Page 24 of Control

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Ty lowered the slip of paper, shifted in his seat, and rested his forearms on the table. “Exactly. You asked about what makes the most sense in a situation like this, and I need to be honest with you. The biggest mistake you can make is assuming that you understand anything about dealing with people like this, people who would go to the lengths to kill a woman like Annie or hurt your coworker to the point she winds up severely injured and in the hospital for weeks.”

I didn’t know if it was because I hadn’t been in such a dire situation until the night that I was in the car accident, but Ihadn’t considered being in danger outside of the times when I was actively searching for answers. “You’re right. I guess I assumed if something bad was going to happen to me, it would only happen if someone discovered me like they did the night of the accident.”

“There’s nothing to feel bad about,” he insisted. “Most people aren’t trained to think the way I think, the way my coworkers think. This isn’t a situation of a celebrity attending a specific function that requires additional security, though. And for that reason, I believe it’s worth considering all possible vulnerabilities.”

I was second-guessing myself again. Was this really the wisest thing for me to do? Would I be putting myself in danger all the time? Granted, I was an adult and could make my own decisions—had been doing just that for years—but if my parents found out, I wasn’t sure my mom could survive the level of anxiety she’d be in.

“Do you think this is a bad idea?”

Ty’s brows shot up. “Having a bodyguard?”

I swallowed hard. “No. Is it a bad idea for me to keep digging into this story, to keep searching for the truth about what happened to Annie and Yasmine, and who is responsible?”

Ty pushed off his elbows and sat back in his chair, quietly assessing me as he considered his response. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea. We’re all called to do different things in life, and I’m certain you’re the kind of woman who wouldn’t be able to rest well, knowing that something could be done to make a difference, to bring justice to this situation.”

“I’m glad you can see that,” I murmured. “But now I’m not sure how to proceed with everything.”

He offered a reassuring smile. “We’ll take that one step at a time. First, why don’t you tell me about your home situation? Do you live alone? Do you feel safe where you are?”

Shaking my head, wondering why I never considered this as a possibility, I said, “I never thought I’d be in danger at home. I live in a good neighborhood, and my neighbors are nice. Friendly. They’d definitely help or step in if something bad was happening.”

I watched as some of the tension eased out of his frame. “That’s great. Now, does your boyfriend live with you?”

My boyfriend?

“I don’t… I never said I had a boyfriend.”

“Right. Well, I mean, I just assumed that you?—”

“There is no boyfriend.”

Why would he have assumed I had one? Or did he? Was he just trying to see if there was someone special in my life?

“Okay, so you live alone. It’s good that you have neighbors you are friendly with and can trust, so I’ll leave that decision up to you. Depending on how things go after we get started, we can certainly make changes to how we’re doing things,” he explained.

Just when I thought that Ty might have been asking about a boyfriend for personal reasons, he quickly made it clear this was all just standard for him. This was all about the process.

I also couldn’t ignore the fact that it seemed he was willing to provide some kind of bodyguard service when I wasn’t actively investigating. If nothing else, the man took his job seriously.

“I appreciate that, Ty. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Alana. Okay, so what is your plan now? Do you have any ideas about where you’d like to start?”

“I do.” When he shot me an expectant look, I asked, “Do you want me to share those specifics with you?”

Confusion marred his features. “Well, I’m happy to be someone you can bounce your ideas off of, if you’re comfortable doing that.”

Ty was the only person who knew what I was doing now, that I was going forward with uncovering the truth behind what happened to Annie and who was responsible for the attack on Yasmine. It would be nice to have someone there as a sounding board. In this case, I was extraordinarily lucky, because Ty brought a unique perspective. His line of work afforded him skills that would only prove to be useful in helping me.

So, I said, “I was going to start with Annie. Until Yasmine wakes up long enough that I can have a conversation with her, there’s not a whole lot to do there. Plus, I’m not sure it’s wise to start at the place I had people coming after me.”

“Okay. When it comes to Annie, are you planning to talk to some individuals, or is there a place you’re planning to scope out?”

“Actually, if you don’t mind helping, I’d love your input on this,” I informed him. “I’ve got a list of names I’d like to go through with you. They’re all the people who have had the most recent contact with Annie, have known her all her life, or were people she had regular communication with. There’s no telling who could be a suspect at this point, if at all, but somebody wanted Annie dead, and I thought it might make sense to put together a list of those with the most reason to make that so.”

He shot me a look of approval. “You’re really good at this, you know?”

Hearing such praise from a man who worked at Harper Security Ops—a company that had been talked about in the news on more than one occasion at our news station—meant a lot to me. Ty wasn’t just some random guy. He was trained, working for the best of the best, and he thought I was good at my job.

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