“It’s Marco, isn’t it?”

I didn’t stop.

“Well, if you want to date a man who has a thing for animals, go ahead. If you want a real man, then there’s me.”

He makes me sick. I turned around and he was smirking, chest out. “You, Chief Ass Burn, are nowhere near the man that Marco is.” A rush of anger charged through my body. Chief Ass Burn would not leave me alone. He was making this idyllic life, this serene island, which had always been a haven for me, ugly. Plus, he’d criticized Marco, and I was flaming mad. “Marco has integrity. He is a highly intelligent military veteran. He is brave and compassionate. He heals animals all day, every day. He treats people with respect and with kindness. You two are entirely, completely different. Don’t you ever criticize Marco again. I don’t want to hear it, and no one on this island wants to hear it. In any comparison between the two of you, you will lose out.”

He was almost purple with fury. “You’re a—”

“What?” I taunted him as Ghost hissed again. “Say it. I would like to be able to write it down in the documentation that I’m keeping about your behavior on this island and how you treat people. So complete your sentence.”

“You’re threatening a police officer.”

I laughed. “Then arrest me. My first call will be to my attorney because it is illegal to lock a woman up because she won’t go to dinner with you. My second call will be to your superior, who is already getting complaints left and right about you. So. Do you want to arrest me because I hurt your massive ego by telling you that you are nowhere near the man that Marco is?”

“I’ll arrest you for telling people the future like a gypsy and lying to them,” he huffed, but I saw the malice behind his eyes, the desire for revenge. Narcissists always have to get revenge. They do not forget, they do not forgive. If you do not treat them like you think they’re God, they will attack. “You’re ripping them off. You’re running a scam and you’re preying on vulnerable people and leading them astray.”

“You’re a fool, Chief Ass Burn. I never charge people, I never take money, I never take anything. But go ahead. Find one person on this island who wants to file charges against me for being a gypsy. I dare you.”

I walked away, his eyes burning a hole in my back, Ghost almost apoplectic.

He would do everything he could to get back at me. He was a vile snake.

* * *

“Mom,” I said, “Aunt Camellia. Aunt Iris.” I fiddled with my teacup at Rose Bloom Cottage. I was shocked. I was angry, hurt, confused. I felt betrayed.

Beside me, Jules was shocked, too, and quiet.