Just then, there was a knock on the door. Sasha and Julia both jumped a mile, shattering Sasha’s pretend bravado in an instant.
“Don’t answer it!” she cried at her mother.
Julia was clearly panicking, looking around wildly. “The cops!” she shouted. “Call the cops!”
Before Sasha got a chance, a blinding light flashed through the curtains. Sasha never thought she’d be relieved to see the paparazzi, but intrusive pictures were preferable to a chopped off head.
“It’s just the paps,” she said with a huge exhalation. She put the phone back down. “We need to make sure the curtains are shut properly.”
She went over to the window and flipped the bird at the man standing on her lawn. The haters will just love that, she thought, as he snapped several pictures of her stern expression and rude gesture. She shut the curtains to block the view of the photographer outside.
“Let’s go into the kitchen, Mom,” she said. “We’ll have more privacy at the back of the house.”
Trembling, Julia agreed.
“Sasha,” she said, as her daughter pushed her through the hall in her wheelchair. “I wish you hadn’t gotten involved in all this nonsense.”
Guilt whirled inside of Sasha. So far, her mom had been pretty understanding. She’d welcomed her, soothed her, and made her feel safe and loved. This was the first indication she’d given that she was disappointed in Sasha’s behavior.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Sasha said. “I wish I hadn’t either.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Thomas’s security guard arrived that evening. Sasha recognized him as one of the men who’d accompanied them on his private plane when she’d first left Chicago.
“Bill, isn’t it?” she said, as she gestured him inside.
“Yup,” the man replied. He was a burly guy, all stocky and thick-necked, with peering, suspicious eyes.
“Do you want a coffee or anything?” Sasha asked.
The man glanced around the room. “Nope,” he said without looking at her.
Clearly, he wasn’t much of a conversationalist.
“Well, you just do whatever it is you do,” Sasha said. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“Uh huh.”
Sasha left the suspicious looking Bill standing in her living room and went to the kitchen to start making homemade pizza for dinner.
Pizza, she thought wryly. I’ve gone from oysters and lobsters to pizza.
It was odd how quickly she’d gotten accustomed to Thomas’s lifestyle. At first she’d felt so out of place in his world, so undeserving of his affection, but sometime after the makeover and Amore photoshoot, she’d kind of gotten used to it. Jacuzzis, private jets, red carpets—the more time she spent with Thomas the less strange it had started to feel.
Sasha put the pizza in the oven and went to wake her mom. Julia was upstairs having a nap. Sometimes, the MS could really zap her energy.
“Do you want any dinner?” she asked Bill as she passed. He was peering out of the window.
“Nope,” came his monosyllabic reply.
Wow, Sasha thought. He’s basically a robot.
Sasha was on her way up the stairs when her cell phone started ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw Thomas’s name displayed on the screen.
“Hi,” she said, pausing on the landing for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” Thomas began. He sounded harried.
Sasha frowned. “Sorry about what?”
“The security guard,” Thomas said. “He was meant to be there by now, but his flight got delayed.”
“No problem, he arrived about half an hour ago.”
“What?” Thomas said.
“The security guy. He’s downstairs right now.”
“No, he’s not,” Thomas replied, sternly. “His plane hasn’t even landed yet.”
A pit of anguish began swirling in Sasha’s stomach. Her gaze darted down the stairs to find that Bill was standing in the hallway, watching her coolly.
Heart racing, she sidled along the landing and slipped into her bedroom. “It’s Bill,” she whispered. “Your security guard from the plane.”
“That’s not who I sent,” Thomas replied. “Bill and Ryan were employed by Pippa. I fired them after I fired her. I couldn’t trust them anymore.”
“Then what the hell is he doing in my house?” Her voice was becoming shrill.
There was a moment’s hesitation before Thomas replied, “Get out.”
Sasha’s heart started racing. “You don’t think he’s going to harm us, do you?”
“If Pippa can get your sweet ex-boyfriend to turn on you, who knows what else she’s capable of.”