Chapter Six
Sadie ran her hands down the front of her outfit for the fourth time in the last ten seconds to smooth out any wrinkles. Was she wearing the right outfit? What did one wear when meeting their boyfriend’s fourteen-year-old daughter? Rhys had told Sadie, he and Carys kept things pretty casual but Sadie decided against jeans. Instead, she’d chosen a khaki colored skirt and black button up blouse and low heeled black sandals.
At three months of dating, Rhys had pushed the subject of her meeting Carys and Sadie had at first found excuses, saying it wasn’t enough time but after another month passed, she could no longer put him off. The truth was she was terrified of meeting his daughter. Rhys’s ex-wife wasn’t in the picture and she had nothing to worry about on that front, but that didn’t mean other problems wouldn’t crop up. What if she ended up bonding with Carys as she had with Malia? Then if something were to happen between her and Rhys, Sadie would be doubly heartbroken again.
Finally, Rhys had put his foot down and insisted that she meet his daughter. Was it really four months? Where had the time gone? Rhys was a dream come true and she was falling more and more in love with him every day. As she walked up the pathway to his front door, she took a deep breath. This was only the second time she’d been to his house: the first was when Carys had been away for the night. Even though it wasn’t a mansion, it was just as impressive as it had been the first time she visited.
When Sadie had first seen it she’d jokingly asked if he sold drugs on the side to afford such an opulent home. Professors made good money depending on how long they worked for a reputable University such as the one he taught at but she didn’t think they made the kind of money to live in a place like this.
Rhys had given that charming smile of his. “I take it you like the place?”
“Who wouldn’t?” She noticed he hadn’t answered her question. “You’re not are you?”
“Not what?”
“A drug dealer.”
He laughed. “No. Why would you think that?”
“Knowing my luck with men, there has to be some catch.”
He’d caught her chin beneath his finger. “Let’s not get on that tangent again, before I carry you upstairs and paddle your luscious ass. And then I’ll make love to you until you’re breathless. And to answer your indirect question about how I could afford a house like this is because I happen to be fortunate in the sibling department. My older brother Colin has done quite well for himself and is head of his own conglomerate. He’s a financial whiz and has been in charge of my portfolio for years. Everything he touches turns to gold it seems. I may not be super mega rich like him, but I’ve been able to carve out a very comfortable life for myself and my daughter. And this house is nothing compared to his or at least what his will look like when it’s done being built.”
“Oh.” Sadie had felt foolish.
He kissed her on the tip of her nose. “You’re so cute.”
By the time he finished giving her the tour of his home that day dinner was somehow forgotten as they found themselves in his bedroom and didn’t come out until it was nearly time for Sadie to leave.
Now standing at his front door ready to meet Carys, Sadie was glad she’d been here before. At least it took away some element of surprise which probably would have made her even more nervous than she already was.
Just as she was about to ring the doorbell, Rhys yanked the door open. “What took you so long? I saw you had pulled up five minutes ago.” He stepped over the threshold to pull her into his arms and drop a deep hungry kiss on her lips. Whenever he kissed her it was like he wanted to devour her. Sadie couldn’t remember a time when she’d ever felt so desirable or wanted by a man. Terrell had never made her feel this way before and it scared the hell out of Sadie. In her mind, if Terrell could tear her world apart with what he’d done, there was no telling the kind of havoc Rhys would have on her heart.
She placed her hands on his chest with a laugh trying to catch her breath. “What would your daughter say if she saw us kissing like that?”
“It doesn’t matter because she’s going to have to get used to my kissing you seeing as how I intend on doing a lot of it.” He wiggled his eyebrows with a wolfish grin as he bent over for another kiss.
Sadie turned her head in time for his lips to graze her cheeks. “I’d rather Carys be comfortable around me before we get into any heavy PDA in her presence.”
“For your information, she’s upstairs in her room getting ready. So if you want to come inside, I’d better get a kiss.”
Sadie gasped in mock frustration. “That’s so unfair.”
“I never play by the rules.”
“Well, in that case, I’d better give you that kiss then.” She threw her arms around his neck and practically melted against the hard wall of his chest. As their lips met, she pushed her tongue forward to meet his, tasting all his glorious maleness. She doubted she’d ever get enough of this sexy man.”
