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Reluctantly, Robert did. A particularly nasty message had come in from an IP address tracked to East Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Likely the husband of a consultant who lost everything, based on the wording. I told Robert they had to have a dozen of those, what made this one stand out? He tried to put me off, but the truth came out. Another message had come in from the same account, but this time it had been tracked to Nevada.
“That’s a shit ton closer than Louisiana,” I said unnecessarily.
“You understand our concern, then.”
I did. I drummed my fingers on the desk again, a nasty prick of fear sliding between my ribs. It took me a minute to place the emotion because I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been afraid. Concerned, sure. On guard, yeah. But afraid? Christ, it had been years. Maybe not since my time in the Army where I learned to stuff fear down. Pack it away in a soundproof box so its screaming didn’t drown out the voices in your head you really needed to listen to. The ones that were telling you what you needed to do next. The ones that could save your life if you could just fucking hear them.
I took a deep breath, shoved it back down, and listened.
If letting Cami slip away again was the safest option for Emma, I would do it. But first, I wanted to get to know my daughter, so I needed to find her the safest place in the city. I’d already found out that Cami was staying with her friend Casey in the Hills. She wouldn’t be able to stay there. Not with my daughter, anyway. It was a gated community, but there were too many holes in the security. Any highly motivated person with a grudge could get past it.
The safest place in the city.
I stood up, walked to the window, and looked down. The small terrace didn’t extend this far, so it was just a sheer, straight down drop of blue-green glass until it hit the landscaping that surrounded the building, far, far below. You’d have to be James Bond on his best day to break into this place, which was why I’d bought it.
The safest place in the city was right fucking here.
I hung up on Robert. If I told him my plan, he’d try to counter it, and I wasn’t going to give him that chance.
When I walked into the living room, I thought Cami had left. The remotes for the television and the sound system were laid out across the coffee table, but the couch was empty. Then I heard my pantry door and turned to see her standing in the kitchen, a sparkling water in one hand, a protein bar in the other.
“I’m hungry,” she explained sheepishly. “Not that I consider this food.”
“Send me a list. I’ll have the cabinets stocked.”
Cami squinted at me, trying to detect facetiousness in my voice.
“I’m serious.” I walked into the kitchen, determined to make her see the wisdom of my plan. “I just got off the phone with Robert. We need to take this threat seriously. I know you don’t want a bodyguard on Emma, so you’ll have to deal with me.”
“You’ll be her bodyguard?” Cami asked doubtfully. “I don’t know, Landon.”
“You’re going to move in with me,” I said. “This is the safest place in the city.”
I had it all planned out in my head. I was going to cut back on my workload for the next few weeks. I’d work from home, but I’d offload my in-person responsibilities to my second-in-command while I got this situation with the Lavignes sorted out. Once the threat had been dismissed or neutralized, we’d figure out something else. In the meantime, I’d get to know my daughter while making sure she was safe.
“We’re not moving in with you,” Cami spluttered, setting down the protein bar and water. “That’s insane. This place is too small.”
“It’s three bedrooms.”
“One is your office!”
“You think I can’t get it turned into a bedroom by the end of the week?” I could get it flipped over by the end of the day, if I put enough money into it.
“No.No. This is crazy. We’re not–we can’t.” Cami was shaking her head, trying to clear it. “We’re staying with Casey. We’re perfectly–”
“Like hell. Casey has a fence that Emma could get around if she put her mind to it. She’s got eight windows on the front of her house, six on the back, and a bay window on the side. She also has double front doors withmorefucking glass.”
Cami stared at me, wide eyed. “How do you–”
“You don’t think I looked into it?” Annoyed, I walked into the kitchen to stand over her. “There’s no way you and Emma are staying there.”
“Okay,fine, we’ll go somewhere else. But it can’t behere, Landon.” Cami stared around my spacious, open-concept penthouse. “There’s no outdoor space. There’s nocolor.”
I took her point. It was about as different from the lush, tropical Hawaii as it could be. “We’ll add some fucking color,” I ground out, irritated. “And you two won’t be locked up in here. We’ll go out whenever you want.”
“But never by ourselves,” Cami surmised. She shook her head again. “No, I’m not–”
“You are. You don’t have a choice.”
