Declan wasn’t back there. It was someone else. That was probably why he wanted me to answer my phone, to make sure I was okay. Or maybe to warn me.
“I’ll try,” Parker said. “Yes, no problem.”
He set the phone aside and glanced in the mirror again. Then he switched lanes and took a quick right to drive down an alleyway that definitely wasn’t the most direct route to my father’s house.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“It’s no problem.”
But his voice was clipped. Shit. I didn’t want to distract him, and he was probably prepared for something like this, but I wanted to know what was going on. “Is someone following us?”
“Correct.”
More dread settled in my stomach. I mumbled under my breath, “Then we shouldn’t go to my father’s house…”
“Once I lose this tail, we’ll take an indirect route. Don’t worry, there are people at your father’s house.”
Meaning, someone was still watching him. It brought me comfort, but not much. Someone had already tried to hurt him once. I angled in my seat, trying to see who was in the car behind us.
It couldn’t be Christopher Dark. I doubted he’d get his hands dirty. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get someone else to do it for him.
Parker took another left and then pulled into a parking garage so swiftly, I nearly fell off the seat. He drove to the end of an aisle and parked the bulky SUV in a cramped spot.
I felt like the noise from my heart racing could fill the entire car.
I almost reached for my phone, to turn it back on. I might be mad at Declan, but I wanted to hear his voice right now and I wanted the reassurance that he was nearby and that I was safe. That my father and Xander were safe.
Parker undid his seat belt, and I watched as he reached inside his jacket, setting his hand on something I could only presume was the butt of his gun.
Oh, God. He didn’t think they’d actually follow us in here? But then I thought back to the conversation we had with Declan’s father. How he’d warned Declan about sharing his secrets. It came off exactly like a threat.
After another moment with me holding my breath, Parker turned and looked at me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“Would you still like to go to your father’s house?”
“Do you think it’s safe?” I didn’t want to put him in any unnecessary danger. Or any more danger than he was already in.
Parker removed his hand from his jacket and his gaze softened. “Probably the safest place you can be right now. There are two other men stationed outside of your father’s house.”
I blew out a breath and nodded. “Yes, please.”
The rest of the drive was silent. It was only ten minutes but they felt like forever. I checked the roads around us constantly, looking for another car like ours. But this time no one seemed to be following us.
Once we arrived, Parker said to me, “One moment please.”
I realized he was indicating I stay in the car when another driver walked over to greet us. Parker got out, shut the door, and had a low conversation that I couldn’t hear with the other man. He also had a gun in his jacket.
My hand flexed on the seat next to me. If I’d waited, Declan would be here with me, to reassure me. He’d hold my hand and make sure everything was fine.
I closed my fingers into a fist, fighting off the urge to do anything rash. I’d already run out of there this morning, I didn’t need to make any other decisions I might question later.
After another moment, Parker opened the door for me and nodded. I stepped out and he walked with me to the front door, where my father greeted me. I shut the door behind me and then peeked out the window, surprised to find Parker still on the front porch. He was staying there instead of going back to his car.
My stomach clenched with nerves.
“Have they been doing that all morning?” I asked my dad.
“What? Standing on the front porch instead of waiting in their cars?” He nodded. “Since I woke up this morning. I went and asked what was going on, but they just said they were upping safety measures.”
Xander wandered in from the other room, carrying a bowl of cereal. “They don’t just up security measures for no reason. What happened?”
I had no idea about this morning. Maybe it was whatever Declan had been dealing with on the phone.
“Did either of you speak with Declan?” I asked.
“No. Yesterday was the only time we talked—the same time we talked with you.”
My dad frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Someone was following us on the way here,” I told them.
My dad’s concern was immediate. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, of course,” I said sounding a lot better than I felt inside. “We lost the tail and then drove the rest of the way here.”
Xander frowned. “Listen to you,” he said. “We lost the tail?”
I grimaced. He was right. This wasn’t normal, and certainly not what we’d signed up for when we decided to do our research on Dark Enterprises.
“I don’t like this,” my father said.
“It’s not…” I had no idea how to explain. Technically, we were in this situation because my dad had decided to help Declan in the first place. But none of it was anybody’s fault.
“Do you know who’s following you?” my father asked, walking to the window and looking outside. There were three cars stationed up and down the road. By now, the neighbors had to be getting curious. But I still felt
