Page 19 of The Bodyguard
“I don’t think. I verify.” He walked back to her, voice low and even. “Someone got your route. Your vehicle. Your timing. That’s not a lucky guess. That’s insider intel. And until I know who’s feeding it to them, we assume it could be anyone.”
“You can’t think Maya?—”
“Maya’s not off-limits.”
She stood, lips parted in protest.
He stepped in, cutting the space between them in half. “Don’t ask me to protect you and then tie my hands.”
“I’m not asking you?—”
“You are.” His voice dropped. “You want me here. If you want this to end, then let me do it the way I know how.”
She looked up at him. There was fury in her eyes. And beneath it, something hotter. Sharper.
Need. Not just physical… deeper than that. He felt it like a hook behind his ribs.
“You’re impossible,” she whispered.
“No.” He brushed his fingers down her arm, deliberately. “I’m necessary.”
The silence between them stretched again. But this time, no argument charged the silence. It buzzed with everything unspoken.
Mitch saw it in the way Andi’s pupils flared just slightly when he touched her arm. In the way her body tensed—not in rejection, but restraint. She remained coiled. Electric. Ready to spring. He’d seen that posture before. On battlefields. In club scenes. In the moments right before a woman surrendered—not from weakness, but from the choice to stop fighting.
She wasn’t there yet, but she was close.
The encrypted phone in his back pocket vibrated. One buzz. Cerberus code for a developing situation. Mitch stepped back, fingers brushing hers one last time before pulling the device free.
FIELD UNIT REPORT: PRESS ALERT – UNAPPROVED ACCESS. REPORTERS BREACHING ENTRY PROTOCOL AT BOTH DONATO HQ AND LOFT BUILDING.
“Stay here,” he said, already moving for his holster and earpiece.
“Why?” Andi asked, eyes narrowing. “What’s happening?”
“Media ambush. Here and at the campaign office.”
She started forward, brushing past him toward the coat rack. “I need to be out there. If someone…”
His hand landed flat against the door before she could open it. She turned slowly, eyes flashing.
“You’re not walking into a trap just to score points on tomorrow’s headlines.”
“I’m not hiding either.”
He didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t need to.
“You want to address the press, fine. But you do it my way. Understood?”
Her lips parted. Then closed again.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
He grabbed his jacket, weapon already holstered and checked the building’s perimeter cams. The vehicle he’d staged for fallback was still out front. Good. Fastest route.
She followed without arguing. That silence told him more than words ever could.
They moved quickly, Mitch keeping Andi close as they exited the loft and made their way down to the waiting SUV. The moment she stepped outside, the flashbulbs started. Cameras. Shouting. Not just one outlet. Not just one reporter. A full-blown media blitz. Someone had tipped them off.
