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main reason her father had told him his daughter was off-limits.
    It was also the reason that a couple of years ago, her father had sat him down and told him that Deliverance Outreach could no longer accept his generous donations. Levi rarely attended service, but he’d told her father that he admired him, that he loved all the things her father was doing for the community, and that he wanted to support all his efforts. Which had been fine until her father had changed for the better and decided it wasn’t right for the church to benefit from drug money. Levi had never talked about what he did for a living and her father had never asked him one way or the other, but everyone knew what Levi did. They knew he ran a major conglomerate—an illegal conglomerate for sure, but a conglomerate nonetheless. They knew he had lots of people working for him, everyone from narcotics officers to petty street dealers, and that he never physically moved any drugs or used them. Everyone knew he was basically as clean as a whistle, essentially untouchable as far as the law was concerned, and that he was a very wealthy man.
    Alicia picked up a pair of strappy sandals, checking to see what the price was, but as soon as she did, she felt someone rub their hand across her back. She jumped to the side, then realized it was her stepmother.
    “Oh. Charlotte, it’s you. You scared me.”
    “Well, I certainly didn’t mean to do that. How long have you been here?”
    “Not long. Not long at all.”
    “Neither have I. But I’m getting ready to head up to the Ralph Lauren section if you wanna come.”
    “That’s fine. I sort of like these sandals but…”
    “But what?”
    “I already have a pair sort of just like them. The heel is a lot shorter, but they look pretty similar.”
    “And since when do you care about anything like that?” Charlotte teased as they headed toward the escalator.
    “Since Phillip started complaining about how much money I spend.”
    “Uh-oh. You know I’ve already been there and done that with your dad, and it definitely wasn’t a happy time in our marriage.”
    “I know.”
    “We argued all the time, and it even got to the point where I stopped showing him any of the things I bought.”
    “I stopped showing Phillip pretty much as soon as we got married.”
    “I know it’s tough, but the good news is that I’m sure things will get better. Phillip will eventually earn a lot more money than he does now, and then he won’t care about what you buy. I remember how upset your dad used to get when I shopped for myself, for you, and even for Matthew, but as soon as he got his first major book deal and started earning a lot of royalty dollars,his whole attitude about my spending changed for the better. Then he started earning thousands from every speaking engagement he scheduled, and the ministry grew larger every single year. Although, since your father earns so much from outside sources, he doesn’t take as much of a salary from the church as he could, because he wants all the money from tithes and offerings to go back into the ministry.”
    “Well, I just hope Phillip finally wakes up and starts being a lot more ambitious. I keep telling him that what he needs to do is work toward moving into a senior pastor position at a mega-church in one of the major cities.”
    “Hmmm.”
    Alicia frowned. “What?”
    “Well, don’t you say anything to Phillip until he tells you himself, but I was talking to your dad a little while ago and he was saying how he’d just had a conversation with Phillip and that he let him know that he was grooming him for either the top position at Deliverance Outreach or at a future location in another city. So, as much as I know you don’t want to hear it, I doubt Phillip is going to be looking for anything else anytime soon. He’s always been happy working for your dad, but now that he knows the actual plans that Curtis has for him, I’m sure he’s even more content.”
    “Well,