Page 6 of Drawn Together

“So you plan to have someone watching me day and night?!”

Logan stepped forward and answered for my father. “Only until we can clear up what’s happened, Miss Cortés,” he said. “We already have the best private investigators looking into who could’ve kidnapped you.”

“Private investigators? Wouldn’t it be better to leave it to the police?”

“The police are slow, honey; they’re overworked and underpaid. I prefer to pay for services instead of sitting and waiting for them to be carried out incompetently,” her father said.

I closed my mouth. I didn’t want something like this to happen again. Still, I felt defeated. I had fought so hard to convince my father that I didn’t need security, and it had all been for nothing.

“We got you the best bodyguard we could find. He served in the US military and was decorated with honors. We were lucky he’s agreed to accept the job.”

I sighed, knowing the battle was lost. “I don’t want anyone at school to know I have a bodyguard, Dad.”

“We’ve already thought of that. He’ll be undercover; no one will know why he’s there unless you tell them. We have informed the university, and he’ll be able to pass as a student and escort you everywhere. You won’t have to worry about a thing; it’ll be like he’s not even there. I promise.”

This was somewhat of a consolation, although I doubted that some soldier could pass unnoticed in a crowd of mostly young students.

“Your apartment has two bedrooms and a separate room for staff. I’ve already sent someone to make space for Mr. Moore.”

Shit, my dance studio. I couldn’t help feeling frustrated and angry. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate what my father was doing for me, but it annoyed me that I would have someone hovering around me all the time. Yes, I was still scared, but I didn’t want to live in fear. I didn’t want a constant reminder of the fact that someone could hurt me again, or at least try to. But I knew that, given the circumstances, there was nothing I could do.

“How long do you think it will take to figure out who’s behind this?”

My father sat back down. “I don’t know, but I can assure you it’s my top priority.”

I nodded, ready to leave. “Can I go?”

My father agreed and looked back at his computer.

I hadn’t even met this Mr. Moore, whoever he was, and I already disliked him.

CHAPTER 3MARFIL

My father made arrangements for Logan to fly with me back to New York the next day, where Mr. Moore would be waiting to meet me. We weren’t able to take the private plane because my father would be leaving for Puerto Rico very early. Not that I cared.

I couldn’t help but feel safe with Logan seated beside me in first class. I wasn’t a huge fan of flying, so I always preferred to travel with someone else. But beyond my fear of flying, I was also still shaken by what had happened, which was at the forefront of my mind. I just wanted everything to go back to normal, but I’d been kidnapped so close to home that the city I loved so much now felt like an enemy.

As I got off the plane and switched my iPhone out of airplane mode, I received a message from Liam saying he would bring dinner over and not to worry about anything because he would take care of me as if I were his girl. That made me smile. Sometimes I wondered why we weren’t a couple, but then I thought about our friendship, and any ideas of taking it further vanished from my mind.

I was not at all excited about sharing my apartment with a stranger, and if this Moore character had to be around, I’d feel more comfortable with Liam there, at least until I got used to him. Bodyguards made me nervous; they were a constant reminder that something bad could happen.

When my mother was killed, my father tightened up his securityto an extreme. He never went anywhere without Logan, even if he was just stopping to buy a bottle of water. Gabriella and I had never had our own bodyguards, but only because we were locked up at boarding school where there was no need. Also, unlike our father, a well-known figure, we had always been hidden from the public eye.

Things changed when I moved to New York. It wasn’t like back in England, when my father was more permissive than I had expected. But now that I had been kidnapped, there wasn’t a person on earth who could convince him not to assign me a security detail. This annoyed and relieved me in equal measures. I’m not going to lie, the whole thing scared me, and it was even scarier knowing that the reasons for my kidnapping were still a mystery. And I still couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that the worst was yet to come.

I tried to push those thoughts aside as I followed Logan down the long airport corridor. So much had happened in such a short time, and all I wanted to do was take a steaming hot bath and crawl into bed, then wake up and discover it had all been a bad dream.

“Miss Cortés, I won’t be seeing you back to the apartment—my flight leaves in two hours. Mr. Moore will take care of you from here on out, all right?”

He’ll take care of me?I suddenly felt like I was three years old.

I nodded and remained silent until we reached the automatic doors that opened onto the arrivals hall, full of travelers and men in suits holding signs with names on them.

As I walked toward the very handsome person who would now be my bodyguard, holding a sign with my name on it, my heart began to pound. Logan stepped forward and clapped the man on the back as if they already knew each other, while I stood there unable to breathe, all the air suddenly sucked out of my lungs. Never before had a man’s physical looks causedmy body to react in such a way.Ever. I could try to describe it, but words wouldn’t do it justice.

“Miss Cortés,” he said, holding out a hand, “I’m Sebastian Moore. I’ll be in charge of your security from here on out.”

Sebastian… Fuck. Did his name have to be so incredibly sexy, too?