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I folded my arms over my chest. “If I wanted Donovan to know where we went all day, then I wouldn’t have called Sutton. The only time I need to report to him is if your life is in danger. It’s one of the conditions of my employment.” I briefly studied her. “To answer your question, it depends. Where you want to go … will you be in jeopardy?”
Giselle hesitated a second too long, which gave me the truth. She would be at risk.
She tucked a stray of dark hair behind her ear, her gaze bouncing from the garage entrance to me. “The only way I’ll be in danger is if Donovan finds out.” Giselle tipped her chin up. I’d quickly learned it was her sign that she was scared shitless but trying to convince everyone else that she wasn’t. My guess was it took her a lot to ask me to kill Donovan and tell me about the tracker.
I stifled a grin as I realized she’d been setting me up since day one to see if she could confide in me. She first asked me to kill him and now wanted me to take her somewhere she wasn’t supposed to go. Giselle was seeing if she could trust me.
“Then I won’t tell him where you go.” I cracked my knuckles, wishing it was Donovan’s skull. The more time I spent with Giselle, the more red flags popped up. I met her first when she'd tried to commit suicide, I'd seen Donovan be rough with her, and just now she admitted to Sutton that she had no friends.
Although I was speculating, all the signs seemed to suggest that Giselle was a prisoner in her own home.
Giselle reached into her handbag and produced another piece of paper and a pen. She wrote something down, then gave it to me again. “This is where I need to go.” She glanced at her watch. “I only have a small window of time, so we should leave now.”
I looked at the address, not registering where it could be in the area. The street didn’t look familiar, and I knew Spokane pretty damn well.
Escorting her back to the car, I opened the back door for her. Instead of climbing in like usual, Giselle shocked me by slipping past me and into the front passenger seat. “Come on, bodyguard. The clock is ticking,” she whispered.
“I have a name,” I grumbled as I hopped into the driver’s side. Since it still wasn’t safe to talk about anything important, I turned some music on. “Be Careful What You Wish For” by Nine One One played softly as I pulled out of the parking garage.
“I wouldn’t have guessed that you listen to this kind of music,” Giselle said, her fingers fidgeting in her lap.
It took everything inside me not to place my hand over them in a reassuring manner. The last thing she needed was to be scared of me. Donovan, however, sure as hell needed to be terrified of me.
“I have a variety of music tastes, but I’m not into country. I like Chris Stapleton’s voice, but that’s as far as I’ll go into that genre of music. What do you like? I can change it.”
A soft laugh escaped her, then she slammed her mouth shut and briefly closed her eyes.
“What?” I didn’t want to say too much to her while Donovan might be listening.
She shook her head, sadness creeping into her expression. I made a note to keep us out of the car and house as often as I could without raising suspicion. This woman needed to fucking breathe without Donovan on top of her. I ground my molars together, thinking about that bastard. His kiss goodbye had turned my stomach sour. Donovan clearly wasn’t keen on me asking if Giselle was all right after she’d fallen, and that move was definitely one of marking his territory, which was sick shit coming from her brother, adopted or not.
I shook my head, attempting to clear the dark thoughts that were quickly accumulating in my mind. I had a hell of a lot of questions for Giselle.
Giselle pointed at a street sign, and I flipped my turn signal on and turned up the music so “Castle” by HAYZ thumped through the car. Hopefully it would cover our voices when we talked. For now, I watched her hand signals as she directed me to the address. It was beginning to make sense why she chose the front seat this time.
Minutes later, she indicated for me to park the Mercedes. My gaze narrowed behind my sunglasses.What the hell?
Giselle opened the door and hopped out, and I did the same. Although she was wearing sunglasses, she shaded her eyes with her hand, peering at the kids playing on a school playground.
I watched as her face lit up and she jogged to the fence. She waved frantically, but there were too many kids to see which one she was signaling. Giselle hurried toward the gate, her short legs moving quickly. Although I gave her a little space, I stuck close to her while I kept watch for any potential threats.
I slowed my pace as a young, dark-haired girl around the age of eleven or twelve ran over and flung her arms around Giselle. Even though I wanted to ask a million questions, I knew it was time for me to just shut up and observe.
Giselle took the girl’s hand and walked her back to the playground where a teacher was signaling for them to return. Giselle and the young girl clung to each other, their smiles infectious as they talked. The teacher hugged Giselle, then gave the two a little privacy.
Giselle threw her head back and laughed, tugging at my heartstrings. She’d been sullen and rude since I’d met her, but at that moment I saw something different—happiness. The only things that had changed were that she’d taken a chance of trusting me and the scrambler had been installed. But Sutton and that scrambler had given her a taste of freedom. Freedom from Donovan.
I scanned the area as thoughts of Donovan took place front and center in my brain. Shit was starting to add up, but somehow, I had to break through Giselle’s walls and encourage her to open up. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure how to help. More than that, Iwantedto make her happy. My job was to protect and help her, but my heart was a different story.
The shrill sound of the school bell rang, then the teacher blew her whistle. The little girl hugged Giselle one more time before she ran across the playground and joined her classmates. Giselle stood still, wiping her cheeks, and I realized she was crying. Whoever the girl was, she meant the world to her.
Giselle’s shoulders slumped as she walked toward me, and all I wanted to do was help her smile again.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Before we get near the car again, I have to ask who that girl is. The more you’re willing to tell me, the better I can protect you.” It was a shot in the dark, but I had to try.
Giselle’s body tensed. “It’s none of your business, bodyguard. You gave me your word that you wouldn’t tell Donovan. I’m clearly not in harm’s way by visiting her.” She held her arms out as if to emphasize that last point.
