Our Bodyguard|18+

Forty-nine

"Mia!" Red barges into my office, wearing his distraught lover's look reserved for only when we're alone behind closed doors.

I think Kenna told him what happened after I sent her packing.

I didn't want to hear her tainted apology, that hypocrite!

"Thanks, Nina, everything has been excellent. I need no further adjustments, " I tell the MK's event organizer, Nina De Sauza, who's getting up from the chair upon the interruption from Red.

"Pleasure, Mia. I'll see you tomorrow then." Nina walks her lush Brazilian body toward the door, clothed in white jeans, black heels, and a blue blazer.

I see Red nodding at her before she leaves us alone in my office. It's lunch hour; I've lost track of time. No appetite either.

Red saunters in. "Are you okay?"

"Depends." I pull the files on the desk without giving him so much as a glance. "If it's about Kenna, I just have a question that can give you a clear picture of whether I'm okay or not." Now I look up at him with cold eyes.

A frown has crinkled his face—still a sight to the sore eyes. At every turbulence I face, he's strangely the face I yearn to behold, the touch I die to feel. He always feels like home to me.

But not today. Not right now.

"Ask away," he replies calmly.

I step out of my desk, my heels click-clacking nonchalantly toward where's standing. I shouldn't be, but I'm angry at him. At everyone. I'm just so angry.

"Suppose I found Luca's secret—the one you don't know about," I begin, and Red's eyes narrow tightly at me. "He's your trustworthy partner, but he's not who you think he is." Although brief and pathetic, laughter lurches off my lips as I fold my arms loosely on my stomach. "Luca is a fucking Australian agent sent by whatever the name is to fulfill his mission at your expense. But I don't tell you that. No, I don't. I let you roll with it. Trust him. Laugh with him. Why? Because it's not my goddamn secret to tell. Because it's—" I can't say it.

I feel a tear sliding off my cheek even though I'm laughing so pathetically.

"Mia..." Red tries to move but I raise my hand briskly, beckoning him to stop.

He obliges with difficulty.

"I would've told you, Red," I state bitterly through my teeth. "I wouldn't have cared about the fucking code of secrecy or goddamn honor; I'd just tell you straight ahead because we're partners! We have a pact, whether implied or spoken. Because I love you and I wouldn't let anyone play you for a fool no matter what their reason may be!" More tears seep out of my eyes and pain tears my heart apart.

Sniffing, I dry them away boldly with the back of my hands. I said I won't cry again. Not for these people who step on my trust again and again.

"I'm sorry," Red utters, guilty as charged. Remorse darkens his eyes, and I see his urge to get close to me, to hold me, but I deny him that once again using my hand. "I was wrong. I should've told you a long time ago but—"

"But you thought it would ruin your mission," I fill in. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. I just don't care. It just doesn't matter anymore. "I get it, Red. Your mission has always come first before me. Before us. I get it. After all, I'm just your luck by chance. A piece of baggage you picked along the way... both of us." I force a smile, and the burn in my eyes persists as I glance at my stomach thinking of what a burden this baby must be for him.

"That's not true, Mia!" Red argues, his chiseled jaw flexed, his eyes darker and moist. Terror. Fright. Pain. "You mean the world to me! You're the only thing I'm fighting for right now. You and our baby are the only things keeping me sane in this insane world. Damn, Mia, I love you. I shouldn't have kept Kenna's identity a secret from you but that doesn't mean—"