Page 65 of The Bodyguard

I’m sorry…? “Whoareyou?”

His eyes meet mine. Kind eyes. But he’s just told me he isn’t who I thought he was. And I have no fucking clue what that means, except – yeah. He’s been lying to me, too.

“I really need you to trust me, Lena.”

“And you think I can do that? After what you’ve just said?”

“My only concern here is you. Okay? Your safety. I’m not here to hurt you, and everything I told you back at the hotel, the way I feel about you,thatis not a lie.”

“Whoareyou?”

I need to know that. I need to know who this man is. Who hereallyis.

He sighs; drops his head; runs a hand along the back of his neck. “Can you just trust me, Lena? Please?”

I shake my head. He keeps telling me to trust him, but I don’t think I can. “Why do you have to leave? What’s happened, so suddenly, to change everything?”

He raises his eyes to the sky and takes a deep breath. “I think your father may be close to finding out what’s going on.”

“What does thatmean? What the fuckisgoing on?”

“My name isn’t Bodie Bekker.”

I swallow hard, and I stare at him.

He lied to me, too…

“Lena, please, we really don’t have time…”

“Whoareyou? I’m not moving until you tell me who you really are?”

He leaves a beat before he answers me, dropping his head and taking the deepest of breaths before his eyes lock on mine. “My name is Jonah Risberg, and I’m an MI5 agent…”

“You work for MI5?”

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say, how am I supposed to respond to that? What the fuck has been going on for the past few weeks?

“Lena, please, you have to listen to me…”

“No.” I shake my head and back away from him. “No, I don’t. Have you been watching us? Have you been watching my family?”

He lied to me, too…

“I can explain everything, I promise, but we need to get away from here. Now. If I’m right, and your fatherhasstarted to work out who I am…”

“I can’t go with you. How can I trust you?”

“Your own family have been lying to you, Lena.”

So has he…

“You keep saying that. You keep telling me that, but you won’t tell me anything else…”

“Because it isn’t something I can just condense into a quick sentence, it’s complicated.”

“You think?”

“Everything I told you back at the hotel, I meant that. I don’t know how many times I can keep telling you that, but what I feel for you is real. It’s very real. And all of this, everything I’m doing now, it’s because I care about you. And I shouldn’t have let it happen, I shouldn’t have let it get this far, but I can’t ignore it, Lena. I can’t. I am falling in love with you…”

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