My father’s shouting didn’t cease throughout all this.
Gill got out of our way and Tommy and I moved into the room. A room that was ridiculous. It had been ridiculous when my grandfather sat behind the massive, ostentatious desk. My father had just made it more ridiculous.
I had no time to ponder this oft-pondered thought.
Dad was shouting.
And he had a gun. A gun he was aiming at Green.
In other words, the situation was critical.
“Dad—” I called, moving into the room, but abruptly stopping and unable to fight back the wince and twist of my head when the gun went off, the loud sound cracking through the room.
Green shouted in agony and dropped to one knee.
Dad rounded the desk and advanced on his soldier, gun still raised.
“You tell me that shit?” he screamed. “You talk to your king that way?”
God, I hated that king business.
My grandfather started that too.
“Jesus, fuck, Jesus, fuck,” Green chanted, still down on a knee, one hand to his wound, blood oozing between his fingers. He tilted his head back and scowled at my father. “What the fuck’s the matter with you? You shot me!”
“You fuckin’ turd! You do!” Dad shouted. “You talk to your king that way!”
I turned to Gill who was standing in the door.
“Call Dr. Baldwin,” I ordered.
“Liv, Baldy’s not our biggest fan,” Tommy muttered under his breath behind me.
I nodded slightly, eyes still on Gill, knowing that but forgetting at this dramatic juncture that my father had alienated Baldwin some months ago. “Tell him I requested his attention personally.”
Gill nodded back and disappeared.
I cast my gaze over my shoulder to Tommy. “Get some towels.”
“Olivia, you do not need to be here,” Dad stated, and I looked to him.
“Dad—” I started.
He swung the gun my way.
Tommy, who had been moving toward my father’s bathroom, stopped and moved back, positioning in front of me so I still could see my father but Tommy’s body was mostly shielding mine.
God. Tommy.
I watched Dad’s eyes shift to Tommy before I watched his mouth curl.
“Take a bullet for her, yeah?” Dad asked derisively.
Tommy had been playing the game a long time. But he’d also been taught a lesson he had no choice but to learn.
He knew the right answer.
“She’s yours, so yeah.”