43

LENNOX

As Regina's former bodyguard, I prided myself on my familiarity with the Johnson family. I had numerous conversations with Ro, Regina's husband, and I had never felt uneasy or intimidated. It never made me break a sweat.

However, being alone in the kitchen with Ro, cooking a simple pasta meal for Blanca's birthday, was a different story. I carried a weighty secret: I wasn't just protecting his son; I was sleeping with him. We had been intimate earlier that morning, and he claimed it was the best experience of his life.

I managed to maintain an air of casualness, trying not to appear nervous. But I was standing on the precipice of a completely unfamiliar territory. It was a wholly new and unsettling feeling.

I filled a pot with wat