My Bodyguard And I

My name is Jane Griffith. I am twenty-eight years old,the only daughter of Adrian Griffith,and the heiress to the Griffith crime business. That probably makes me sound like some kind of mafia princess. I'm not. At least,I wasn't. I grew up surrounded by wealth, private security, and people who knew better than to cross my father.But despite the world I was born into,I lived a surprisingly normal life. I went to college. I made friends. I complained about exams. I went shopping. I laughed at stupid jokes. The only unusual part of my life was the man who followed me almost everywhere. Damien Cole. My bodyguard. My best friend. And the man I had secretly been in love with since I was fourteen. My father assigned Damien to protect me when I was thirteen and he was nineteen. From that moment on, he became a permanent part of my life. He was always there. At school. At family events. When I went shopping. When I travelled. Even when I wanted to be alone. I used to complain about it constantly. Damien never cared. He simply reminded me that protecting me was his job. But there was something neither of us ever said out loud. I thought he had feelings for me too. The way he looked at me sometimes. The way his voice changed when I was hurt. The way he always seemed to notice when something was wrong before I even said a word. Maybe I was imagining it. Maybe I wasn't. It didn't matter. There were boundaries. My father had made sure of that. I never understood why. Damien was more than my bodyguard.He was my father's most trusted servant and the person my family relied on when things became dangerous. But after my father's death,everything I thought I knew about my family began to fall apart. Secrets started surfacing. Secrets about my mother. Secrets about my father. And eventually,secrets about Damien. The truth changed me. It forced me to choose between a past that had happened before I was even born and the present and future I had always hoped for. I made my choice. And that choice came with a price. It turned me into someone I never imagined I could become. A dangerous assassin. The ordinary girl I had once been disappeared somewhere along the way. And the morning I held a chainsaw in my hands,I finally understood that there was no going back. The morning was far too beautiful for a murder. At exactly ten o'clock,sunlight poured through the tall windows of the Griffith residence,spilling across the marble floor and turning the quiet hallway almost golden. Outside, birds chirped from the trees surrounding the estate.Somewhere in the distance,a gardener was trimming the hedges. Everything looked normal. Everything sounded normal. Except for the chainsaw in my hands. I stared at it for a long moment. My fingers tightened around the handle. I could still turn around. I could still walk away. I could still pretend that none of this had happened. But then I heard the front door open. My heart stopped. Damien was home. He had gone jogging like he did almost every morning. Twenty minutes later,his footsteps sounded in the hallway. Slow. Familiar. Unhurried. I heard him drop his keys onto the small table near the entrance. Then silence. A few seconds later,his footsteps moved closer. I didn't move. The door opened. Damien stepped inside. He was wearing a black running shirt and dark shorts, his hair damp with sweat. His breathing was slightly heavier than usual, and a towel hung loosely around his neck. He stopped the moment he saw me. His eyes moved from my face to the chainsaw in my hands. For several seconds,neither of us spoke. Then his expression changed. Not into fear. Into understanding. That hurt more than fear would have. "Jane." His voice was quiet. I hated how familiar it sounded. How many times had I heard that voice call my name? When I was frightened. When I was angry. When I was sick. When I was a child and couldn't sleep. He had always been there. Damien. My protector. My best friend. The man I loved. The man I had trusted more than anyone. He slowly closed the door behind him. "Put it down and let's talk." I laughed. It came out strangely. Almost broken. "You still give me orders." His eyes never left mine. "I'm not giving you an order." "Then what are you doing?" "Trying to keep you from doing something you'll regret." My grip tightened around the chainsaw "You should have thought about regret before." Something flickered across his face. Pain. Real pain. For one brief second,I almost dropped the weapon. Almost. Damien took one step toward me. I raised it. He stopped. "Jane." "Don't." He swallowed. "Listen to me." "I've listened to you my entire life." My voice cracked. "And look where it got me." He looked at me for a long time. Then he said the one thing I wasn't prepared to hear. "I don't know what the problem is but I'm sorry." My chest tightened. I wanted to hate him. I wanted to feel nothing. But standing there in front of him,looking at the man who had once held my hand when I was afraid of thunderstorms,I realized something terrible. I still loved him. Even now. Maybe that was the cruelest part. Damien lowered his eyes. "Of course you won't know what the problem is but you must have been noticing." He paused for some seconds and in his eyes,I could see it.Realisation. "I never wanted it to end this way." "Oh I see." He said nothing. I stepped closer. He didn't run. He could have. I knew that. Damien was faster than me. Stronger than me. He had been trained by my father since he was a child. If he wanted to stop me,he could. But he didn't. He only looked at me. The way he always had. Like I was someone worth protecting. My eyes burned. "Why?" I whispered. He still didn't answer.He couldn't. He looked at me one last time. And for the first time since I had known him,Damien looked completely helpless. I lowered the chainsaw. His eyes followed the movement. Then I walked toward him. Slowly. One step. Then another. I stopped directly in front of him. He didn't move. Neither did I. For a moment,I could almost pretend we were somewhere else. Somewhere without secrets. Without blood. Without lies. Just Jane and Damien. The girl and the boy who had grown up together. The girl who trusted him. The boy who promised to protect her. I reached up and touched his face. His eyes closed. "Sit," I whispered. He obeyed. I wiped the tear that had slipped down my cheek,then leaned forward and kissed him. Softly. Gently. Like a goodbye. Because it was. When I pulled away,Damien opened his eyes. There was something in them I would remember for the rest of my life. Love. Regret. And fear. I stepped back. He whispered my name again. "Jane..." I lifted the chainsaw. And this time,I didn't stop.