Rhys finally pulled back with a groan. “I guess we should go in. I have some steaks on the grill I need to check on. It’s a pretty nice day so we’ll be eating out on the patio if you don’t mind.”
“That sounds like a great idea. I love eating alfresco.”
“Super. Carys should be down any minute. I can’t wait for my two favorite girls to meet. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll fix you a glass of wine?” He placed a kiss on the side of her neck before heading to his kitchen. Rhys seemed so excited, some of his enthusiasm wore off on her. With a father like Rhys, Carys just had to be a sweetheart. What was she worried about anyway?
Sadie took a seat on the plush suede sofa. Her gaze fell on a picture of Rhys with his daughter in black and white. It looked like one of those professional pictures families took together on the beach. Rhys sat on a blanket in the middle of the sand and Carys’s head was on his shoulder. The way he looked at her told Sadie how much Rhys loved Carys. It gave her heart a little twinge. Her own father had passed away when she was five from a heart attack. She still missed him a lot. Sadie often wondered if her mother would have been a different person had Daddy lived.
She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t notice another presence in the living room.
“So you’re the new girlfriend.”
Startled, Sadie looked up into the face of an unsmiling teen. So this was the famous Carys. She was surprisingly tall for a fourteen-year-old, probably taller than Sadie’s five foot four. Her face was round not quite hollowed out to womanhood. With long dark brown hair and green eyes like her father, she probably could have been pretty were it not for a deep scowl on her face.
Sadie stood up, pasting a smile on her face and offered her hand. “Yes, I am. You must be Carys. Your father has told me so much about you and I’m very pleased to meet you.”
Carys was indeed taller than Sadie by a few inches. Taking a step back, the teen eyed her up and down not seeming to miss a single detail, while totally ignoring Sadie’s outstretched hand.
After an uncomfortable silence between them, Sadie dropped her hand self-consciously. “Well, I hope we can become friends eventually.”
Carys’s lips curled in to a sneer. “You’re fat.”
Sadie’s mouth popped open. Had she heard correctly? “Excuse me?” She hadn’t known what to expect but this outright rudeness never occurred to her.
“Well, you’re definitely not Dad’s usual type. He usually likes thinner, prettier women. I mean, you’re not ugly or anything, but Daddy can do much better and has done than you.” Carys finished off her statement with another slow insulting perusal.
Even her mother who was known for being able to cut a grown man down with her words in half a minute at least had the couth to wait a while before insulting someone. It took several stunned moments before Sadie finally found her tongue. “Perhaps I may not be your idea of what’s beautiful but your father likes me just the way I am.”
Carys shrugged. “Of course he’d say that. Daddy’s a nice guy. Besides after the bad experience with his last girlfriends, he told me beautiful women were more trouble than they’re worth. So I guess it makes sense why he’s dating you.”
Sadie’s heart plummeted. Had Rhys really said that? Was that why he was with her because he didn’t think he’d have to work as hard with her as he would for a beautiful woman? It made sense. All this time she’d tried to figure out what it was about her that he a man like Rhys could possibly want with her and here was her answer.
The smirk on the girl’s face said it all. I don’t like you.
Sadie opened her mouth to say something, anything instead of standing there like an idiot. She should have seen this coming. Things had been going so well with her and Rhys it was probably too much for her to think she’d get along with his daughter as well. So this was the catch—the price for dating Rhys Edwards. An obnoxious teenage daughter. Was he worth it? Or was she already in too deep to cut her losses and get the hell out of here before she backhanded the little she-devil?
Rhys returned to the room, a glass of wine in hand. “Sorry it took so long, darling. The steaks are ready and I needed to take them off the grill.” He handed the glass to Sadie. “I see my two favorite girls have met. I’m sure you’re fast friends now?”
Carys beamed and sidled up to Sadie and put her arm around her shoulders. “We sure are. Sadie is a sweetheart, just like you said she’d be.”
Sadie did a double take. What the hell? Did this child have a split personality? One second she was one of the Children of the Corn and the next she was Pollyanna.
“Carys, honey, why don’t you go set the table for me.”
“Sure thing Daddy.” Carys walked over to her father and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. As she walked out of his line of vision however, she tossed a look over her shoulder toward Sadie that said watch it bitch.
“She’s quite affectionate when she wants to be, that is when she’s not being a typical teenager. So what did you think of her?”
“What did I think of her?” What she wanted to say probably wasn’t appropriate. “Uh, she’s something else that for sure.”
