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My dad nods, the fierce determination in his eyes telling me I’m not getting out of this even I if want to more than anything in the world. “We don’t expect you to tell us everything he gets up to. Only the stuff that can get him in trouble. We also want you keeping an eye on him and trying to get him to rein it in if you can.”
“Everyone has been trying to get him to rein it in,” I protest. “It’s impossible. The guy is on some kind of bender or power trip, and he’s not stopping until he crashes and burns.”
Dad looks at me, one of his eyebrows arching slightly. “He won’t crash and burn if you’re watching over him. That’s why we need you on this. You’re the only one who can get close to him without making him suspicious. If anything happens that we should know about, let me know. That’s it. That’s all your assignment is about.”
“If I suddenly start trying to get close to Vincent, the only thing he’s going to be is suspicious. I never go out with him, never hang out with him, and I’ve certainly never cared about what he’s done before.”
“Yes, but you can figure it out. None of my other employees will be able to get in the way you can. They’re bodyguards. They stand out like sore thumbs between you guys, but you’re one of them. One of the kids. All I’m asking is that you help us protect him. Lord knows he’s probably never needed protection as much as he does right now.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure he has tons of protection,” I murmur dryly, and Dad rolls his eyes when he hears the comment, but I don’t miss the tiny hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips.
“We can hope that he does have tons of the other kind of protection, but that’s not what I meant, and you know it. Ultimately, it’s our job to keep those families safe, and Vincent needs us to keep him safe now more than ever. I’m not telling you to get him to stop going out or to kick whatever bad habits he’s picked up, but just let us know if anything is going on we should know about and perhaps try to get him home before sunrise.”
I plop my elbows on the armrests, but my legs remain crossed. If I move them right now, I’m going to use them to run, and I can’t very well sprint away from my boss while he gives me an assignment. “Something needs to be done about him. I totally agree with that, but a reform school has a better shot at getting him right than I do. In fact, why don’t we send him to military school instead of taking him with us to England? At least that way he might learn the meaning of the word discipline. He’s got none of it, and until he does, he’s just going to keep staying out all night and drinking everything in sight.”
“Military school might not be a good fit for him,” Dad says, looking a little amused again as his lips kick into another slight smile. “Camille wouldn’t send him anyway. She’d be too afraid he’d escape while we’re gone or he’d convince even the drill instructors to party with him.”
“Great, so you think he’d corrupt even drill instructors, but you don’t think he’ll corrupt me?”
Dad shakes his head and scoffs. “You, my baby, are the epitome of incorruptible. It might not be the worst thing in the world if he corrupts you a little bit, though, but that’s beside the point. We know you can hold your own with him. All we’re asking is that you do it a little more actively and keep us in the loop.”
“I can’t spy on him for you,” I object stubbornly, raising my chin. “What if he finds out? What if the others find out? They’ll hate me as much as I hate him.”
My dad gives me a long look, resting his head back against the chair and steepling his fingers in front of his chest as he mulls it over. It takes him a few seconds to figure out how to phrase it, but when he finally says it out loud, I hate to admit that it makes sense.
“Livvy, someday you want to run a security agency that operates all over the country. Sure, some of our assignments are just to put a scowling, sunglasses-wearing martial arts champion behind a celebrity, but there are a lot of our jobs and our work in general that deal with intelligence. As much as the band is my family, do you really think they don’t know that me ‘spying’”—he puts air quotes around the word—“on them is part of my job? Since you’re working with me, it’s a part of your job now too. In order to protect them, we need to know things about them that they might not tell us outright.”
“So you’re saying they can’t hate me because, on some level, they should expect me to spy on them?”
Dad shrugs. “I don’t think anyone wants to think of it as spying, but I guess that is what it boils down to. I can get into any of their phones at any moment. I’ve been monitoring their emails for years. With the kids, we’ve obviously just been keeping an eye on things from afar, but we’ve never had to intervene. Vincent’s behavior right now necessitates intervention, and while I have no doubt that he will hate you for it if he finds out, he’ll also thank you eventually because it might just save his life.”
I stare at my father, drinking in how honest and open his expression is. He truly believes every word he’s saying, but as much as intelligence gathering and keeping an eye on things makes sense to me, I just don’t know about this.
“I realize he’s not making the smartest choices right now—and again, I totally get why his mom is worried—but you guys are making it sound like he’s in some kind of trouble. He’s just going out every night, sleeping around, and drinking a lot.”
Dad arches a brow at me, but before he can say anything, I sigh and nod reluctantly. “Yeah. Okay. I heard it there. Heisin some kind of trouble. Going out every night, drinking a lot, and sleeping around aren’t exactly the safest things to be doing. Why can’t you just talk to him about it and tell him to cut it out, though? He’s an adult. He’s on the tour because he has a job to do, but can’t they just threaten to send him home if he doesn’t perform? All employees can be fired, right? At the end of the day, he’s an employee now. Just like me.”
“Wehavetalked to him about it. Everyone has talked to him about it, but it’s a lost cause. We wouldn’t have taken such drastic measures in asking you to watch him for us if we had any other choices, but we don’t. We’ve tried everything else. Jonathan has threatened to send him home, but they’re afraid if they do, he’ll just get worse while we’re all gone. The other problem is he’s damn good at his job, and they can’t fire him for not performing because he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing, and they don’t want him staying here in the city alone.”
I sigh, closing my eyes as I feel the acceptance wash over me. “Well, I guess it’s fitting that we’re going to England for this. I might not work for MI5, but I’m about to 007 the hell out of this assignment. As of tomorrow, I suppose I’m going to be a spy.”
The fact of the matter is that we could keep going back and forth on this issue all night, but nothing I say is going to change my dad’s mind. I hate Vincent, but I also recognize that this is a good opportunity for me to learn about intelligence gathering and to show all the other bodyguards that I’m more than just a pretty face.
I really have been struggling to get them to take me seriously, and if I can prove to them with any assignment that I’ve got what it takes to be one of them, it’s with this one. They’ve all had a run at Vincent, and they’ve all failed. Since I don’t really have a choice on whether to accept this mission, I’m going to lean into it gracefully from here on out and do my best to make sure it counts.
I’m Bond. Olivia Bond, and Vincent won’t live to party another day.I know that’s a terrible catchphrase, but I’ll think of something better. Eventually.You know, once I know how real spies talk because I’ll have become one.
Crap. I really don’t want to do this, and I have no idea how I’m going to do it. In fact, the only thing I know for sure is that this is going to suck. Big time. But Iwillkeep him safe. Iwillprove to everyone in the agency that I’m not just a spoiled little girl who should be out shopping instead of learning the ropes from my father.
Iwillsucceed, and when I do, maybe my coworkers will finally have a modicum of respect for me.
1
VINCENT
“Seriously?” I snap at Olivia as she holds her keycard up to the scanner and it emits a low digital beep, the light at the top flashing green. I frown, narrowing my eyes at her. “Everyone knows the room next to mine is always Maxim’s. It’s just the way it is. You’ve got the wrong room.”
The evidence suggests that she doesn’t, in fact, have the wrong room since she was obviously given that keycard and it just worked on that door, but that’s beside the point. Somewhere someone has made a mistake, and Olivia should’ve realized that by now too.
