Page 41 of Warlord’s Empire

His silence felt like an eternity, but eventually he shook his head. “No. I’m too far gone to do the right thing. You stay with me.”

Thank fucking god because she didn’t know if she could find her way back to him if he let her go.

Chapter Nineteen

Saskia glanced around the first floor before dropping into one of the armchairs in the sitting room. From her vantage point, she could see both the front and back doors. Opening her phone, she checked her messages again.

Not once since Saskia’s arrival had Shola ignored a text from her, yet Saskia had sent her five messages in the space of an hour, all demanding to know her whereabouts, and nothing.

Since becoming Saskia’s bodyguard, Shola had always been two steps away from Saskia, taking her job as bodyguard seriously. Now she seemed to have gone AWOL.

Saskia tried texting again.

I’m not going to shoot you.

She wasn’t expecting a response, so she was a bit surprised when the typing bubble popped up.

That’s not what the bullet hole in the basement says.

Saskia thought about apologizing but she really wasn’t sorry. At the time, she’d believed Shola had killed Radik.

Radik took the gun away. Stop hiding from me.

He’d given her another gun, which she’d tucked away in her nightstand drawer, but she didn’t think Shola would appreciate the information.

I think it would be better if I watched over you from a distance.

No, that’s creepy.

Saskia waited for a response. None came.

You can’t stay mad at me forever

She probably could, others had done it, but it was going to make for some absentee bodyguarding if Shola refused to be around her.

“I’m not mad,” Shola said from behind her.

Saskia jumped in her chair, twisting around to look at her. “You sure seem mad to me.”

Shola sighed heavily, dropping into the chair opposite Saskia. “I’m not angry, I’m ashamed.” When Saskia frowned, she explained, “I’m supposed to make sure nothing happens to you, but on my watch, you were terrorized and stuffed barefoot into a safe room wearing only your pajamas with no one to explain what was happening. Then, after seeing us taser Radik in the video feed, you felt you needed to defend yourself.” Her shoulders slumped. “If I’d taken better care of you, done my job more thoroughly, he would never have been able to touch you.”

Oh shit, that was a lot from a woman who barely spoke most days.

Saskia pondered Shola’s speech. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s so much wrong with that I don’t even know where to begin. First off, you know you’re human, right? You have to sleep, and presumably the best time for you to sleep is when I’m sleeping.”

“There are sensors on your doors and windows. I get an alert the minute you leave your room.”

That piece of info was yet another creepy thing for Saskia to unpack later. For now, she was trying to make her bodyguard feel better.

“What happened when you got the alert last night?” Saskia asked.

“I checked the cameras to see if you got up to get some air on the balcony, like you sometimes do.”

“And when you saw I hadn’t gone outside?”

Shola crossed one leg over the other, her expression thoughtful. It was weirdly human for a woman whose every move was made with robotic precision. “I checked the other house cameras, which is when I saw Radik running down the basement stairs toward the safe room with you in tow.”

“Let me guess what happened next. You threw on your clothes as fast as you could, grabbed your weapon, and tracked us through the house. You found Radik in the foyer before tasing him to ensure the safety of everyone else in the household. It that pretty close?” Shola nodded. “What exactly were you supposed to have done differently?” It sounded like the same procedure the guards on the Koba estate followed.