All Chapters of The Perfectly Loyal Bodyguard: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

A dagger was pressed to my throat, the blade resting right against the artery in my neck. One more inch from Julian Sinclair, and I'd bleed out on the spot."Miss Ward, Amber didn't mean it. She wandered into the study by accident — she had no idea those were the Ward family's core confidential files!"Julian's eyes were bloodshot. He kept the trembling woman shielded behind him, staring at me like I'd broken his heart."Why are you always so hard on her? Do you have to cut off her hand to be satisfied?"Behind him, Amber Tate wept prettily, clutching at his sleeve. "Julian, don't fight with Miss Ward over me. This is all my fault — I'll give her my hand myself...""Don't be afraid, Amber. I'm here. Nobody's laying a finger on you today." Julian's voice went soft as melting butter when he spoke to her, but the instant he turned back to me, his eyes went cold."Miss Ward, you're too cold-blooded. Even if she made a mistake, throwing her out would have been enough. Did you have to

Chapter 2

The comment feed went completely wild.[Holy hell, she actually did it! That's brutal! Absolutely brutal!][How is this any different from treating the male lead like a dog? This is straight-up abuse!][Poor Julian, giving up everything for love. Celeste, you're going to regret this!]Regret it?I watched Julian's face, pale as paper and slick with cold sweat, without an ounce of pity.The butler stepped forward with perfect timing and handed me a folder.It was Julian's lifetime employment contract, the one that had once made him the most powerful man in the Ward household short of me.I tore it to pieces in front of him, then had every last one of his expensive clothes and custom weapons thrown into the fire pit in the courtyard.Flames roared up, lighting Julian's face — a mask of despair and humiliation."Throw him out the front gate like garbage. Her too."I picked up a damp towel and wiped, unhurried, at the side of my neck where his blade had rested minutes ago."Get

Chapter 3

His chest heaved, breath coming rough and heavy from his throat.The comments flooded in instantly.[What the hell is this? This guy's disgusting, covered in tattoos like some kind of freak!][Please tell me Celeste isn't actually interested in this monster? Say what you want about Julian, but at least he was a gorgeous, cool-headed gentleman!][A vicious second female lead deserves a mad dog like this. Perfect match, called it!]I ignored the mockery scrolling overhead and crouched down slowly on the other side of the cage's steel mesh."Take me with you," he said, his voice a rasp. "My name's Ryder Shaw. Take me with you, and my life is yours."I raised an eyebrow, studying that wild, untamable stare, burning with something close to fanaticism."You're willing to be my slave?"He nodded frantically, his pupils blown wide, his breath catching in his throat.I stood, glanced at the owner, who was staring at me slack-jawed, and said flatly, "Deal. Him."Once Ryder was brought

Chapter 4

Julian stood there in a cheap, ill-fitting suit, playing the part of a diligent security guard, shielding Amber from the jostling crowd.The instant our eyes met, his face went bloodless. His gaze locked onto Ryder standing at my side, fixed on the spot beside me that had once belonged to him alone.The gulf between what he'd had and what he'd lost, the humiliation of it, made his whole body shake without his permission.Amber saw me too. Her eyes flicked with calculation, and she deliberately pulled Julian forward, limping toward me on purpose."Miss Ward..." Amber started, timid and small. "I know you hate me. You already had Julian thrown out of Meridian City, and things have been hard enough for us since. We only came today hoping for a chance at work. Please, show us some mercy, stop having people blacklist us everywhere we go..."Her honeyed, halting little speech was doing exactly what she wanted: painting me, in front of everyone, as a woman who abused her power and showed

