Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Heck, Maya was kind of worried that if she was crossing the road and Kathryn was driving that she’d speed up to hit her.
“Me? There can’t be any real risk to me,” she said. “I’m no one.”
“Of course you are,” her father said. “You’re my daughter.”
Not his baby or a sweetheart, though.
“Right, but we’re not exactly close. Why would this person target me?”
“Not close?” her father thundered.
Shoot.
She needed to be more careful about what she said. Her dad had a notorious temper and she seemed to be excellent at riling it.
“Be calm, dear,” Kathryn said to him, coming over to lay a hand on his shoulder. “You know that you can’t get all worked up. You have to think of your heart.”
His heart?
“What’s wrong with your heart?” she asked in alarm. Now, she was starting to feel terrible. Did she know nothing that was going on with her family?
“It’s nothing,” he said, waving a hand in the air. “Just palpitations. Nothing to concern yourself with.”
Kathryn shot her a look. A clear warning not to upset her father.
For once, Maya agreed with her.
“And I don’t like to hear you say we’re not close,” he added. “Your mother would be so upset if she knew you thought that.”
She didn’t just think it. She knew it. However, she simply nodded.
“That still doesn’t mean that anyone will target me,” she said. “Right?”
She glanced around at everyone, but no one agreed with her.
Shit.
“You really think this puts me in danger?” she asked.
“Yes.” Her father patted her hand. “And that’s why I think you should move back home. Where we can protect you properly.”
Oh God.
Now she really was going to be ill.
8
“Move back in here?” She couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“Yes, Maya,” her dad replied firmly. “Move back here.”
“I’m not . . . I can’t . . .” Just the idea of moving back in here had panic filling her. “I can’t move back in here.”
Her father frowned. “There will be a police presence here at all times to protect Kathryn and me when I’m here. Although I can protect myself. But I can’t send someone to watch you all the time. So you have to stay here. Really, Maya, it’s not too much to ask. Is it?”
It was everything. It would be the end of her entire world.
Then she reminded herself that she was an adult. And no one could make her do anything she didn’t want to do.
One deep breath.
Then another.
“I’m not moving in here.”
“Maya—” her father started to say sharply.
“I’m. Not. Moving in here,” she said. “I have my house. I have a life. I have my babies. I’m pretty sure that Kathryn doesn’t want several dogs, a cat, and a pig running through the house. And my hamster has a farting issue. It’s not pretty.”
She said a silent apology to Marshmallow. Sure, he farted. Who didn’t? But it wasn’t a problem.
Now, sometimes Tank got a bit nervous and could clear a room with one of his farts . . . shoot that was the example she should have used. It would have been far more believable than a farting hamster.
“Oh my God,” Kathryn said in disgust.
“I can’t leave them or move them in here,” she stated firmly. “I have a Staffy who has extreme anxiety. He won’t do well with being moved.”
“Who cares about a few dumb animals?” Vince muttered.
She glared at him.
Shit.
She probably shouldn’t have put it out there how much she cared about her pets. She didn’t want to give Vince ammunition to use against her.
“I could try to find them foster homes, I guess. But it could take a while.” She shrugged, pretending a nonchalance she didn’t feel.
She wasn’t sure that anyone actually believed her act, either.
“Maya, this is important,” her father told her. “It isn’t some game.”
“Sorry if I gave the impression I thought it was,” she said quietly. “But I cannot uproot my life.”
Her father gave her a frustrated look. “Right. We thought you might feel like this, so I do have an alternative. Reeves suggested that I hire you a bodyguard.”
Hire a bodyguard?
Wait. What?
“The owner of the company and the man who would be your bodyguard should be arriving soon.”
What was happening right now?
There was a knock on the door and Kathryn moved away to answer it.
“Dad, I don’t need a bodyguard,” she said urgently.
“These are very real threats, Maya. You need to take them seriously,” her father replied.
“But . . . but . . . won’t that be really expensive! I mean, who knows how long it’s going to take to find the person making these threats? I can’t have a bodyguard forever.”
“Not forever, no. But you know that I have some money from when your mother died. It will be a hit, but since you’re being stubborn and won’t move in here, I’ll have to use it.”