Page 38 of Drake Eternal

CHAPTER 13

Iended the call with Drake and turned to watch Sophie play with her plasticine.

Part of me felt I should have spoken to Drake about the photo in Page One, but I didn’t want to stress him out needlessly. He was working long hours during an emergency. The last thing he needed was to start worrying about some idiot billionaire’s son making the moves on me at a staff party.

“Feel like going for a walk along the boardwalk?” I asked Sophie.

There was a long boardwalk along the beach, and it was a lovely afternoon, so I felt like a bit of exercise before supper.

“Yes!”

Sophie left the kitchen table and came bounding over to me, excited to get out and see the seagulls. It was one of her favorite pastimes when we were at the beach.

“What are you two planning?” My father asked from the sofa in the living room where he was watching sports on the flatscreen while reading a newspaper.

“Just an outing on the boardwalk. When we come back, we’ll get supper ready. Then, I have to pack to get ready for tomorrow’s flight.”

“Sounds good,” he said and turned the page of the newspaper.

Sophie and I went out and walked along the beach to the boardwalk where there were a series of small change rooms, and several kiosks that sold food. The change rooms were used by surfers and swimmers alike. There was a large parking lot where dozens of cars and a few van campers were located.

It was then I saw a vehicle drive up and park and a man with sunglasses on watching. I thought nothing of it at first, but then something about the man struck me. He seemed familiar. Like I had seen him before. Parked outside the beach house on the crescent where the three big homes were located.

Two thoughts crossed my mind. One was that he was a neighbor and I had seen him because he lived in one of the houses on our street. The other was that he was following me.

Why would he follow me?

Was he a creep stalking me? Or was he a criminal thinking of abducting me for ransom? After what happened with Lisa Monroe, I remembered Drake talking to Kyle from Brimstone Security about the dangers that very wealthy people faced from criminals who kidnapped family members for ransom.

I planned on calling Kyle when I was back so I could see if he could send someone to watch over us until we left for Nairobi.

Part of me thought it was silly to do so, but the other part remembered what Drake had once said to me.

We’re rich, very rich. That means there are criminals out there who think we’re easy targets of certain kinds of scams and crimes.

Better to be safe than sorry.

I tried to put it out of my mind as Sophie and I spent the afternoon just walking the boardwalk, checking out the artists who worked there, inspecting the jewelry and clothes and art they displayed along the way.

On our way back, I was feeling much better about things. I saw that the same car was parked in the parking lot but the vehicle was empty and so I figured whoever had driven it was probably enjoying the beach like we had.

What a fool I’d been to worry so much…

Then, when I turned around to take another look at the boardwalk, I saw a man with sunglasses on, who turned away and stared at the beach like he was trying to appear uninterested in me and Sophie.

Was he following us after all?

The boardwalk was busy so there were dozens of people walking along and checking out the artist stalls, so I hadn’t noticed him before.

But now…

I took Sophie’s hand and walked a little faster back to the beach house, determined to call Kyle and speak with him about getting someone out to the island to watch us until we left for Nairobi.

“Come on, Sweetheart,” I said and pulled Sophie along behind me. “Let’s get home, okay? I’m getting hungry.”

“Okay,” she replied, her face placid. She didn’t need to know that I was worried. I didn’t want her to grow up afraid for her security. That was my job.

We arrived back at the beach house to find my father sitting on the patio, his sunglasses on and a book in his hand.

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