Page 20 of The Bodyguard

“What does ‘more to it’ mean?” Sawyer asked in a voice that mimicked Jared’s. “A good situation?”

Paul and her mother exchanged glances.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Jared waited then shook his head. “Angela’s not going to break. Spit it out.”

She wasn’t so sure about that. Since the day of her rescue, she’d tried to control every part of her life. “What is it?”

“Pham has offered something too good to ignore,” Paul said.

Mother put on a practiced, patient expression. “There might be someone else out there, Angela.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

The gold bracelets clinked. “Like you.”

Angela’s stomach dropped. “Someone else…” Her throat knotted. “Like me?”

“We don’t know for certain,” her mother said softly. “Negotiations are ongoing. But Pham says he has another person, and his lawyers are tough negotiators.”

Angela faced Sawyer. She wanted to leave the war room and for Sawyer to leave with her. She needed a break. Fresh air. Anything but sitting in here, learning that someone was still going through the hell she had been rescued from.

“You okay?” Sawyer asked.

She shook her head.

“Maybe…” Sawyer looked to Jared. “...You all wrap this up without her.”

Jared’s jaw flexed. “Give them another minute.”

Angela felt her stomach bottom out again. “Oh God. There’s more?”

“Actually,” Paul said. “Yes, but it’s on a brighter note.”

Paul’s faux chipper tone warned she wouldn’t like whatever he said next.

“You can come home. Pham cuts a deal. You won’t have to testify.” Paul smiled. “We could get married, announce the Senator’s presidential run. I’ll—”

“Get married?” She jerked back an arm’s length from Paul. “Are you insane?”

“A political dynasty in the making,” Rob suggested, smiling. “The numbers look great.”

“You polled on this already?” she shrieked.

“Angela, would you calm down? You’re overreacting,” her mother scolded.

“Yes. The numbers look great,” Rob continued, apparently unable to read the room. “We tried a couple of different options, different timelines. A few variables: Do you change your last name? How close to the presidential announcement should we have an engagement? Et cetera. Et cetera.”

“We?” Angela choked over their subversive casualness.

“Enough,” Boss Man barked. He pointed at Rich and Rob then hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Get the hell out of here.”

Both men shrank back in their seats and eyed her mother. Angela didn’t care who they feared more. She wanted them to disappear. No, she wanted everyone to disappear. None of them seemed to notice how deeply they’d violated her. A deep sound rumbled in Jared’s chest. His fist slammed onto the solid wood conference table like Zeus smacking a mountaintop.

The two men jerked to their feet and stumbled over one another on their way out. The conference room door closed with a deafening finality. The air had thinned as though the atmosphere had escaped with the running men.

Jared’s dark scrutiny swung to Angela’s mother and Paul. A sheepish frown pulled at Paul’s features, but her mother didn’t flinch.

“The important thing,” her mother said without a hint of shame, “is that you’ll be safe and at home.”

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