Chapter 4 - The Fallout
Chaos erupted.
Uncle Greg nearly choked on his roll; Aunt Susan dropped her dessert spoon; and Alan lunged forward across the table, his face twisted in a murderous rage.
“You son of a bitch!” Alan roared, grabbing Ryan by the lapels of his uniform jacket. “You humiliate my stepdaughter the night before her wedding over some ridiculous military stunt?! You’re done, Lieutenant Commander! I know people at the Pentagon, I’ll have your commission stripped before—!”
Ryan didn't even flinch. With a single, fluid motion born of combat training, he caught Alan’s wrist, twisted it outward with calculated precision, and pinned the older man’s arm against his back until Alan let out a sharp cry of pain.
“If you ever put your hands on me again, Mr. Brooks,” Ryan murmured, his voice dropping an octave into a lethal whisper, “I won't just report you for assault. I’ll let federal investigators take a very close look at those crypto-investments you’ve been running through your offshore shell companies.”
Alan went completely pale, his knees buckling slightly as Ryan released him.
I watched the exchange, a cold, sharp thrill cutting through the tension. Alan’s shady financial dealings had always been an unspoken ghost in the family closet, brushed under the rug by Mom’s social climbing. But Ryan knew.
Ryan turned back to me, his expression softening. “Commander Hayes. Let’s get out of here.”
“Ryan, you can’t leave! You can’t leave me like this!” Lily wailed, collapsing into the chair as Mom hovered over her like a frantic, shrieking bird of prey.
“You’re a monster, Nora!” Mom screamed across the room, pointing a trembling finger straight at my face. “You’ve always been jealous of your sister! You couldn't stand to see her happy, so you ruined her life!”
I stopped at the edge of the ballroom doors, my hand resting on the polished brass handle. I looked back at my mother, at the woman who had seated me at the kids’ table of life for thirty-five years because I didn't smile right in photographs.
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“I was never jealous of her, Mom,” I said, my voice steady and clear. “I was just tired of pretending I didn't exist.”
I pushed the doors open and walked out into the cool night air, Ryan right beside me.
