He s.n.a.t.c.hed her purse from her shoulder, nearly wrenching her arm from its socket. Opening it, he began tossing her things onto the ground in a mad search for cash. When he came to her wallet, he shoved her bag at her, and she held it tightly while he looked through her wallet. Good luck, she thought. If she had twenty dollars in there, it was a lot.

He pocketed the small amount of money he found and threw her wallet to the ground. "Where is it? In your pockets?"

"I said didn't sell anything," she said coldly.

"b.i.t.c.h." He slapped her hard across the face, her head smacking the wall with the force of the hit.

She saw stars, the pain overwhelming and intense.

"Why are you here? What were you planning to sell?" he asked at the same time his gaze focused on her chest. "This is it, right?" He put his hands on her beloved necklace. "Your boyfriend buy this for you?"

She closed her eyes, unable to stand being this close to him and unable to believe she'd ever considered selling something so precious to her.

That's when her fight instinct kicked in, and she kneed him in the groin hard. She didn't have enough leverage to take him down, but the element of surprise along with the initial pain had him rearing back in shock.

"You stupid b.i.t.c.h."

She expected him to slap her again and braced, ready to duck, but he grabbed for the necklace instead and yanked hard, breaking the chain.

He held up his prize. "This oughta net me a nice sum. Don't think I'm done with you either." He turned and headed out of the alley and back onto the street.

"Oh h.e.l.l no," she muttered, having had enough. Not just for today but for a lifetime.

She started after him and slammed into him with the full force of her body, taking him down. He rolled, flipping over, and she ended up on top of him, her hands around his throat, and she began to squeeze...

Her mother's face flashed in front of her eyes, and she tightened her grip. "I hate you," she screamed at him as his body bucked and he clawed at her in an attempt to dislodge her.

"Riley!"

She heard her name at the same time sirens sounded. Hands gripped her by the shoulders, pulling her off him, but she was too hysterical to focus on who'd come to her rescue or what had happened to the man who'd never been a real father.

Ian pulled up to the p.a.w.nshop just after Alex. It took mere seconds for him to process the scene. Riley's hands around a man's throat, Alex pulling at her shoulders. Her father began to rise, coughing and sputtering but clearly intending to run. Ian slammed the man back to the ground just as a police car screeched to a halt, and the cop approached the scene.

"She attacked me," her father sputtered at the uniformed cop.

The coward, Ian thought.

"Shut the h.e.l.l up." Ian shoved his foot on her father's chest so he couldn't move until a cop showed up and took over.

The officer pulled the older man to his feet. Before he could ask questions, a middle-aged man walked out of the p.a.w.nshop and headed for the cop.

"He attacked her in the street," the shop owner said, gesturing to Riley's father.

"You're the one who called it in?" the cop asked.

The other man nodded.

With a grim expression, the cop pulled her father's hands behind his back and cuffed him while reading him his rights. Then he turned to the guy from the store. "Wait here. We'll need to take your statement."

With her father subdued, Ian turned to focus on Riley. He saw her on the ground, Alex holding her in his arms.

He gritted his teeth and walked over to them. "She okay?" he asked.

Alex met his gaze, a warning look in the other man's eyes.

Right. Like Ian was going to start a fight with her now. Thanks for the faith, he thought with disgust.

One of the cops came up beside Ian.

"Ri?" Alex eased her away from him. "The police are here."

"Does this belong to you?" The cop held out the necklace Ian had given her. "He had it clutched in his hand."

She nodded then groaned and grabbed her head. "Yes," she said, not meeting Ian's gaze.

"It's evidence for now, but you'll get it back when the case is over. Did you hit your head?" the officer asked.

"He slapped me, and I slammed into the wall in the alley," Riley said, her voice hoa.r.s.e from screaming.

Ian winced and wished he'd done more than restrained the son of a b.i.t.c.h for the police.

"An ambulance is on its way. You're going to need to be checked for a concussion."

"But-"

"No arguing," Alex said, helping her rise to her feet.

She raised her tear-stained face to Ian's for the first time. "Stay with me?" she asked him.

He couldn't say no.

Didn't want to.

But the pain over her putting herself through this when she could have turned to him devastated him. He'd asked her for one thing if they were going to go forward, and at the most crucial moment, she hadn't kept her promise.

An hour later, he and Alex sat in the hospital waiting room while Riley was taken in for tests.

"You'll take her home from here?" Alex asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Ian shifted in his seat. "Actually I was going to ask you to do it."

The other man narrowed his gaze. "I don't get it."

Ian studied his hands, trying to figure out how to explain his most personal feelings to a guy he barely knew. "After the fundraiser, I thought Riley and I had come to an understanding."

You either trust me or you don't. You either instinctively come to me first or there is no us. On that, I can't compromise, he'd told her.

"Yet at the first sign of trouble, she went off on her own," Ian said.

Alex shrugged. "Told you from the get-go she was independent."

"Yeah. But I thought we were working on how to compromise. h.e.l.l, I compromised on you," Ian said, because he knew the other man could take it.

