Chapter Twenty-Six
Danny’s shoulders tightened as Nathan’s ringtone lit up his phone the next morning. Across the living room, Bella sat curled on the couch, laptop balanced on her knees.
He pressed the phone to his ear. “What’s up?”
“I came across some information you might find interesting.” Nathan’s deep voice rumbled over the line.
Interesting from Nathan rarely meant anything good.
Bella noticed his grimace. “Something wrong?”
He shook his head. “Be right back.”
He stepped into the backyard and pulled the door shut behind him, resuming his conversation with Nathan. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“The reporter from The Charlotte Times, Olivia Flores? I had Ryan do a more thorough background check. She had a colorful history as a campus activist back in the day.” Nathan’s tone darkened.
“Funny how none of it showed up in the background information the newspaper provided for her press credentials.”
“How colorful?”
“Anti-war, anti-capitalist protests. One incident stands out. She threatened a general during a university forum on the future of US defense policy. He used to head up CENTCOM, and she refused to leave the auditorium when requested by campus security.”
What the fuck? Danny tipped his head back, staring at the sky to calm the irritation crawling along the back of his neck. “How the hell did that not show up in our initial check?”
“Charges were dropped and her record sealed. But you know me, I love digging up shit someone’s tried to bury.”
In Nathan-speak, that meant he’d hacked into files not available to the public.
“What did you find?”
“University officials pulled out the free speech rhetoric and pressured the general not to pursue charges. But according to the police report, Ms. Flores told General Volker in front of a crowd of two hundred people, and I quote, ‘People like you deserve to burn with the cities you destroy.’”
Danny went still.
Do you think you can escape the missiles? Watch them fall. Watch the people burn.
The note on Bella’s car.
“Three guesses as to whose daddy was secretary of defense at the time,” Nathan added.
Anger, cold to the touch but just as potent, flooded Danny. He paced the length of the yard. What if Olivia hadn’t left her activism behind but had simply cloaked it under the guise of reporting?
She’d been at AegisShield the day Bella found the threatening note.
“Olivia Flores doesn’t get into the gala.” The more he learned about the woman, the less convinced he was that running into Bella at the Ethiopian restaurant was a coincidence.
“Well, amigo, that’s not our call. You can’t keep the press out of a political campaign function. You can contact her boss and express your concerns, but you’ll open a legal can of worms if you disclose how we accessed sealed information. They’ll bitch about violating her rights and all that crap.”
“Find out if Flores and Hassan have ever crossed paths.” He’d underestimated the reporter. She’d researched Bella in advance, maybe even stalked her.
“Add Olivia Flores to our threat assessment and alert the senator’s security detail,” he told Nathan. “If we can’t keep her out of the gala, I’m putting eyes on her the second she walks in.”
“Agreed. I’ve got one more piece of news. The senator invited Lachlan and Sophia to the gala. Last minute—probably at my father-in-law’s request.” Nathan’s chuckle held a wry note. “The admiral can be a royal pain in the ass, but he’s our top source of business referrals.”
Danny stopped short. “Lachlan’s going to bring his pregnant wife to an event with this many security variables?”
“Hell no,” Nathan drawled. “If Lachlan had his way, Sophia would be locked in their condo twenty-four-seven with Dìleas-vetted concierge service until this baby arrives.” Now his laugh held genuine warmth. “He’s going to be a nightmare once that kid’s born. Emily and I are stepping in for them.”
Tension eased out of Danny’s shoulders. Nathan would pull double duty as guest and security professional. Emily could help monitor the reporter.
After he hung up with Nathan, he called Caleb. “We’ve got a new addition to our threat assessment—Olivia Flores, The Charlotte Times reporter.”
“What’d she do?”
“She threatened a general at a college panel. Got arrested, but the charges were dropped and her record sealed.”
A pause. “That would have been years ago. How does that make her a threat to the gala? Or Bella?”
“Nathan did his thing and got into sealed records. When Flores made her threat in front of an auditorium full of people, she used language similar to the note left on Bella’s car.”
“Which happened the same day Flores interviewed Bella at AegisShield.”
“Yep.”
