The Bodyguard (Book 1 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter Thirty-Six

Mara cried out for her father, her bottom lip trembling and struggled to get loose from her captive's grip.

Travosky looked upward, sighing heavily at how pathetic William was lying there, moaning from the apparent pain in his face. Ben scowled, looking up from Hallden groaning on the floor and trying to lift himself up.

Ben snapped his attention back to Travosky, still glaring at Hallden, as he shouted, "Damn, you! You think this is still a game!? You are playing with innocent people's lives! Why don't you let them go, and disappear!?"

This time, when Travosky looked at Ben, his brows were raised. He started to grin, chuckling to himself.

The others eyed him carefully. Travosky was simply unpredictable; he was the definition of bipolar as far as anyone can see; so Anna, Ben and Nathan seemed to be the only ones prepared for any reaction Travosky may have.

The blonde man made his way over to Ben, staring him down from his straight posture.

"Because you know too much. You all have seen my face, William knows who I am, and now you three have stumbled upon who I am, too. So it is only fair, my beer bellied friend, that I throw away the rules of this particular game..."

He stopped from pacing away from them all with his back to them. Then he looked over his shoulder, that evil grin crawling onto the lower part of his face. "And cheat."

Travosky kept his stance, raising a brow and ordered towards one of his men, "Bring the girl to me!"

If Ben didn't know any better, he could see on Anna's face, a sudden rush of... jealousy? Or was it remorse? Or was it both? Clearly she knew what Travosky was planning the way her eyes glared at his back. And as Mara was being pulled towards Travosky, Anna closed her eyes, turning away.

Beside him, Ben could feel Nathan trying to break free from his rope bindings, and glanced at the young man whose focus was on none other than Mara.

When she was faced with the large blonde man, and that eerie smile appeared, Mara's mind flashed back to her nightmare. And somehow, she felt that was his way of getting back at her father; by taking advantage of her, and then probably killing her after.

Mara struggled back against the man that had been guarding her, but Travosky reached out and took hold of her by the jaw and yanked her towards him. Her whimpering had no effect on him, nor was her whispered pleading to release her.

Travosky kept dragging his eyes up and down Mara as he directed his words towards Hallden. 

"Tell me, William, do you know what it feels like to have everything taken from you?" 

His eyes went over to the group of men, struggling against the men holding them back, and shifted his blue eyes to his old partner.

Hallden scowled, shouting, "LEAVE HER, CHARLES!"

Ignoring his request, Travosky squeezed Mara's jaw more, her hands gripping his wrist as she tried to tug out of his hand. He grinned again, raising his brows. "Would you like to find out?"

His hand started up Mara's thigh, under her summer dress, pressing his bearded face against hers. His eyes solely moved to her father, "She's absolutely precious, you know... it's a shame that... once I'm through with her..." he grinned at Mara's horrified expression. "That I'll have to kill her."

He forced his mouth onto hers, but Mara had pulled her head aside, so he was only kissing part of her lip and more of her cheek. Her brows lowered and eyes shut tight, Mara grimaced with disgust.

As if being restrained wasn't enough to piss off Nathan, it was now seeing Mara being man-handled that set him off completely. 

The whole time the mad man was giving his stupid lecture, Nathan had been cutting away at the white rope around his wrists. He'd taken his pocket knife from his back pocket when the man behind him wasn't looking, since he'd been staring at Travosky the whole time, and made tiny incisions into the itchy material. When he'd cut just enough that he'd be able to break through it, Nathan timed his moment to do so.

After Travosky made a pass at Mara, Nathan snapped, along with his bindings. His movements were so quick and smooth; it took everyone a minute longer to realize what was happening before actually reacting. Nathan tore through the rope; turned from the position he was in to give a hard punch to his guard's thigh, making the man double over to grip his leg. He took hold of the man's head, swiftly turning it with his neck snapping as a result.

The man guarding Hallden had raised his gun, but Nathan's foot kicked it upward; bullets straying in an upward motion when the soldier dodged them, and they took down three other men instead. Nathan elbowed the man in the face once he was standing and punched another man that had made his way over to them, dropping his gun when a kick shot to his face.

Nathan picked up the abandoned weapon, taking a stance with it pointing directly at Travosky.

The remaining men, including Anna, had robotically raised their guns at Nathan, waiting for the order to gun him down, but Travosky was silent.

He had ceased his assault on the young woman before him, and turned his gaze to meet the barrel of a gun directed at him. His vision went past the gun to the strong-jawed man holding it.

Nathan's chin was tilted downward, with his face slightly turned, but his eyes were glued to Travosky; the muscles in his jaw tensed, before his deep, husky voice grumbled, "Back... the hell... away."