Page 13 of My Bodyguard Neighbor
"I prefer not to kill people if I can avoid it, bare hands or not."
She had been joking, but he obviously wasn’t. She couldn’t stop herself from asking, "But you could if you had to?"
"Yes."
That was unsettling."How many people have you killed?"
Jonah's hands went completely still on the whisk.For a long moment, he didn't answer, and Holly thought he might refuse to."Enough that I stopped counting."
"Does it bother you?Killing people?"
"Every single one.I’m not a psychopath.The day it stops bothering me is the day I'll know I've lost my soul completely."
Holly absorbed this, trying to reconcile the gentle man who'd brought her coffee with the trained killer standing in front of her."How did you end up working for my father?"
"I got out two years ago.Honorable discharge, full pension, the whole nine yards.But I didn't know how to..."He gestured vaguely."How to be normal.How to live in a world where the biggest crisis is whether your coffee order is right."
Holly waited, sensing there was more.
"Your father's people found me in a bar in Virginia.I'd been there for three days straight, trying to drink myself into forgetting what I'd done overseas."Jonah's laugh was bitter."They offered me a job that would let me use my skills for something other than destroying lives."
"Like babysitting me?"
"Protecting people who need protection."Jonah finally looked at her, and the pain in his gaze made her chest ache."I wanted to think I could be more than just a weapon someone else pointed at their enemies."
Holly slipped off the bar stool and moved around the counter.She stopped close enough to touch him but not quite daring to."You are more than that."
"Why are you being so nice to me?All I've done is lie to you from the moment we met."
"You were doing your job."
"No."Jonah turned to face her fully."My job was to watch you from a distance.Report on your activities, your contacts, any potential threats.What I did was manipulate my way into your life because I wanted to be close to you."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that the moment I saw you through your window, covered in paint and completely lost in your art, I knew I was in trouble."Jonah's hands clenched at his sides."I'm saying that everything I've done since then has been about wanting you, not protecting you.I've made a lot of choices I'm not proud of, but I'm trying to do better."
Before Holly could respond, Jonah's phone rang.He glanced at the screen and went rigid."I have to take this."He stepped out onto the balcony, and Holly could hear fragments of the conversation through the glass door.Sharp, clipped sentences that made her blood run cold even though she couldn't make out all the words.
When Jonah returned, his face was grim.
"What's wrong?"Holly asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"There was a shooting at your father's courthouse twenty minutes ago.A security guard was hit in the parking garage."
She staggered backward until her hip hit the counter, her mind struggling to process what he'd said."Is my father—"
"He's fine.He wasn't the target.The guard patrolling near his car was.They think it was a warning."Jonah's jaw tightened."But it means they're escalating.Going after you wasn't enough to get his attention, so now they're making moves on him directly."
Holly’s stomach lurched."Is the security guard okay?"
"He’s in critical condition.They hit him in the chest."
Holly sank onto the bar stool.An innocent man was fighting for his life because her father had made powerful enemies.The same enemies who'd slashed her tires, broken into her apartment, and wouldn't stop until they got what they wanted.Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to stop the trembling that had started in her hands and was spreading through her entire body."They’re pulling out all stops.”
Jonah moved toward her, his hands hovering over her shoulders like he wanted to touch her but wasn't sure if he should."You're safe."
"Am I?"Holly looked up at him, seeing her own fear reflected in his gaze."Because it sounds like these people aren't going to stop until they succeed."
