Page 79 of The Forbidden Bodyguard

It feels like it’s over.

For me anyway.

Life as I know it is.

“This won’t be forever,” I hear myself say, and realize I’m getting too close to the truth and shut it down.

I don’t want her to be in danger.

“Promise me you will do something fun this weekend. Ring Jess and Ryan. Go to a bar, drink daiquiri’s and dance all night.”

“Stella, please.”

“I have to do this. I will explain one day, but I have to do this.”

Glancing down at the screen, I swallow hard, whisper goodbye, and then hang up.

Then I collapse over my suitcase, knowing it’s not coming with me. That the box I’ve dumped downstairs containing the items Tony wants me to wear on our—gag—wedding day is all I’ll be taking with me today.

I’m expecting Dad to give me a lecture. Not what a little girl dreams of the day before her wedding. I thought he’d be telling me he has ensured the man I’m marrying will respect me. Honor me. Look after me.

Nope.

It won’t be any of that. He’ll tell me to obey the man and make sure I do my duty in saving his damn life.

There will be no Hawaii.

No life in the mountains.

No Declan.

I could have fallen deeply in love with that man. I think we could have had something real. It feels real now.

He hasn’t messaged, and I don’t blame him.

I belong to someone else, and nothing can change what must happen.

After tidying my face in the bathroom, I grab my purse, phone, and the box, then take the elevator downstairs to the lobby.

My driver is waiting outside. He takes the box.

“Hop in, Ms. Voss. I’ll put this in the trunk.”

“Thank you,” I smile sadly and climb into the back and stare blankly out the window as we begin moving through the streets of Manhattan.

This time tomorrow...

I haven’t eaten and my stomach feels raw from all the vomiting I’ve done, and if I close my eyes and focus, I can feel Declan’s arm around me and the heat of his thigh against mine.

I give in and swipe open my phone to find our messages. There aren’t many as we were together most of the time. There are one or two saying goodnight.

I find the photo I sent him of us walking through the park one night. It’s dusk and the lights sparkle around us. Both of us have silly grins. After I took the shot, Declan turned to me and kissed me as if I were the love of his life. If it had been a movie, he would have dropped to his knee and held out a ring.

I don’t know for sure, but it felt picture-perfect, and the selfie I took of us tells that exact story.

His dark hair was ruffled, those gray eyes filled with unspoken emotion.

I never truly let myself see it before. I couldn’t. He wasn’t mine to keep, and the temporary life we were living wasn’t real. Or at least I didn’t think it was.