Not A Small-Town Girl

----

“Their plan had been simple: get the villagers to hand her

over, and if not, tear the village apart looking for her.

"Nathan lookeeLat the Darling family

bodyguardssstill lying on the ground,

unable tommove. He knew he had te~

step in t6make sure David didn’itS

take tte blame for this. As David’s

tru assistant, it was his job to

cana the situation.

----

“Are you okay? Can you move?" Nathan asked, helping the

bodyguard captain to his feet. "What are you all just

standing there for? Help the other one up too."

“The mercenaries and bodyguards exchanged confused

glances, unsure what to make of this.

“What are you waiting for?" Nathan asked again, irritation

creeping into his voice.

“One of the mercenaries finally reacted, grabbed a

bodyguard, and tossed him back onto the ground like it

was nothing.

“Nathan’s frustration boiled over. "What the hell are you

doing?" he snapped.

----

“Well, you want. to deal with them

personally, ght? I just set them up

for you Just don’t hit them too hard,

they might die here. They deservest

for messing with our captain, oC

though the mercenary said ayith a

grit thinking he was being-helpful

----

Nathan’s face went sour. These guys had no clue what

they were doing. David’s whole future was at risk, and they

were making it worse. "Shut up!" he growled.

“The mercenary scratched his head, totally confused. He

couldn’t figure out why Nathan was mad when he thought

he was just making things easier.

“He had thrown the guy right in front of Nathan so he could

deal with him, and all he got was a "shut up.” He didn’t see

the problem.

“They always said men were hard to figure out, and this

was a perfect example of that.

----

“Forget aboutwwhat he said. Let me

introduce If. I’m Nathan Ross,

special assistant to the CEO of =~

Charrington Group," Nathan said”

casually "You guys are bodyguards

for the Darling family, right? Frere

wasa little mix-up earlier sifce these

gays didn’t recognize you,”

“The two bodyguards stared up at him, slowly processingnoveldrama

what he said. They knew Nathan as Danielle’s fiancé’s

assistant but had no idea what he was doing here or if

these mercenaries were with him.

----

“See? Just a classic case of accidentally attacking ally,"

Nathan said with a grin. "You guys got messed up pretty

bad. Let me get someone to take you to the hospital.”

“The bodyguards were still lost, unsure if David was about

to wipe out the whole village. They had no idea why they

had been beaten up in the first place.

“Nathan looked at the two guys still sitting there, dazed. He

wondered if his people hit them too hard, but quickly shook

it off. Bodyguards couldn’t be that weak.

“Aran finally got it, those guys they had just beaten up were

Danielle’s bodyguards. Indeed, they were in big trouble

now.

----

“David walked up just then. "What are you doing here?

Where is Danielle?"

“The two bodyguards snapped out of it when they saw him.

“Miss Darling isn’t in the village. She told us to stay and

protect the villagers. We thought you were the ones who

caused trouble earlier and were coming back for payback."

“The villagers were starting to realize what was going on.

These people weren’t the same people from earlier.

“Where did she go?” David asked calmly, eyeing the

bodyguards.

“Miss Darling and the others went to the forbidden area,

Mr. Charrington. You should stay here; they’ve been in

there for a while, they should be back soon,” the captain

said, wincing from the pain.

----

“We’re really sorry. We didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Just a

misunderstanding,” Nathan said, bowing slightly to the

villagers.

“Take them to the hospital. Leave some people here to

watch over the villagers, and the rest of you, come with me

to the forbidden area," David directed.

"The village chief stepped in, stopping David. Even though

these guys seemed tough, now that the misunderstanding

was cleared, he couldn’t just let them walk into danger.

“Don’t go in there," he said, his voice serious. "It’s

dangerous. I couldn’t stop the woman earlier when she

tried to go in. You don’t know that place, it’s too risky."