All Chapters of His Forbidden Guard : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

147 Chapters

Chapter 21: The breaking point

"I never loved you."The words came out of Daveson's mouth like poison, carefully measured, deliberately brutal. He was standing in the hallway outside Leonard's home office, where he'd asked to speak privately. It was early morning, before the household staff was fully awake, before Lissa made her rounds through the estate checking on things.Leonard had been packing documents into a briefcase for a meeting. He froze at the words, his hand stilling on a stack of papers."I came to your mother's house with a mission," Daveson continued, his voice cold and clinical. "I had a job to do. And you were a means to an end. Everything I said about caring, about loving you, it was performance. Very effective performance, clearly, since you believed it."Daveson watched Leonard's face carefully, watching for the pain, the shock, the moment when the carefully constructed hope Leonard had been clinging to would crumble."The investigation into your mother is what matters," Daveson said flatly. "Th

Chapter 22: An unlikely Ally

They talked for over an hour, and by the end of it, Daveson had made a decision that would have seemed insane a week ago: he trusted Victoria Ashford.She explained that she and Leonard had briefly dated when they were younger, but that it had ended because Leonard wasn't interested in her romantically, and she wasn't interested in him that way either. They'd parted on friendly terms, and when Lissa had approached Victoria's father about the engagement, Victoria had initially refused."But then I realized something," Victoria said, perched on the arm of one of the leather chairs in the library. "If I refuse, Lissa will just find someone else. And that person might actually be cruel to Leonard, or demanding, or genuinely harmful. I'm not any of those things. So I agreed to this arrangement on one condition.""What condition?" Daveson asked."That I get to maintain complete autonomy in my personal life," Victoria said. "Which means I've been dating someone else the entire time, and I in

Chapter 23: Victoria's Intervention

It was Victoria who finally broke the stalemate.She approached Leonard in his study late one evening, after they'd returned from a benefit where they'd been extensively photographed together looking like the perfect couple."This is ridiculous," she said without preamble, sitting across from him. "You're miserable, Daveson is miserable, I'm mildly uncomfortable but not miserable, and your mother is too busy planning a wedding to notice that you're dying inside.""Victoria…""Don't," she said, holding up a hand. "I'm going to say something, and you're going to listen. Daveson lied to you. He told you he didn't care because he's an idiot who thought pushing you away would protect you. And you believed him because you were hurt and vulnerable and he was cruel in a very convincing way."Leonard opened his mouth to object, but Victoria continued."But what you need to understand is that he's also suffering. I've watched him in the shadows, Leonard. I've seen him watch you like he's dying,

Chapter 24: The Investigation Deepens

Over the next two weeks, Leonard and Daveson began a parallel investigation to the one Daveson had been conducting alone.With access to Leonard's corporate resources and financial knowledge, and with Daveson's strategic thinking and investigative skills, they began to piece together a much clearer picture of Lissa's activities.They discovered shell corporations that stretched across multiple countries. They found evidence of money laundering through legitimate business channels. And most significantly, they found a pattern of payments to Mercy Medical Group that had been going on for exactly eighteen years, since Leonard was five years old and his father had supposedly left for business and never returned."It's her," Leonard said one night, sitting in Daveson's room in the staff quarters. They'd been careful to maintain appearances, but increasingly, they were stealing moments alone. "It's all her. She had him committed. She's been keeping him there all this time.""Why?" Daveson a

Chapter 25: The Secret About Us

The library was quiet except for their breathing. Leonard's hands were tangled in Daveson's hair, their foreheads pressed together as they stood in the aftermath of their confession. The moonlight streaming through the tall windows cast long shadows across the room, making everything feel both intimate and exposed."We can't keep doing this," Daveson whispered, but his hands contradicted his words, pulling Leonard closer. "If your mother finds out…""I don't care," Leonard interrupted, his voice rough with emotion. "I'm tired of pretending. I'm tired of hiding what I feel."Daveson's laugh was bitter. "You say that now, but you don't understand what she's capable of. The things I've found, Leonard... the evidence I've gathered... your mother isn't just ruthless in business. She's destroyed people who got in her way. Completely and utterly destroyed them.""Like she destroyed your father," Leonard said quietly.The words hung between them, a reminder of the impossible situation they we

