“My ex?” I look over at Carla. She gives me a very small shake of her head. I’m not sure if that means I’m pushing my luck with this lie or this is not a battle worth fighting. Doesn’t matter. Either way, she wants me to shut up.
And I don’t like that Vic’s already called a lawyer. I know this is probably just precautionary for the upcoming kidnapping charges, but what if… what if he wants custody?
Lights flash through the front window. “There,” the sheriff says. “That’s your man right now. Looks like he brought a partner with him.”
I turn and look at the giant red truck, trying to figure out what this term ‘partner’ might mean. Did he bring his girlfriend? I let out a huff of disgust.
But then I realize—no. He brought his brother-in-law, Spencer Shrike. And there’s Vivi! I almost run out there, but Carla grabs my hand real quick. “Just wait here, sweetie. She’ll be right in.”
I force myself to listen to this advice. I do not want to be alone with Vic. Like at all. And Carla is right. He needs to come in here and return my daughter.
Who is… smiling? And laughing? And holding this jerk’s hand like he’s her… “Oh, my God,” I whisper. “Do you think he told her, Carla?”
“No way. No fucking way,” she whispers back. “He has no right to do that. There hasn’t even been a DNA test.”
“But look at her.” Oh, this is not good. She’s looking up at Vicious Vaughn like he is her hero.
They push their way through the first door, then Vic holds the second door for Vivi and Spencer to enter ahead of him. His eyes find mine through the glass wall and we lock.
Does he remember me?
He’s squinting, like he’s confused, so… obviously not.
“Hey, Sheriff!” Spencer Shrike enters the post office-slash-outlaw substation like this is just any old trip to turn one’s self in. I suddenly wonder if this is a thing for them. They’re like… professional perps, or something. They know all the ins and outs of how to work the system. And then that word ‘lawyer’ pops back into my head.
This is not going to end well.
I should not make a big deal. I should listen to the story he tells, nod my head, thank him for returning my daughter, and get the hell out of here.
“Spencer,” the sheriff says, “I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to see you, but I would be lying.”
“Come on, Scott.” Spencer grabs the sheriff’s hand and forces a handshake. “All that is water under the bridge, friend. It was, what, almost twenty years ago now? Get over it.”
“Um,” I begin. “I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but I’m here to collect my daughter. Vivi!” I smile brightly at her even though I want to scream, What the hell did you do? “I’m sure you’re tired, sweetie. How about we go home?”
I do not look at Vicious Vaughn. At all.
“Hold on there, Daisy,” the sheriff says. “We gotta write a report, which means we gotta get a statement from everyone involved. And that means we gotta wait for the lawyer.” He looks over at Vic. “Unless you’d like to make this easy on everyone and just admit you took the girl?”
Vic says nothing. But he shakes his head no as he looks straight at me. And is he… angry? Like, who the fuck does he think he is? He has no right to be angry with me. In case he didn’t notice, he’s the one who kidnapped my daughter today!
“I didn’t think so.” The sheriff sighs. “OK. Everyone take a seat. CPS is on their way—”
“What?” I blink. “Why?”
The sheriff looks me dead in the eyes. “Miss Lundin, your child went missing for an entire morning before you even noticed that she was gone.”
“I was working. She was in the break room.”
“Was she now?” The sheriff raises one eyebrow at me. “Then how did she get across the street and inside Sick Boyz Inc Tattoos?”
“I went to get her breakfast. That’s all.”
“And when you came back with her breakfast, was she there?”
I open my mouth to answer, but I can’t even manage a lie. I didn’t notice for seven hours.
I glance over at Vic. And I hate this man in this moment. He did this.
“I didn’t do this… Daisy.”
“Oh,” the sheriff says. “He talks. Look at that!”
“Vic.” Spencer nudges his brother-in-law. “Don’t say anything else.”
“Look,” Vic says, ignoring Spencer, “I’m not trying to cause problems. Vivi came across the street, there was a flurry of weird circumstances, and I thought I was babysitting my niece.”
“OK,” Spencer says. “We’re gonna wait outside and practice shutting the fuck up now. Let’s go, Vic.”
But Vic shrugs him off. “No. I’m serious. It was a mistake, Daisy.”