Delete My Love for You novel Chapter 51

A ringing filled Darren’s ears, as if the world had gone utterly silent for a split second.

Only Charlotte’s ragged, broken scream pierced through, echoing like thunder, shattering his thoughts again and again.

A mere bodyguard—how dare she call him by his full name?

Darren scrambled to his feet and strode toward Charlotte.

He scooped her up in his arms.

She felt disturbingly light, her body slick with blood. That freckled face, scrawled over with crude tattoos—

Utterly unfamiliar.

Yet when her body pressed against his chest, a rush of old, inexplicable familiarity seized his throat.

Somewhere in the distance, the shrill wail of the ambulance siren grew louder.

Cradling Charlotte, Darren turned toward the waiting EMTs, but Xena hurried over and caught his arm, her voice sharp with disapproval.

“Mr. Harrington, Lottie’s just a bodyguard. There’s no need for you to personally—”

Darren glanced back at Xena—the girl he’d called Shortie since childhood, the woman he was set to marry next month. But right now—

He couldn’t understand how she’d become this selfish, this unreasonable.

Had he spoiled her too much?

“Xena, go home on your own. Text me when you get to the house.”

Without another word, ignoring the way her face blanched, Darren’s gaze swept dangerously to the elegant woman sitting nearby. His voice was ice.

“Mrs. Lewis, since you missed your shot at killing me today, let’s see your family’s company bankrupt by morning.”

The woman collapsed into her chair, panic-stricken.

Darren was already carrying Charlotte into the ambulance.

Outside the ER, he stood alone in the cold hallway, his heart twisted with confusion—how could a bodyguard affect him this much?

Darren held him easily, looking down with cold contempt. “I’ve put up with you long enough. Who are you to judge me? You’d throw a punch for Lottie—what is she to you, anyway?”

Herbert sneered, breathless. “What’s she to me? What’s she to you? Charlotte’s barely been dead a few years and you’re already marrying someone new, and now you’ve put Lottie in the ICU. Pathetic. Charlotte deserved better than you.”

Darren’s expression twisted into a mocking smile. “You think you can speak for her?”

His hand closed around Herbert’s throat, squeezing tighter with every word. “Charlotte loved you for twelve years, and you couldn’t even show up at her funeral. Who are you to pity her?”

Herbert’s vision swam, blood pounding in his ears. But what Darren said made no sense.

Charlotte loved him for twelve years?

The man Charlotte loved all that time was Darren—everyone knew it.

He was close to blacking out when Darren finally let go.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Herbert.”

Darren rose, glaring down as Herbert gasped for breath. “The dead can’t collect debts from the living. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’ll do it for her. Remember this—whatever you care about most, I’ll destroy it.”