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She chuckled. “About the most you can hope for, if the past is any indication.” Her slim throat rippled as she swallowed. “And you?”
“What about me?”
“How are you, Logan?” Her voice was soft around his name. He heard echoes of their past in it.
Heard her saying it around her laughter.
Heard her gasping it in the backseat of his car as his hands and mouth roamed her body like a traveler in a new land.
“I’m good.” It came out hoarse and he cleared his throat, forced himself to sound professional even though seeing her was unraveling him. “I’m here to start an assessment of your security situation. I’ll need access to the house, your schedule and Emilio’s, a number of other things we can discuss when you’re not at work.”
“We call him Leo,” she said softly.
He nodded and got to his feet. “I’ll leave you to your work. I just wanted to let you know I was here, set up a time to come to the house and take a look. Tonight okay?”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I can probably be home around six.”
“Six works. I don’t want to barge in on Beatrice and Leo. Thought it was best if you make the introductions,” he said.
“Beatrice… how did you…?”
“This is what we do.” He was avoiding saying her name. He didn’t want the taste of it in his mouth. “We’ve done as much as we can in advance so we can hit the ground running, but there are a lot of things we need to see ourselves.”
“That all sounds good. I’m… I’m glad you’re here, Logan. It’s nice to see you.”
He started for the door, then turned around. “Your receptionist. Muriel?”
She nodded.
“Does she always bring someone back to your office that easily?” he asked.
Ella scowled. “Only if the visitors have been vetted through security in the lobby, which they always are.”
“Always?” he asked.
“Usually,” she said weakly.
“Didn’t you have an incident last year? The guy with the gun?” he asked.
It had been in the dossier. Some low-level mule working for the Columbian cartel and being prosecuted by the D.A.’s office got in through a service entrance and lodged a couple bullets in the drywall before security tackled him to the ground.
“That was… that was a one-time thing,” she said.
“Maybe,” he said.
He stepped into the hall and mulled over the details of Ella’s life. It wasn’t unheard of for Imperium to protect someone like her, a normal person with a normal life, but usually their clients were already insulated from the real world: celebrities with airtight compounds, politicians with armored cars, rock stars with entourages that provided layers of unarmed protection.
This was different. There were too many places where someone could get to Ella and Leo, too many ways they could do it. All it would take is one moment, a split second of deadly access.
They had to plug the holes. All of them. Here. At Ella’s house. Leo’s school. Their routes to and from.
Everywhere.
Anyone the bratva sent wouldn’t be some kid shocked to be taking the fall for his drug lord boss. If they came for Ella — if they really came for her — they wouldn’t miss.
It was Logan’s job, Imperium’s job, to make sure they didn’t get close enough to try.
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