Page 13 of The Bodyguard Undone

Roger seems to have corrected himself and schooled his features. He reaches for his jacket and puts it on then fastens the buttons.

“Dinner? I thought we might have some alone time here in a much cozier setting.”

He gestures to the room with its crackling fire and rugs and paintings.

“I want to see Kayne.”

I’m not afraid of him anymore.

“I said sit and have dinner with me.” He opens a cloche. “Lobster,” he says. “My favorite.”

“I don’t care what your favorite food is. I. Want. To. See. Kayne. Right now.”

“I’m in charge. I make—”

But I cut him off.

“The whole time I’ve been thinking you’re doing this because you wanted to be king. That you wanted that power, that title. But you’re rich enough already. Certainly, enough for you to be able to kidnap a queen and keep her imprisoned in a dungeon. But that was your father’s ambition, wanting you to be king. Not yours. What you want is to be Kayne Langley.”

His face turns that disgusting shade of red again. I know I’m right about him.

“You want to be Kayne Langley. You want what he has. You’ve always wanted to be him even when you didn’t know him. Kayne is fearless. Brave. One man who can take on the world. But you?” I laugh at the pathetic man before me. “You need a thousand armed men around you to feel brave. He killed two of your best men, single-handedly after you had him beaten up.”

“Quiet,” he shouts like a spoiled two-year-old.

“You want to have the size of his balls, of his cock but you will never measure up. You want to be him because I love him and I could never in all eternity love a man as cowardly, as weak, as pitiful as you.”

“I said quiet.” Spit flies from his mouth. His eyes protrude from his head and for a second I feel sorry for the sad man that he is. Doesn’t he know no man will ever match up to Kayne?

“You want to be him because he’s the only man I can love,” I say again. Roger does what I completely expect from him. He goes mad and starts thrashing things around. He topples everything off his desk. He’s seething because I called him out for what he is. A pretender.

He wants to belong in Kayne’s world where he can yield that power with such deadly grace men are in awe of him. But he won’t.

“When Kayne looks at me I get wet. When I look at you I feel pity. And Kayne didn’t need a gun pointed to his head, or mine to take my virginity. No. He did it his own way. In the palace, under a thousand guards, right there in the bedroom I would be sharing with my future husband. He didn’t want me to forget how he made me feel. How I bled when he took my innocence for himself. I gave myself to him. And I would do it again and again and again.

“You won’t ever be like Kayne because you’re a coward. And that’s the first thing that Kayne is not.” My words are piped with coldness and truth. I’m baiting him. I’m putting my life at risk judging by the homicidal glint in his eye, but I also know he’s the kind of man that when pushed into a corner, would do something to demonstrate whatever power he thinks he has. All I need is to know Kayne is okay.

“But the most important thing of all. You’re so deathly afraid of Kayne, you won’t face him man to man because you know he would kill you in the blink of an eye. He messes with your ego. You’re afraid of him. You’re petrified of him.” I say softly but clearly.

“You think he loves you?” he asks, his voice high-pitched and screechy. “You think he loves you? You’re a job. A good fuck. Something he can tick off his list as done. He doesn’t love you and I will prove it to you.”

He picks up his phone. “Bring him in. And get the girls,” he adds.

My heart strikes like thunderbolts in my chest. I only hear him saying to bring Kayne in. That’s all I want. To see him again.

I say nothing afterward but I watch Roger try to compose himself again. He straightens his suit jacket. He soothes down his hair. His nondescript brown eyes are hollow, but they twitch every now and again with a dose of nervousness.

I thought once that Roger was a nice man. He seemed so timid and accommodating. I didn’t know that beneath that facade was a crazy person with too much money to buy himself synthetic power because he didn’t own it innately.

He was only as strong as his backup.

He picks his phone up again. “And bring in an extra ten men.”

“You’re afraid of him,” I snicker, unable to help myself. He’s afraid of the man he wants to be.

But inside I’m barely holding onto the barest of my breath. Waiting to see Kayne.

The door opens. Kayne gets shoved into the room. My attempt to go to him is thwarted when Roger pulls me back, his fingers dig into my arm with such malice involuntary tears start pricking at my eyes. But that doesn’t matter.

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