for my laptop. Or any of my electronic devices since all of my files were saved in cloud storage.
Feeling somewhat secure in my current location, I let myself get lost in my new story until a familiar coo interrupted my thoughts. Carelessly tossing the notebook to the side, I jumped to my feet and ran toward Bronze and Blue with my arms wide open. “You made it! Thank goodness!”
Bronze caught me with the arm not holding Blue and pulled me against his chest. “You okay?”
I wasn’t prepared for the relief I felt when he held me to his body. It was that moment that I knew with one hundred percent certainty that he would do anything to protect me or die trying. It was a sense of security I hadn’t known I was missing.
Exhaling slowly, I rested my cheek against his chest while I reached up and ran my fingers over Blue’s cheek. She immediately reached for me, and I secretly wanted to beam with pride every time she did it. “I am now,” I breathed.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he assured.
“What’s going to happen now?”
“I can answer that,” Tatum announced as she entered the room with a file folder in her hand. She cleared her throat and seemed unsure of herself, and in the short time I’d known her, even I knew that was out of character for her. “We’re still working on identifying the caller and pinpointing their location. I’ve since listened to the phone call numerous times and heard nothing that would help us in the search. What that means is we’re shutting down all operations for this office and diverting any incoming traffic to other areas until this has been resolved. Since we can’t rule out that this is related to Sloane, we need to move her to a different location as well.”
“Where’re you thinking? Badger’s cabin?” Bronze asked.
“Say what now?” I interrupted. “I can’t just up and disappear to a safe house in an undisclosed location. I’m leaving for my next event a week from today.”
Tatum cut her eyes to Bronze. I watched in awe as they seemed to have an entire conversation silently, though I almost cracked up laughing at the weird faces they were making with widened eyes and twisted lips.
“I can’t decide if what you two are doing is fascinating or extremely rude,” I observed. “Either way, whatever you were discussing is a moot point if it pertains to me.”
“How so?” Bronze asked with a hint of challenge in his voice.
Blue wrinkled her nose and made an unhappy face at her father. She had no idea what was going on, but her timing was perfect. “See, even she agrees with me.”
“You haven’t said anything.”
“Neither did you or Tatum,” I countered.
“Sloane,” Bronze said slowly.
“Fine,” I huffed. “There’s no need to arrange anything for me. My mother’s estate is gated and guarded. Over the years, there were times when we needed to temporarily increase security for one reason or another. I’ll can call the company and have them add more guards to our plan until further notice.”
“And what about the event? It’s not safe for you to attend. Not unless this threat wasn’t related to you.”
I rubbed my hands over my face in frustration. He was right, and I knew it, but I couldn’t back out of the event. It was the biggest one of the year for my genre, and I knew of several readers who were making the trip specifically to see me. I was as much for safety as the next person, but I couldn’t rationalize allowing an unknown entity that possibly didn’t even exist to have any impact on my career decisions.
“Listen, I see where you’re coming from, and I agree with you. It’s not safe. But I have to go,” I said and held up my hands. “Let me finish before you start arguing with me. I have to at least attend the signing, but I’m willing to skip all of the pre-event activities on Thursday and Friday. I would really like to attend the party after the signing for at least the first hour, but I’m willing to skip that too if you think it’s too risky.”
He studied my face for a few seconds, seeming to realize I wasn’t going to budge on my stance and agreed, but with his own stipulations. “That should work, but you and Frankie need to make all new travel plans. And I mean everything from the time you leave to the place