Daphne awoke with a feeling of grogginess and the thickness of deep sleep that left her uncertain of where she was. The room was unfamiliar. She couldn’t remember the events of the night before. And there was a horrible sensation of having been startled awake by something just beyond her senses.

Then she heard the light breathing of someone beside her, and it all came rushing back. She was at Laredo’s house and Met was sleeping beside her. He was lightly snoring. So, what had woken her? The house was quiet, and there was almost no light seeping around the edges of the blinds.

That was when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Boots. Heavy boots. A big person. Was it Justin? It was hard to say. Her heart began to slam a staccato beat in her chest, and she reached behind her to touch Met’s arm.

“Met?” She whispered his name, her voice hoarse with the fear making her palms sweat. “Met, wake up. There’s someone in the house.”

He blinked sleepily. She could actually see him coming awake as his blue eyes cleared and he sat up. “What?”

“There’s someone in the house.”

“Shit.” Met jumped out of bed and groped around on the floor before coming up with a shirt. “Dad!” he shouted. “Dad, you’d better not be in this fucking house!”

Dad? Was he talking about Joe Hernandez? Would Joe just barge in here without an invitation or other kind of announcement of his presence? Did the man not even knock?

Of course, that was about the time the outline of man was abruptly silhouetted in the doorway. There still wasn’t much light. The clock read after eight o’clock, but the day was dreary and no sun penetrated the house’s plentiful windows to do more than create a wan sort of gray light.

“What the hell, Dad?” Met immediately moved to put himself between Joe Hernandez and his view of Daphne in the bed.

She was wearing her clothing still, but Daphne groped for the sheets and blankets to cover herself. It was tempting to bury herself beneath the covers altogether. What was this man thinking? It was as if he did not believe any kind of rules or propriety applied to him.

“I came to make sure you were okay.” Joe sounded confused. “Laredo said someone attacked you.”

“It wasn’t necessarily for me.” Met’s voice was intentionally vague, which Daphne appreciated more than she could say at the moment. “It was just a coincidence of sorts. A friend of mine is going through some issues with a stalker.”

“What the hell?” Joe growled. “Who would put you in danger like that? Don’t you have enough problems?”

“Hey, now, watch it,” Met growled. “It’s my business. Not yours. I’m fine. I’ll have some clean up and repairs to do to Laredo’s house, but that’s his problem. Not yours. We’re grown-ups, Dad. We don’t need you breathing down our necks every second. Go home and mind your own business.”

“You don’t get to tell me to mind my own damn business!” Joe shoved Met out of the way.

Of course, this suddenly exposed Daphne’s presence in the bed. Joe glanced at Daphne, then at Met. Then he looked back at Daphne. She could tell that this wasn’t going to go well. Over the last few years, she’d gotten a sort of sense about such things. Joe’s expression suggested that he was trying to place her. That meant she was familiar to him. The two of them had met before on several occasions, but only at her office and only with Mr. Abernathy present.

“I know you,” Joe muttered. “Don’t I?” Then he turned to Met. “Who the hell are you screwing now?”

Met’s gaze narrowed, and his hands hung loose and almost aggressively at his side. “Don’t talk about Daphne that way. Don’t you dare disrespect her.”

“Disrespect…” Joe’s brow furrowed, and then it abruptly smoothed as he realized something all at once. “You’re that woman who works for Abernathy! What the hell? I tell him to improve my family’s image and he sends one of his employees to screw my son?”

“Hey!” Met reached out and shoved his father’s arm. “I told you not to talk about her that way. Daphne has done her job. We had a very successful interview and photo session with a guy yesterday out at the ranch. It went well. Things are going to be just fine. Everyone is doing their part, Dad. Everybody but you! You are the one who’s still running around acting like a lunatic!” Met waved his hand at the door. “Look at you! You just barge in here, and for what? To yell at me and bitch that I’m not doing what you want me to? Really? What should I do? Act like you?”

“Apparently, you already are,” Joe said gruffly. He pointed to Daphne. “You’re always bitching that I’m cheating on your mother and screwing around. Look at yourself!”

