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    The Bodyguard
    The Bodyguard
    The Bodyguard
    Ebook291 pages5 hours

    The Bodyguard

    By Cristina Grenier

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    About this ebook

    To Have, To Hold, To Protect 

    For as long as she can remember, Juliet Brown has craved her freedom. Lured into the snare of a drug kingpin at a young age, she's been beholden to his every whim since her teenage years. When she does escape, however, she finds that freedom is only the first step to healing her wounded soul. The quickest path to her salvation seems to be cooperating with the FBI to put her Ex behind bars - and end any threat he poses. When she's paired with a foul-mouthed freelance agent with a chip on his shoulder, she begins to question the choices she's made. She's undeniably drawn to Hank Compton's rugged allure, but he's got armor five inches thick and a nasty streak a mile wide. There's no way a man like him can possibly be anything but trouble...is there? 

    Hank has always liked things simple. Over the course of a life filled with violence, he's learned not to care. Caring makes you weak, and weakness gets you killed. When the newest assignment from his superior offers him the ultimate revenge, he jumps at the chance - even if it comes with some pretty substantial baggage. Juliet Brown is everything he's wary of - gorgeous, smart-mouthed, and undeniably damaged - and that only makes him want her more. Hank is long past the point of believing he can be saved, but Juliet promises to be more than just a distracting piece of ass. She could very well be his salvation - and that scares the hell out of him. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMonster Media LLC
    Release dateMar 5, 2019
    ISBN9781386121510
    The Bodyguard

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      Book preview

      The Bodyguard - Cristina Grenier

      Want to receive a FREE copy of this

      full length BWWM Romance by bestselling author Cristina Grenier?

      Click the cover below.

      The Bodyguard

      Cristina Grenier

      Chapter 1: Caged

      Juliet Brown would be the first person to tell you that her life changed the day she met Solomon Aguiler.

      She was eighteen, impressionable and idealistic, and the moment his tall, lean form settled in the first row for one of her performances at a jazz club, she was smitten. Of course, it might have been the atmosphere. That particular performance had been one of Juliet’s first, and, that night, anything in the world seemed possible.

      After a lifetime of nudging by her surprisingly supportive family, she’d finally given into temptation. She wanted to see if she was good enough to entertain a crowd that wasn’t made up of her blood relations. Juliet was a little overwhelmed at the response. She had always known she had a good voice - everyone she knew always asked her to sing. But singing in front of a real, live audience at the tender age of eighteen - that was something beyond her wildest dreams.

      It was that naïveté that led her straight into Solomon’s waiting arms.

      It was only her third or fourth show, and Juliet already had quite the following. The house was packed hours before she began a show, and men hankered after her attention; but the way Solomon looked at her was enough to make her forget about everything and everyone else. When she sang, nothing existed except him, her, and the stage at Mona’s.

      She was drawn to him like a moth to a flame, and after her show, she fell for all his smooth one-liners. She sang like an angel, he’d never seen anyone more beautiful... If there was ever something a man said to draw a woman in like an expert angler, it came out of Solomon Aguiler’s mouth.

      And Juliet fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

      But it wasn’t just she who had been fooled - it was everyone. Solomon had charmed her friends, her family, everyone she worked with...and then, slowly but surely, he had started to isolate her from them.

      But that had been his intention from the start. Solomon was a master manipulator who could get almost anyone to trust him - even those who knew what an asshole he could be. Unfortunately for his charmed victim, as soon as he got what he wanted from you, Solomon never hesitated to reveal his true nature - and the man was a fucking monster.

      "Get up, Juliet. Why the hell are you still in bed?" As soon as the covers were yanked from her, Juliet bolted upright, shocked into wakefulness. Her heart raced and her head pounded as the room swam into focus. Solomon stood over her, sneering in disapproval - and he wasn’t alone.

      If there was anyone more devious and fucked up than Solomon Aguiler, it was Blackjack. The thug’s real name was Angus Creed, but the Irishman preferred the moniker Blackjack because he thought it made him sound cooler. What it actually did was terrify the countless women he raped and victimized as well as those foolish enough to end up on the wrong side of an Aguiler deal.

      Juliet, in only her bra and panties, quickly reached for the coverlet to hide her nakedness, but Solomon only held it out of reach, his handsome face contorted in annoyance. "I said get up."

      He was going to make her walk all the way to the bathroom with nothing on, in front of Blackjack. The burly blonde man was already eying her with a gaze lascivious enough to make her stomach turn. Quickly, Juliet rose, intending to hurry towards the bathroom with her eyes downcast. She stopped in her tracks when Solomon smacked her bare behind -hard - before taking a handful of it to impede her. His grip was so tight it made Juliet wince, but she knew better than to say a word. "Aren’t you going to say good morning to me, Amor?"

