Page 36 of You Found Me
She might be right. He had to be if he was going to keep her safe. He was sure everyone else in her orbit bent to her will like it was a high-powered magnet. She’d knocked all sense out of Diggs’s head, at the very least.
“What do you want from me?” Della slapped a hand on her chest. “I’mnotthe bad guy here.”
“Neither am I,” Ward countered. “I’m the one trying to protect you. Remember?”
“Protect me from what? Living?Nothing has happened. Some wacko left a note, that’s it. He hasn’t attacked me. He hasn’t shot at me. Maybe he’ll leave another note.” She wiggled both hands in the air. “Oooo scary.”
Ms. Bellamy looked from him to Renic. “How much longer do you expect me to live like this? How much longer do I have to put my life on hold for a maybe?”
“Until the threat is gone,” Ward said.
She had the attitude of someone who’d never experienced anything truly terrifying. She had no idea how lucky she was.
Lucky, privileged,andnaive.
“Okay,” Renic said loud enough to get their attention. He scrubbed his face with both hands before taking a drink from a glass that hadn’t been there when the call started. Ward suspected it held scotch. “Let’s get past this. What’s done is done. What’s our next move?”
Ms. Bellamy set her jaw but didn’t say anything. Shecouldlisten, it seemed, so long as the message came from Daddy Renic.
He put a pin in that line of thought. He couldn’t go running to Renic every time his principal misbehaved. Renic was looking to him for leadership. If he couldn’t handle Ms. Bellamy, he should turn down the contract and focus on business executives.
No, dammit. There was no way he’d let Sparkle Toes here get the best of him.
He tightened his stance and straightened his shoulders. This was his mission. His unit. His call. “We need to move.”
“Move?” Ms. Bellamy repeated an octave higher than normal.
“Yes. Move.” Ward pushed past the objection he saw on her face. “We need to get out of LA as soon as possible.”
Renic nodded, his face full of agreement and understanding. “Where to? She sold her penthouse in New York, and I assume the Belhurst would be a bad idea. It’s public and not easy to secure. How about Mattie and Adam’s island? That might be remote enough.”
“We can’t go anywhere connected to anyone in the family or her circle of…friends. We need to get off the grid completely. By tomorrow at the latest.”
“No,” Ms. Bellamy said, her tone firm.
Ward turned to face her. “Like it or not, this is what happens when you invite a bunch of strangers over for a splash in the pool during a hostile situation.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips just like he’d seen in the videos of her stage performances. If he remembered right, it was one she used while singing about personal power.
Gone was the bubbly persona. In its place was a force to be reckoned with.
“I’m not leaving LA.” His principal stared him down with the same entitled expectation he’d experienced from CEOs and politicians. “I have a VIP concert in two weeks. There’s no pointin moving somewhere when I’d just have to come back. Plus, I have rehearsals.”
“We can probably reschedule that,” Renic said. He didn’t sound thrilled about the idea.
“No.” Ms. Bellamy’s chin lifted almost imperceptibly. This time, it wasn’t stubborn defiance. It was determination. “Piper never reschedules, and neither do I.”
“You can’t do a show right now.” Ward pictured that nightmare scenario, and his heart rate kicked up a notch. Thousands of people, multiple entrances and exits. Impossible to keep totally secure, no matter how big his team was. “He knows you’re going to be there. He’ll be ready for it. I can’t guarantee your safety in a situation like that.”
“Gee, Warden, I thought you were a specialist. Anexpert.” Ms. Bellamy drew the word out in a little singsong that made it very clear what she thought of his skills. “Surely, you can handle one small show at a tiny venue like The Rox. It’s not like it’s Madison Square Garden.”
Ward gritted his teeth. “I’mnota prison warden.” He would not rise to her bait. He would not give in to the temptation to let her have a dose of unvarnished opinion.
He knew The Rox. He’d examined it from top to bottom after Renic hired him because that was where the stalker had made first contact. “That place is a warren of easy access with a dose of open-air vulnerability. The stalker’s already been there and done that once. We’d be fools to let him have a repeat performance. It’s out.”
Her lips pressed together in a line of denial and disapproval.
He had to throw her some kind of bone or she’d never see reason. “Why don’t you do the show virtual?”