He took a step toward her—pulling up short, when Maverick and Everett mirrored his movement, shifting to place themselves between Ella and her father.
Dad had enough sense not to continue approaching her physically, but his best bullying had always been done with words. “You’re still a stupid whore! Just a money-grubbing little bitch!”
Maverick was the one to move this time, but Ella was prepared. She gripped his arm, using all her strength to hold him back.
“Maverick,” she said. “Don’t. He’s not worth it. Besides, he’s said way worse to me in the past, believe me.”
He stilled for a moment, and she got the sense it was taking him considerable effort to settle down. For a moment, she feared he wasn’t going to manage.
“Please,” she said. “I’ve seriously heard it all at this point.”
Maverick’s shoulders relaxed, and he twisted to face her, cupping her cheeks, pressing his forehead against hers. “If you’re trying to calm me down, Firefly, you’re not doing a very good job.”
She grimaced, then shrugged. “I have a lot of personal experience with this scene. It’s one that’s been played out too many times in the past. It’s going to get worse before it gets better, aka, when he leaves.”
“How dare you,” Dad seethed.
“Let’s just try to get it over with—without bloodshed,” she added with a grin. Ella hadn’t bothered to lower her voice, letting her family hear, because her days of playing peacemaker were over.
Maverick hesitated—too long—before giving her a begrudging nod. Of course, any progress she’d made withhimhadn’t quite landed as far as Everett was concerned.
“You talk to my sister like that again,” Everett said, “and you and I are going to step outside.”
“Sister,” Martha murmured, looking confused and crestfallen at the same time. Ella didn’t have a clue what to make of that.
“I don’t give a shit if you are her father.” Everett turned to look at Maverick. “Who treats their daughter like that?”
Maverick placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze before looking at Ella. “A man who doesn’t deserve a daughter as special as Ella.”
“Special?” Dad scoffed. “She’s a stupidgirl. And I only speak the truth,” he said. “She spread her legs easily enough for you when she was seventeen, didn’t she?”
This time, Ella didn’t stand a chance at stopping Maverick.
He grabbed her dad’s shirt, pushing him backward and roughly shoving him against the nearest wall, the force hard enough to knock a framed picture down. The size difference between them was almost comical. Maverick had a good eight inches on Dad, and he was twice as muscular.
Martha and Mom both cried out, rushing over to help Dad, but Everett was quicker, holding them back with his arms outstretched.
“Ella!” Mom said frantically. “Make him stop!”
“Who?” Ella asked, perfectly aware of what her mother was asking. “Dad or Maverick?”
“For God’s sake!” Martha exclaimed. “This is going too far!”
“Don’t you take the name of the Lord in vain,” Dad yelled, still managing to chastise Martha while struggling to pry Maverick’s hands off of him. “Let me go, or I’ll see you arrested for assault!”
Maverick loosened his grip, but he didn’t move away, looming over her father in a truly menacing fashion.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he started, and Ella pursed her lips, trying not to laugh. When Maverick Storm started with those words, prepared to lay out the future as he saw it, God help the person who stood in his way.
He’d used those same words with her in the cabin, when he’d insisted on them living together and then again after their family dinner on Tuesday, when Ella was fretting about him and Everett missing so much work because of her. Maverick hadpulled her onto his lap, said, “here’s what’s going to happen,” then laid out their plans for moving her across the country.
“Ella is selling this house, and she’s keeping the money because those were her Gigi’s wishes. We’re packing all her stuff and she’s moving to Gracemont. We’re getting married in the fall and starting a family. If you want to be a part of your daughter’s future, or that of your grandchildren, you are going to treat Ella with respect and keep a civil tongue. Otherwise…” Maverick looked over his shoulder at Ella, letting her fill in that blank.
“Otherwise,” she repeated, her answer at the ready, “this is the last time you’ll ever see me.”
Even as Ella said the words, she knew they would have no impact on her father. He’d basically disowned her that day in the library, after discovering her with Maverick. From that point on, she’d become nothing to him, too sinful for love or compassion. Instead, he’d viewed her as someone to condemn and judge.
However, her threatdidland on the other two members of her family.