Rhys’s grin widened. “She is that. It’s so important for the two of you to get along.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“If I may confess, the last couple women I dated that Carys actually met…well, things didn’t work out and Carys believes she’s to blame. She’s such a sensitive girl and I feel guilty for being the cause of her upset.”
Something told Sadie that Carys didn’t feel anything of the sort. “Why would you feel guilty?”
“I shouldn’t have been so quick to introduce them to her. I should have made sure what type of people they were before subjecting my daughter to them. But I know you’re different.”
His words did nothing to reassure her. As a matter of fact, they only made things worse. In a strange way, they served to reinforce what Carys had said. Maybe Rhys did find her attractive in his own way, but now the doubts had resurfaced. How long would it be before he got tired of or found someone more desirable? And would his daughter always be this way?
She wanted so much to believe there could be something between them, but all the old doubts and insecurities came crazy back.
Was this the beginning of the end?
* * *
On his way to bed later that night, Rhys walked to Carys’s bedroom and peeked inside. Music was blaring from her phone. The singer sounded like a drowning cat. He shook his head. It was amazing what kids called music these days. Carys was draped over her bed, arms hanging over the edge as she lay absolutely still.
She was almost a woman. He remembered when she was just a little girl with uneven pigtails. He’d done the best he could as a single father and at times he wondered if it had been enough. Rhys knew Carys still harbored some residual pain from her mother’s abandonment. Even though he’d taken her to a few child psychologists, when she was younger, during her acting out periods, he still sensed a sadness within her.
Even though the last few years of his marriage had been rocky, he wished at times Lacey would have seen fit to at least visit her daughter from time to time. Once, he’d tracked his ex down through a detective agency in hopes that she’d come to Carys’s tenth birthday party, but Lacey had been living the high life with a boy that was barely out of his teens. She’d been supporting her boy toy with alimony she’d received from her much older second husband. The last time Rhys heard from her she was married again. He only kept tabs on Lacey in case Carys wanted to know her whereabouts and for that reason only.
Maybe in his attempt to fill the void, he’d made some bad decisions in the women he’d selected, but now he believed he’d gotten it right with Sadie. Not only did she make him hard with just a smile or the way her hips swayed from side to side when she walked, but she was a genuine person. Sadie was someone he could have a future with, and grow old with. She was a woman who loved him for him and would love his daughter as well.
Rhys tapped on the bedroom door lightly. “Carys?”
She lifted her head and smiled. “Hi, Daddy. Come in.”
He walked into the room and took a seat next to her on the bed. “Shouldn’t you be getting to bed soon? You have school tomorrow.”
“There’s only two more weeks of school left. We don’t really do anything. It’s basically like one big free period. I have study hall for my first class so I can sleep through it if I’m too tired.”
Rhys raised a brow. “Mmm, maybe I should have a talk with your teachers so they’ll give you something more challenging to do.”
“Daddy, you wouldn’t!”
He grinned. “I guess not. But you really should hit the sack kiddo. You know how cranky you are if you don’t get eight full hours of sleep. I’m going to turn in myself. I have a meeting with the dean of my department tomorrow morning. But before I go, I wanted to ask you, what you thought of dinner.”
“In what way?”
“Did you like Sadie?”
“She was okay but…”
Rhys frowned. “But what?”
“I don’t know why but…I get the feeling she doesn’t like me very much. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive.”
“Of course Sadie likes you. Why would you think she didn’t?”
“I dunno. Is she always that silent? I guess when I tried to ask her questions she seemed a bit, standoffish.”
“She was probably just nervous. Once you get to know her better, you’ll see how wonderful she is.”
Carys smiled. “I’m sure she is.
Rhys leaned over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. “Goodnight, Angel.”
“Night Daddy.”
As he walked out of Carys’s room, an uneasy feeling took over. Sadie had been unusually quiet at dinner. If he was being completely honest with himself, she didn’t seem one hundred percent. Perhaps she wasn’t feeling well. Yes, that had to be it. The next time the three of them were together, things would go much better.
Chapter Seven
“I didn’t know it was in my bag. I didn’t place it there. Why would I steal a CD from the dollar bin? Who even buys CDs anymore? And even if I wanted the CD it’s a freakin’ dollar. I would have bought it.” Sadie was beyond annoyed. She’d never so much as jaywalked in her life and here she was being accused of theft. And there could only be one possible explanation.
