Embrace the Darkness (The Maura Quinn Series Book 1) - Ashley N. Rostek Page 0,106

by barging in here,” Stefan said in an admonishing tone.

Yeah, yeah, I won’t do it again. “May I see the contract?”

Stefan’s brow furrowed at my request. Scooping up a small pile of papers lying in front of him on his desk, he held them out to me. I took the contract and began reading it over. It entailed exactly what I'd assumed. It went over confidentiality, liability, and expectations. Asher was to take all directives from Stefan that had to do with protecting me. The last page went over contract term, which was a year, and it listed his pay.

Reading back over the confidentiality section, doubt had me chewing on my lip. “Are we sure we can trust him or this security firm?” I asked Stefan. When I first had requested outside security, I hadn't been aware of how far Stefan was going to pull me into his world. “It’s one thing to watch over a college girl. It’s another to bear witness to everything—”

“Aiden, Jameson’s uncle, is the founder of the security firm,” Stefan said, interrupting me.

Oh.

That explained a lot. Aiden was Jamie’s only other living blood relative. He was ex-military and had stayed at our house a few times to visit with Jamie. He was a recluse, yet a kind man. He and Jamie shared some familial features, like their eyes and stature. After Jamie’s mom had passed, he’d had a choice to stay here or go live with Aiden in New York. He, of course, had chosen to stay with us. Due to Aiden's long stints overseas in the military, Jamie barely knew his uncle. Aiden hadn't held Jamie’s decision against him. In fact, I'd thought he'd been relieved.

“Do you know why I wanted to hire you?” I asked Asher.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, appearing lax. “I wondered. You have plenty of security already on the payroll.”

I nodded. “As you are aware, my family is…unconventional. I trust few among them. The security we already have are ambitious and eager to move up the ranks. As a woman and the only child of Stefan, I refuse to be used as a stepping stone to get in someone’s good graces, my father included. Which is why I’m willing to increase your pay by fifty percent if you sign a contract with me and not Stefan.”

“Maura!” Stefan roared, jumping to his feet again.

“You will suffocate me,” I snapped. He could get as mad as he wanted. I wouldn’t budge on this. “I can’t live my life if my security is constantly reporting my every move or my every word to you. I need some sort of privacy and people I can trust, who are on my side. Samuel, Conor, Rourke, Dylan, Jamie—everything they do doesn’t get reported to you, so why do you expect that of me?”

“I could freeze your trust fund,” he threatened.

Go ahead, old man. “I moved that money years ago,” I scoffed.

Stefan set his hand on the back of his chair, grasping onto it tightly as he stared down at his desk. “I’m not trying to suffocate you. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

“I know.” I understood his intentions. It didn’t change anything, though. He was still going about it the wrong way. “You still have Dean.”

Stefan frowned. “For now. How long will that last, I wonder?”

It took a lot of effort not to roll my eyes. He was unhappy I'd pulled one over on him. If we were to tally up the number of times he’d done something like this to me, he’d have no ground to stand on. “Do we have a deal, Mr. King?” I looked back at Asher, who had been quiet this whole time.

He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Fifty percent increase?” he asked. I nodded and he began tapping away on his phone. “My guy back at the home office is going to fix the contract and resend it. Anything else you want to change?”

Stefan was still pissed but didn’t protest. I sighed, shaking my head. The new contract was sent back to Asher’s phone within minutes, and we both signed it electronically.

“Perfect. Take a seat, Thor. This will be the best time to get you up to date on the clusterfuck we’re currently facing,” I said, taking a seat in the vacant chair next to him and crossing my bare legs.

As Asher sat, Dean walked in with Vincent. I gestured to the couch. “Take a seat, Vin. You might as well stick around too, Dean.” Dean nodded