The Bodyguard

Chapter 16

Camille POV

I opened my laptop again that evening. The photograph was still on the screen. The woman in it looked exactly like Hannah, but she had another name. I searched for that name.

Then I searched for a second one I'd found. Different places, jobs and names, but the same woman. I sat back. This was bigger than I thought. I didn't know what Hannah was hiding, but I knew one thing.

She hadn't told Alexander everything and if Alexander didn't know about this, then he was being lied to. That thought hurt more than it should have.

Because Alexander had always trusted me. He'd been my first boyfriend. My first love and even though our relationship had ended years ago, I'd never stopped loving him. He didn't see me that way anymore. To him, I was family. His best friend and almost like a sister. I'd accepted that. At least, I'd tried to.

Then Hannah came along and now he looked at her like she was the only woman in the room. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to be jealous. I didn't want to hate Hannah, but if she was lying to Alexander, I couldn't just stand by and watch.

I opened my laptop again. I wrote down everything I'd found. Then I added one more line. Find out who Hannah really is.

I stared at it. I wasn't going to confront her yet. I needed more and I had a feeling the next thing I found was going to change everything.

Camille stared at the photograph on her laptop. There she was, Hannah. Only she wasn't Hannah in the picture. The name printed beneath the photograph was different.

Camille leaned closer to the screen. Same blonde hair. Same blue eyes. Same smile. It was definitely her, but the man standing beside her was what caught Camille's attention.

He had one arm casually wrapped around Hannah's shoulders. They looked comfortable together. Too comfortable to be strangers. Camille opened another photograph she'd found. There he was again. The same man. His arm around Hannah. Another photograph. The same man.

Another job. Another city. Another name for Hannah. Camille sat back in her chair.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

She searched the man's face. Nothing came up at first. Then she found an old article. Her eyes moved across the headline.

LOCAL MAN KILLED IN ALDO MAFIA SHOOTING

Camille's stomach tightened. She clicked on the article. A photograph loaded beneath the headline. It was him. The man from Hannah's pictures. His name was Caden. Camille slowly read through the article.

Caden had been killed during a confrontation involving members of the Aldo Mafia. Several Mafia members had been apprehended afterward. Camille's eyes returned to the photograph. Then to the pictures of Caden with Hannah.

Her mind started connecting things. Hannah had used different names. She had lived in different places. She had known Caden. Caden had been killed by the Aldo Mafia and sometime around that period, Hannah had disappeared from those old records.

"Who were you to him?" Camille frowned.

She wasn't sure. Had they been Friends, Partners, Something more? She kept searching. But the more she looked, the less sense it made. There was no clear record explaining what happened between Hannah and Caden.

Camille couldn't find anything proving Hannah had betrayed him. She couldn't even prove Hannah had known what was going to happen but one thought wouldn't leave her alone.

Maybe Hannah knew more than she was saying. Maybe she had been involved in whatever Caden was doing. Maybe she had abandoned him when things went wrong. Camille closed the laptop.

"No," she whispered. "I need to know what really happened."

She wasn't ready to accuse Hannah. Not yet. But she wasn't going to stop looking.

---

Hannah POV

That evening, I sat on the porch with Alexander. The sun was beginning to disappear behind the trees, turning the sky orange.

For once, everything felt quiet. No police, no Mafia and no running. Just the sound of crickets and Alexander sitting beside me. He handed me a cup of coffee.

"Black?" I smiled when I took it.

"Of course." He glanced at me.

"You remembered." I laughed softly.

"I remember more than you think."

My smile faded slightly. There was something about the way he said it. Something that made my heart beat faster.

"I've been thinking." I looked down at the coffee.

"That's dangerous." He said with a laugh.

"Very funny." I elbowed him lightly.

"What have you been thinking about?" He smiled.

"Leaving." I hesitated.

His expression changed. Only slightly, but I noticed.

"You don't want to?" He asks.

"I'm not sure anymore." I shook my head.

He was quiet for a moment. "Good." Then he looked at me.

"That's all you have to say?" I laughed nervously.

"What do you want me to say?" He asks.

"I don't know." I shrug.

"I want you to stay." He turned toward me.

"This was supposed to be fake." My heart skipped. I looked away

"I know." He says.

"And yet..." I began. I couldn't finish.

"Yet?" Alexander reached over and gently took my hand.

"Sometimes it doesn't feel fake." I swallowed.

"It doesn't feel fake to me either." His thumb moved slowly across my fingers.nI looked at him.nFor a second, neither of us said anything.

"I've been planning something." Alexander smiled.

"What?" My eyebrows lifted.

"You'll find out." He says with a sly smile.

"Alexander." I say.

"No." He states, shaking his head.

"That's not fair." I pout.

"You'll survive." He laughed.

"Should I be worried?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Probably." He shrugs. I laughed again, but when I looked at him, I saw something different in his eyes. Something serious and hopeful.

For the first time, I wondered what would happen if this really became our life. Not a cover or an assignment. Not a story we told other people.

I wasn't sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I had stopped wanting this to end.

---

Alexander POV

Later that night, I stood alone in my room. I reached into the drawer beside my bed and pulled out the small velvet box. I opened it. The ring inside caught the light.

I'd bought it because I wanted to. Not because my family kept talking about marriage. Not because Grandma had practically planned our wedding already and definitely not because Hannah was wearing the family ring. I wanted to ask her because I loved her.

That was the truth I had been trying not to say out loud. I closed the box and held it in my hand. I just needed to find the right moment. I wanted Hannah to know she was choosing me freely.

No pressure or expectations. Just a choice.nThe same choice I had already made.

---

Camille POV

I opened the laptop again. I pulled up Caden's photograph. Then Hannah's. Then another old picture of the two of them. I studied Hannah's face. There was something I couldn't understand.

If Hannah had nothing to do with Caden's death, why had she disappeared afterward and why had she used so many different names?

I leaned back in my chair. There was a missing piece. I knew it. I just didn't know what it was yet and until I found it, I wasn't going to confront Hannah.

Because if I accused her and I was wrong, I'd lose whatever chance I had of learning the truth.

But if I was right… My jaw tightened. I thought about Alexander. I thought about how completely he trusted Hannah. Maybe too completely. I closed the laptop.

"I'll find out who you really are, Hannah." I said.

I had no idea that the truth I was looking for would eventually lead me straight to the Aldo Mafia and I had no idea that when I finally found it, I would misunderstand everything.