Chapter 5

Julian's face had gone a deep, blotchy red. He struggled to look at me sideways, as if begging for help.But I just stood there, cold, without even blinking.Ryder leaned in close to Julian, his lowered voice carrying a bone-chilling edge of murder, each word deliberate."Look at Miss Ward like that again, and I'll gouge your eyes out where you stand."The temperature in the room dropped to freezing under the weight of Ryder's savagery.Just as everyone held their breath, certain Julian was about to be strangled on the spot, everything changed.A sharp crack rang out, and the ballroom's massive crystal chandelier went dark all at once, plunging the room into pitch blackness.Screams erupted from the crowd.Then came a series of muffled, suppressed gunshots, tearing through the dark along with the sound of shattering glass, all closing in on exactly where I stood.Someone had sent killers after me.In the first tenth of a second after the lights died, I didn't even have time t

Chapter 6

I ignored the noise of the comment feed and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood off Ryder's face. "I'm fine. Your shoulder needs attention. Now.""It doesn't hurt." Ryder kept his chin stubbornly raised, like a beast waiting to be praised, a feverish light burning in his eyes. "As long as I can protect you, Miss Ward, my life is yours to spend whenever you need it."I stood, my gaze traveling past Ryder's shoulder to Julian, still slumped nearby.He sat sprawled on the floor, wrecked, Amber trembling in his arms.Clutching his bleeding arm, he stared at me blankly, then looked at Ryder, a man who'd been ready to die for me without a second thought.Julian's lips shook violently, regret rising in his eyes.The investigation into the assassination attempt closed a week later.The truth, as always, turned out crueler than anyone could have guessed.The traitor behind the whole thing was Amber.She'd taken advantage of Julian's trust, quietly drained what little savings he

Chapter 7

I listened to Julian sob without a flicker of feeling, the way you'd look at a pile of garbage too rotten to bother recycling.I lifted my foot and kicked his hand off my skirt without an ounce of mercy.Julian lost his balance and crumpled back into the mud, staring up at me in a daze."Ten years of loyalty?" I let out a cold laugh, my voice cutting straight through the rain, every word landing like a blow. "Julian, did you actually believe that if you ever came crawling back, I'd still be standing here waiting for you?"You want to know what he has that you don't?"I bent down slightly, looking into those eyes full of despair, and my next words came out colder than the storm itself."When the knife was pointed at me, he stepped in front of it without a moment's hesitation. You were the one holding the handle."Those words hit Julian like lightning splitting him down the middle. He froze as if struck, his lips, still trembling with pleas a moment ago, going completely silent. T

Chapter 8

"Who do you think you are, asking to be Miss Ward's slave?"Ryder looked down at Julian, sprawled on the ground coughing up blood, his eyes glacial and vicious. "Miss Ward doesn't need trash like you who turns on his own mistress anywhere near her. Dirty her sight again, and I'll cut you up and feed you to the strays."Julian clutched his chest, his whole body convulsing in pain.He stared up at Ryder, eyes burning with resentment and humiliation.He'd once been the untouchable Head of the Guard. And this man standing over him now was nothing but some underground fighter he wouldn't have spared a glance at, back when it mattered."You—" Julian gritted his teeth, trying to force out more words.Ryder just gave a cold laugh, pulled a stack of photographs from his jacket pocket, and flung them down onto Julian's face like scattered confetti."Take a good look at what the woman you nearly died protecting really is. Take your pathetic little love story and get off the Ward family's l

Chapter 9

Ryder paused, as if fighting to choke down something dark and thorny, jealousy, panic, his voice dropping lower."Are you... going soft on him?"He was afraid.This was a man who hadn't so much as blinked facing down a two-hundred-pound brawler in a fighting cage, who hadn't flinched under a hail of bullets. And now, because I'd spent a few extra seconds looking at my former bodyguard in the rain, he was unraveling like a stray dog terrified of being abandoned.I couldn't help a soft laugh.The sound carried clearly through the quiet living room. Ryder's whole body went even tighter, his breath catching for a moment.I leaned in slightly, reached out, and pressed my cool fingertips against the side of his neck.That was where the jagged, savage black thorn tattoo climbed up from his collar.I traced my fingers slowly along the lines of ink, grazing his heated skin without pressing too hard.Almost instantly, Ryder shuddered, his breathing turning rough and heavy.He looked up

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