Page 96 of The Bodyguard

Sawyer collapsed against her, gasping for breath. She never wanted to let him go. But his heavy weight was stolen away as he rolled onto his side. Sweet, sated kisses feathered her forehead and into her mussed hair. He gathered Angela to his chest. His racing heart slowed in beat with hers.

One thing was certain. For the rest of her life, she would never forget this man or this night.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The sun poured through the sheer drapes. The aroma of French-pressed coffee wafted from the silver carafe. Angela speared another bite of pancakes as Sawyer called Parker on speaker and set his cell phone between them.

Pleasantries said, Parker got down to business. “I have an address for you.”

Angela’s eyes went to Sawyer’s. “An address for what?”

“Mylene Hathaway.”

She did a double take at the phone. “How is that possible?”

Parker blew out with an exhausted chortle. “You don’t want to know how that kind of magic happens.”

“Yeah, Parker. I do.”

“Did you ever have a kid in an algebra class that asked, ‘When are we ever going to need to know how to do this?’”

She briefly recalled the nightmare of SAT study guides and then envisioned Parker plotting slope-intercept formulas on a whiteboard. “I might’ve been that kid,” she admitted.

“Math’s nothing but a game,” he replied. “Find the variables. Solve the puzzle. Finding Mylene has been like isolating the variables and reworking the equations.”

How could Mylene have existed all these years in captivity, and no one did the math correctly? Her disbelief was giving way to anger. “Are you kidding me?”

“Don’t shoot the messenger—and it’s only an educated guess.”

“One of Parker’s educated guesses,” Sawyer pointed out. “So there’s a negative chance of his being wrong.”

Parker didn’t disagree. “You two will have to see what there is to see.”

“Right.” Something in Parker’s voice needled under her skin. She glanced at Sawyer. He focused on his coffee. “Is there something else?” she asked.

“This is the thing, Angela,” Parker said. “Given the variables and my analysis, I’m pretty sure she’s alive.”

Sawyer didn’t look up from his coffee, and Parker’s voice was still off. Her stomach bottomed out. “But…?”

“I don’t know if she’s held against her will or on Pham’s payroll.”

Parker’s words landed like a wrecking ball.

Sawyer didn’t share her jaw-dropping reaction. A moment later, he asked, “You okay?”

“That’s insane.” She recoiled. “Mylene didn’t kill her husband and sister to work for Pham.”

Sawyer pinched his lips but shrugged. “We aren’t going to know anything until we check the situation out.”

“Exactly,” Parker confirmed. “Get eyes on the situation. Confirm it’s her. Then we decide what’s needed. An extraction plan or law enforcement.”

Angela’s mind whirled. She’d spent years with this woman in her head. After only two weeks of investigating, she was sure Mylene needed Titan’s assistance. “I am here to help her.”

“We’re here to find her,” Sawyer said quietly.

Find. Notsave. This felt like a betrayal.

Sawyer scooted closer. “If this isn’t who Pham’s willing to give up in negotiations, then there might be someone still out there who needs help.”

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