The Bodyguard (Aces Book 6) by Cristin Harber

Author:Cristin Harber [Harber, Cristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mill Creek Press
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Mylene wasn’t proud of her work. Her assignments were punishment, similar to how Tran Pham had forced her to live with the constant reminder of the loved ones she’d lost.

For the first few years, Mylene hadn’t understood the far-reaching effects of her seemingly insane projects. Pham’s associates would give her names and current events. They’d ask her to pit people against one another or conjure up conspiracy-riddled stories. At first, she thought that was part of the punishment, some sort of creative writing torture that would force Mylene to live in the headlines and denigrate the country that she loved so much.

She was wrong. They’d needed a native English speaker who understood the idiosyncrasies of current events and who had nothing to lose. That was her, trapped in her house of hell with time on her hands.

Mylene proliferated misinformation. Pham’s colleagues fed her storylines to bot farms. Sometimes, she assumed his people sold her stories and code to the highest bidder. After all, information warfare couldn’t come from one source. That would be too easy to spot and clean up.

Once she understood how they were using her, she waited to feel guilty. Regret never came for anything except Mark and Tabby, so she worked like their robotic cash cow.

Her production value had to be a reason Pham’s goon squad hadn’t decided to kill her now that he was locked in a federal penitentiary. It wasn’t as if Pham was in a position to enjoy her suffering.

Angela and Sawyer had days of interviews under their belts. She was more convinced than ever that Mylene Hathaway was one of Tran Pham’s victims. They’d found no indication that Mylene’s husband and sister were having an affair. More than that, Angela sensed that except for two dead bodies and a missing Mylene, no one who knew Mylene, Mark, or Tabby could fathom the tragedy that had unfolded years ago. It pained Angela not to tell them what she thought had happened and that, perhaps, Mylene could be found and exonerated.

Back on the beach, the receding tide rolled out quietly despite the darkening storm forming miles offshore. Angela let the quiet waves lap over her feet. Her mind drifted. She and Mylene were the same age. Pham had connected them. Their connection was different, however. Mylene was one of the many persons Pham blamed for Quy Long’s death. Angela was a victim. Her mother was the focus of Pham’s anger, one of the people he most blamed for what had happened to his daughter. Angela could have been dead like Mark and Tabby. Instead, she was a fill-in for Pham’s daughter.

“Hey, Ange.”

She jumped. The sand had muffled Sawyer’s approach. Her heartbeat didn’t slow down, though. Tension had crackled between the two of them since their rendezvous on the deck and slumber party on the couch. They had worked nonstop since, hunting down the leads that Parker gave them and rehashing every conversation. They hadn’t had a break until now, when she wandered to the beach, waiting for Sawyer to wrap up a phone call with Parker and Jared.

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