Chapter 4
Lincoln
“We in the Secret Service or what?” Grant joked when I handed him the walkie earlier in the day.
“Yeah, except that they don’t exactly shift into bears,” Jackson replied, taking his ear piece from me and fixing it in his ear.
“Maybe they should,” I commented and the others sniggered.
I’d charted out a plan for the event to the last position. Ford expected it of me and I was determined to do a good job. The entire clan was in on this, which meant that we had at least forty of our men at the venue.
Every inch of the premises was covered, with most of the men scattered in the crowd and keeping an eye on the stage and the perimeter. Grant, Ford and I were in-charge of this group, while Jackson was in the building overlooking the museum, with his own group of men. We had to make sure that the place was being watched by us from every angle.
The day before, I’d met with Andrew at his office and gone over the plan. He was pleased with the level of security and said that he was going to stop worrying.
I hadn’t met or seen his family yet, but I knew they were going to be there at the event.
When I got there and when the evening started, I noticed his wife. She was on his arm the whole time and interacted with the guests.
“Where’s the daughter?” Grant asked me, while we walked through the crowd, trying to keep our eyes on everything. I looked around. I hadn’t noticed her yet. I should have at least asked for a picture of her from Andrew, that way I would have known who I was protecting.
“Find the daughter. We need to keep an eye on her too,” I told Grant.
“Roger that,” he said and went in search of the daughter. I figured it wouldn’t have been hard to find her. I expected Andrew to keep his family close to himself, especially since he was aware of the threat on his life.
But then Grant returned a few minutes later, looking confused.
“Nobody seems to know where the daughter is,” he hissed in my ear.
“Fuck!” I growled and ran a hand through my hair.
“Nobody knows what she looks like?” I asked and Grant shrugged.
“Okay, keep the boys on the lookout. I’m going to take Andrew aside and ask him to point her out to me. She has to be here somewhere,” I replied.
I started heading towards Andrew, while barking out orders on my walkie. Then I stopped, because I saw that he was walking towards the stage. I didn’t have enough time to intercept him and ask him about his daughter.
“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath as I looked around the crowd. I had no idea what his daughter looked like, and this was my fault. Why hadn’t it occurred to me earlier to ask him about her? I thought I was so on top of my game, and I’d majorly fucked up.
And now if something happened to his daughter; I wouldn’t be able to stop it. She could already be missing, for all I knew!
I was cursing myself as I watched him walk up on stage. Then I noticed two women following him up. I couldn’t see their faces yet. I was standing at one end, and the women’s backs were turned to me. But I could sense that one was much older and one younger. They had to be his wife and daughter. It was a relief. At least now I would know what the daughter looked like.
I stood back, keeping my eyes on the stage while the women took up their position beside him. Andrew was getting ready to make his speech and clearly he wanted his family there with him.
I watched and waited, for the daughter to look up so I could see her face. There was something familiar about her, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Even from this distance, it seemed like I’d seen her somewhere, that I knew her.
My eyes roamed over her, and I could see that she was pregnant. Did I know any pregnant women?
Then she looked up, and everything around me stood still.
It was Charlotte.
As clear as day. I would have recognized her anywhere. Her hair, her face, her eyes…everything was the same. Only now, she was dressed in a sophisticated blue tight dress and had a bulging baby belly.
She was looking around in the crowd, until finally; her eyes landed on me.
I wasn’t very close to the stage, but she’d seen me. She’d picked me out in the crowd and now we were staring at each other. There was no doubt in my head that was her. She’d recognized me too, and immediately, the color seemed to drain from her face.
She was Andrew Williams’ daughter? The girl I’d fucked at the campsite was Charlotte Williams?
And she was pregnant!
I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t feel anything. Every ounce of my energy was focused on her, and on her belly.
What the fuck was going on?
I’d fantasized about seeing her again, of finding her, but not like this! Not as the daughter of the man who was giving me truck loads of money to protect him. She was my job too now. Keeping Charlotte safe was a part of my detail.
But most importantly, whose baby was she carrying?