“I’m not being rude,” I say evenly. “This is the protocol for anyone new entering the house.”
She rolls her eyes and turns to the men. “Don’t mind her,” she murmurs, her voice dropping to a sexy purr. “She’s been moody the last few days.” She bats her eyelashes at Kenta. “You know, I was honestly only expecting one guard to show up. Getting to meetthreeof you is alovelysurprise.”
“We work as a team, ma’am,” Kenta replies, apparently unaffected by her flirting. “I’m afraid we’re a package deal.”
“Oh.” She looks taken aback. “Ah, what are your rates, then?”
“That’s impossible to calculate until we know what we’re dealing with, what level of security we would need to provide, whether you require overnight or international coverage—”
“Ballpark figure,” Julie demands. “What are you charging celebs with similar public profiles?”
Kenta shrugs. “Our company recently had a celebrity singer hire close protection for about 1.2 mil a year.”
Julie blanches. If I weren’t so annoyed, I’d probably laugh. Apparently, she’s bitten off more than she can chew with her bribe. The agency isn’t going to be happy that she’s hired me a seven-figure security team that they now have to cough up for. “Um, she probably doesn’t need all three of you,” she starts. “I’m sure we can come to some kind of arrangement—”
I cut her off. “Calm down. I’ll pay out of pocket.”
She frowns. “But it’s written in your contract that the agency is supposed to provide you with security.”
“I know. And you did. And it was shit. So I’ll be paying for my own security, from now on. That way, I know no one’s cutting corners to save some cash.”
“But—”
Matt sighs heavily. “Will you please just tell us why the Hell we’re here? Because there’s averygood chance you won’t even need to hire us in the first place. We only take on serious cases. Where the client’s lifeis endangered.”
“My—” I look down at my hands, digging my glittery red nails into my palms, and take a deep breath. “My house was broken into a few days ago. A guy in a ski mask climbed over my fence, scaled the side of the house, broke my window and climbed into my bedroom while I was asleep.”
A ripple goes over the three men. Their faces stay completely stoic, but they stiffen slightly in their seats. Whatever they thought they were called out here for, it wasn’t that.
“Were you assaulted?” Kenta asks softly.
I shake my head. “No. And he didn’t steal anything valuable. He took a couple of my t-shirts, left me a littlepresentin my bed, and put this under my pillow.”
Julie pulls open her purse and pulls out the file of evidence.“Here you go, babe.”
“Thank you.” I open the file, taking out the Polaroid of me sleeping and pushing it across the table.
Kenta looks at the picture, but doesn’t touch it. “Shouldn’t you have turned this in to the police?”
I press my lips together. “I tried to. Paparazzi caught their cars driving through my gates and started shooting them, so they assumed the whole break-in was some kind of publicity stunt. They barely listened to anything I said.”
Kenta frowns. “Even if they thought your allegations were false, they should have collected the evidence. This is extreme negligence. You could take it to court.”
“I don’t want to take it to court, I want someone to take me seriously. Check the back.”
He delicately flips the photograph. His eyebrows raise as he reads the message scrawled across the back.
“I’ve gotten threatening letters before,” I continue. “I’ve always disregarded them before now.”
“Threatening how?” Matt demands.
“Crazy declarations of love. People telling me they’ll stab me in the street. People saying I deserve to be killed. I’m not a popular person.”
“It really is normal in the industry,” Julie cuts in, back-pedalling frantically. “Really, I’m not sure how necessary all of this is.”
Kenta frowns. “Ma’am, it’s very necessary. Your security system is clearly faulty, and if this is some kind of obsessed fan, I would beverysurprised if their success didn’t encourage them to strike again.”
Julie looks desperate. “I know plenty of other stars who have had break-ins. They didn’t need 24-7 bodyguards! Just an updated alarm system, maybe some on-site guards. I’m sure just one of you would be fine.”
