Page 54 of Protecting his Secrets

“Of course.”

He listened to Nick make several phone calls, though nothing that was said gave any indication of the topic. Malachi hoped it wasn’t anything to do with him, and they were going to interrogate him when they got back. He’d answer any of their questions, of course, but he had no idea what was going on.

When they finally pulled up to Windsor Castle, Malachi trembled from worrying so much. It eased slightly when Nick took his hand when they climbed out of the car and led them down the corridors to what Malachi now knew was Sec HQ. Nick knocked and waited for someone to open it, and then they were inside.

“Where is it?” Brett asked. Nick let go of Malachi and pulled the envelope from his pocket. Brett pulled on some gloves and opened it, his eyes scanning the page and envelope. “Nothing else?”

“No. Just that and a brief description of who gave it to Tarrant.”

“Did it ring any bells?”

Nick shook his head. “No idea who it was from that.”

“Felix is getting us some photos to look at. Maybe we can get a facial recognition hit once we know which one he is.” Brett glanced at Malachi and then back at Nick. “Fill him in.”

Nick raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

Brett stared at Malachi again. “The words you put in your articles are for self-preservation, right? You’re not hiding anything from us, are you? Because if you are and we find out, your punishment will be far worse than what you could dream of.”

Malachi’s stomach revolted at the idea that he would do anything to truly hurt the royal family—though words can be hurtful, he supposed—so he shook his head. “I don’t want anything to happen to them. I promise. It’s purely self-preservation.”

Brett nodded. “Fill him in, Nick. You never know, he might have an idea of what the fuck is going on around here. Owen, help him out.”

Over the next hour, tucked into a corner of Sec HQ, Nick and Owen provided him with the information about the events that had been happening but kept out of the media as much as possible. Randall’s kidnapping and Dominic being shot. Evan and Owen being blackmailed and blown up. And each of them being left with a number. It had confused the hell out of him until he realised they were all in relationships. Dominic andRandall. Owen and Evan. Nick and…Malachi. One guard, one partner.

“You’re thinking the things that happened to me were because of you,” he surmised, staring at Nick.

Nick nodded and peered at his hands. “I can’t think of another reason. Not now we have this?” He pointed to the number three. “It fits.” He swallowed hard and finally met Malachi’s gaze. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”

“If you are.”

Nick frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The first thing happened before we were together. Are you certain they’re related?”

He was glad Nick didn’t instantly dismiss his thoughts and actually sat there and worked through it. “I can’t be certain, but it’s a good guess. Although we weren’t together, we were attracted to each other, and if others could see it—which I’m sure they could from their comments—then it fits. I’m not ruling out that it could be two separate things, but as you’ve not found anything relating to anyone potentially going after you, I’m still erring on the ‘me’ cause.”

Malachi could see where he was coming from. He didn’t have any idea who could want to hurt him, but it didn’t mean he had to like making Nick feel like it was his fault.

“Why are they targeting bodyguards?” he asked.

Owen shrugged. “So far, we have found nothing that points to anyone in particular. It seems to be that whoever is doing it is using pawns to do their dirty work. People who’ve got beefs with us outside of the top person’s agenda. If we didn’t have these numbers linking things, I don’t know if we would’ve even figured out they were.” He sighed and rubbed his face.

Malachi worked the information around in his head. Something niggled at him. “Could it be a former bodyguard with a grudge?” he said, trying to work through it. “A spurned loverfrom someone? Anyone have a past they haven’t mentioned or refused to talk about?”

Owen scoffed. “Most of us have something in our past we don’t want to talk about, but no. I can’t think of anything right now. Brett would be the best person to ask that to, but I can’t guarantee he’ll answer. He’s good at what he does, and keeping secrets is his best skill. After all, the king needs to trust someone with all their information.”

“Someone knows about these tunnels, and as a reporter who researched them and thought it was all bogus, it needs to be someonein the know. Someone who was given the information. I doubt they could have just stumbled across the entrances. So, either someone is giving information out to others, or it’s someone who already knows the information. Like a former bodyguard or staff household member.”

Nick frowned. “I don’t know who would fit that bill. We need to get access to former employees. I’m sure Brett has already done it, but we could cross-reference things.”

Malachi loved puzzles like that, but he was less sure of himself when so much hung in the balance. “Who else could it be? Has anyone got information from Tarrant yet?”

“The Police Commissioner is interviewing him, but from what I’ve been told, he doesn’t have much to say. He’d never seen the person before and had no contact with anyone prior who had asked him for information or to do anything for them. It almost seems like it was the wrong place and time kind of thing, but I don’t trust it. Maybe Tarrant didn’t know it was going to happen, but I have a feeling he was targeted.”

“Why?”

“You. If this is going the same way as Dominic’s and Owen’s stories did, they used people around them to lure them in. This would be a way to lure you into the asshole’s game, ensuring I take part, too.”

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