THE BODYGUARD’S HIDDEN TRUTH
I pulled him gently toward the small bench along the balcony’s edge, and he came without resistance, sitting heavily beside me, his composure finally, fully cracking.
“I keep failing people,” he said, his voice unsteady now. “I failed Sarah, fifteen years ago, even though I was only seventeen and there was nothing I could have actually done. I failed my father, believing the worst of him before I understood everything. I nearly failed Richard tonight, if those guards hadn’t been fast enough.” His breath caught. “I don’t know how to protect everyone I love without eventually losing all of them anyway.”