Page 18 of The Bodyguard Undone

“Oh and Kayne. I set her frequency to yours. From experience you must know she won’t be able to handle that kind of electrical charge, am I right? She doesn’t have your stamina, your training. Of course, if you want me to test it out, make one wrong move. I guarantee she ends up dead from heart failure. Are we clear?”

Kayne doesn’t say a word but I can see how this is affecting him.

I want this torture to end. I can’t take it anymore. I’m not equipped to deal with things like this. I can’t stand this anymore.

“Roger,” I say. He holds up a finger to silence me.

“There’ll come a time when you’ll be allowed to talk but that time isn’t now.”

“Remember, Langley, one single move, and I’ll fry her. Do you understand?”

He knows Kayne can’t answer him. Not with the ball gag in his mouth.

Instead, he takes a seat. I’m pushed into a chair on his left. Kayne faces us both.

Roger immediately starts to eat with relish while I don’t eat anything at all. My gaze keeps going to Kayne, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at Roger.

After ten minutes of hearing him smack his lips together and chew excessively loudly, Roger lifts a napkin and retrieves a gun.

The gasp that escapes my mouth is filled with fear. A gun in Roger’s hand is the scariest thing I could imagine now.

He sits back and twirls it around his fingers, aimlessly and carelessly.

“No one likes to be made a fool of in their own house, right?” He leans forward, asking me the question directly.

A sick feeling sinks to the bottom of my soul.

“Stand up,” he tells me. I glance at Kayne and I’m the only one who notices the infinitesimal movement of his jaw. He won’t move. He won’t even blink because it could mean Roger would set off the band around my neck.

My hesitation to stand has Roger screaming the command down on me. He then grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet.

“No one likes to be humiliated in their own house by his two captives.”

My body goes into a full-on shock before I can register what’s happened. I’m gasping for air, doubled over, clutching my stomach. The pain is so blinding I can’t stand it.

Kayne leaps forward, but the chains on his wrist attached to the wall keep him in place. The violence in his eyes seems to cut my tormentor in half. But Roger holds up his hand one more time.

“Uh no. I think you forgot what will happen to her if you make one move. Think of a peach, Langley. You’re a smart guy, you know what one charge will do to that peach. She’s the peach, Langley. Now back fucking down or I blow her to smithereens and don’t think I won’t. This ends tonight. No more games. I’m ending it tonight.”

Heaving breaths escape Kayne as he leans back against the wall at the same time Roger spins me around. He’s clutching my face, his fingers bruising me.

“You see, Langley I was going about this the wrong way. I wanted to hurt you for taking what was meant to be mine. You see,” he uses the phrase again. “I wanted Sophia from the first moment I met. Five years ago. She won’t even remember me, but I bet she won’t ever forget me now.” He digs harder into my flesh.

“I never wanted to be king of a fucking tiny country. I wanted Sophia. And then her fucking bodyguard comes in and takes her. And for that, I needed to break you but I was going around it the wrong you. I can’t break your body, you’re a fucking super ninja or something. But I can break your mind.”

When he hits me again it’s harder than before, more malicious, crueler. Another devastating blow to my stomach. It’s weakened me so much, that I collapse.

Roger doesn’t care. He drags me up by my hair. I see stars, my brain feels dislodged. I don’t want him to have the satisfaction of picking me up from the floor, so use all my might to stay standing.

I make the mistake of glancing at Kayne. For as long as live, I will never forget the haunted look in his eyes.

Roger is not impressed by my bravado and this time he offers his fist to my face, just on my cheek and then on my stomach in quick succession. I go rolling down and when I try to stand up, I feel as if my bones are breaking. I’m winded. I feel as if I’m dying. I remember the beating Kayne took in succession without blinking an eye. But here I am, dying at the hands of a coward.

“Please,” I whisper, but it’s not for myself. It’s for Kayne. My face is swelling so badly I can’t see anymore but I know I’m looking at Kayne. I want to tell him I’m okay. I’m tougher than I look. I can take a beating from a man like Roger and still survive.

But I can’t find Kayne. I can’t find his heat. That deep feeling of being safe when I’m with him. I find nothing about him that’s familiar to me. Just a cold murderous aura that shuts me out. I don’t want to lose him this way and I feel I am.

Blood seeps onto the dress. It takes me minutes to realize it’s my own, dripping off my cheek.

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