Chapter Eleven
Her heart thundered as Isabella whipped her head around to examine the other cars parked in her vicinity. None had a piece of paper on its windshield. Just hers.
Not random.
Chosen.
Was whoever left this note watching her even now?
She scrambled into the driver’s seat and jabbed the lock button on her door.
Fumbling for her phone, she glanced out her window, then into the rearview mirror for anyone who might be approaching.
The lobby of her office building was too far away.
If someone were waiting for her, she’d be exposed the entire way.
Danny. She needed Danny. She pulled up his number.
Answer. Answer. Please answer.
“Bella?”
“There was a note on my car about missiles, people burning—” The words tumbled over each other.
“Breathe, honey. Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.” Danny’s sharp but steady tone blanketed her frazzled nerves.
She inhaled, then exhaled and corralled her scattered thoughts. “I’m at AegisShield. In my car. There was a note on the windshield about missiles falling, people burning.” God, the images the words invoked. “Only on my car—no one else’s that I can see.”
Her fingers found the exposed skin above her knee and dug in, leaving crescent-shaped indentations.
His tone turned savage. “Don’t fucking move, you hear me? Lock the doors and stay on the phone. I’m on my way.”
“What if the person comes back?”
“I texted my contact at CMPD. They’re sending a patrol car now. Hang tight. Don’t start the car and don’t head back into the building.”
“Why not start my car?” she asked. “What if someone approaches, and I need to drive away?”
“Because we can’t be sure someone didn’t tamper with it.” The rumbling purr of Danny’s Mustang came over the line.
A chill swept through her despite the suffocating heat of the car’s interior. “I need to give you the address.”
“I know where you work. Talk to me. Anyone loitering nearby?”
She did another scan. “There’s a guy getting into his car two rows in front of me. He’s not looking my way.” Sure, now there were people around. “A couple of people just exited the building. They’re walking straight to their cars.”
“Good. Keep paying attention. Favorite song.”
“What?” She tore her gaze from the windshield to stare at her phone.
“Favorite song, Bella.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m curious.”
“It depends on what mood I’m in. Right now, I’d have to say ‘Vigilante Shit.’” Because anger was beginning to fill the borders of her fear.
“Midnights was a banger album.”
Okaaay. She refused to find him more attractive than she already did. Her fingers relaxed, releasing her abused flesh. “Tell me something embarrassing about you.”
“Why embarrassing?” A hint of humor softened his tone.
“Because you’re this badass former Navy SEAL turned bodyguard slash security guy. I need something on you to keep you humble.”
“Hold on, I’m three minutes away.”
“Already?” He must have gone well over the speed limit.
He ignored her comment. “Embarrassing, huh? Let’s see. When I was still on the Teams, I played a prank on Joe Logan, one of the few married guys in our platoon, by putting an extra-large dildo in his duffle with a note that said he could finally satisfy his wife.”
“Danny!”
“Yeah. He got me back. Joe put up signs at our local hangout advertising a fundraiser for Danny Mayhew, who’d lost his dick in the line of duty. The dildo I’d snuck into his duffle was hanging from one of the signs.”
A laugh burst out of her so hard she snorted. “You guys were rough on each other.”
“Nah, it was all in good fun.” His voice got quiet. “Joe was a good guy.”
Was. She hesitated. “What happened?”
“Afghanistan.” The word landed hard and sat between them in silence.
“I’m here. Tell me where to find you.” The rumble of the Mustang’s engine announced his arrival before the car appeared.
“I see you—I’m in the fourth row.” Isabella jumped out of the car and began waving to get his attention.
Danny rolled to a stop behind her and got out.
Relief nearly buckled her legs. She met him halfway as he rounded the Mustang, dressed in faded jeans and a white cotton T-shirt that highlighted the muscles in his chest and arms. The urge to throw herself at him was so strong she had to check herself.
He pulled her to his side and opened his passenger door. “Get in.”
“My car—”
“Let me check it out first.” He slipped back into the driver’s seat, then parked in an open space nearby. Before she could ask what he was doing, he reached across her to open his glove box.
Her gaze snagged on the handgun.
Reaching beneath it, Danny withdrew a zip-lock bag. “Give me your key.”
“It’s in my purse in my car.”
“I’m going to leave the Mustang engine running. Lock the doors when I get out.”
She turned her head to follow his movements as he took the plastic bag and strode to her car. From his jeans pocket, he withdrew a blue latex glove and worked his hand into it before picking the paper off the ground.
His easy charm had vanished. What remained was colder. Sharper.
Dangerous.
He straightened and placed the note in the plastic bag. This was a side of Danny she didn’t recognize—the part forged during his service as a Navy SEAL.
But damn if this version didn’t make her heart beat faster—still her protector, just a deadlier version. He didn’t know, but she’d found out how he’d warned pretty much every boy in their high school that if they hurt her, they’d answer to him.
He’d been protecting his sister’s best friend.
She’d pretended at the time that it was more. That he’d been staking a claim.
Whatever you think of me, know this—that night meant something to me, too.
