However, he wasn't finished. Pointing at my nose, his voice a mix of malice and madness, he bellowed, "Get out! Scum! You're an eyesore just like your dead mother! Serves her right, she's dead!"
The last taut wire in my head snapped completely.
Without thinking, my right hand curled into a fist and I drove it with every ounce of strength I had straight into his face.
"Ah!!"
Gideon let out a short, terrible cry and staggered back a few steps before collapsing hard to the floor. He clutched his nose; bright red blood gushed through his fingers and splattered onto the floorboards. For a heartbeat, the world seemed to stop.
"Gideon!" Eliana's shrill cry cut through the silence. She rushed over, flustered, supporting him and using her sleeve to wipe his face, her eyes wide with shock and fury as they landed on me.
"Jared! What are you doing? Are you crazy?!" she snapped. "Don't you know Gideon is ill? How could you hit him so hard?!"