Page 5 of Close Protection

‘Well, thank you, Mr Petrov. I’ve appreciated hearing more about your credentials. I look forward to us working together.’

She sounds like an accountant in her mid-thirties, with a mortgage to pay and kids to feed. But better that than a whiny six-year-old. ‘Milosh is fine, Miss Green.’

She smiles politely, gives a curt nod and then proceeds to completely ignore what I just said. ‘Well,Mr Petrov, as introductions seem to be over I’ll leave you to talk to my father while I have my breakfast.’ She rises from her chair and leans over the desk to place a kiss on her father’s cheek before retreating towards the door.

As soon as the hinges click shut George starts speaking again, his cheerfulness immediately evaporating. ‘Just a reminder, Mr Petrov, I don’t want my daughter to think this is anything but an overprotective father trying to keep his daughter safe. She doesn’t need to know about the journal.She doesn’t need to know about the ins and outs of any of this. Understand?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Brilliant. Now let me introduce you to the rest of the team.’

3Daphne

‘He’s young.’

‘You’re young,’ Amelia says, briefly looking up from her laptop as Josh, one of our cooks, places my breakfast in front of me.

‘Thank you, it looks lovely.’ I direct my words to Josh, with a smile, then glance back over to Amelia. ‘Yes, I’m young but I’m the protectee. I don’t need to be old.’

‘Protectee?’ Amelia laughs. ‘Is that even a word?’

‘He’s the protector, which therefore makes me the protectee by extension. It makes perfect sense.’ I shrug. I’m sitting in the main kitchen atop a bar stool in front of the island while Amelia is bent over the other side, eating a snack while finishing some work. Normally I eat my breakfast in the dining room by myself, but after that meeting I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts so I came to the kitchen to talk to her.

‘What’s the actual problem you have with him, Daph?’ Amelia queries as she closes her laptop, turning all her attention to me.

‘I don’t know,’ I groan. ‘The thing is, I get why Daddy is doing all of this, I really do. But I just don’t want a bodyguard, Meelie.’ I take a bite of my eggs. ‘And I mean, I know that sounds bad, but for the foreseeable future I’m going to have someoneI don’t know,’ I really stress that point, ‘following me around everywhere. And I didn’t want to tell Daddy any of this because, well, have you seen the man’s face recently? He looks like he’s in a constant state of stress from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed. I can’t be a brat about it if this will bring him some peace of mind.’

‘Hey, Josh, any breakfast for me?’ Henry asks as he walks into the kitchen, grinning when he spots Amelia.

‘Why couldn’t I have had Henry?’ I ask Amelia as he comes up behind her and gives her a kiss on the neck, wrapping his strong arms around her waist.

I’ve known Henry since I was five and Amelia since I was seven. A lot of my friends have staff as well, but they don’t really interact with them as much as I do. Since my parents were always working when I was younger I spent more time with Henry, Amelia and the others, so we’ve got very comfortable together over the years.

‘Ah, we talking about Daph’s new bodyguard?’ Henry enquires, moving from Amelia over to Josh, plate in hand.

‘Yeah.’ Amelia giggles. ‘Hen, can you please tell Daphne this is a good idea, and to stop worrying about all of it?’

‘Yeah, Daphne, it’ll be fun.’ Henry smirks, coming to sit down next to me. ‘Stop worrying about it.’

‘Have you met him yet?’ I ask, completely ignoring both of them.

‘Yeah, George just introduced me to him. He’s with the other guys now.’ When I first met Henry, he was our only security guy, but over the years he’s become the head of security and now manages three other men – one daytime and two night-time security guards.

‘Okay… Well, what did you think of him?’

‘The question isn’t whatIthought of him.’ Henry looks up from his food, that same irritating smirk on his face. ‘It’s whatyouthought of him, Daphne.’

‘I thought he seemed…’ I trail off, thinking back to moments ago when I was sat in Daddy’s study as Mr Petrov walked in. He was taller than I expected, with dark brown, almost black hair, longer on the top and shorter on the sides. Gently tanned, with green eyes, thick dark eyebrows, a strong nose and an even stronger jaw, dressed in black cargos, boots and a black short-sleeve tee, he stepped into the study with an air of dominance andassertion. His voice was deep, with an American accent that had a hint of something else, something Slavic maybe. He didn’t say much, but when he did speak, he spoke with such conviction and purpose. ‘… professional.’ I finally settle on, before clearing my throat and bringing myself back into the current conversation. ‘He seemed professional.’

‘That’s it?’ Henry probes, his cockney accent shining. ‘Just professional?’

‘What exactly do you want me to say, Mr Harris?’

‘I want you to tell me how you really feel, not do your calm, collected and mature thing.’

‘In my opinion, Daph,’ Amelia cuts in, smiling softly, ‘I think he seems nice. Well-trained and discreet. And those are two of the most important attributes you need in a bodyguard.’

‘Yes. I agree,’ Henry adds. ‘Well-trained and discreet is great. And I mean, it doesn’t hurt that he looks like a young Captain America with the broodiness of Bruce Wayne.’

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