      She didn’t even know why he still bothered with this. It had been a long time since Juliet felt anything but fear where he was concerned. True affection was a thing of the past. When she said what he wanted to hear, it was for the purpose of self-preservation. Good morning. Her head still ached from the rude awakening he’d given her, and she could still feel Blackjack’s hungry gaze burning into her backside.

      "Well don’t sound so fucking enthusiastic about it, Solomon groped her hard enough to elicit a whimper of pain. I might think you don’t love me anymore...and then I’d have to pass you onto Jack here. He’s been aching for a taste of you."

      The very notion was enough to make Juliet’s stomach turn. Swallowing the bile, she turned into Solomon’s embrace. It shocked her now that she had ever thought him attractive. Those cold gray eyes and that fastidious little goatee were hideous, but she could never unsee them. Solomon’s face had haunted her for almost eight years now, and she had long learned that escape wasn’t an option. Juliet pressed her mouth to Solomon’s, fighting the shiver of revulsion that passed through her as his tongue pressed insistently past her lips. When he was finished, she tried again, with her best, most painful smile. Good morning, Solomon.

      That’s more like it, my little siren. He smacked her behind once more before finally releasing her. It took everything Juliet had not to flee into the bathroom like a frightened mouse. Once the door was closed behind her, however, she wrapped her arms tightly about herself, taking a few deep, steadying breaths.

      She was fine. Absolutely fine. In the grand spectrum of things that Solomon could do to her, groping was relatively mild. Now, she had to shower and get dressed. If she took too long, he might come after her here, and that definitely wouldn’t end nearly as well as her wake up call.

      Juliet executed her usual morning routine, showering before donning her clothes quickly. They were Solomon’s preferred fare, as were her makeup and shoes.

      Under normal circumstances, Juliet was fully aware that most women would kill to have a man like Solomon. Handsome and wealthy, draping her in name brands and making sure she only ever had the best of everything…

      Unfortunately, Juliet hadn’t chosen any of that. She didn’t get to decide what she wore, where she went, or what she did. Solomon had controlled all of that for years now - just like he controlled her.

      She contemplated escape hourly. It was, in fact, her hobby to daydream about the ways she could flee the hell that her life had become. But she wasn’t an idiot. Juliet knew full well what happened to people dense enough to run from the Aguilers.

      Exhaling a long sigh, she stared at herself in the mirror. Juliet had never been the type of girl to like low-cut tops and short skirts. She hated wearing heels, despised the makeup caked on her face, and the heat-damage done to her glorious natural curls when she straightened them was nothing short of aberrant.

      But, here she was, looking like something out of a playboy magazine to cater to the man that owned her. Juliet examined her reflection from left and right, frowning at the way her breasts almost spilled out of the vee-neck top. Her skirt was barely long enough to cover the generous curve of her behind and it was, quite frankly, ridiculous that she had to wear heels all day inside the house.

      But this was what Solomon wanted - this was his ideal woman.

      It was not Juliet.

      When she finally left the bathroom, she was thankful to find that Solomon and his dog had abandoned waiting for her. That gave her a few minutes to gather her thoughts as she made her way downstairs for breakfast. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table before leaving the room. One of Solomon’s many staff-members would take care of the bed - at least, they would if they wanted to keep all their fingers and toes.

      As Juliet made her way slowly down the hallway of the immense manor house, she scarcely met the eyes of any of the heavily armed, well-dressed guards mulling around. She would never understand why the Aguilers needed so much security inside the manor - surely if it was ever breached, they were screwed anyway, but she knew better than to say a word about that to Solomon. She would, without a doubt, regret it.

      When Juliet reached the ornate staircase that led to the foyer, she paused. She didn’t want to go downstairs. She never did, really. What she wanted was to find a way to put all of this behind her. She would climb out of a window, sneak past security and get away….

      And then what?

      A bitter smile touched her mouth at the question. Where the hell would she go? At this point, Solomon had alienated her from her parents, her friends, and anyone else she might have known in her former life. She could put their lives in danger merely by contacting them. Which meant...what? She’d run and see how far she could get?

      With no money, no method of travel, and no friends to help her, Juliet could concede that she wouldn’t get very fucking far. And that was the way Solomon wanted it.

      He had done this to her systematically, year over year, whittling her down to nothing but her questionable sense of pride. Juliet had never known it was possible to both hate and fear someone so much as she did him.