Now she didn’t know what to think.
Danny pulled out his phone and made a quick call. Then he popped the hood and did a visual inspection before he crouched next to her front tire, his hand sweeping beneath the chassis.
What was he doing? Curious, she craned her neck, trying to see, but he’d already moved out of view.
After a few minutes, he returned to the Mustang. “Now we wait on the police.”
Police. She winced. “Please don’t tell my parents.”
“Bella—
“No, Danny. My dad will totally overreact.”
“Overreact?” His brow gave an arrogant lift. “To a threatening note? Left by someone who knows where you work, who knows the make, model, and license plate of your car? Why in the world would your father overreact?”
She wanted to argue. Except when he recited those facts, she couldn’t tamp down the fear clawing at her insides. Before she could muster a snappy reply, a white police car with blue markings appeared.
“Stay put.” Danny got out of the car and flagged the officer down. He directed the man to her car.
The two had a brief conversation, then the officer took the plastic bag with the note in it. He and Danny walked to the Mustang, where Isabella sat waiting.
She rolled down the window.
“Ma’am, I’d like to ask you some questions if I may.”
“Of course, Officer,” she glanced at his name tag, “Griffin.” She explained how she’d found the note on her windshield.
“My father is running for re-election. The note was probably from someone who doesn’t like him and is bringing up his past.” If only she felt as nonchalant as she was projecting.
“He’s in Washington, so whoever did this decided to voice their protest at me. ”
A white van pulled up with the same markings as the police car, the words “Crime Scene Investigations” printed on the side panel.
“These technicians will dust your car for prints,” Officer Griffin told her. “Then you can go.” He handed her a business card. “We’ll let you know if we find anything that might lead us to the person who left that note.”
He glanced at Danny, then at her, the apology in his eyes clear. “I understand this was unsettling, but there’s no direct threat against you in this note.”
“There’s an implied threat,” Danny growled. “That’s good enough for me.”
The officer’s posture stiffened. “I understand, sir, but it’s not enough for us to make an arrest, even if we discover who did it.”
“Thank you, Officer Griffin.” The space between her ribs constricted as a familiar tide threatened to pull her back to when she was twelve and alone inside a storage container, wondering if her parents would find her before the scary man returned.
“Bella.” Danny’s voice broke through her internal panic, acting as an anchor to keep her from being swept away. “You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
You’re safe, Isabella. I won’t let anything bad happen to you ever again. Her father’s words after the FBI found her. He’d smothered her in his arms as her mother wept beside him.
Some jerk thought he could scare her? He didn’t know the crucible she’d already walked through and come out alive.
“I’ll be fine.”
Danny kept silent.
Once the technicians had dusted her car for prints and the officer said they could leave, Danny handed her the fob to her Honda. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Too tired to argue, she got out of his car and into hers. On the way home, each time she glanced in her rearview mirror, the blue Mustang was there.
Pulling into her garage, she shut off the motor. Danny was out of his car and at her door before she could move. He beckoned with his fingers. “Pull up your security cams.”
Stepping out of her car, she unlocked her phone and pulled up the app.
He stood over her shoulder while she swiped back through the day to check if any motion triggered the cams, though she only half-focused on the screen in front of her.
The clean scent of sea breeze and driftwood seeped into her pores.
His height and broad shoulders heightened her awareness of her own smaller stature.
The only events captured on her cameras were neighbors walking their dogs or pushing baby strollers along the sidewalk.
She let out a breath and dug in her purse for her house key.
Danny held out his palm. “Let me go in first.”
She dropped her key into his hand, too unsettled to argue.
Trip immediately accosted him at the door. “Hey, buddy, been keeping the house safe?” After a cursory pat of the dog’s head, he moved through the kitchen, then the living room and downstairs powder room before climbing the stairs to the second floor.
Isabella dropped her purse on the counter and prepared Trip’s dinner. She set his bowl down and let out a resigned sigh when the dog inhaled his kibble as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks.
Someone was trying to send her a message. Who? And why?
Talia. She needed someone to talk to besides Danny. Not her parents. Someone who’d give her an honest opinion on what to do.
Talia’s phone rang until it went to voicemail.
Isabella left a message. “Hey, you’d be proud of me.
I agreed to the interview with The Charlotte Times reporter.
I think it went well, so that was good.” She hesitated.
“But then something happened when I left work that freaked me out. Call me when you get the chance.”
Danny strolled into the kitchen.
Isabella squared her shoulders and faced him.
What happened today would not make her afraid to be alone in her own home.
She lived in a safe, suburban neighborhood, had a monitored security system with working cameras—thanks to Danny and Talia—and a dog who barked, even if he was more likely to lick an intruder to death than bite.
“Thank you for helping me. That was unnerving, but I’m fine now.” Calm and in control. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the hotel to go over the security plan.”
Danny watched her with those blue eyes and an arrogant tilt of his head. “Bella, after what happened today, I’m not going anywhere.”
Her eyelashes flickered. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I hope the sheets on your guest bed are clean because I’m moving in.”