Harper shoves her hands into her coat pockets. “I don’t know if I’m just overly anxious or?—”
Grandpa cuts in, “He called me earlier, but he didn’t say anything about coming here.”
A knot forms in the middle of my stomach. Something is wrong. I know it.
That’s when I hear it.
A scream. It’s so loud that it doesn’t sound human. But I know who it is.
Magnolia.
It’s coming from just down the hall.
I sprint toward the sound and find the study door closed. The scream is quiet now, but I know she must be in here. The door is locked.
“Magnolia!” I roar as I bang on the door.
I don’t wait for an answer. I kick just below the door handle, and the door flies inward.
I immediately spot Magnolia, standing with her back pressed against the wall between the two windows that overlook the backyard.
Kevin is in the room, too, standing far too close to her. He looks at me, fear in his eyes as he backs away from her frantically. But it’s not enough. I can see the red handprint on her arm. Either he hit her, or he grabbed her hard enough to bruise.
Magnolia looks at me andsmiles. “I knew you’d hear me. He locked the door, and I didn’t like that.”
“What the hell are you doing with her? Did you touch her?” I demand as I step toward Kevin.
He’s a couple of inches shorter than me and backs away rapidly as I walk steadily toward him.
“I was just trying to talk some sense into her! She doesn’t need all of that money. It’s obvious she manipulated Alexander into giving it to her. I just wanted a chance to talk to her.”
“He wanted me to sign everything over to him,” Magnolia supplies.
“So, you laid your hands on her?!”
I glance over my shoulder to look at Magnolia, who’s looking at me with glittering eyes. I can’t quite recognize what emotion is on her face. But then my eyes go to the mark on her arm, and I pivot back to Kevin.
“Get out of this house.”
“She refused to listen. I was just trying to talk with her.”
“You left handprints on her arm,” I growl.
“You can’t make me?—”
I launch a quick punch to his right eye. It’s enough to knock him to the ground, but I purposefully hit him with my weaker arm. “Now get out.”
He stands up and scurries out of the room.
I’m scared to look at Magnolia. I’ve never ever punched someone out of anger before. But when he admitted to cornering her…there was no more reasoning with him.
Magnolia steps beside me, resting a hand on my arm. I turn to look down at her.
“Are you all right?” I ask as I gently grab her arm.
When my eyes land on the red fingerprints Kevin left there, a new wave of anger washes over me.
“Well, I’d like to see a team of lawyers keep that creep away from me. They’d probably have to pause and confer before taking action,” Magnolia says as she wraps her arms around me, stepping in front of me and laying her head against my chest.
