Chapter 29: My Bodyguard

“You with Reiner? I chose him to guard you. He will keep you safe from any random men. See you at the lab.” Edward. So, this is what he had planned all along? Using Reiner to keep tabs on me when I’m not with him. What a heavy price to pay for my lies.

“Yes,” I replied to his text simply.

Now back to Reiner. What should I talk about?

“Reiner, your full butler uniform is a little bit much. Starting tomorrow can you dress perhaps a bit more casually to blend in better?” I suggested. Afterall, it’s not like I want the whole world to know that I have a butler shadowing me everywhere.

“Sure, I’ll wear a suit starting tomorrow, Miss Natalia” He replied, acknowledging my words as his command.

“I mean, it doesn’t need to be a suit every day. You can adjust your outfit to sort of match what we’ll be doing based on my schedule. Oh, and please just call me Natalia,” I told him as I turned to look at his face for the first time since we left Lucien’s study. His serious face as he watched the road is quite attractive…

“As you wish,” Reiner replied shortly.

That was the end of that. In the end, we didn’t exchange any more words between us the whole ride to the lab.

…

**A week before**

A very tall man with a large build, bright red hair and piecing blue eyes stood in the middle of Edward’s office.

“Good to see you again, Reiner,” Edward greeted the tall figure standing straight in the middle of his office.

“Yo, Sir Edward…How’s the girl?” Reiner turned around to greet Edward mockingly.

“That ‘girl’ would be ‘Miss Natalia’ if not ‘Lady Natalia’ now for you,” Edward corrected the man jokingly.

“That scrawny girl is all grown up now huh? I haven’t seen her for ten years,” Reiner said wistfully as he thought of the first time that he met Natalia, before she was adopted into the Rosenhall family as Lucien’s daughter.

“So, what do you have to tell me? You schemed to position me as her bodyguard and called me over here for something, right?” Reiner asked, getting straight to the point.

“Natalia has at least one lover. I want you to keep an eye on her and figure out who he is,” Edward started to explain.

“You mean including yourself?” Reiner asked rhetorically.

Edward’s mood darkened immediately. Reiner and his intuition are scary.

“Guess I hit the bull’s eye. You were pretty obsessed with her after that incident,” Reiner said while grinning at Edward.

“I want you to keep her safe. Natalia has come of age and I honestly don’t know what plans the elders have for her or what harm lies in her way,” Edward continued to explain.

“What do you plan to do with her? You’re not just using her as a bed warmer like all those other women of yours, right?” Reiner asked with genuine curiosity. Edward is famous for his numerous affairs that were some times even featured in tabloids.

“I want to marry her,” Edward stated bluntly.

“…What? Are you out of your mind?” Reiner replied in shock.

“I can keep her safe way better than Lucien ever can. Lucien will forever be tied to the business and this family. He is the CEO now, and in the future, he’s going to become one of the elders for sure. If Natalia stays with him, she will be stuck in this rotten family forever, Edward explained his logic.

“I have the least tie to the business and this family. I have a well-established business and life outside of this mess. I can remove Natalia from this fucked-up life for good and you are going to help me achieve that.”

“I owe it to Natalia’s father to protect her; I don’t owe you anything though. I’ll do things my way and have a little bit of fun while I’m at it,” Reiner stated bluntly.

“Don’t you dare touch her, Reiner,” Edward threatened in a low voice.

“I won’t…unless she asks…” Reiner replied mockingly as he headed for the door. As far as he was concerned, this conversation was over.

Edward’s plan is crazy but I could see his point. I guess I have to see for myself which life would be better for Natalia: A life with Edward or a life with Lucien. Or perhaps, a life with neither of them.

Edward watched as Reiner strode out of his office, his footsteps silent. He knew Reiner was dangerous business but he believed in Reiner’s loyalty. If there was someone who would put Natalia first, it would be Reiner. The downside is Reiner is crazy hard to control and predict. This could be harder than he initially thought.

…

We arrived at the lab and Reiner opened the car door and took my hand to help me out of the car. He is pampering me so much, although, I guess he is just acting his part as my butler.

We were headed to Edward’s office so I decided to brief him a bit on our schedule today.

“Edward and I will be attending a gala dinner hosted by one of our research partners. It’s a public event to announce a new technology that we have co-developed,” I explained the main event for this evening.

“I will gladly accompany you, Miss Natalia,” Reiner stated.

“Umm…please call me Natalia. Ok?” I asked him again. Miss Natalia is way too formal. Gosh, if I was married, he would probably call me Madame.

“…Only if you call me by a nickname when we are alone. Then I’ll address you as Natalia when we are alone.” Reiner said, surprising me that he was negotiating with me.

“What is your nickname?” I asked. This idea is intriguing.

“That is up to what you want to call me,” He replied without any emotion in his voice.

“Reiner…hmm…a nickname? What about ‘R’? I’ll call you ‘R’. It’s cute yet cool, right? Like a codename,” I suggested with a shy smile.

“Sure, Natalia,” He replied. Deal done. Finally, he called me purely by my first name when we are alone.

“Let’s go, R,” I replied with a cheeky smile as we proceeded to walk to Edward’s office. Maybe we are one step closing to becoming friends.

--To be continued…