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He grunted at the little girl and reached for her.

“No!” The mother held onto her child while he yanked at her arm.

Fury ignited in me like a dormant volcano. It rose and surged out of me. I stalked over, clasped the guy’s arm, and threw two punches into his face.

He fell back and shouted, “What the fuck, man?”

I stood in front of the woman and child. “If you lay another hand on her or anyone else, I’ll fucking kill you.”

“It’s none of your business!” the asshole shouted while his busted lip bled.

“It is everybody’s business when you harass a woman and child in public. Makes me want to know what you do behind closed doors. The police should look into your history.”

“Mind your own business, fucker!” He charged at me.

I let him get a swipe on my shoulder, and I pretended to wince. Then I broke his arm and a couple of fingers and called that self-defense.

I gripped his neck, had a good squeeze, and whispered into his ear, “You stay away from them. If I find out you’re anywhere near them, Iwillend you. And no one will know where to find you.”

“Who the fuck are you?” he gasped as his face turned pale.

“Your fucking nightmare.”I looked into his eyes. “Stop drinking. Get help.”

Rage thrummed through my blood. Moments like these made me wonder if I was contributing to the deterioration of society. But was the alcohol to blame, or was it the man who had a choice?

Thelittle girl’s cry snapped me out of my rage.

I forced myself to calm and looked at the woman and her daughter. “Both of you okay?”

“No.” She crouched and held her daughter tight.

“Leave him,” I said. “You need a safe place for your daughter.”

“He’s going to kill us.”

“He’s not my daddy,” said the frightened girl.

“No, he won’t go near you.” I crouched to be at eye level with the girl. “What’s your name?”

“Bella,” she said with curious blue eyes.

“Oh my God!” Pam rushed over to the woman and child and looked at me. “I heard a commotion and looked out the window. The police are on their way.”

Apparently, the asshole lived in the same condo complex as Pam, which I owned. What a small world.

I called a member of my legal team to come and assist the mother and daughter and deal with the drunken fucker who was slumped against the wall of the building. Rick was the woman’s boyfriend, and his name wasn’t on the lease, which made it easy for me to prevent him from entering the building.

“I’ve got to go,” I said to Pam. “Let the police watch the security footage. If they need my statement, I’ll be happy to stop by the precinct in the next few days. Or they can call me.”

Pam nodded. “Don’t worry. Go do what you need to do. I’ve got it.”

Anger and frustration warred inside me as I drove toward the La Luna Hotel. I thought my dark past had fallen into the abyss, but seeing the violence and fear on the woman's and child’s faces proved the past was a ghost that could appear anytime to piss me off.

I tried my best to calm myself before I had to greet the press and all the wine lovers. I wanted to kill that asshole. He was just like my father, whom I should have killed. But he died shortly after getting out of prison. Karma eventually caught up to him.

My mom loved him, and I loved him before he started drinking. I remembered little about those years now because the dark years became more prominent in my memory.

Alcohol was a fucking monster that sucked the life out of people. It transformed people. And here I owned a successful empire of it. Alcohol wasn’t the only thing that could cripple the psyche. Society assigned blame to certain things that weren’t fully responsible for certain illnesses.