“I agree,” he says. “I’m going to call Tommy and let him know what we decided. The meeting is in two hours.” He walks toward the door, then opens it, leaving the room. I head back upstairs to clear my schedule for the next ninety days before it’s time for us to leave.
We walk into the office building and make our way up to the conference room dressed in black suits and white shirts. When we approach the receptionist, she smiles at us when Hunter tells her who we are here to see. She gets up, and we follow her down the carpeted hallway until we reach a big brown door that is closed. After knocking once, she opens the door. Hunter walks in first with me right next to him.
“Gentlemen,” Tommy says, getting up from his chair and coming over to us. He shakes Hunter’s hand first and then mine. “Great to see you again.” Tommy and I work out at the same gym. “Come in and welcome.” He gestures to the table, and I look around to see that there are eight men, but my eyes fly to Kellie, who just sits there with her mouth open. She has her hair braided to the side, and her face is free of makeup. “We were just talking about the security for the tour.” I nod when he walks to his chair and sits down. “Kellie, you know Hunter and Brian.”
“Yes,” she says, “but I’m not sure why they are here.” She looks from him to me, and then her eyes move to Hunter.
“Well.” He starts talking and then looks down, I’m sure trying to find the words. “We have a situation that …” he trails off, looking at Hunter who clears his throat.
“Tommy called a couple of days ago about a couple of letters that you received.” As Hunter talks, I cross my arms to stop my hands from tapping on the table nervously.
“I get letters all the time,” she says and looks over at the only other girl in the room. “Cori, tell them.”
“This time was different,” Tommy says, turning to her and holding her hand in his. “They were weird, and one of them was delivered to your house, along with a package of roses … one hundred of them, to be exact.”
“Holy shit,” Cori says, sitting up. “Why wasn’t she told?”
“Everyone around you has been on alert, and I didn’t want her nervous,” Tommy starts, trying to prevent the impending hysteria, “but I knew that with you leaving and the tour starting, it was time for me to bring in the specialists.”
“Them?” Kellie whispers, her eyes roaming from Hunter to me.
“It would be safer if one of them was with you twenty-four seven,” Tommy tells her. “We have the tightest security in place for the venues, but we want to make sure you’re just as safe.”
“What does this mean?” she asks. “What does any of this mean?” She looks around the table, waiting for someone to answer her.
“It means that for the next ninety days or until the threats stop, Brian will be your shadow. Where you go, he goes.”
“Really?” She now takes her hand away from Tommy and crosses her arms over her chest. “Even when I sleep?”
“There will be a separate room for him in all the hotels and on the bus,” Tommy assures her.
“What if I say no?” She gets up, propping her hands on the table, and Cori follows. “What if I say it’s not going to happen?”
“Then I’m going to override you,” Tommy says. “You know that I wouldn’t do this if I thought it was nothing.” He gets up now, grabbing her shoulders in his hands. “Do what you need to do, Kellie, and process this however you need to process it, but just know that, regardless, Brian is with you for the next ninety days.”
Chapter Three
Kellie
This can’t be happening, not today. I’m standing here with my mouth pretty much hanging open. And I’m being told that regardless of what I say, this decision has already been made for me. It was already set in stone, and I had no choice but to accept it.
“Fine,” I mumble and turn to walk out of the office. “Cori is going to handle all the details, but if it gets out of hand, I’m pulling the plug.” I reach for the handle of the door but stop when I hear his voice.
“The only time you pull the plug is when I say it’s safe.” I don’t bother answering him, my body shivering when I yank open the door and Cori and I walk out.
“In the car,” I say to Cori when she turns and looks at me, and even though I’m not looking at her, I know she’s asking me a million questions with her eyes. When we get down to the indoor garage, my driver is waiting for me. I smile at him while he holds open my door, and I get in. Once we are on our way out of the garage, I hear Cori.
“At home,” she says, “we need to talk.” I don’t bother answering her; I just nod my head and look out the window. They say traffic is bad in New York, but they lied. Nothing is worse than sitting in the car on I-110 in Los Angeles for hours while people get to their destination. I watch as the cars get fewer and fewer and the houses get bigger and bigger.
When we pull up to the large gate at the entrance of the community, Cori reaches in her purse to push the opener, and the gates swing open on both sides. He drives down the road, and each house has another gate. When I see the wall to my house and the gate open, I’m happy. He parks in the circle driveway, and I look up at my two-story white house with black roof, doors, and window shutters.
I walk up the white marble steps and press in the code to unlock the big black doors. It opens into the grand foyer with a floor of cream-colored marble. The rounding staircase has black iron railings on each side leading upstairs. All you see when you walk into the house are the stairs on both sides, the high ceilings, and the living room right in front of the door.
Making my way into the house, I drop my purse on one of the tables set up against the railing flanked by plush gray single chairs. “I’m starving.” I hear the door close behind me and walk down two steps into the living room until my feet sink into the cream and black plush carpet. The custom oversized beige couches are right in the middle, and a glass coffee table sits between them with a small square box of roses in the middle. On top of the fireplace mantel is where I keep the Oscar, the Grammy, the Tony, and the daytime Emmy. Only a few elite people can boast the EGOT title, and I have to pinch myself that I am in that category. It’s surreal to me when I sit down and stare up at them with my name engraved on them.
Looking at the picture of that moment on the wall on the way to the kitchen, I was so young and green. My gold dress felt like a prom dress, and I had my hair set up with ringlets coming down. It was the best night of my life, or at least I thought it was. That performance on stage got me a call from the casting director who was doing a play, and it was just one win after another. The biggest win was winning best original song at the Oscars this year. It was the win that put me on the EGOT list. Me, a little country girl who just wanted to get married and have kids. When you asked me in school, that would always be my answer. I want to be a mom, and now I have five houses all around the world. A penthouse in New York, the LA mansion I’m currently standing in, a chateau in Paris, a villa in Italy, and my favorite one, the ranch in Montana.