Caleb’s sigh gusted in Danny’s ear. “She’s credentialed for the gala.”
“I know.” Danny’s jaw tightened. “And we can’t tell the paper how we got the information. I think we’re stuck with her. Nathan and Emily scored a last-minute invite as guests. They’ll be working as part of our team.”
“What do you want me and Tavari to do?”
“I want media access points locked down.”
“They already are,” Caleb said. “You want me to assign an agent to Flores? I’m not sure we can dedicate the personnel with Hassan still an unknown factor and the planned protest.”
“We’ll have Nathan and Emily keep eyes on the reporter.”
Caleb’s tone turned grim. “You think she’s a threat?”
Danny stared at the back door, his gaze unfocused. “I think she’s another unknown. And there are too many of those already.”
“Roger that.”
“I want backup on Bella—at least two sets of eyes on her at all times.”
“We’re going to be stretched for coverage if—”
“I don’t care,” Danny snapped. He stopped. Sucked in a lungful of air.
“I get it.” Caleb’s voice went quiet. “We’ll make it happen.”
Danny ended the call and glanced up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight.
His thoughts weren’t nearly as clear.
Inside, Bella still sat on the couch, tapping away on her laptop. She looked up, her gaze softening when she saw him.
He drank in the sight of her—soft gray leggings, a blue T-shirt with CAROLINA in white letters across her chest, and a messy ponytail fanning from the top of her head. No makeup, but she didn’t need it.
An unfamiliar longing caught him off guard.
She seemed more settled.
Confident.
And he had to drag the real world back to her doorstep.
What if he told her to pack a bag? They could jump into Consuela and head west.
Drive until the sun went down.
No threats. No danger. Just them.
Her brows furrowed. “Danny?”
He shook off the fantasy and dropped onto the couch beside her. “Nathan uncovered information about Olivia Flores. Her interest in you wasn’t—”
He paused, searching for the right word. “—benign.”
Her fingers stilled on the keyboard. “What does that mean?”
“She was part of an activist group in college protesting US military actions in the Middle East when your father was secretary of defense.” He hesitated. “She made a verbal threat against a former head of US Central Command.”
Bella shifted, pulling her legs tighter beneath her. She set the laptop aside. “Lots of people do stupid stuff in college. I can’t believe Olivia’s a physical threat. She’s a journalist—her weapon is a pen.”
He wasn’t so sure. “Maybe, but I don’t want her anywhere near you. I can’t keep her out of the gala because of her press credentials, but that doesn’t mean she gets access to you. Or your father.”
His gut twisted as her shoulders curved inward.
“I need you to think back to the day she interviewed you,” he said. “Did any of her questions feel off? Or how she asked them?”
She went quiet, thinking. Then her eyes widened. “She asked if I felt unsafe because of my father’s past. If I felt…exposed.”
His fingers curled. “I’d take that as an implied threat.”
Hassan. Now Olivia Flores. And a protest by a group known to attract outside agitators.
Three threats.
Three unknowns.
With Bella in the middle of it all.
A soft hand twined with his. “Tell me it’s going to be okay.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t attend.”
Her jaw slackened. “The gala?”
He nodded. “I can stash you somewhere safe. Assign an agent until the gala—”
She squeezed his hand, cutting him off.
“I won’t run.” Her pulse raced beneath his fingers, but she kept her gaze steady. “If my parents are there, then so am I.”
“Bella—”
“No, Danny. Are you advising my father to cancel the event?”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Then you won’t do to me what my father has always done.”
Shit. His eyes closed as her words hit him square in the chest.
“I’ve put too much work into the gala, and I’m going to see it through. You and your team will keep me and everyone else safe.” She leaned in and brushed her lips against his. “I trust you.”
Emotion squeezed the air from his lungs. He couldn’t tell her it would be okay, because he wasn’t one hundred percent certain it would be. And she’d see through his patented, breezy smile.
She always did.
So he said nothing, only brushed his lips across her knuckles before kissing her gently.
“Dìleas is the best there is.” That, at least, he believed. Funny how it didn’t feel like enough when his heart was in the mix.
Keeping Bella safe was the most important mission of his career.
Failure wasn’t an option.