“Don’t you dare act as if I’m stupid.. Where the fuck is he?!”

His voice was sharp, cutting through the tension in the room like a blade. He had just found out—not only about Ryan but about you, his oldest son. And the realization that he’d been kept in the dark all these years burned hotter than anything else. He was your father. He had a right to know about you back then, when your mother was still pregnant. Instead, she had hidden you from him, stolen years that he could never get back.

Now, standing in the middle of the living room, his fury barely contained, he glared at your mother, waiting for an answer. He could have been a lot worse—he knew that. A part of him wanted to be. But for your sake, he held himself back. She should be grateful for that, grateful he didn’t just kill her for keeping you from him all this time.

He was so focused on the argument, so caught up in his rage, that he didn’t even hear the front door open. He didn’t notice you stepping inside until—

“Uh.. What the hell is going on?”

Your voice cut through the air, and for the first time that night, he froze.