Chapter 26: The reputation

Daveson had never paid much attention to society gossip, but working for the Heydens meant being constantly aware of how they were perceived publicly. And the public perception of Leonard Heyden was very specific: playboy, heartbreaker, the most eligible bachelor in New York.He was currently scrolling through a celebrity gossip site on his phone, reading an article titled "Leonard Heyden's Conquest: A Timeline."The article detailed Leonard's supposed romantic history, models, actresses, socialites. There were photos of him at clubs, at galas, always with a beautiful woman on his arm. The article speculated about his engagement to Victoria, calling it "the end of an era" for single women everywhere.It was, Daveson knew, complete fiction. Or mostly fiction. Leonard had dated some of these women, briefly and without real interest. But the image that had been carefully cultivated was of a man who loved women, who was confidently, aggressively heterosexual.No one would ever suspect tha

Chapter 27: The Watcher

Raymond Drake stood in the shadows beyond the greenhouse, his phone in his hand, the video he'd just recorded playing on a loop in his mind. The moonlight had been perfect, just enough illumination to capture Leonard Heyden and his security guard locked in an embrace that spoke of desperation, longing, and forbidden love.He could go to Lissa right now. Show her the video. Watch her world implode as she realized her carefully constructed heir was gay, in love with the help, and lying to everyone about his engagement to Victoria Ashford.But Raymond hadn't survived this long by making impulsive decisions.He pocketed his phone and melted further into the shadows, his mind working through the possibilities. This video was leveraged. Pure, undiluted leverage. And leverage was worth more than any one-time payout Lissa might give him for exposing her son.The question was: who would pay more for it? Lissa, who would want it to destroy Leonard? Or Leonard himself, who would pay anything to

Chapter 28: The Alliance

Daveson was in the security office, reviewing camera footage from the previous night, when his phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.We need to talk. Meet me at Café Noir in one hour. Come alone. -RRaymond.Daveson stared at the message, debating whether to respond. Every instinct told him this was a trap. Raymond was working for Lissa now. Anything Raymond wanted to discuss would be to his own benefit, not Daveson's.But Daveson was also running out of options. And if Raymond really did know about his plans, ignoring him would only make things worse.He texted back: I'll be there.Café Noir was a small coffee shop in Manhattan's financial district, the kind of place where business deals happened over overpriced espresso and nobody paid attention to anyone else's conversations. Daveson arrived exactly on time, scanning the room until he spotted Raymond in a corner booth.Raymond looked up as Daveson approached, gesturing to the seat across from him. "You came. I wasn't sur

Chapter 29: The Reluctant Alliance

Daveson met Raymond the next morning at a different location, a rundown boxing gym in Brooklyn that Raymond apparently frequented. The place smelled of sweat, leather, and desperation. Men pounded heavy bags in the corners while others sparred in the ring, their grunts and the thud of gloves on flesh creating a rhythmic soundtrack to violence.Raymond was waiting by the weights, dressed in workout clothes, looking more relaxed than he had any right to be given the circumstances."You came," Raymond said, not looking up from the barbell he was loading. "Does that mean you're accepting my offer?""It means I'm willing to discuss terms," Daveson said carefully. "But I need guarantees.""Guarantees?" Raymond laughed, finally meeting his eyes. "In this business? There are no guarantees, Daveson. You should know that.""Then let me be more specific," Daveson said. "I need assurance that the video stays private. Completely private. No copies sent to anyone, no insurance files, nothing. If I'

Chapter 30: The Secret Meeting

That afternoon, Leonard called an emergency meeting in Victoria's penthouse apartment. It was the only place they could all meet without risk of being observed, Victoria's building had private elevators, her apartment wasn't bugged, and her staff was loyal to her, not to Lissa.Leonard arrived first, followed by Daveson, and finally Victoria herself, who looked slightly frazzled, which was unusual for her."I talked to my father," Victoria said without preamble, pouring herself a glass of wine. "About Mercy Medical Group. About getting access to Grimstone.""And?" Leonard asked, his entire body tense with anticipation."It's complicated," Victoria said. "The facility is extremely protective of its patients' privacy. My father does have connections there, the Ashford pharmaceutical division supplies several of their medications. But getting access to a specific patient, especially one who's been there as long as Grimstone has been... that's going to require a legitimate reason.""What

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