“But I didn’t get any of the fritters,” he complained.
“Then you should have thought of that before you ran off,” I scolded him.
Alfie pouted as I grabbed my things then went to find Remy so that he’d give me a ride to my car, which was still parked at the Svenssons’ house.
“There he is.” Meg approached me. She was all business, and her face was a mask. She was flanked by a young man in a suit. He had greasy, slicked-back hair and sociopathic eyes.
“Sebastian,” she said carefully, “this young man is here from Harrington Thurlow, a law firm in New York City.”
“Sir,” the kid said, “Dr. Daryl Rawlings is revoking your guardianship of Alfred Rawlings. I need the child to come with me. We appreciate your compliance.”
“Absolutely not,” I snarled.
“Then you are being served.” He handed me a manila folder. “The information about the upcoming court date is in there. Note that the hearing is tomorrow. Because there is a child’s well-being at hand, the judge is expediting the trial.”
I took it robotically.No, no, no.
The kid gave me a smarmy look. “To be honest, the fact that when I arrived in town, the kid in question was missing? Well, that doesn’t look good for you.”
I felt like I had been punched in the gut.
Meg patted me kindly on the shoulder after the lawyer left.
“I used to work at Harrington Thurlow. They attract sociopaths but not necessarily good lawyers,” she assured me. “Let’s get Josh, Eric, and Hunter sobered up, and we’ll see what we can do.”
I didn’t have it in me to deal with that right now, but I didn’t have a choice.
“What’s happening?” Alfie asked in a small voice, clinging to me.
“Good, you found him!” Amy said happily as she pushed through the crowd and spread her arms to hug Alfie.
The fear and anger that I had pushed down over the last hour came roiling back up. I pushed her away, and she stumbled back.
“Just stay away from him,” I spat, furious with her and with myself. “This is your fault.”
Amy looked up at me, shocked.
“I’m going to lose my brother, and it’s all because of you—because you were distracting me,” I said, the legal paperwork clenched in my fist.
“But you found him,” she said, confused.
I waved the papers in her face. “My father is taking custody of him.”
“Sebastian, I—” Amy wrapped her arms around herself. “I really need to talk to you.”
“I don’t want anything to do with you,” I said coldly. “I’m done with you. I should never have gotten involved with you.”
45
Amy
“Oh my god,” I whimpered after Sebastian had stormed off. I pressed my hand to my throat in shock. “Oh my god.”
“Just give him some time,” Meg said reassuringly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. He’s just upset that his brother was missing and that he was served with a custody lawsuit. Just give him some space for a bit. Maybe send some food over to his house. He’ll come around.”
“They’re going to take Alfie?” I felt sick. “I’m going to puke.”
“I’ve done family law before,” Meg assured me. “I’ll help Hunter, Josh, and Eric look over the lawsuit. We’ll work something out. Don’t worry.”
