Page 66 of The Bodyguard

I shake my head again, more vigorously, as I continue to back away from him. “No. No, this is crazy!”

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

I can’t. I can’t do this. “You need to go.”

“Without you?”

“Without me.”

“Lena…”

“Go. Please.”

“You’re not safe. You could be in danger…”

“My father won’t let any harm come to me. But if he’s worked out who you are; if he’s even close to doing that, then it’syourlife that’s in danger. So you need to go.”

“Jesus, Lena… You have no idea…”

“I don’t know who you are. And you lied to me, too.”

I turn around and walk away, towards the house.

“Lena!”

I don’t turn back, I keep on walking. And I try to ignore the very real ache in my heart.

Jonah

I shouldn’t have told her my name. My real name. I shouldn’t have done that yet. And as I watch her walk away, towards the house, I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think this could work. That she’d trust me enough to come with me: leave everything behind, everything she knows. Except, the life she’s been living, a lot of it has been built on lies.

I head towards the guest cottage, I need to pack a bag. Grab my passport. She wanted to know why I’ve had to make a move, why this is happening so fast, and there are reasons. For the past few days I’ve had a bad feeling, about Mikkel Nielsen. I think there’s a real chance he’s starting to put two and two together, and if he does that – if he works out, or even suspects that I’m not who I said I was, Lena’s right. I’m in danger. And there’s this part of me – the rational part – that knows I should just call this in, get in touch with Flick and tell her what’s going on; that my cover could be blown. They’d make sure I was safe. They’d pull me out of there. But it would be without Lena. And I didn’t want to leave without Lena. I don’twantto leave without Lena, but it looks like I might have to.

It takes me just minutes to throw everything I need into a holdall, and get out of there. And I don’t call a cab, I start walking along the road, heading towards the centre of this small coastal town. I need to think.

I should follow protocol, I know that. I should call Flick. I should do this properly. But everything’s such a fucking mess…

Sitting down on a wall overlooking the beach, I stare out into the darkness. This whole situation could be a ticking time bomb. I’ve only started seeing signs that Mikkel Nielsen may be harbouring suspicions towards me over the past few hours. Tonight, especially. His body language; the way he looked at me, I don’t know. I may be reading too much into it, my judgement may be clouded, because of Lena, but something didn’t – doesn’t feel right.

And is this the way to deal with it…?

Now I’m not so sure. I may have made an already almighty mess even worse.

I pull out my phone and think about calling Lena. She’s had a few minutes to think about everything I told her. A few minutes to let things sink in.

No. I can’t do it. It’s pointless. This was never going to work, all I’ve done is put my own life in danger, and maybe Lena’s too.

Holding my phone to my ear, I reluctantly accept that this is for the best. This is the right thing to do. I fucked up. I made a mistake. I can only hope that, this time, it doesn’t cost someone their life. Someone I love…

Lena

“Are you alone?”

My father’s voice has a slightly distracted tone to it, and I sit back against the headboard, my phone pressed to my ear, and sigh.

“Yes.”

“Bodie isn’t with you?”

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