Carys.
The past couple months had been a test of wills between her and the teenager. The line was drawn at that first meeting. Although Sadie never gave the child a reason, Carys hated her and made it quite clear she had no intention of giving her a chance. Sadie, figuring they’d started off on the wrong foot had tried to make an effort to get to know Rhys’s daughter better. But every attempt she made was rebuffed.
Rhys told her that Carys was really into some rock group called The Vampires so Sadie had called her sister Daisy, an entertainment lawyer in L.A. to see if she’d heard of them. It just so happened that one of the band members was a client of another lawyer in the firm Daisy worked for. Her sister managed to get some autographed swag from the band and a tour poster.
Carys barely said thank you when Sadie had gifted it to her and actually tossed it aside as if it were a pair of socks she’d received on Christmas. That didn’t stop Sadie from trying. Each attempt she made to engage Carys in conversation was met by either one-word sentences or outright hostility. It was frustrating because Sadie was head over heels in love with Rhys and really wanted to get along with Carys for his sake.
Of course, she was all sunshine and light when dear Dad was around much to Sadie’s utter annoyance, but on the rare occasion when they managed to be alone, the nasty barbs began. Carys would take digs at Sadie’s weight, how she wouldn’t last, and her apparent lack of personality. Carys could have tested the patience of a saint, but Sadie bit her tongue. After all, she was the adult and Carys was the child. What would it look like if she, a grown ass woman were to stoop to the teenager’s level?
The last thing she wanted to do was run to Rhys. What would he think of her if she couldn’t get along with his daughter? It was clear he adored the little demon so she was determined to let the little comments roll off her back. After a while, it did seem like Carys was getting tired of her little game of Jekyll and Hyde when Sadie didn’t give her the response she was probably looking for. In the last couple of weeks, the girl just took to ignoring her which was fine with Sadie—at first.
Try as she did to ignore her back, Sadie hated not being on good terms with someone who Rhys loved so much. The way she figured it, with Carys being Rhys’s daughter, there had to be something special about her. In an effort to extend an olive branch to the girl, Sadie had invited her out for some shopping and lunch. Rhys had thought it was a good idea and to Sadie’s surprise, Carys seemed to think so too.
Sadie should have known something was up when she’d gone to pick Carys up and the girl sat sullen and quiet all the way to the mall, not uttering a word. Even when Sadie tried to draw her into conversation, she was rebuffed. At the mall, the teen acted as if she didn’t want to be seen with Sadie and lunch was another disaster. Carys started at her the entire time as if she was some space anomaly every time Sadie lifted her fork. The pig noise the girl made was the final straw.
Pushing her plate away she stood up and grabbed her bags. “You can’t say I didn’t try. If this is how you want it to be, then so be it,” Sadie had said through clenched teeth in her frustration.
“Why should I bother getting to know you better when you’ll be gone within a few months anyway.”
“If that’s what you’d like to believe that’s fine. But what happens between your father and me is our business.”
Carys had glared at her. If looks could kill, Sadie would have melted into a puddle right then and there like the Wicked Witch of the West.
“Since you don’t want to be here, I might as well take you back home.”
On their way out, Carys stopped. “Wait, I want to check out something in the electronics store.”
Sadie glanced at her watch thinking if she could drop the holy terror off in the next fifteen minutes she could salvage the rest of her Saturday and visit her sister. “I suggested we go there earlier, but you weren’t interested.”
Carys shrugged. “Well, I changed my mind. It’s a free country isn’t it?”
Sadie rolled her eyes and counted to ten so she wouldn’t lose her temper. She’d never been close to choking someone in her life but decided this little battle wasn’t worth the fight. Besides, she didn’t mind browsing through some items herself.
That’s exactly what she’d been doing when Carys bumped into her when she walked by causing Sadie to drop her bags.
“Oh, I’m so clumsy. Let me help you with those bags.”
Sadie was pretty sure the kid was up to something. “Don’t worry about it. Accidents happen.”
They bent down and picked up all her bags. Some of the items had fallen out which Sadie hastily put back in. She’d had enough for one day. “I think we should go, Carys. I’m really tired and I’m sure there’s something else you’d rather be doing.”
Carys grinned as she handed Sadie one of her stray bags. “Yes. There are a hundred things I’d rather be doing.”
