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“And a good morning to you too!” Mike rebuked his sister as he strolled over from his office. “Even I know that a bodyguard usually sticks pretty close to the body they’re guarding.” Mike gave Persy a playful grin as he gave his sister’s hair a teasing ruffle before turning to Casper. “I hope you’re ready for this, because it ain’t pretty, mate.”
Casper grimaced. “I had a feeling it wouldn’t be. What did the police have to say?”
Mike shrugged. “They’ve put it down to vandalism. Kids having fun. Which we both know is bullshit.”
It had to be, considering there was a Porche and a Bentley inside the locked garage, as well as the Maserati that Mike had come in early to work on.
* * *
“Do the security cameras in here work?” Persy prompted, knowing it wasn’t always the case that visible cameras were linked to an actual recording device.
“They should have worked,” Mike grimaced. “But when I offered to show the recording for last night to the police, I discovered there wasn’t one because all the cameras had been switched off.”
“All of them?” There were at least four in the large space that Persy could see.
“Yes,” Mike confirmed.
She frowned. “Clever vandals, then.”
He nodded. “So it would seem.”
Persy looked at him searchingly for several long minutes before looking away again. She had a feeling, from Mike’s guarded responses, that he was hiding something. But, in view of the fact he was one of Casper’s closest friends, she didn’t want to make any assumptions as to what that something could be.
“Bloody hell,” Casper groaned as he looked inside the already badly damaged Jaguar exterior and saw the cut leather seats. He sighed. “Almost every panel needs replacing, or beating into shape and respraying, and now the interior looks like hell too.” He straightened. “I’m really not sure it’s worth the bother of fixing it.”
“I’m fixing it,” Mike stated firmly.
“But—”
“You love this fucking car,” Mike grated.
“Yes, but—”
“I’m fixing it,” Mike snapped.
Persy easily read the confusion on Casper’s face at his friend’s vehemence. A vehemence that only made sense if— “Mike, did Casper bring his car in to you to be fixed on the other occasions it was damaged? And did you pick it up on your car carrier and bring it here when the tires had been slashed?” she queried lightly.
“Yes.” Once again, his answer was abrupt.
She nodded, not adding anything else. She didn’t need to. Knew from the way Mike’s gaze would no longer meet hers and his cheeks had paled that he was fully aware of what she’d just realized. They also both knew that, given enough time, Casper’s thought process would come to that same conclusion.
Mike turned to Casper. “Could I have a word with you in the privacy of my office?”
Casper looked surprised by the request, but nodded his agreement. “I’ll only be a few minutes,” he assured Persy before following the other man to the half-glassed walled room that appeared to be his office.
“It won’t last, you know.”
Persy turned to look at the young woman who was probably the same age as her, but seemed much younger. “My being Casper’s bodyguard?” She shrugged. “I’m hoping so, because that will mean his life is no longer in danger.”
Rachel scowled at her. “I’m talking about the fact that the two of you are currently fucking.”
“Ah.” Persy winced at the description.
The other woman nodded. “Casper never spends longer than a single night with any woman.”
Persy glanced across to where she could clearly see the two men in the office were deep in a heated conversation. Casper looked shocked. Mike looked nauseated. Both men were staring out the window in their direction.
Persy turned back to the smaller woman. “I know for a fact you have never been one of them.”
