Page 71 of Mercy (The Sins Trilogy 3)
She oohs and aahs over the stones. “I swear, if I were ten years younger, I would’ve done my best to find myself a billionaire.”
I laugh at her theatrical tone. “You’re not that old. And what about your single dad?”
“He’s fine.” She sighs. “You’re right. He’s a good man, but sometimes I see Elizabeth and you and daydream a little.”
“It’s different, and sometimes hard to adjust to the way they do things,” I say, remembering the casual way Tony offered a hundred thousand bucks to the foundation because Sam reneged on his donation pledge. “And it’s not easy to buy him presents. Or do anything nice, you know? He has everything, and I feel like I have to stay within budget. I can’t use his money to buy him things. It’d be weird.”
“That’s true!” Rhonda blinks. “I’d hate that. I always feel like I have to get the perfect gift, and I usually start thinking about Christmas presents in September.”
“That’s…early,” I say slowly, even though my mind is whirring.
Christmas! What do I get Tony?I’ve no doubt he’s going to get me something ridiculously expensive and thoughtful. I can probably swing the thoughtful part, but…
“You need to start early if you don’t want to give some subpar junk you picked up on Christmas Eve,” Rhonda says.
“Right.”
A grimy woman in ratty clothes dashes out from an alley and bumps into Rhonda, hard. Rhonda grunts and loses her balance, stumbling back into Bobbi.
Bobbi catches her, taking a couple of backward steps to prevent a collective fall. “Watch it!” she snarls at the grimy woman.
“Are you okay?” I ask as the other woman scurries between me and Bobbi, who’s helping Rhonda regain her balance.
At the same time, I feel a rough, strong tug on my purse.
“Hey!” I say, turning toward the thief.
I can’t really see the guy’s face. He’s in an old, faded hoodie that was probably dark navy when it came out of the factory. His jeans are threadbare, and greasy hair hangs over his eyes. He grins, revealing yellow and brown teeth and making my eyes water with the horrible stench from his mouth.
He punches my shoulder hard, gripping my purse. Despite his rangy body, he’s surprisingly strong.
I lose hold of the strap as I stumble and fall on my side. The impact of hitting the concrete knocks the breath out of me. The guy dashes into the crowd.
All this happens so fast. Bobbi crouches over me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say, even though my knee is starting to hurt. Probably scraped. My left palm is stinging too. I used it to break my fall, not that it did me much good. “Go get him!”
“Can’t.”
“Why not? He didn’t get that far, did he?” I look around, but can’t really spot him. “Bobbi, he has my phone and wallet and keys and everything!”
“So what? They can all be replaced.” She lowers her voice so only I can hear her. “If I wanted to hurt you, I’d find a way to separate you from the bodyguard. If I run after him, who knows what else is going to happen? He wasn’t working alone. That hobo woman wasn’t a coincidence.”
My breath catches as my mind flashes back to the SUV gunning for me and Tony outside Julie’s apartment. When a hand comes from behind me to rest on my shoulder, I flinch violently.
“Are you all right? Do you need help?” Rhonda asks.
I look up at her concerned, motherly face, as I remember we were on our way to lunch.
“Yeah. I…”
I start to stand. Bobbi and Rhonda help.
“I guess I need to ask you to spot me lunch money,” I say dumbly. What do people do when they get mugged? “And I need to call my banks and cancel my credit cards.”
Before Rhonda can respond, Bobbi says, “I got it.” Her eyes are narrow, murder burning in them. “Let’s go get you fed. I’ll take care of the rest.”