      As she did all the Aguilers.

      Caesar was in the foyer speaking in a low voice with one of the many armed guards in the house, and the sight of him was enough to chill Juliet to the bone. Unlike Solomon, she had never had any doubts that this man was absolute evil. The first time she met him, she knew outright. His eyes were dull and unfeeling, and the only time he ever showed the slightest bit of emotion was when he was involved in something violent. The leader of the Aguiler Family was, without a doubt, the reason so much of their business deals were signed in blood.

      All at once, going back to the room she shared with Solomon was what Juliet desperately desired. He would eventually come and drag her out, she knew, but she couldn’t go downstairs into that den of snakes. Not again. Juliet was forced to continue this farce day after day, as if she was part of it, but she wasn’t. She would never be. Not as long as she lived and breathed.

      Though, considering how the Aguilers operated, that probably wouldn’t be a problem for them.

      Juliet was on the cusp of turning to retreat to her room when Caesar looked up. There was no way he could have missed her standing at the top of the staircase. "Buenos Dias, hija. His voice echoed through the marble foyer, his smile cold. Come down for breakfast, won’t you?"

      She had seen this man kill people in cold blood as if it were nothing...just being near him was enough to make Juliet tremble. Nonetheless, she swallowed thickly, steeling herself before starting down the stairs. She didn’t dare do anything else.

      You’re looking pale this morning, Juliet. Caesar took her hand in his when she reached the foot of the staircase, his gaze locking her in place. Are you feeling alright?

      Fine, sir. She managed, her throat dry. She didn’t like being alone with him. Though Caesar himself hadn’t ever touched her in the five years she’d lived in the manor, she saw the way he looked at her. More importantly, Sophia saw the way he looked at her. In truth, the man’s wife was far more likely to hurt her than Caesar himself, but Juliet didn’t want to be hurt at all if she could help it. She’d been through enough pain in the past eight years to last her a lifetime.

      "Oh, come now, Juliet. Call me Papa. I’m sure my son will make an honest woman of you soon enough."

      The young woman’s heart constricted in her chest at the nightmare the suggestion brought to the forefront of her mind. Married to Solomon? Forced to do his bidding, night and day, for the rest of her life?

      She might kill herself first.

      Don’t look so enthusiastic. Caesar’s smile widened and Juliet’s heart leapt into her throat. His grip on her hand tightened until she was breathless with the pain of it. "You would be privileged to take the Aguiler name."

      Juliet nodded frantically, her breath coming in between sharp huffs of discomfort. Now, come. Solomon is waiting for you. As if she could have resisted. Caesar all but dragged her to the dining room, where the entire family, plus Blackjack, had assembled for breakfast.

      To any untrained eye, the Aguilers might appear to be a commonplace upper crust, aristocratic family. They lived in a multimillion-dollar mansion. They all dressed impeccably, they commanded a staff of over thirty people and they spent money like water. But that money, as well as the Aguilers’ hearts, were as black as coal.

      Solomon and his father were the worst, but Sophia and her daughter America weren’t much better. They were cruel, calculating and loved to lord their power over anyone weaker than them. On some days, Juliet couldn’t decide whether they or Solomon tormented her more.

      "I was just about to go get you. Solomon yanked her down in the chair beside him, his expression, somehow, even more irate than before. What took you so long?"

      "I...fell. In the shower. It was the best excuse she could think of and, hopefully, one that wouldn’t result in punishment.

      Graceless, Sophia’s reply was instant. Even at close to fifty, she was a beautiful woman, with glossy black hair and dark, exotic hazel eyes. It was too bad her mouth was screwed into a disfiguring sneer at least ninety percent of the time, I still don’t understand what you see in this one, Solomon.

      "Don’t start, Madre, Solomon rebutted instantly in warning. She has a nice voice, and she’s cute. And she’s only mine." Solomon’s pride was Juliet’s shame. He was the first and only man she’d ever been with - he obviously got off on the fact. Several times, she’d considered sleeping with other men in an attempt to get him to cast her out, but Juliet strongly suspected that Solomon would just kill her in his rage.

      And, unfortunately, she wasn’t brave enough to face that.

      I would think you’d have gotten bored of her by now, America piped up, sipping an espresso from an absurdly small cup, Only so many times you can listen to someone sing. She, unlike her mother, was no looker - but she had no problem luring men in like flies. Or, rather, like a spider. Boyfriends who crossed the twenty-year-old often ended up running for their lives.

      Well, I’ve been listening to your bullshit for twenty years without offing you yet, Solomon’s smart retort earned a death glare from America. Before she could say a single word in rebuke, however, Caesar silenced them both.

