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Graham growled. “You⁠—”

“Randy! Keep a civil tongue in your mouth.” My dad glared at my brother. “Graham is a good man who is taking responsibility for her safety.” He looked directly at Graham through the screen. “Which I appreciate.”

Graham turned to look at me, his gaze was gentle and kind. Then he turned back to my dad. “Thank you, sir.”

“So, you just decided you liked him after talking to him for one hour?” Seth's face was getting red. “Without knowing anything about him?”

“I know plenty,” Dad said calmly. “He's former Navy, served his country with honor. He works for a man that I think very highly of, and has good friends who are willing to help protect my daughter. And most importantly, he loves Joy.”

“How do you know he loves her?” Randy demanded.

Graham stood up even straighter, and when he spoke, his voice was steady and sure. “Because I told him so.”

My breath caught. Love. He'd told my father before he'd told me. My heart slammed against my ribs. The word ricocheted through my chest, leaving me dizzy.

Randy snorted. “Words are cheap. What does that actually mean?”

“It means,” Graham's voice went steel-quiet, “that your sister is the most important thing in my world. It means I'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if that includes dealing with her jackass brothers.”

This time, the silence stretched until my dad cleared his throat.

“Which is all well and good, but right now we need to focus on keeping Joy safe.” He looked at each of his sons. “Boys, I need to tell you something about what happened to your sister in London.”

My stomach dropped. I'd hoped we could ease into that part.

For the next ten minutes, Dad calmly explained everything I'd told the women in our family the day before. I watched my brothers' faces cycle through disbelief, horror, and finally, white-hot rage.

“You were stabbed?” Seth exploded, shooting up from his seat and taking three steps toward me. “You were in the hospital for three days, and you didn't call us?”

“Seth, calm down,” I started.

“Don't tell me to calm down! You could have died, Joy! You could have fucking died, and we would never have known!”

Graham was suddenly in front of me, nose to nose with Seth. “Watch your tone.”

“Excuse me? Who in the hell do you think you are?”

“I'm the man who's going to protect her from now on,” Graham said, his voice deadly quiet. “And I won't tolerate anyone yelling at her, including her brothers.”

“You won't tolerate?” Randy stood up and stepped forward, shoulder to shoulder with his brother. “She's our sister!”

“And she's my woman,” Graham shot back. “She's been through enough without you two making her feel worse about decisions she made when she was twenty-one and scared.”

“Stop it!” I stood up, my hands shaking. “All of you, just stop it!”

The room went silent again, all eyes on me.

“Seth, Randy, I know you're angry. I know you're hurt that I didn't tell you. But yelling at me isn't going to change what happened.” I took a shaky breath. “And Graham, I appreciate you defending me, but they have a right to be upset.”

Seth ran his hands through his hair, the fight going out of him. “JoJo, we just… we love you. The thought of you going through that alone…”

“I know.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “I'm sorry. I should have called, but I was scared and confused, and I thought I was protecting you.”

“By keeping us in the dark?” Randy's voice was quieter now but still pained.

“By not making you worry about something you couldn't fix. In all fairness, Graham has told you about what is currently going on.”

Dad leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “What's done is done. Right now, we need to focus on the current threat. Boys, sit back down.” After a minute, Randy and Seth took their seats. “Tell me what you know.”