/> Her father looked at Zane and Cash, and then back at her.
“I got a call at the house. Someone threatened to take you from me.”
“What?” she asked, now filled with concern and fear.
“It’s nothing for you to be concerned about,” her father stated.
“Nothing for me to be concerned about? I don’t think so. Tell me what is really going on here.”
Her father stared at her. “I can’t.”
She released an annoyed sigh. “You can’t, or you won’t?”
“Let me handle this my way, Chiara.” Her father turned toward Zane and Cash.
“I want to hire you two to provide security for Chiara.”
“What?” Chiara asked.
She was in shock as she looked at Cash and Zane. There was no way this was happening. As she stared at Zane, he gave her a very cocky look before looking her body over. She gave him the evil eye and he raised one eyebrow at her in a very seductive and cute way. She could kick herself for falling for his playboy tactics.
“I do not need bodyguards,” she told them.
“You will have security wherever you go.”
“Perhaps we should discuss this tomorrow morning at your office,” Cash suggested. At least someone was acting sane.
“Pack a bag, Chiara,” her father told her.
“Absolutely not. I am not going to leave my home. Not because some pervert decided to leave some pictures of me in a bikini taken at over fifty yards away with some high-powered lens. No way. I’ll stay here. I can handle it.”
Zane just stared at her and her use of his facts from earlier about the lens.
“I don’t like this. They could be out there waiting for us to leave,” her father said.
“We’ll discuss this tomorrow, Daddy.”
He stared at her a moment, his eyes filled with concern. He walked closer, placed his hands on her shoulders, and held her gaze. “Please be careful. We’ll all meet tomorrow in the conference room. Zane and Cash will be there first thing anyway.”
He kissed her forehead and began to head toward the door.
“Why would they be there?” she asked before he opened the door.
“It’s business. You’ll show them around. Take them to lunch, go over the details of the company. Marvin can help explain the bigger things to them. Good night,” he said then left.
Chiara clutched her robe tighter. There was her father. He went from actually acting like he cared so much for her and then as if she weren’t important at all. She was actually surprised that he showed up at all. She didn’t like the feeling she had.
“You okay?” Zane asked.
“Well, you two can leave now.”
“Lock both locks. Keep your cell phone by the bed. Call 911 if you hear any strange sounds or someone trying to enter,” Cash told her.
“Want us to tuck you in?” Zane asked, very seriously. Boy did she want to take him up on that. But that would be so easy. Too easy considering that she wasn’t sure what their part had been in all of this. No one but Cash and Zane saw the envelope outside the door. They were after something and she was going to find out what.
“She’s thinking about it, Cash,” Zane teased.
She gave them both the once-over. “Totally not my type. Good night,” she said to them as she opened the door.