      "Callate. I refuse to start the day like this." He shot both his children warning glares filled with such malice that they immediately fell silent. While America was cowed almost completely, Solomon glared hatefully at his father a moment before digging into his breakfast. The air was so thick with tension it could have been cut with their knives - it was an environment Juliet never found conducive to eating. There had been rumors circling for years that Solomon had it out for his father, and she had no issue at all believing it. She had never really seen them behave like father and son - more like two animals constantly hunting one another.

      One of them was going to end up dead - and sooner rather than later.

      Solomon, have you completed the preparations for tonight? Caesar finally spoke again after a moment of obedient silence.

      Everything should be fine, the younger man replied sullenly, making Caesar’s eyes narrow.

      "Look at me when I’m talking to you, chico." If looks could kill, the Aguiler patriarch would have been dead on the spot.

      "Everything is finished, Dad."

      Juliet took a steadying breath. Was it too much to hope that they’d murder one another over breakfast giving her an opening to escape?

      And you’re ready for the performance, Juliet? When Caesar’s attention shifted to her, Juliet stiffened, nodding immediately. There was no possibility of not being ready. If the Aguilers depended on her to be the main event at their soiree of killers and drug kingpins, then that was what she would have to do. Anything else was suicide. "Everything will be perfect," Caesar emphasized, looking to each member of his family in turn.

      His demands were law - of that they were all quite aware.

      Truth be told, Juliet had almost forgotten that tonight was the big party. Caesar threw the same event year after year, and the number of attendees grew annually. It was, in her opinion, a way to cement his power - both to show off his wealth and to warn those under him that he was always watching.

      And she would be on stage for half the night.

      Heaven help her.

      Evening fell far too quickly for Juliet. Thankfully, Solomon was too busy with last minute preparations to be bothered with her, so she spent her day in their room, trying to calm her nerves. She was already under enough pressure when it came to spending time with the Aguiler family - being plunged into a world built up of the people that did their dirty work for them was a living nightmare.

      But she had done it for the past five years, and, somehow, she would get through it this year. Juliet comforted herself with the notion that, after the function, Solomon would probably be too drunk to want to touch her. She knew that he and his buddies usually started pre-gaming an hour or so before things kicked off. By the time he came to get her, he would be pretty far gone.

      If things went like they always did, then at least one or two fights would break out. Caesar would either calm them with words, or, with his preferred method: blood. It wasn’t one of the Aguiler’s functions if no one died, really.

      But it never got any easier for Juliet to see the bodies.

      She dressed when it was time to do so and made sure to touch up her makeup. If she wasn’t ready by the time Solomon arrived, he would be just drunk enough to hit her - and then he would demand that she hurry to cover the evidence. That was the last thing she wanted was any additional trouble tonight.

      Juliet had just finished slipping back into her heels when a loud crack echoed through the manor - an unmistakable sound that had her dropping immediately to her knees.

      Gunfire.

      After the first shot, a quick burst of automatic rifle fire ensued followed by the sound of angry shouting. It sounded like it was coming directly from the floor below, but Juliet wasn’t naïve enough to take any chances.

      As she crawled across the bathroom floor towards the bedroom, the sound of conflict began to spread throughout the rest of the manor.

      Commotion blossomed from underneath her, and pockets of noise began to erupt from other parts of the main house. Above her, down the east wing, even from the direction of the pool and guest house outside. Juliet had no idea what on earth was happening, but there was no way this was some petty squabble. Not with so much chaos.

      Part of her expected Solomon to burst through the door at any moment and drag her from the room. Juliet hadn’t spent close to eight years with the man without seeing how he dealt under pressure. She’d even seen him get shot, even if she had long ceased to have any pity for him. Juliet was no longer simple enough to believe that Solomon had ever really loved her. What he felt, really, was something that bordered on obsession. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing her because she was his, and God help anyone who hinted otherwise.

      But Solomon didn’t come. Five minutes passed, and then ten, with no sign of a cease fire. In fact, the crash of breaking glass made its way to Juliet’s straining ears and she started. What the hell was going on? Was someone laying all out siege to the manor? In the history of the Aguiler’s rise to power, she hadn’t ever heard of something like this happening!

      ...and it was the perfect opportunity.

      The speed with which Juliet’s mind turned to the possibility of escape was, quite frankly, mind-blowing. She went from fearing for her life one moment to a state of intense self-preservation the next.

      If she had been thinking more clearly, Juliet might have changed clothes. She might have thought that trying to make her escape in heels and a cocktail dress was inviting failure; but all

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