“It sounds lovely. I have to arrange for someone to come take care of the children. I can call my mother. She’ll—”
“The children, the children.” Red rage stained his face. “I’m sick of hearing about the children. They’re asleep, aren’t they? Safe in bed with their drooling dogs. I’ll call my own mother when we get to the resort. She’ll arrange for someone to deal with them. There’s an excellent boarding school in upstate New York. We’ll enroll them as soon as possible. You’ll learn no one comes before me. I can be generous and pay for the education of another man’s children, but I won’t have them put ahead of me or my needs. Do you understand me?”
“Perfectly. Should I pack now?”
“Yes. I’ll show you what’s appropriate.” His tone changed, became sticky with indulgence. “Don’t be ashamed of what you’ve got to choose from now. I’ll take you shopping. You’re going to have lots of time to enjoy yourself, to be with me, to live the life I give you without those kids and that bookstore hobby of yours in the way.”
She got slowly to her feet. The fear had ebbed, and in the void fury filled her. She could only pray it didn’t show. Leave her children alone? She’d see him in hell first.
“I want to thank you.” She kept her gaze downcast, hoped it appeared subservient, as she took a tentative step toward him. “I’ve been so confused, so conflicted. But now it’s all so clear.”
She looked up then, into his eyes. Cocking back, she swung the brush with all her strength, all her fury into his smiling face. As blood erupted from his mouth, she leaped toward the door. Her only thought was to get to her boys, keep them safe.
Her hand closed around the doorknob as he wrenched her back. Fear sprang up again, bright as the blood on his face as he dragged her to the floor. She kicked, tried to claw at his eyes but he slapped her hard enough to have stars erupting.
“Bitch!” He used the back of his hand, shooting pain into her cheekbone. “Look what you did. Look what you did to me. I’m giving you everything, and you don’t learn. You’ll learn now.”
When he tore at her shirt, she raked her nails down his face. He reared up, shock and pain mixed with the blood.
Rolling, she struggled to pull herself free, and suddenly his weight lifted. She crawled for the door, breath sobbing as she tried to pull to her feet, run to her boys.
Arms came around her.
“Clare, Clare, Clare.” Avery held tight until Clare stopped fighting her. “You’re okay now.”
“My babies.”
“Shh. Hope went to see. Shh.”
“I have to—” The sounds finally broke through her shocked senses. Slumped against Avery, she turned her head.
At the foot of her bed, Sam sprawled on the floor with Beckett straddling him. With Beckett’s fist slamming, again and again, into the already bloodied face.
“Oh God. God.” Dizzy, she pushed to her feet, and Hope was there helping Avery steady her.
Seconds later, Owen and Ryder burst in, and Ryder grabbed Owen’s arm when his brother started forward.
“We’ve got to pull him off.”
Ryder shrugged. “Let’s give him another minute.”
“Jesus Christ, Ry.”
Even as Hope sent Ryder one fierce and approving look, Owen shook him off. “Come on, Beck. Stop. Stop, goddamn it. He’s done. Give me a fucking hand, Ryder, before he kills this son of a bitch.”
It took both of them to drag him off. It only took one look at Clare to change his focus. “He hurt you.” He moved to her slowly, touched his fingers gently to the bruises on her face. “He hurt you.”
“I hurt him more. Then you—Beckett.” Shaking now, she clung to him. “Oh God, Beckett.”
“The cops.” Hope glanced toward the windows and sounds of sirens. “I’ll go down, let them know, see if they can keep it quiet and not wake the kids. Oh, and that we need an ambulance.”
She glanced at the unconscious and battered Sam. “But there’s no hurry on that.”
She caught Ryder’s hard grin before she backed out of the room.
“I’m going to take you downstairs, away from him.” Beckett lifted Clare into his arms. “You can tell us what happened downstairs.”
She nodded, let her head drop to his shoulder, hoping the room would stop spinning if it rested there. “Avery.”
“I’ll check on them again. Don’t worry.”
“He said we were leaving tonight,” Clare told Beckett as he carried her down. “Going on