Page 31 of Mile High With the Bikers
He nods. The only thing he likes better than people thinkinghe’ssmart, is people admiring him for having such a smart child. It was what finally attracted him to the idea of having me around in the first place. “You understand, of course, why the initialevidence wasn’t in your favor, and I wanted to act first on what we had rather than delay my response.”
Eagle-eye looks unimpressed, but he nods. “So my men?”
“Are in a car waiting for my order to send them to you. But I would like to ask a favor.”
“Okay? Talk.”
“What would it cost me for you to protect Florence while my people track down who was responsible for the hijacking? For the moment, very few people outside of those on this call are aware of her identity and location. As much as I would love to have my darling girl back at my side, she might be safer where she is. Luca assured me that while your tactics might be unpleasantly brutal, your loyalty has been proven. I don’t often take advice from the Mafia, but in this case I will defer to his judgement.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, not wanting to seem too eager to stay. “The project?—”
“Will continue.”
“We aren’t a fucking babysitting service.” Eagle-eye shakes his head, sounding a little insulted.
“I will make itveryworth your while,” Dad assures him.
Their president seems to think about that for a moment. Having the weight of billions of dollars behind a statement like that isn’t something most people would turn away without a damn good reason.
“We can watch her.” Bull pushes off the wall and moves into view of the camera. “Our contract with Giordano is done and we’vealready shown we're capable of protecting her. If securing her in a firefight and pulling her off a burning plane isn’t enough, I don't know where you're gonna find better.”
Dad looks between Bull and me, clearly a little suspicious. He might question my taste if he found out I was messing around with them, but he generally keeps his opinions about my love life to himself. Not that I have much of one to comment on. His main concern is that my attention isn’t divided and that I’m achieving results at work. He's protective, but it’s never easy to predict if something will amuse him or make him furious. I try to look innocent and professional.
Eagle-eye rolls his eyes, though I'm not sure Dad catches it. “Fine. Nobody listens to me around here anyway. If you have the capacity, I'll allow it.”
“What do you mean?” Dad asks curiously.
“Nothing. Far be it from me to stand in the way of fate. Do you have anything you want to say to your daughter before we discuss the details?”
Dad fixes me with his CEO glare. “Rory?”
“Yes?”
“I expect you to do everything in your power to keep yourself safe, but as this might take some time, I’ll have your work equipment and a suitcase packed and sent with our guests. You might not be able to keep standard working hours, but don’t assume this is a vacation. The project must and will continue as scheduled. Do you understand me?”
A chill settles in the pit of my stomach, but I nod. “I understand.”
“I also expect you to obey your current guards and to not cause trouble for your host. I’ll be in touch to let you know when you may return. Is that clear?”
I pretend not to see Diesel's smirk when Dad tells me to obey them. “Clear.”
Dad pauses. “You do have internet, right?”
“What’s that?” Shrapnel asks, face blank.
A horrified look crosses Dad’s face. I nod before he realizes he’s being teased and gets annoyed. “Yes. I'll log in starting tomorrow.”
“Good.”
And then we're dismissed while Dad and Eagle-eye discuss the terms. I take a deep breath when we are out of the office, not entirely happy, but very relieved that I still have time to figure out how I’m going to keep Hermes from being turned into a weapon. How is this going to go? I’ve been having fun with Bull, Shrapnel and Diesel, partly because I knew our time was limited. Fooling around with them didn’t seem like that big a deal when I thought I was going to either leave on my own or get taken back by my father. If this takes days or even weeks to resolve, it’s going to be hard to keep my emotions from getting mixed up in everything.
“Hear that?” Shrapnel asks as we get to the bottom of the stairs. “You gotta do exactly what we tell you to,Florence.”
Bull nods. “Daddy's orders.”
16
RORY
