SWNOVELS Bossy Bodyguard: Part 4 – Chapter 52
TW: A bit of violence.
I tackled him down before he could touch my Emma again. He groaned when I held the back of his hair and slammed him down on the floor. Again, and again and again until I saw a pool of blood.
My eyes were seeing burning red. Emma was crying and her screams were echoing in my head.
I held him upon his feet before throwing him on the floor. I covered Emma with my suit and said, “Cover your ears, Doll. Keep your eyes closed until I tell you otherwise, okay?”
She nodded, her bloody hand clutching my jacket and covering her ear. I stood up, glaring at the piece of shit who was trying to crawl away from me.
“Stay the fuck away from us, you ugly fuck! She’s my bitch and my whore!” he said, his eyes swollen and beaten up when I loomed over him.
“Say it again,” I said calmly. “I dare you.”
He opened his mouth, and I kicked him, shoving my polished shoe—the one Emma bought for me—into his mouth. His eyes widened when I pushed hard until I heard a satisfying crack. I removed my shoe from his mouth and kneeled on the ground. Holding the collar of his bloody shirt, I punched him.
I kept punching him until my knuckles were as red as his face. I only stopped when I heard a small sigh. I turned to find Emma standing, her eyes on the barely breathing shit that was lying beneath me.
“Emma,” I said softly and stood up, her eyes pinned on the other man. “Look at me, Doll.”
She didn’t avert her eyes until I blocked her view and cupped her face, blood smearing on her cheeks. “You’re safe now. I got you. I’m here,” I said, pulling her face against my chest and kissed her hair. I was reassuring both of us that she was safe and in my arms. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe.”
Emma didn’t hug me back, but I knew she needed to hold on to something, so I stayed still. There was a tug on my hip and I quickly turned around to find the bastard holding my gun.
“Drop it and I won’t kill you,” I warned him, standing in front of Emma, whose hands tightened over my shirt.
He chuckled, and it was weak and pathetic. “Do you think I care? I’m going to kill you both.”
The safety was off but I kept my eyes on him when he pressed the trigger and fired a shot.
I released my breath and looked down my body to find… nothing. There were no bullet holes and no pain.
Drake slumped and fell to the ground, my gun still in his hand. I looked at the side door of the dining room and found Elena, still aiming the nozzle at him as she slowly stepped towards him and kicked the gun he held away from his hand before looking at me.
“Are you hurt?” she asked, turning the safety on her gun off before holstering it.
I looked behind me and found Emma peering over my shoulder. “She is,” I said, pressing her closer.
“Thank you,” I said to Elena when her team covered the entire house.
She gave me a dark look before facing Emma, who was still shaking in my arms. “There’s an ambulance outside. She should get checked.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. “Come on, Doll,” I whispered, holding her in my arms and letting her bury her face in my chest.
She didn’t want me to leave, but I needed to talk to Elena. As the nurse and the doctor treated her in the ambulance, and the other officers hustled around us, I stayed rooted in place with a clear view of Emma.
“I gave you one order,” Elena started, her arms crossed. “One order, Cillian. Stay back until the team arrives.”
“I heard her scream,” I lied. I had just arrived at the location when I heard it. “I couldn’t wait.”
“You broke—”
“If you had heard Zayed’s scream, you wouldn’t wait.”
Her jaw ticked. “Then explain to me why Drake Grant has a broken jaw, black eyes, three teeth on the floor in the puddle of his blood, several ribs broken and an open wound on his thigh.”
I stared hard at her then at Emma, who was talking to the nurse, her face devoid of emotion. I met Elena’s eyes and asked, “Just three?”
“Cillian,” she hissed and leaned closer. “I can’t protect you from this.”
“I don’t need protection. You should thank me that he’s not dead.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to say, that you hurt him in defense?”
“Yes.” My jaw clenched, and I looked down at my knuckles. “I need to be with Emma right now.”
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Go ahead.”
I paused and looked at her. “How did you end up here? I thought you were in New York.”
“You should be lucky Zayed wanted to meet you both before we left for Azmia,” she said and nodded at the ambulance. “Oh, great.”
I marched towards the Sheikh of Azmia, who was grinning with Emma. My steps slowed when I saw the light in her eyes and a small smile on her face. Even though I didn’t like the man, he had a good heart.
“And we are—mostly I am—awarding you with a golden ticket,” Zayed grinned. “You can come visit me in Azmia anytime you want and you will get a royal treatment.”
“Like a princess?” Emma asked, raising a brow.
“Like a queen, kitten. You saved my life.”
Emma smiled at him and I was relieved to find that it reached her blue eyes. I tensed when they flickered to me.
“Ah, the man and the hero of the hour!” Zayed stood up and slapped me on the back. “Only three?” he whispered in my ear. He tsked. “Amateur.”
I hid my smirk when he walked towards his wife, leaving me alone with Emma.
“How are you?” I asked her, getting into the ambulance and sitting beside her on the bed. They had offered her a blanket, but it was on her lap, my suit covered her bare arms.
“My head is hurting. Cheek, too. But…” Her eyes softened when she leaned her head on my shoulder. “I feel relieved. Oh and… this belongs to you.”
My eyes widened when she gave me the familiar wedding band. “How did you…? I thought I’d never find it.”
“He had it.” She swallowed before giving me a small smile, “I think he took it when I was unconscious. I snatched it from him before anyone found it.”
“Thank you, Emma,” I whispered, pulling her close and kissing her hair. She didn’t know how much it meant to me.
“Do you want to sleep?” I asked, keeping my voice low and playing with her nimble fingers. She was so strong. I had witnessed it with my own eyes. If I hadn’t reached her in time, she would have run away and she’d have saved herself.
“No,” she replied. “I want to go home. Sleep in your bed.”
I smiled, kissing her hair. “Whatever you want, Doll.”
“Cillian?”
“Hm?”
Emma leaned up and looked at my face with a small frown. “How did you find me so quickly?”
“I inserted a tracking device in your heels,” I said, pointing at the blue heels. They were bloody, but I was sure she could clean them off if she kept them. “All of your shoes.”
“All of them?” she gasped.
“All of them.”
“I think…” She licked her lips, her sapphire eyes flickering from my eyes to my lips. “I think I love you, Cillian.”
My heart stuttered to a stop.
“I love you, too, Emma,” I said, cupping her bloody cheek and pressing my lips against hers in a soft kiss.