“Look, my son was just trying to push the button for the elevator and he knocked over the vase. It was an accident.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s our policy. You signed an agreement to be responsible for damages when you paid for the room.”
“You want to charge me four hundred dollars for that piece of crap?”
“We’re not supposed to say that either, Daddy.”
“Maybe the child is right and we should call their mother.”
“We don’t need to call their mother! I’m their damn father, and I’m standing right here!”
“Daddy—”
“I know, Delia!” Steven barked. “It’s a bad word. I won’t say it again.”
“I can see where the children learned their poor manners,” the manager said.
Delia’s breath hitched on a sob.
“Look,” Steven said with a forced calm as I opened the door and strode into the room behind him, “I don’t know where my credit card is. I can’t deal with this right—”
“I’ll handle it,” I said, yanking my wallet from my purse. I unfolded the stack of bills I’d confiscated from Vero in Marco’s suite, counting out four hundred-dollar bills and thrusting them at the manager’s chest. “Are we finished here? Or do I need to contact the owner of this establishment and let him know his manager is harassing families ofsmall children and making them cry? And while we’re on the subject of accidents,” I said, seething as I backed him over the threshold and into the hall, “I should advise you that you’re missing aSTOPsign on the fourth level of the parking garage, your temperature regulator on your hot water is set high enough to scald a child, and a smoke detector is chirping in the stairwell. Would you like for me to come downstairs with you and file a report?”
The manager stared at me, wide-eyed, his hands frozen around the cash. “That… won’t be necessary. I think this should cover it. I’ll just be going.”
I slammed the door.
The children ran at me and I scooped them into quick hugs. I wiped Delia’s eyes and held Zach to my chest, placing his woobie in his arms as he sniffled and calmed.
“I could have handled it,” Steven said.
I didn’t waste my time arguing with him as I picked up clothes and food wrappers from the floor.
“Don’t look at me like that! You can’t just swoop in here and be the hero, throwing money around and pretending to fix everything. Not after leaving me alone with them all day.” I laughed at the irony. “Do you have any idea what I had to deal with? Zach took a dump in the pool.”
“Was he wearing his swim diaper?” I asked.
“What swim diaper? He has a swim diaper?”
I sighed as I changed the children hastily into their pajamas and nestled them against their pillows, drawing the comforter over them and tucking them in. I adjusted the volume on the TV to a soothing, low level before kissing them both good night.
I handed Steven the remote. “I have to go.”
“Where?” His voice rose with panic as I returned to my room for my purse.
“To a dinner meeting with my agent,” I said, slipping on my shoes. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“A few hours—?”
I pivoted toward him, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Pull your shit together, Steven. You’re their father. It isn’t all that hard.”
He watched me, dumbstruck, as I grabbed my things and walked out the door.
CHAPTER 13
Thirty minutes later, Charlie was right behind me, his shoulder brushing mine as he reached around me to hold the restaurant door open, his easy smile twisting around his scar.
“Let’s get this wrapped up quickly,” he said. “You and I have a car to find.” It was the same phony chivalrous gesture, the same charismatic smile he’d worn two days ago when he’d opened the door of his Cadillac to me, then proceeded to trap me and Vero inside it. He’d threatened us, taken all our money, and told us he’d been working for Feliks all along. I had that same feeling of being trapped as he politely nudged me into the restaurant and the door fell closed behind us.
