Page 74 of The Bodyguard

“Your father’s looking for me. At least, he might be.”

He is. I know he is. But her expression isn’t telling me whether she knows that for sure, or not.

“Then why did you come here?”

“Because I need to see you. I need to explain…”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Her expression softens, but she’s keeping those arms wrapped tightly around herself, and she’s wrong. There’s a lot to talk about. She has no idea how much. And then her eyes meet mine again, only for the briefest of seconds, but long enough for me to see that she still cares. And that matters. That’s important.

“My dad, he won’t let it go.” Her voice is also a little softer now. What she’s showing here is some kind of front, I can see it. I can feel it. Or maybe I’m just hoping too much. “What you did…”

“I know,” I sigh, raking a hand through my hair and leaning back against the counter. “I know.”

“So why are you here? Why aren’t you somewhere safe?”

There’s a hint of panic in her voice now, and that fills me with a new kind of hope. She still cares, I’m not imagining it. And right now, I’ll take that.

“You shouldn’tbehere,” she whispers, her eyes wide, and she knows, of course she knows that her father is looking for me. It’s obvious now. “Haven’t you got some kind of protection? Aren’t they keeping you safe?”

“Back in the UK, I was living in a safe house.” I turn my head to look out of the window, at the pretty back yard with it’s neat little terrace and colourful array of potted flowers. “I can look after myself.”

She frowns, and I throw her a small smile, just to let her know that I can, look after myself. I’m not scared of her father. Men like him have never scared me. How their daughters make me feel, that’s the terrifying part.

“He asked if you were with me.” She turns around and starts busying herself making tea. “But you weren’t, so that’s what I told him.” She shrugs, but keeps her back to me. “And that’s all he’s ever said, about you.” She turns back to face me. “He’s angry. He’ll be angry until he’s done what he needs to do. He doesn’t like being taken for a fool and you, y’know – you did that.”

“I had no choice. We thought something way more dangerous was going on, because your father – you family, they steer clear of people like Novak.”

“Our families have had a complicated relationship for a long time. I guess I know why, now.” She looks at me, and this time her gaze lingers, she doesn’t drop it or let her expression waver, not once.

“Has your father – Ollie, even your mom, have any of them said anything about what Novak’s next move might be? What he actually wanted from them? If this was all about you…”

“You said you didn’t work for MI5 anymore.”

“I don’t.”

She frowns. “So why do you still sound like you do?”

“Because I care about you, Lena.”

“It’s not your job anymore, to care about me.”

She’s putting up some grade-A barriers here, and it’s going to take a lot for me to pull them down, I know that. I can feel the resistance coming off her in waves, but I’m not giving up. I didn’t come here, to give up.

“How did you know where I was?”

She’s not letting that one go.

“It was easy, in the end. I still have contacts that can access all kinds of information. Like flight manifests.”

She shakes her head and turns it away, her arms still crossed over her chest. “If my dad knew you were here…”

She leaves that sentence hanging, because it’s one she doesn’t need to finish.

“Lena, look at me. Please.”

She shakes her head again, keeping it turned away from me. And I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, I basically took all that trust she’d put in me and tossed it aside. She has every right to be pissed. I just – I need her to hear me. I need her to do that.

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