Alex burst out laughing. "I hear you. The thing is, you just saw firsthand why she doesn't trust. She didn't call me either."

Ian nodded. He'd give her that. That might have sent him completely over the edge.

"I'm still not sure we can go forward from here." And that was about all he wanted to say on the subject to his half brother. "I just need to know you'll be there for her." Because he knew she shouldn't be alone.

It would kill him to leave her, but he had no choice. He'd made his needs clear-and he didn't think he was being unreasonable. He'd done everything he could to give her the s.p.a.ce she needed to be independent, backing off from his possessiveness at work, not pushing on the unsafe apartment issue...well, not much.

Yet when the ultimate s.h.i.t came down, she'd gone it alone.

"I'll be here," Alex said. "I always am."

Ian nodded. He knew better than to thank the other man.

So he'd wait for news she was okay. Then he'd leave, ripping out his heart...along with hers. Because after her choices, what kind of partnership did they have? He might not be an expert on relationships, but he knew for sure without trust, they had nothing.

Riley had a concussion and mild bruising. The doctor told her she could go home as long as someone was there to make sure to check her every hour. He also advised her to watch for more severe symptoms-headache getting worse, vomiting, and extreme dizziness. Since she knew Ian wouldn't let her out of his sight, she promised the doctor she'd follow his instructions. He left her to inform Ian and Alex of her condition and to send them in to see her.

She lay with her eyes closed, her head pounding, moving only when she heard the rustling of the curtain in her small cubicle. She opened her eyes in time to see Alex enter, and she immediately looked beyond him for Ian.

He wasn't there.

"Where's Ian?"

Alex settled into a chair beside the makeshift bed. "I'm sorry...he left."

"Work emergency? Or is he that mad at me?" she asked.

Alex groaned. "I've seen him angry, and I wouldn't say that now. He's...hurt. Really hurt. What the h.e.l.l were you thinking?"

"My father wanted cash. I was thinking that I'd p.a.w.n the necklace and buy myself some time to figure out what to do. Otherwise, he threatened to show up at places like the fundraiser and embarra.s.s Ian. I didn't want to put him or his family through that."

He shook his head. "That's bulls.h.i.t."

She raised her gaze. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You ran scared. The man told you to come to him with anything, and the first chance you had to do that, you took off on your own. To p.a.w.n the necklace he gave you to pay that lowlife son of a b.i.t.c.h."

"I didn't go through with it!" she said, raising her voice.

"That's not the point!" he shouted back. "That moron I call a half brother is the best thing that ever happened to you, and you lost him, and why? Because you're afraid to trust, that's why. Everything has to be on your terms. You won't accept help from the people who love you, including me. I know how that makes me feel, so I can only imagine how Ian's suffering."

Tears filled her eyes. "You're taking his side?"

He grasped her hand. "I'm taking your side, Ri. Always. And I know that you love him."

She blinked. "I never said that."

"You didn't have to." He shook his head, his expression thoughtful. "Honest to G.o.d, if you had to fall for a guy, why did it have to be him?"

She managed a smile. "I don't see how it matters. He's gone."

"Only because you won't give him what he needs. Look, I'm the last guy to talk about relationships, but even I can see he's changed for you. So why can't you do the same thing for him?"

She glanced down. "I'm scared," she whispered. "What if I rely on him and he's not there?"

"Listen to me. Kids are born, and they're supposed to know their parents will be there for them, to keep them safe, to love them. You never had that, so you learned early to count on you. Then later, you found it in yourself to trust me."

She swallowed, and it physically hurt. "Because you were always by my side."

"I don't see Ian going anywhere if you open yourself up to him."

"I told him I would...and I didn't."

"Can you? In the future?"

Riley searched her heart. She wanted to. She did...but she just didn't know, if pushed again, if she'd turn inward like she always did.

"Ms. Taylor?" A woman dressed in a skirt and blouse, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, walked into the room. "I'm Madison Evans, but you can call me Madison. I'm a social worker."

Riley's head whipped up. "I don't need-"

"Good to meet you," Alex said, rising from his chair, nearly stumbling over his feet in an effort to say h.e.l.lo. "I'm Alex Dare, a friend of Riley's."

The pretty woman appeared to be about Riley's age. She smiled and shook his hand, no sense of recognition in her expression.

"Nice to meet you too," she said, dismissing him by turning back to Riley.

Alex's mouth opened in disbelief.

Riley did her best not to laugh. Poor Alex wasn't used to not being fawned over by women.

"I appreciate you coming by, but honestly, I don't need a social worker," Riley told the woman.

"Don't listen to her. She protests too much. Finish what you were going to say." Alex shot Riley a pointed look.

Madison glanced back and forth between them before again focusing on Riley. "I was just going to tell you that I speak to all domestic abuse victims who come through the hospital."

Riley wrinkled her nose. "But I'm not-"

"You are." Alex came to stand by her side, placing a calming hand on her shoulder.