All Chapters of the bodyguard's secret: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The warmth of the coffee mug seared Leo’s numb hands, a grounding counterpoint to the chilling tale he’d just spilled. Harlan sat back in the worn armchair, his expression unreadable for a long moment after Leo finished. The crackle of the fire and the drumming of rain on the cabin roof were the only sounds in the sudden silence. Leo watched the older man, anxiety coiling tighter with each passing second. Had he believed him? Or had Leo just condemned himself and Silas by trusting a stranger?Harlan finally stirred. He ran a calloused hand over his stubbled jaw, his gaze fixed on the dancing flames. "Rossi," he muttered, the name a curse. "Always knew that bastard was poison wrapped in silk." He looked up, his sharp eyes meeting Leo’s. There was no pity there, but a grim understanding, a soldier’s assessment of a bad situation. "And Silas... damn fool. Knew he was playing with fire, gettin' tangled up in Rossi's mess. Especially tangled up with *you*." He didn't say it accusingly, jus

The silence in the cabin after Dominic’s call wasn't empty; it was charged, vibrating with the echoes of Silas’s agony and Leo’s newfound, hardened resolve. Harlan hunched over the laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard, eyes narrowed in fierce concentration. The glow of the screen illuminated the grim lines of his face, casting long shadows in the firelit room. The sophisticated equipment arrayed around him – signal boosters, decryption software humming quietly – looked starkly alien against the rustic log walls, a testament to the hidden depths of Silas’s mountain ally.Leo watched, perched on the edge of the sofa, no longer shaking. The tears had dried, leaving a cold, sharp clarity. Dominic’s cruelty had backfired. Instead of breaking him, it had forged a weapon of pure, desperate determination. Every second Harlan worked was a second Silas endured unspeakable pain. Leo wouldn’t waste it."Anything?" Leo asked, his voice low but steady."Signal was weak, call was short," Harla

The SUV screamed down back roads, eating miles of darkness. Silas lay across the back seat, his head cradled in Leo’s lap, his broken body a furnace of pain and shock. Every bump, every turn, tore a ragged gasp or whimper from his throat. Leo held him, applying pressure to the worst wound on his side with trembling hands, whispering desperate pleas into his sweat-drenched hair. *“Stay with me. Just breathe. Please, Silas…”* Harlan rode shotgun, barking coordinates into the comms. **“Alpha site compromised! Rerouting to Beta! Doc, you read? We’re coming in hot—GSW, blunt force trauma, electrical burns, probable internal bleeding. Vitals crashing!”** A woman’s voice, clipped and calm, crackled back: **>> Understood. Prepping OR. ETA? “Eight minutes!”** Harlan snapped. **“Mack—pressure on that leg bleed! Reynolds—lose that tail!”** Leo barely registered the chaos. His world had narrowed to Silas’s labored breaths, the terrifying rattle in his chest, the way his skin burned u

Silas’s breathing had steadied into a shallow rhythm, the terrifying wet rattle silenced by Leo’s blood flowing in his veins. Color, ghostly but present, tinged his lips. He slept now, a drugged, exhausted oblivion, his remaining hand still loosely curled around Leo’s wrist where he’d collapsed onto a stool beside the makeshift operating table – the ranger station’s scarred wooden desk. Leo felt lightheaded, the room tilting slightly, but the connection – flesh, blood, and bone-deep terror – kept him anchored.Across the dim, dusty room, Reynolds hunched over Dominic’s laptop, the glow painting harsh lines on his face. Harlan paced like a caged wolf, his boots scuffing on the grimy floorboards. Mack stood sentinel at a boarded-up window, his bulk a reassuring shadow against the relentless drumming of rain on the roof.**“Project Phoenix,”** Reynolds muttered, fingers flying over the keys, decrypting layers of security. **“Not financial. Not political. At least, not directly.”** He pul

The victory smoke from the lab’s destruction still choked the forest air, clinging to Leo’s clothes like the acrid stench of failure. They sprinted through the downpour towards the rally point – a disused ranger station nestled deeper in the woods where Reynolds had set up the mobile Gamma Site with Silas.Hope, a fragile, treacherous thing, died the moment they burst into the clearing.**GAMMA SITE - RANGER STATION**Devastation. The station’s reinforced door hung off its hinges, twisted metal screaming silent agony. The specialized van Harlan had procured lay on its side, tires shredded, armored panels cratered by heavy-caliber impacts. Smoke, thick and chemical, curled from shattered electronics within. Rain lashed the scene, turning churned earth into bloody mud. Bodies. Three of Harlan’s trusted perimeter guards lay crumpled, expressions frozen in surprise or mid-shout. The violence had been swift, overwhelming, professional.Leo’s world narrowed to a tunnel. The cold killer from