Clay grabbed Owen's outstretched finger and bent it backward. Hard.

Over the shrill, ugly sound of Owen's screaming, Clay spoke, his voice steady and low.

"I own this supermarket. So I'm going to need you to get out. Right now."

My mind went blank.

This supermarket was Clay's.

What had I been panicking for?

"And before you leave," Clay continued, "put back every single item you pulled off those shelves. Exactly where you found them."

I looked at Owen's cart, heaped with a chaotic mountain of goods, and couldn't hold back a laugh.

Sorting through that mess and returning everything to its proper place would take at least three hours.

I checked my watch. Four hours until the heat hit.

Owen wouldn't have time to prepare a thing.

"Fine! We'll put it back!"

Lesley planted her hands on her hips, craned her neck at Clay, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Owen scrambled behind her, yanking at her clothes, trying desperately to shut her up. It didn't work.

So Lesley's stupidity wasn't an act after all.

But Owen still had a shred of sense left. He shoved Lesley behind him, pointed at the cart full of goods, and ground out through clenched teeth—

"Fine! I'll put all this stuff back! It's just a bunch of snacks—big deal!"

He pulled out a fistful of receipts and waved them in my face.

"I already bought a ton of fans and air conditioners from HomeStyle Plaza downstairs. With all that, we'll ride out the heatwave in total comfort!"

The second the words left Owen's mouth, Clay let out a cold laugh.

"HomeStyle Plaza is mine too."

I grabbed Clay's arm before he could say another word, shooting him a look.

"Drop it. Don't waste any more time on them. I'm starving—let's just go home and make dinner."

Clay looked at me, confusion written all over his face.

"Wanda, those fans and ACs—I bought them for us and both sets of parents. A buddy of mine said this heat advisory isn't going to blow over anytime soon. You're really just going to let him walk off with all of it?"

"Those things are useless. Trust me. Once the heat really hits, the power grid won't last three days. When that happens, all those appliances will just be dead weight—one more thing for people to lose their minds over."

I took his hand and pulled him toward the exit.

Owen was too busy consoling Lesley, who was throwing a fit over losing her snacks, to catch a word of what I'd said.