Page 47 of One Filthy Kiss

“Shall we go?” Meggie stands up and glances at me, her eyes glittering with relief. “Are you hungry, Amber? I made cakes, and I want to hear all about the ferry.”

She tries to take Amber’s hand, but the dog snaps at her too.

“Can we take Orion back with us?” The child watches the dog’s owner with wide eyes.

“No.” Meggie shakes her head at the woman, who completely ignores the gesture.

“You can take him for a short while if it will make her happy.” I notice that she keeps her hands tucked safely in her lap; perhaps I should set the dog on The Fish and see what happens. “You know where to find me when you’re ready to bring him back.”

“Roma, we can’t take your dog.” Meggie’s gaze flits between Ric and the woman, hoping that one of them will take the dog away from her sister and allow us to leave.

Then I process the name, and I realize who the woman is. Roma Fielding, the actress. And here’s Meggie addressing her by her first name as if they’ve known each other all their lives.

“Nonsense.” The woman dabs her lips with a napkin. “I think Orion loves your sister more than he loves me. Fickle creature.”

Amber stands up, clutching the dog to her chest, and the dog responds by eyeing up Roma as if warning her not to try stopping him from getting away.

“He’s an affection addict,” Roma says. “He’ll go wherever the cuddles are.”

She waves us away. A woman who is used to getting what she wants, and bizarrely, we all go along with it.

Meggie thanks her, and we head back outside where my security team is waiting to escort us to my apartment building.

I don’t say a word until we are inside. With Meggie and Amber firmly ensconced in my living room where the tiny chihuahua is holding court like a royal prince, Ric follows me down to my office and closes the door behind us.

We remain standing. I don’t even pour drinks.

“Before you say anything,” he begins, “I know I fucked up.”

I let him speak.

“I don’t even know how it happened. She moved like lightning. She must’ve spotted the chihuahua, and that was it. She was gone.”

“Children are not like adults, Ric. They see something that they know or want, and it triggers an instant reaction in them. They have no self-awareness, no concept of consequences. They’re fearless.”

“I’m sorry, boss. If anything had happened to her…”

Nothing happened to her. Ric’s response to an attempted abduction by Amber’s father would’ve been a whole different ball game. Bullets would’ve been fired. Blood would’ve been shed. And Amber would’ve been traumatized for the rest of her life.

“Are you finished?”

“I understand that you’ll want to let me go.” He raises both hands, palms facing outward. “You won’t get an argument from me.”

“I’m not letting you go.”

The adrenaline is fading, and uneasiness is crawling back in. Now more than ever, I need people around me I can trust, and using Ric as a scapegoat wouldn’t be discipline. It would be suicide.

“But if you ever fucking let me down again, you’ll wish you’d never met me. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal, boss.”

It isn’t an idle threat. He knows that I would see it through, even if it hurt me as much as it hurt him.

“Have you ever heard of The Fish?”

His eyes narrow. It’s all the response I need.

This was the easy part. I realize now that Meggie needs to know the truth. She needs to understand what we’re dealing with so that she can help me protect Amber; keeping the information from her would be selfish of me. If she’d known about The Fish… Her little sister wouldn’t be upstairs now teaching a spoiled chihuahua to raise a precious paw on command. Because she wouldn’t have let Amber out of her sight.