The next few hours, she spent bathing, dressing, and packing a bag. She touched up her lipstick one more time before grabbing her overnight bag and leaving her room.
She caught sight of Kenneth at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her.
“I’ll take your bag for you, miss.”
She cleared her throat. “All right. Who will be with me tonight?”
“I will be your guard, and Jamison will drive us.”
“All right. I need to say goodbye to my mother, and then I’ll be out.”
“Very good. I’ll be waiting.”
She watched him walk out of the house and wondered why that sounded like a threat.
She hurried into Trent’s office and made sure the door was closed between his and her mother’s so her mother wouldn’t hear.
“Hey, peanut, what’s up?” Trent said from behind his desk.
“I’m not sure. I could be seeing or feeling things that aren’t there, but the new guy, Kenneth…”
“What about him?”
“He scares me.”
Trent tensed. “What has he done?”
She heard the anger in his tone, and she had to tell herself she wasn’t being paranoid, so it was right to say something.
“That’s just it. He hasn’t really done anything. I find him looking at me sometimes, and the expression in his eyes is … I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just off.”
“I will definitely keep my eye on him.”
“Don’t tell Mama.”
“I won’t yet. Not until I find something. I’m glad you came to me, peanut.”
“You and Mateo have been more of a father to me than my bastard father had ever been.”
“And we will continue to do so. Aren’t you headed to the Macleans?”
“Yes, that’s why I came in to talk to you now. I was going to wait. Kenneth is the guard that’s going with me.”
“Fuck. I’ll go with you, too. I’m not going to leave you alone with him until we figure this out.”
She exhaled. “Thank you.”
“You never have to thank me.”
She hugged him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, peanut. Have you said goodbye to your mother yet?”
“No, I came right to you when I found out who my guard was.”
“Let’s go now.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and led her into her mother’s office.
“Are you ready to go, baby?” Aria asked.