All Chapters of His Forbidden Guard : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The next morning, Leonard was all business.He'd left a message for Daveson before dawn: Pick me up at 6 AM sharp. We're going to the office early. I need to access the company servers before my mother arrives.Daveson was waiting with the Mercedes when Leonard emerged from the estate, already dressed in an expensive charcoal suit, his expression grim. He didn't greet Daveson, simply slid into the back seat and pulled up something on his phone.The drive to Heyden Industries was conducted in tense silence. Daveson stole glances in the rearview mirror, watching Leonard's jaw clench as he scrolled through files, his violet eyes sharp and focused."What exactly are we looking for?" Daveson asked carefully."Proof," Leonard said tersely. "Email chains that shouldn't exist. Financial records that don't match what she's reported to shareholders. Anything that shows what she's actually doing with that money.""And if we find it? If your mother is actually involved in something illegal?"Leon

The files were extensive. Medical records, psychiatric evaluations, surveillance footage from Mercy Medical Group. Everything Lissa had been hiding.Grimstone Heyden, Leonard's father, had been admitted to Mercy Medical Group on the night of his disappearance. The intake papers listed him as a voluntary admission, signed and dated. The psychological evaluation diagnosed him with severe dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia, and acute psychotic breaks. The recommendation was long-term hospitalization and pharmaceutical management."That doesn't make sense," Leonard said, his voice hollow. "My father was never unstable. He was the most grounded person I knew."But as they dug deeper, as Marcus pulled more files and cross-referenced dates and names, a different picture began to emerge.The psychiatric evaluation that had diagnosed Grimstone had been conducted by Dr. Helena Voss, a psychiatrist with deep ties to organized crime. The medications he'd been prescribed were at doses f

 The Heyden estate was even more imposing up close than it had been from the security perimeter during the birthday party. Daveson stood in the circular driveway, his single duffel bag slung over his shoulder, watching the way morning light caught the marble columns of the main entrance. Everything about this place screamed old money and calculated power. "You'll be staying in the east wing staff quarters," a crisp voice informed him. A woman in her fifties with steel-gray hair and an expression to match introduced herself as Mrs. Chen, the head housekeeper. "Mr. Leonard prefers his privacy, so you'll maintain appropriate distance. Your duties begin at six in the morning and end when he retires for the evening. You do not enter any private family spaces without explicit permission." "Understood," Daveson said, keeping his voice neutral and respectful. The staff quarters were comfortable but sparse, a small b

Three weeks into his employment, Daveson was beginning to understand the layout of the Heyden estate with the precision of a military map. He knew which hallways were monitored by cameras, which corridors were considered staff-only, and which parts of the main house were Leonard's designated territory.The library was off-limits by explicit instruction from Mrs. Chen, but Daveson discovered that Leonard spent his evenings there, usually between nine and eleven PM, with a book and a drink, creating a pocket of solitude in a house that never truly allowed for it.Daveson wasn't supposed to enter without permission. He told himself this as he pushed open the heavy oak doors on a Thursday night when he knew Leonard had left the estate for a business dinner.The library was exactly what he'd expected, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a grand fireplace, leather furniture arranged in conversational groupings. But what surprised him was how lived-in it was. Books lay open on tables, some with ha

Two months into his employment, Daveson had gathered enough preliminary information to justify his infiltration. He'd accessed Leonard's email accounts (passwords were unsecured, carelessly written in a notebook in Leonard's desk). He'd photographed financial documents stored in the library. He'd listened carefully to phone conversations and extracted useful details about Lissa's business dealings.What he hadn't expected was for Leonard to become such a significant factor in his plans.It happened on a Saturday evening when Leonard asked Daveson to drive him to a private gallery opening in Chelsea. The exhibition was showcasing modern art—pieces that Daveson found aggressively abstract and incomprehensible. But Leonard moved through the space with genuine interest, studying each canvas as if it contained secrets."Do you like art?" Leonard asked, pausing in front of a particularly chaotic painting that seemed to be composed primarily of violent slashes of red and black."I don't have