Anything to delay subjecting herself to her mother.
* * *
When Vivianne Black greeted her daughter at the entryway, pale-faced and uncharacteristically sober in more ways than one, Bianca briefly wondered if someone had died. Why did my mind go straight to Parker?
It didn’t help that there were two big men in suits and sunglasses sitting on the couch in the front living room. Both of them turned and looked in Bianca’s direction when she entered, her slippers slapping against the hardwood floors as she dragged her fingers through her blonde curls.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Her mother took her by the hand and drew her to the large armchair, perching on the arm as Bianca sat down in the seat. The chair was as old as Bianca herself. It was one of the few pieces of furniture her mother hadn’t swapped out at all over the years. Probably because Bianca had declared it as ‘hers’ as a child, often falling asleep in it while watching movies or reading a book as her father perused the paper and her mother scrolled through an iPad. To Bianca, that had been peak bonding time between her and her father, who was often too busy with work to give much attention to his children.
Her mother, on the other hand? Her children were her whole life. Bianca in particular.
“You had me worried,” Vivianne said. “What took you so long? I almost came down there myself.”
Bianca knew better than to roll her eyes around her mother. “I was snoozing on my couch when you messaged me. I came as soon as I could.”
“You were sleeping? Have you been getting enough rest? Are you watching your—”
“Mom!” Bianca nodded toward the men on the couch. “Why did you call me up here?”
Vivianne released her daughter’s hand. “Bianca, I want you to meet Trevor and Brent. They’re representatives of Rainier Protection Services, the best personal security firm in Seattle. They’re going to be assessing the building, along with other locations we frequent, in order to optimize security.”
Bianca glanced between her mother, who kept her prim lips sealed, and the men in suits. Trevor and Brent were likewise professional as they looked back at her, a girl who was a quarter of their size.
“Why are you reassessing security?” she asked. “Has something happened?”
Although her mother’s posture tightened, she didn’t respond immediately. When she finally did, it was with a pat of Bianca’s knee and the fake smile that always heralded a wave of carefully crafted words designed to mask some truth she felt Bianca couldn’t handle.
“It’s nothing you need to worry about. Put simply, it’s come to the attention of your father and me that we have some… holes in our family security. We’ve contracted Rainier to reassess things and assign personnel to each of us for the foreseeable future.”
“What do you mean to each of us?” Bianca did not like where this was headed.
“It’s only for a little while,” her mother assured her. “Until those holes are patched and we are sure any security threats have… passed.”
“You’re not making any sense.” Bianca looked at the men sitting across from her, understanding dawning on her. “You’re giving me a bodyguard?”
“It’s only temporary, honey.”
Bianca leaped out of the chair. “No. No way. I’m already living under your thumb one floor below you, and now you want some big burly dude watching me all day? No. Absolutely not.”
“We are professionals, Miss Black,” said Trevor—or was it Brent? The men were identical. And they both looked like slabs of meat that had grown legs. “We believe in maintaining your right to privacy while also protecting you, whether you’re at home, work, or school.”
“Mom!”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but there’s no way around it. Your father and I will not feel safe with you running around town alone, God knows who nipping at your heels…” Vivianne clasped her hand over her chest. Was she about to cry?
“This is nuts. Are Parker and Scarlett getting tailed, too? Are you extending this same ‘courtesy’ to their girlfriends?”
Vivianne stiffened at the mention of her other daughters’ female partners, although she kept any comments about the matter to herself, for once. “If the security company deems it necessary. But Scarlett and Parker are old enough to secure their own protection. It’s you I’m mostly worried about.”
You have got to be kidding me. How was Bianca supposed to bring up moving to California and gain some semblance of independence now? Her mother was smothering her with big, beefy men, all in the name of ‘protecting’ her. And from what?
“No. Just no.”
Vivianne pushed herself to her feet. “This is not open for discussion, Bianca.”
“What the hell is going on?” Bianca threw her hands up. “This is crazy, even for you. A bodyguard? You’ve never done something like this before. Not unless I was traveling.” It was the only way her mother had ever let her leave the country.