“Fuck this shit. I should have stayed in the South. No one has multiple wives in Georgia!” It sounded like I was shouting. Was I shouting?
“But we’ll be sisters. You can have a big family!” Moonbeam said, starting to cry. “It’s what you always wanted!”
“You’ll fit right in with that blond hair,” Leif said.
“Sadie.” Parker reached for me.
“Get off of me!” I screamed at him. “This is fucked up. Your whole family, my whole life, everything is fucked up!”
“This is a miscommunication issue,” Parker insisted, grabbing my shoulders.
“Oh no. No, nope, no. This is not a miscommunication issue. This is an I-need-a-restraining-order issue. You’re crazy, your father is crazy, your family is crazy, andyou’re a liar. Just get away from me.”
I grabbed my purse. The strap caught a chair, tipping it over. I slipped in the spilled coffee as I raced out the door.
A police cruiser pulled up outside the café. Parker tried to run after me, but Officer Susie blocked him.
“I’m going to need all of you to give a report,” she said authoritatively as she took control of the scene. “Sadie, Meghan is going to take you to the station.”
“I think I’m in shock,” I told Meghan as she guided me to her car and drove me down to the police station.
She patted my hand. “It’s the Svenssons—they drive you to drink and ruin.”
I certainly felt ruined as I cried later at the police station to a sympathetic detective.
“Do you have the paperwork showing all the loans taken out?”
I nodded, blew my nose, and forwarded him copies of the nastygrams from the credit card companies and all my loan and bank statements.
“My father took everything,” I said. “And I should have known he didn’t have that much money. Of course it came from Parker. Who else could it come from? Parker’s father is a cult leader who lives in a dilapidated compound in the desert. He doesn’t have two hundred thousand dollars lying around.”
“Your father put you in that much debt?” Meghan asked.
I nodded sadly. “I never filed a police report. I didn’t want to put my father in jail.” I started sobbing again.
“We can file one now,” Meghan said gently. “I have a friend from law school who works in the attorney general’s office in Georgia. This is probably a federal crime as well.”
“Kidnapping is for sure,” the detective said.
“Do you really think Parker had anything to do with it?” I asked sadly.
Susie knocked on the office doorway and poked her head in. “We’re not sure. There are several people with multiple versions of the event. Parker and his brothers aren’t saying anything at all and are lawyering up.”
“Of course they are,” Meg spat.
“I would advise you to just get out of town until this blows over,” Susie said.
“It’s that bad?” My lower lip quivered.
“It can get worse. We’re trying not to let that happen.”
“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Meg said, leading me to the car. I rested my head against the window as she drove me to Jasmine’s house. I couldn’t believe this was happening.
You shouldn’t have gotten attached to Parker. There were a million red flags, and you ignored them.
I was a wreck when Meg pulled up in front of the stately Victorian.
“Oh my goodness!” Jasmine cried, running out of the house. “You poor thing! The video’s all over social media.”
