding so hard I swear everyone can hear it.
“If you want the police, we make that call right now,” Blade says. “No pressure. No arguing. We will back you all the way.”
“And if you don’t,” Switch adds, eyes dark, “then we make sure he understands he picked the wrong woman and the wrong family.”
I look at my sisters, the only family I have left. I’m supposed to be the strong one. The big sister. The one who kept it togetherwhen everything else fell apart and took care of them when no one else could.
But that version of me isn’t here right now.
Right now I feel like the little girl who climbed the tree that was too big, even though she knew better, and broke her arm because she thought she was invincible.
Bella shakes her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I just want you safe.”
Bri’s voice cracks. “I don’t want him to ever do this to anyone ever again.”
I swallow, my throat burning.
All I can see is Grant’s face when he smiled at me in my driveway. The way he held my waist like he already owned me. The way his voice changed when I told him no.
I press my face into Rev’s chest, just for a second, because the world feels like it’s tilting again and he’s the only thing keeping me steady. “What if…” My voice comes out small. “What if he gets angry and comes after you guys? After my sisters?”
Rev shifts, his hand coming up to cradle the back of my head. “He won’t get that chance,” he says, calm and absolute.
Blade nods. “And that’s not a promise I make lightly.”
I lift my head and look at all of them. At Bella shaking but fierce. At Bri trying to be strong even while she’s falling apart. At Ansley standing quiet and solid behind them. At Switch and Blade, both looking like storms in human form.
And at Rev. Rev, who came for me without hesitation. Who held me when I couldn’t stop shaking. Who’s still holding me like letting go isn’t an option.
“I don’t want to go to the police,” I whisper.
Bella inhales sharply. “Brooke…”
“I know,” I say quickly. “I know that’s what you’re supposed to do. But I… I don’t want to sit and wait and wonder if they’re actually going to do anything. I don’t want to be scared every time I leave my house, thinking maybe he’s still out there.”
Rev’s jaw tightens.