Sadie wanted to punch the kid right in the teeth. Tight-lipped, she managed to not snatch the bag and took it with enough calm that would have made Gandhi proud.” As she walked out the exit, however, the alarm went off.
What the hell?
Out of nowhere, a plain-clothed security guard approached her. “Ma’am I’m going to have to check your bags.”
“I’ll wait for you outside, Sadie,” Carys said in a sing-songy voice as she practically skipped away.
Sadie didn’t have anything to hide so she handed her bags over. When the security guard went through her department store bag, he produced a CD. A CD she had not put in it.
The guard put his arms on her shoulder. “You’re going to have to come with me, ma’am.”
“But that isn’t mine. I didn’t put that there. I swear.”
“If I had a dime for all the times I’ve heard that, I’d be a millionaire by now.”
“I don’t give a damn about what other people did, I’m telling you the truth.”
The man seemed unimpressed. “You can tell your side of the story to the police.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “The police? But I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Come on, lady.” As he guided her out the store Carys was nowhere in sight.
Now here she was in the security booth with a pimply faced teenager who didn’t look old enough to have grown pubes. The bored looking plain-clothed guard wore a badge that read Smith while another guard sat in the corner with his arms folded. Both men seemed uninterested in her pleas of innocence.
Smith shook his head. “I don’t know why you people think you can get away with taking stuff that doesn’t belong to you.”
Sadie narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know what the hell you mean by you people, but I didn’t take anything.”
“Relax, sweetheart, I wasn’t getting racial if that’s what you think. I’m referring to thieves in general. I mean it’s not like the CD magically leaped into your bag.”
“I’m not your sweetheart nor am I a thief you jackass.”
“Name calling won’t make your situation any better.”
Smith was definitely making her act out of character. Sadie wanted to kick him square in the nuts but didn’t want to have assault added on top of what she was already being charged with. Even if she and Carys didn’t get along she couldn’t believe the girl would do something so underhanded, and what was worst, now Rhys would probably think she was a kleptomaniac. “Why don’t you review the tape? You’ll see I was nowhere near the dollar bin.”
He shrugged. “The store manager will have to provide that.”
“I think you’re full of shit. What about all these television monitors. I bet you can look into any store you wanted.”
“Look lady, I’m not going to argue with you. You’re going to have to wait until the police arrive. It’s the mall’s policy to prosecute all shoplifters no matter the value of the item.”
“Am I at least allowed to make a phone call?”
Smith shrugged. “You can’t use our phone. It’s for business only.”
Sadie flared her nostrils. She was re-thinking that kick in the balls. It would be worth it for the brief satisfaction alone. No. As much as he deserved it, she kept her feet planted firmly on the ground. “I meant, may I make a call on my cell phone?”
He shrugged. “Sure why not.”
She dug her phone out of her purse and contemplated calling Rhys. Maybe Carys had beaten her to it already and by now had already told her father that she was a thief. Would he believe her? Finally, she decided to call her sister. Lily was usually cool under pressure.
Her sister answered on the third ring. “Hey, baby girl. Have you dropped off Satan’s spawn yet and decided to come over here after all?”
“Uh…not exactly. I…I…” Before the words could come out, something exploded within her and a sob tore from her lips followed by another and another until her body was heaving with them.
“Sadie! What’s the matter? What happen?” Lily demanded.
From the corner of her eyes, Sadie could see Smith rolling his eyes, unmoved by her display of emotion. She resisted the urge to shoot him the middle finger and tried to relay her story as best as she could. “I-I’m go-going t-to g-g-get arrested.”
“Arrested? Why? Where are you?”
“At the T-Town Cent-Center M-Mall.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Don’t go anywhere.”
“I don’t r-really have a c-choice.”
“Hang on, sis, I’ll be there and if they don’t let you go, I’m going to raise the ruckus.”
Sadie sniffed. And she believed her too. Daisy was a lady down to her fingertips, but she could get hood with the best of them. Her hands were shaking by the time she clicked off the phone.
She sat there for several minutes her heart pounding a mile a minute wondering what her fate would be. She’d watched a lot of television specials on women’s prisons and she was terrified. While she didn’t think she was as pretty as her sisters, she considered herself relatively attractive. What would they do to someone like her? Trade her for cigarettes? Or packs of ramen noodles? Would she have to become someone’s bitch?
