“Everyone likes me.”

“Not this girl. Man, what is it with you? Why do you always go looking for trouble?”

“I have no idea.”

“Are you going to call her?”

“Haven’t got a clue.”

“You want to buy this business?”

“Not today.”

Freddy walked back to the conference table, muttering in both English and Spanish that he didn’t know why he’d ever come to work for Thaddeus in the first place and that he needed to find somewhere else to work where the people weren’t so crazy.

As he opened the conference room door to leave, he glanced over his shoulder. “Is she the one?”

“There is no one.”

“You don’t believe that. You want there to be a one. Maybe the problem is you’re looking for something that doesn’t exist. Whatever it is, you gotta get this girl out of your head. She’s not doing you any good in there.”

Thaddeus smiled. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Keith called Lissa’s phone, but she didn’t pick up. Nor did she answer his texts telling her to get home now. When she finally walked into the house, three hours later, her gait was unsteady and her eyes were glazed. He stared at her in disbelief.

“Are you drunk?” he demanded. “You’re seventeen. You know better than to drink. Where have you been? Did you drive? Tell me you didn’t drive.”

She waved toward the front of the house. “No car, Dad. I didn’t drive.”

At least she’d had that much sense, he thought grimly. “What has gotten into you?”

“Me?” she asked, her voice overly loud. “What about you? Pushing, pushing, pushing. Don’t you have anything better to do?” Her voice rose with each word until she was shouting.

This was not the girl he knew, he thought in confusion. What was happening to them?

“Come on, Dad.” She took a step toward him. “Punish me. You know you want to. What are you going to do? Hit me?”

He instinctively took a step back. “Lissa, what is going on?” He’d never hit her. He didn’t believe in spanking or hitting. Punishments were a matter of finding a point of leverage that fit the crime.

She glared at him. “There has to be something. There’s always something.”

He moved toward her. She tried to sidestep him, but she was too uncoordinated. Before she could react, he’d pulled her phone out of her shorts back pocket. He held it tightly, then pointed to the hallway.

“Go to your room and sleep it off. We’ll talk when you’re sober.”

“Whatever.”

She stalked away. The door slammed. Seconds later came the sound of a loud alarm. Her door flew open and she surged toward him.

“What did you do?” she asked, screaming to be heard over the earsplitting alarm.

He pushed a button on his phone, silencing the shrill sound.

“You booby-trapped my window?”

“You snuck out, Lissa. You’ve never done that before. If you’re trying to show me you can’t be trusted, then that’s how I’ll treat you. Every time you open your window, the alarm’s going off.”