Never Safe ✔︎

Chapter One

Three years later...

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring. I'm nineteen years old and a senior in high school. But I don't go to a traditional public school like most people. I do all of my schooling online and so does Ari. I enjoy this a lot more, because in public school everyone knew me because of my dad. So, if people didn't like him, then they wouldn't like Ari or me. We have been doing online school ever since my mom was kidnapped. My dad says that I shouldn't get my hopes up about us ever finding her, but I still believe that she's out there. For the first few months the police looked and looked for her. But, after that they sort of gave up. It was a really rough time for all of us in the house. After a year and a lot of therapy, we all started to get better. I reluctantly get out of bed a start to get ready for the day. I make my way to the bathroom I share with Ari and take a quick shower. I go to my closet and get dressed for the day. I then do my makeup and get my laptop for school. Ari and I always get ready for the day, then do our schoolwork at the kitchen table together. I head to the kitchen and grab an apple for breakfast. I beat Ari to the table and start my schoolwork, so I can finish before noon. A few minutes into my school, the kitchen door opens and Tyler walks in. He's been my bodyguard for over three years now. After a while, we got to know each other better, but I don't like him very much. He doesn't like to have fun and is very strict when we go anywhere. Tyler and Jace act like they are in charge of us, even though their only job is to keep us safe. I also learned that straight after middle school he joined an organization where he learned how to protect people and then after he passed the classes, he became a bodyguard. The program allows them to finish their schooling at sixteen. He's not allowed to say where the organization is located. But all I know is that there are houses all over the country and each house only has about four guys in it. I used to be mad at my dad because Tyler and Jace were told this was a temporary position, but over the years, there have been many threats to Ari and myself, so they stuck around.

"Are you working on school?" Tyler asks breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yes. I plan on finishing as soon as I can. I can't wait to graduate next week." I say with a sigh. He just sits at the table next to me and I continue working on school for another ten minutes when Ari and Jace walk into the kitchen.

"What took you so long?" I ask as Ari sets up her laptop on the other side of me at the table. Jace sits across from me and gets on his phone as well. After a few hours I finished school for the day and Ari finished soon after. We get through school quick because we are so close to finishing, and we don't have a lot of work to do.

"What do you want to do now?" Tyler asks as he gets up from the table.

"Let's go to the mall" Ari practically shouts.

Jace and Tyler roll their eyes but agree anyway. Whenever they refuse to take us somewhere, we threaten to tell my dad, which seems to scare them enough to take us wherever we want. I have been wanting to go to the mall for so long, so I smile at Ari and agree with her. We go to our rooms to grab our wallets and go to the garage where all of our cars are kept. I think it's stupid how Tyler and Jace have nicer cars than Ari's and mine. My dad doesn't want us to be spoiled, so when we each turned sixteen, my dad said that we would have to get a job to get cars. Ari and I agreed we should just share a car since we don't go out as much. So, we both got a job at a cafe when I was sixteen, until we had enough money to quit. The boys have super nice cars because my dad pays them very well. They also don't have to pay rent since they live at our house.

"Let's take mine" Tyler states as he gets in his Ferrari. Jace gets in the passenger seat and I get in the back with Ari. The nearest mall is only a ten-minute drive. We get to the mall quickly and the first place I want to go to is the food court.