As these thoughts ran through her head she wanted to throw up in her mouth. She couldn’t go to jail. She wouldn’t survive it. When someone knocked on the door security guard’s door, she thought this was it. They were going to take her downtown and book her.
Smith got up the answer the door while the silent guard watched the monitors in front of him not moving. “Can I help you?”
“I think you’re holding someone here erroneously.” A familiar lilt reached her ears. Rhys! What was he doing here?
“Sir, you’re not allowed back here.”
“If you don’t want a whole team of lawyers to sue this entire mall, I’d suggest you let us in to talk to Miss Flowers,” said another voice with a Welsh accent even thicker than Rhys’s. Who the heck was that?
Smith shrugged. “Fine. But it’s not like it’s going to change the outcome. The lady is being held until a police officer shows up. She was caught red-handed with stolen merchandise.”
“Did you see her taking it? My daughter can clear this up in a second and maybe if you would have given her the chance to explain there would have been no need for all of this,” Rhys raised his voice.
Smith actually looked intimidated, especially when Rhys pushed his way through the door followed by a slightly older man who was equally imposing. Carys came in afterward, with a smug grin curving her lips.
When her father glanced her way however, that look of triumph turned to one of contrition. “Daddy, I’m sure it was a mistake that the CD was in Sadie’s bag. I mean when she dropped her bags all her stuff spilled out on the floor. She very well could have picked it up by mistake.”
Sadie’s mouth fell open. That little snake. There was no way she could put that CD in her bag. She was more convinced than ever that Rosemary’s baby had done it.
“See? That’s a logical explanation, isn’t it? Carys said there’d been some CD’s strewn on the floor so it was obviously a mistake anyone could have made,” Rhys explained.
“I just know Sadie wouldn’t do something like that. My father would never get involved with a thief, after all.” Carys was laying it on pretty thick and Sadie was speechless as she watched the melodrama unfold.
Just then someone else burst into the already cramped booth. “Sadie are you alright?” Lily rushed over to her and gave her a huge hug. And then she stood up. “Which one of you dickheads is accusing my little sister of theft?” She placed her hands on her hips surveying everyone in the room until her eyes fell on the stranger standing next to Rhys. Lily’s eyes widened. “You! What are you doing here?”
“You two know each other?” Rhys asked, seeming to be as confused as Sadie.
“Yes, Ms. Flowers is the head of my Human Resources Department. I thought Rhys’s Sadie looked familiar and the last name should have given it away.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Isn’t it enough that I have to deal with you on the weekdays?”
“Perhaps we should take this outside?” Lily’s boss said.
It finally dawned on Sadie that this was Rhys’s brother. There was a slight resemblance and he did mention his brother working out of his North Carolina office for the rest of the year.
Lily glared at him. “Not a chance. I’m not leaving my sister to these incompetent boobs.”
“And I’m not leaving until this mess is cleared up. It’s obvious some mistake was made and unless you have some evidence like a videotape of her actually taking the alleged item, I say let her go.” Rhys was in Smith’s face and Lily shot glares between the hapless security guard and her boss.
Smith held up his hands. “Look, I don’t want any trouble okay? Maybe it was just a mistake, but this is mall procedure.”
“And I’m sure you can bend the rules at your discretion. Look buddy, you can make it easy on yourself right now and let her go, or my brother will own this mall by the end of the day and your job will be the first to go.”
“He can do it you know. Uncle Colin is stinking rich,” Carys chimed in.
Lily rolled her eyes. “Or I can just kick your ass and take my sister out of here,” she threatened.
“All that fire,” Colin said in a voice not much louder than a whisper, but Sadie heard him and Lily obviously did too because she glared so hard at him, her eyes were practically closed.
Smith sighed. “You’re all crazy. Fine. I’ll let her go with a warning, but if she shows up at the mall again, she’ll be watched very carefully.”
“Pardon me, mall cop?” Rhys took a step forward as if he was going to toss Smith against the wall, but the other man backed away.
“Just go, before the police get here and I have all of you arrested.”
Sadie was numb as Rhys grabbed one hand and Lily the other as they guided her out the security guard booth. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened.
As she was being led out, she looked behind her to see Carys grinning her little demonic ass off. She’d underestimated this kid. Carys wasn’t Satan’s spawn.
She was Satan.