My Fiancé’s Bodyguard by Ivy Wild

Something felt off as soonas Johnny and I walked into the Dimes mansion. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it had me on edge in a way I couldn’t explain.

“Johnny, so glad you could come today to work out the final bit of paperwork,” Dimes said to the boss.

“It’s all very exciting, isn’t it,” Johnny said, and I rolled my eyes internally. I was ready for the weekly trips to Dover to be over. It wasn’t that the drive was particularly bad and depending on my mood, it was better than getting my hands bloody. But still, I was done with this castle and its princess.

“Since we’re finalizing the details, why don’t you invite Madelyn into the meeting with us?” Johnny suggested.

Henry looked instantly nervous, and now I knew why something was off. It was written all over the man’s face.

The girl wasn’t fucking here.

I was caught somewhere between admiration and complete irritation towards the girl. I admired her because not many girls her age had the balls to run away from a family fortune and a mob boss in the same evening. Shit like that took guts.

On the other hand, I was pretty irritated because when Johnny needed a bounty hunter, I was his fucking Boba Fett. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to send me after the little runaway and being away from Johnny for too long wasn’t good. I was where I was for a reason. A personal fucking reason.

Sure, some days I lost sight of that. There was no dipping your toe with this world. If you were in it, you were in it.

And I was fucking in it.

But I had a reason for being in it, unlike most of the punks that showed up looking for an AK and some street cred.

Being away from Johnny for too long put all that at risk. I needed to know what was going on in the family. Who was talking to who. What deals were struck. What money changed hands. All of it. Each transaction got me closer to my goal.

And the runaway fucking princess was going to put five years of blood, sweat, and sacrifice at risk.

I guess I couldn’t blame her. If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t wanna marry Johnny either. He was close to three times her age and she would be his sixth wife. Apparently he loved his first wife or some shit but she got killed in a shootout back in the olden days when Seaport was a bad area and the Maldonado’s were trying to establish themselves. Johnny’s son, Primo, was set to inherit the family title when Johnny decided to retire from the role.

There was no future there for her. Johnny went through women the way teenage girls went through Cosmo magazines. As soon as a newer issue was on the shelf, the older one was thrown away.

I was a nasty sonofabitch for thinking it, but I honestly felt like my goal outweighed the princess’s virtue. Rich people were forced to marry each other every day. They all seemed to be doing just fucking fine.

“Doris,” Dimes said, calling out to his maid.

“Yessir,” the woman responded, making her way over to his side.

“Can you go ask Madelyn to join us?”

“Uh.” The woman hesitated, confirming my suspicions.

“Just go ahead Doris,” Dimes said, clearly trying to buy time.

“Yessir,” the woman replied dutifully.

I watched as she disappeared down the dark hallway before Johnny and Dimes retreated behind the study doors. “Just knock when she’s ready,” Dimes called back to Doris who was already out of earshot.

The door closed, leaving me alone in the same foyer I’d been in weeks ago when I’d caught the princess spying on me from behind the stone column. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath as I realized that some of this was probably my fault. I somehow couldn’t resist the little vixen. Maybe I should consider visiting some of Gi’s clubs again cause clearly my dick was doing the thinking for me.

I made my way down the hallway where the old maid had disappeared. I finally found her standing in front of Madelyn’s bedroom door, wringing her hands.

“She ain’t here, is she?” I asked gruffly.

She jumped at my voice and put her hand to her chest. “You need to learn not to scare old women, young man. You wanna be responsible for someone’s death?”

I shrugged. “That’s just my job description, ma’am.”

She rolled her eyes and muttered something about a “ruffian” under her breath. “Now, why would you think Miss Dimes isn’t in residence.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, I deal with lying, thieving shits all day long. And the only difference between them and your boss is that they are way better at what they do. So please, don’t insult my job credentials.”

The old woman just shook her head at me.

“So, where’d she run off to?”

“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you,” she said with a bite to her tone.

I chuckled darkly. “Oh, we’ll see about that, ma’am.”

With that, I turned on my heel and headed back towards the foyer. I was gonna break the news to Johnny or she was. But, either way shit was gonna hit the fan in about five minutes.

A few more minutes of loitering in the lobby and Johnny was making his way out of the study.

He gave me a questioning look and I shook my head. “She ain’t here,” I said.

Johnny turned around to look at Dimes with false surprise. “Henry, is there something you’re not telling me?”

Dimes’ face got pale and he waved his hands in front of his face. “No, no. Of course not. I’m sure she just went for a walk in the gardens,” he said, stumbling over his words.

Johnny looked at me again and I shook my head—again.

“I guess we can wait until she comes back,” Johnny said, calling Dimes out on his bluff.

Dimes looked like he was gonna puke and damn if that didn’t make all this shit worth it.

“Alright,” he finally said. “I’m afraid my daughter has gotten a case of cold feet and has run off.”

Johnny feigned shock and I just stood there, still looking as bored as I felt. “Henry, you must be worried sick over her. How long has she been missing?”

Dimes looked uncomfortable before saying, “A few days. But not to worry. I’ve got my best men out looking for her.”

“No offense, Henry, but I think my men are better equipped to handle this sort of thing. We’ll bring her back home safely.” And then Johnny turned to me like I knew he was gonna fucking do and said, “Holt, I’m putting you in charge of the search.”

“Now, wait just a minute,” Dimes tried to protest but Johnny held up his hand.

“Henry, I’m sure you’re sick with worry. I’m convinced that’s the reason you lied to me,” he threw in and I smirked in the background. “This is obviously too much for you to handle. We will take it from here.”

If Dimes’ face got any whiter, he would have made a 1990s goth jealous.

“Yes, well,” Dimes said. “I have been rather flustered these past few days,” he replied, jumping on the out Johnny was giving him about his lying.

Johnny nodded his head and turned back to me. “Well, I guess we better get going. Looks like we have some things to handle.”

I nodded, not thrilled about having to go out searching for the runaway princess, but also marginally happy to be leaving her castle.

“We’ll bring her back to you, Henry,” Johnny said as we exited the house and made our way to the car. As soon as we were inside and out of earshot Johnny’s demeanor shifted.

“Fucking bitch,” he muttered under his breath. “And idiot of a father.”

I stayed quiet. Johnny got downright scary when he got into these sorts of moods.

“If she ain’t a virgin when you find her you let me know right away and maybe we won’t bring her back home. I was rather looking forward to popping her cherry and now she’s probably slutting it up all over Boston,” Johnny said before pulling out a cigar. He only smoked when he was really upset. Doc said the things would be the death of him and he’d been trying to stop. Apparently cancer was the one thing that wasn’t afraid of Johnny.

“I doubt it,” I said, reflecting on Johnny’s statement and what I knew of the girl. I didn’t know for sure if she was still a virgin, but my money was on no. The way she’d pushed her body into mine like she knew what she wanted. Yeah, that wasn’t something virgins did.

“What was that?” Johnny asked through a cough.

“I said, ‘will do, boss,’” opting not to share that particular piece of information with him.

By the time we made it back to the bakery, sunlight was fading. I decided to head back home, pack my shit, and grab a few hours of sleep before I got out on the road the next day.

How hard could it be to find one runaway princess?