Eve’s POV
The moment Steven Reynolds stepped through the doorway, the air shifted.
Eve barely had time to breathe before his hand came down across her face.
The sound cracked through the foyer like a gunshot.
Her head snapped to the side. Her cheek burned. For a heartbeat, everything went white.
Ryan moved instantly, faster than she’d ever seen him. His body surged forward, fury sharp and unfiltered in his eyes. He was a second away from landing a punch that would have broken her father’s jaw, but Eve raised a trembling hand and stepped between them.
“No,” she whispered, her voice shaking but firm.
Ryan froze, his fist halfway in the air, his chest heaving. For all the pain she had endured from him, he had never hit her. Never raised his voice that way. Never starved her or left her
