Pierce's eyes tightened. "If you're gone? No, young lady, listen to me." He held her shoulders gently, but there was a fierce sense of resolution in his icy blues that wouldn't be compromised. "Unless you're that professional boxer on the third floor and are in a match with someone, you don't hit women. You just don't do it. I taught my son that, I taught him how to respect someone. No matter what the situation is, you walk away. It's not that difficult. And let me tell you something else. Life? It's fucking terrible. He's hurting, he's angry, sure, everyone is at some point but that doesn't give him the right - " A pause for a figurative thunderstorm to flash behind the blue, "To do what he did. No one has the right to hurt you, Olivia. You need to understand that. Billy doesn't need to understand what Simon did. He's good, yes, I know that. But he's not going to think what Simon did was justified, and he shouldn't. Because it wasn't."
He cupped her face then, and kissed her forehead before he pulled back - obviously irritated. Not at her, but at her brother obviously. "What do you mean? Wouldn't tell you about what?" Oh, fuck.