“Dad, I’m not married.” Met sounded like a patient man trying to explain grown-up logic to a child. “You’re married. You were married when you were screwing Amelia Collins. You cannot possibly pretend that wasn’t wrong. You betrayed my mother!”

“I didn’t betray your mother with Amelia. I loved Amelia!”

Daphne stopped breathing. She felt like everyone else in the room had too. She could absolutely tell that Met had thrown that accusation out there just to see if he could get a reaction from his father. She was not sure if he’d gotten the reaction that he wanted. In any case, the expression on Joe’s face suggested that he had said too much.

“You slept with Amelia Collins?” Met’s voice was cold and hard. “That is who I saw you with that night.”

Daphne wanted to reach out to him, but she did not dare. Now was not the time. She had enough trouble believing that this was happening right in front of her. Did they not even realize that this was not the time or place for such a discussion?

“It doesn’t matter.” Joe’s voice was rough. His face was slack, and he looked older than his years. In fact, he looked ancient. “My Amelia is dead. It doesn’t matter.”

“But you were still being unfaithful to Mom all those years later!” Met’s agitation was painful to see. “You’ll admit you were so obviously in love with Amelia Collins, but you won’t admit that you screwed up and cheated again all those years later?”

“I didn’t!” Joe insisted. “I don’t know what you thought you saw. But you’d better keep your trap shut or I’ll make sure you’re cut off without a penny.”

“You can’t do that,” Met told his father. “You don’t even have the power. You still think you run things, but you don’t. It’s time to step down. It’s time to be honest with yourself about your role. You are an embarrassment to us all. Your days running this family are over. Everyone in Denver knows what you are, Joe. You’re an old man who hasn’t accepted the fact that it’s time to retire.”

“You’re an ungrateful little bastard.” Joe pointed at Met. Then he turned his angry gaze to Daphne. “And you’re a whore. I’m going to make sure your boss and everyone at your company are fully aware of how you operate.”

“Dad!” Met snarled. “What the hell? I love Daphne! If you do that to her, you’re hurting me as well!”

“Good,” Joe said roughly. “That’s what you deserve. You deserve worse. You deserve to be humiliated just like you’ve humiliated me.”

“By what?” Met pushed his father again. He pushed him toward the bedroom door. “By forcing you to take responsibility for your own actions? You’re a drunk. And coming from me, that’s a pretty serious accusation! So, you’re going to ruin my life and the life of the woman I love because you’re pouting?”

“Fuck. You!” Joe snarled. He shoved at Met, but he could not move him. His son was far too strong and too muscular for the father to best.

“Get out of here,” Met told Joe. “Leave and don’t come back. And if that’s the way you’re going to treat me and the woman I love, then you don’t need to be a part of my life anyway.”

“Met, no,” Daphne whispered. “Mr. Hernandez, don’t do that to your son. Don’t be that way. Met is trying so hard to help with all of the drama that’s following you guys around like a black cloud. Why are you going to work against the efforts of your own sons?”

“They’re lying bastards,” Joe growled. “All of them.” Then he pointed at Daphne. “Do you think I’m some old loser ready to be put out to pasture?”

“No.” Daphne’s heart was pounding, and her breath was coming in ragged gasps. She had to be so very careful. “I think that you’re a man who has worked hard to raise sons to carry on the family business and to grow it and take it places you never dreamed of. Now you’re afraid to let go of the reins. That’s what I think. But I believe that you can. Your sons are good men. All of them. Your daughter is a good woman. She just needs you to give her a chance.”

“Jesse isn’t my daughter,” Joe said gruffly. “She’s Amelia’s daughter. She belongs to my Amelia. And that is why I want so badly for her to be better. I want to take care of her. Amelia meant everything.”

From the corner of her eye, Daphne could see that Joe’s words were having a profound effect on Met. Joe was essentially telling his son that the daughter he had adopted was more cherished and more loved than the sons and the wife who had stood by him for the whole of their lives.

