President's Daughter's Bodyguard-Chapter 99: Before You…
Chapter 99: Before You
Danielle didn’t remember when exactly she closed her eyes or decided to lay her head across Theo’s lap.
It simply happened.
Her body gave up first, then her mind, and he didn’t push her away. He only shifted slightly so she could rest more comfortably, then placed one hand on her hair.
Theo stroked her gently, slowly, as if the world had not just tried to tear itself apart around them.
His fingers brushed down the side of her head, then to her neck, soft and warm. He was unusually quiet.
Danielle pretended to sleep...
She wanted to believe she had fallen asleep.
She wanted to pretend the room was safe in Theo’s lap...
But she was awake, and listened. She felt every breath he took. She felt the beat of his heart under her cheek.
And every time his fingers slid through her hair, something old in her chest stirred.
Like it was an old memory...
A memory that didn’t belong to her...
Her mother used to stroke her hair in the soft rhythm. The warm palm and slow touches that made the world feel peaceful.
Danielle would curl into her lap after her nightmares, and her mother whispered in her ear that she was safe, that nothing in the world could reach her as long as she was held.
A sting hit Danielle’s throat...it was really unwanted.
She had not thought of her mother in months.
She had pushed that memory away like everything else that hurt too much to name.
Her mother had died in an accident.
Or that is what everyone said.
’..An accident...’
A lie that had been repeated until people forgot it was a lie.
Danielle’s eyelids fluttered slightly, and she forced them still. Theo’s fingers continued moving gently, almost absentmindedly, as if soothing her soothed him too.
But Danielle’s mind was no longer calm. It was drifting backward, pulled to a place before danger and bombs and kidnappings and presidents and death.
She remembered the whispers of how her mother was accused of an affair, and her furious.
People pointing fingers and saying she had ruined her own name.
Danielle never believed it.
Her mother was too kind and too loyal.
But the world liked to tear soft things apart.
And within a week of the accusation, her mother’s car had crashed. No one questioned and one fought it. Everyone accepted it because it was easier that way.
Danielle swallowed hard.
A single thought scratched her mind.
’What if it had not been an accident?’
Her fingers curled slightly against Theo’s thigh.
He noticed the movement.
His hand slowed on her hair.
She forced her breathing to stay normal, even though her heart pressed painfully against her ribs.
Because there was something else and probably someone else.
Someone she used to call sister.
Someone whose face kept drifting into her mind without warning these last few days. A face she could not fully see, and like a voice she couldn’t fully hear. A presence that felt familiar in a way that made her stomach gag.
She had never had a sister.
That was the truth...
So why did her mind fight that truth?
She remembered flashes and warm laughter.
Hands gripped hers during storms, and feet running through a field.
Someone crying at night and someone whispering her name.
Whose memory was that?
Her head felt heavy, like someone had poured warm sand behind her eyes.
Her temples throbbed.
The shadow of the unknown sister, the shadow of her mother’s suspicious accident, the shadow of her father’s secrets... everything spun inside her like a storm.
Theo’s hand slid behind her neck, rubbing slowly.
He thought she was falling deeper asleep.
He thought she was drifting into rest.
But Danielle’s head was spinning too fast.
Her mother had been kind and gentle.
Her mother had listened to her father’s anger without breaking.
Her mother had stroked her hair until she fell asleep.
Just like this...
Just like Theo was doing now...
A lump rose in her throat.
She kept still, not wanting him to know that she was awake and drowning in her own memories.
Theo shifted his legs slightly, adjusting her so she would not slide.
His hand moved down her back for a moment, then returned to her hair.
He was caring in a way she didn’t expect from someone who had been firing bullets an hour earlier.
He whispered something.
It was so soft that she almost believed she imagined it.
"You are safe, beautiful."
Her eyes burned like dying candles.
’Safe...’
The word she never believed.
Her mother had said that word too.
And then she died.
Danielle’s heart pushed harder again.
Her mind slipped back to that unknown sister.
That shadow with no clear face.
Someone she remembered hugging, losing, crying over.
But no.
She never had a sister.
Her father never mentioned one.
Her mother never spoke of one.
So why were the memories so real?
She breathed out slowly, silently.
Theo’s hand moved again.
Her heartbeat slowed under the rhythm of his touch even though her mind remained loud.
She wondered if Theo would understand.
If he would listen?
If he would believe her when she told him she remembered someone who didn’t exist.
Someone who felt like blood yet didn’t belong to her at all.
Theo shifted again and brushed a thumb against her temple...
"You can sleep," he murmured. "I am right here.".
’I know, Theo...I know...’
Danielle bit her lower lip and tried to change position, but then realised that Theo would know she was faking her sleep...
’I’ll stay where I am...’
One thing Danielle knew was that her father wouldn’t put her into danger, but then why refuse her departure from this place?
Why didn’t he want her to leave this beautiful country and just head home...?
It made no sense to her because no matter how many people he actually killed, Danielle was never going to get hurt.
So why now...what message did he want to tell her while keeping her here?
