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“A hat….” Darius looked at her with a bemused expression. “You thought a thin layer of metal would prevent me from sensing you?”
“You didn’t reach out. Maybe my prototype worked.”
He shook his head at that statement but didn’t address her bold assertion, choosing to change the subject. “Why didn’t you want me to be able to contact you?”
“I couldn’t really show up at your home and change your house around to create a place to appear for online meetings. I already had a spot set up at my apartment. If nothing had happened, I would have simply returned here at the end of the day, and you wouldn’t have had a clue.”
Seeing his glower, she quickly added, “Then we could have come up with a plan if something like that happened again.”
He raised an eyebrow at her without saying a word.
After a long, uncomfortable pause, she blurted, “I shouldn’t have driven there. I knew going back to my apartment alone was a risk.”
“A dangerous gamble. Until we figure out what is happening and where this threat is coming from, you are going to be escorted to work and back.”
“I’m not a child, Darius. I don’t need a keeper.” She replayed the statement in her head as her Daddy’s face didn’t waver from the worried look he gave her. “That was a dumb thing to say, wasn’t it? I would have been in so much trouble if you hadn’t found me.”
While the events of the previous afternoon and night were foggy, some parts of the night had stuck in her head. The slightly weird taste of the soup. Chalking up the difference to a change in the recipe, she’d eaten the dish anyway because she was hungry, and restaurants switched ingredients up often. Then her memory skipped to seeing Darius in that strange room. She didn’t remember anyone breaking in, dragging her out of her apartment, or even the ride to the other place. Mara shivered at how helpless she’d been.
“Do you recall seeing the doctor last night?” Darius asked. “She suggested that you’d have a limited memory of details.”
“Kind of. Okay, I barely have anything straight in my mind,” Mara said, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
Darius brushed away the moisture from her face with his thumb. “You’re safe now, Zoí mou. No one will hurt you again.”
“Even you? Are you going to spank me?”
“Your ass should be scarlet red, but no.”
“Why not?”
“I think you’ve learned your lesson, Mara. Are you ever going to avoid telling me where you are again?”
“No way. Even if I’m going to buy you a present. I’m probably going to drive you crazy, because I’m always pestering you.”
“That’s impossible, Little girl. I will treasure everything about you.”
She sat up suddenly. “Oh my God! I have to be at work today. What time is it?”
“I have already contacted the bank for you and notified them you are ill. The doctor warned that the large dosage of drugs they must have given you would make the effects linger. You should be better tomorrow. We’ll reassess then.”
“Oh, no! They figured out I’m dating one of the guys at Nightfall. Your account is the one I used as an example when I reported discrepancies in the deposits and debits.”
“I called from your phone. If they ask you about the man who called, Roger Stevens is an old friend of yours from college. He’d escorted you to dinner when you got food poisoning. Since you couldn’t phone yourself, he contacted the main branch for you. I’m afraid I was very poetic about the disgustingness of seeing Italian food regurgitated. Your boss didn’t wish to talk for long. He told you to take as much time off as you needed. Oh, and I had a thick Southern accent.”
She stared at him in complete astonishment. “You’re kidding.”
“Not at all.”
“So, what am I going to do today?”
“You’re going to let me care for you. First, we’ll have lunch. Then I thought we’d play with Sparkle for a while, followed by a nap. Dinner and an early bedtime.”
“I can’t rest that much.”
“Little girl, if I tucked you into bed now, you’d fall asleep. But I want you to get some food in your system. What would you like to eat?”
“A grilled cheese sandwich and some potato chips.”