“Joe,” Daphne said slowly. “Amelia wasn’t your wife.” She was gripping the sheets and blankets tightly to draw them around her. As if they would offer any kind of protection when this man exploded. There would be nothing to protect her when it all hit the fan.

“Amelia meant more than my wife! You don’t understand,” Joe moaned. “You don’t understand. You don’t see how the accident took everything away from me. Jesse was all I had left.”

“You had your family,” Daphne reminded him quietly. “You have five sons and a wife who has stood beside you when other women would have turned their backs.”

“Not now.” Joe suddenly focused on Daphne. A twisted smile curled his lower lip. “She’s not standing by me now. Is she? She’s planning to leave. You all think I’m too stupid to see it. I can. I can tell what’s going to happen. She will leave, and you will all go with her. I’ll be alone.”

Met suddenly charged his father. With a yell, he shoved his shoulder into Joe’s midsection and pushed the man into the hallway. Joe grunted. Daphne tripped on the bedclothes as she struggled to get up off the mattress.

Joe’s back slammed against the opposite wall. Daphne heard the breath whoosh out of his lungs. Then he went down. Met was on top of him. Met was shouting and yelling and even crying out in emotional turmoil.

Daphne hit her knees in the hallway as she struggled to grab hold of Met’s arm. “Met! Met, stop! Please. Please let him go!”

The sickening crunch of cartilage was accompanied by the warm spray of blood as Met’s fist collided with his father’s nose. Daphne screamed. The sound seemed to echo around the hallway before resonating in Daphne’s own ears. She struggled to hang onto Met. Unfortunately, Joe wasn’t helping. He was just lying on the floor laughing as his nose oozed blood all over the rug.

“Get out!” Daphne screamed. She pushed at Joe with her bare feet. “Get out. Get out. Get out!”

Finally, Joe rolled onto his stomach. Met let go of his father, and Daphne was able to grab hold of him around the upper part of his torso. She held on tight though her strength was paltry next to his. She pulled him away from his father and held tight. Rocking back and forth, she whispered nonsense to Met to try and calm him down.

Joe crawled toward the stairs. Using the railing to pull himself to a standing position, Joe pointed at his son. “You’re nothing but a useless piece of shit who uses his fists instead of his words.”

“Stop it!” Daphne shouted. She was so angry with this old man that she could hardly keep herself under control. “They use their words with you, you stupid old man! You won’t listen! You never listen. You just do what you want and push them and push them until they have no choice but to use their fists.” Daphne realized something. The knowledge made her sick to her stomach. She gazed up at Joe Hernandez and let her words fly. “You want them all to fail. You want the company to lose the contracts. You want everything to go to hell because then you can tell yourself that it’s because you weren’t in charge anymore. If they’re successful without you, you believe it will somehow make you less. You’re wrong! You’re sick and twisted, and I hope you choke on your spite!”

Joe’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. He stared for a moment at Daphne and Met. Met was grabbing his head in both hands as he let Daphne hold him there on the floor. Every single interaction these men had with their father only served to re-traumatize them over and over again until they could not take it anymore. Nobody could have dealt with that. Not and come out unscathed.

Without another word, Joe Hernandez turned his back on his son and started down the stairs. Daphne heard him leaving. She heard his boots on the tile near the front door. She heard the lock turn. Then she heard Joe leaving the house and the finalistic thud of the door closing.

“It’s over,” she whispered to Met. “It’s all over. You’ll see. Your father isn’t going to hurt you anymore. He’s gone. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“That’s a lie.” Met’s words were spoken so softly that she could hardly hear them.

Daphne leaned in closer to Met’s mouth. “What?”

“I said that’s a lie.” He gave a bitter chuckle. “My father will never be gone. He will never stop. And he will always try to screw things up for the rest of us. I’m just sorry that you’re getting caught in that web.”

Daphne thought about Justin and his stalking and the explosive box full of gasoline that had burned holes in Met’s T-shirt only the night before. “I think we’re so tangled up in each other’s lives right now that none of that matters anyway,” she told Met. “None of it matters. I love you, and that’s the only thing I’m worried about right now.”