Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,11

it now, but Jules told me you had to move because of the threats.”

I couldn’t even deny it. At first, I’d waved off everyone’s concerns, but when I got home one afternoon and found a pigeon with its neck broken on my pillow, I’d had no choice. I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“My new building has a fantastic security system,” I said, trying to assuage some of their fears. “No one is getting in there without access.”

“Maybe, but I don’t want you taking any chances. Promise me, Ry. When you get back to the city, promise me you’ll speak to an agency yourself or get Jules to do it, but you’re getting a bodyguard.”

I sighed, but I knew from the way his jaw was set that Dad wouldn’t back down on this. Neither would Mom or Billy. They were all staring at me, waiting for my agreement.

I hated seeing them looking so worried and stressed. Plus, while I still thought a personal bodyguard was overkill, it couldn’t hurt to have a professional watching my back. Some of the fans really had spun out of control, and I knew Jules and Tani were worried about it as well.

If there was one thing my diagnosis had taught me, it was to take my health and safety seriously. It would help ease everyone’s tension, including my own, if I made the promise my dad wanted me to make.

“Okay, I promise,” I said finally. “As soon as I get back to the city, I’ll hire a bodyguard. Happy?”

Well, as soon as I got back to the city, I’d have to figure out how to even hire a bodyguard. But right after that, I was getting a new shadow.

Chapter 5

CARTER

A week after I’d gotten back from Conroe, the visit felt so far away that it was almost like it’d never even happened. The last few days had been a total shit-show.

“I need the footage from every angle you’ve got,” I snapped into the phone while filling out yet another pile of paperwork. “The senator’s daughter filed a complaint against me. She alleges that I touched her. I need every second of video that you’ve got.”

Before Miranda’s party, we’d worked with the hotel’s security to ensure everything ran smoothly. Technically, they could deny access to the tapes for that evening and make our firm jump through hoops to get it, but I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

I fucking knew that girl was going to pull something like this. My gut had been screaming about it that whole night, and when I’d gotten back after Thanksgiving, I’d walked right into Bart dealing with the allegations against me.

The entire week had been spent going over the night with him multiple times and then repeating the process with our lawyers and a bunch of other people. Complaints were taken very seriously, even if the person against whom they were lodged was best friends with the boss.

Bart had to be able to show that he’d followed the process to the letter, or risk the firm’s reputation if the senator spoke out against us. He trusted me and knew me well enough to know it was total bullshit, but we still had to go through the proper procedure.

I’d filled out more paperwork this week than it would’ve taken to get a travelers’ visa to visit North Korea, but at least I was almost done. All I had left to do was to have the videos pulled. Then those would be combed over by our legal team before copies were made available to the senator.

Even though the process was nearly done and I had Bart in my corner, I was still fucking hating life right then. Idiot rich people.

I had no idea what Miranda thought she had to gain from filing a complaint against me, but all she’d done was waste my time. Cradling the phone between my shoulder and my ear, I massaged my hand before I signed the form I’d just completed.

“I’ve spoken to my manager,” the security guy on the other end of the line said when he came back. “We can trace you from the moment you entered our premises until you exited. There’s about eight hours in all. We can provide the video of you, but we can’t release the footage tracing Ms. Mackey without her consent.”

“The footage of me is perfect. That’s all I need.” Some of the tension that had been making my muscles feel as wound up as balls of wool eased. “Can