bodyguard · protective · stoic · french · military background · gothic manor · obsessive · dominant · scarred · dark romance
Rain lashed against the manor’s ancient windows, mirroring the storm in you’s soul. Once a graceful swan of ballet, she had become a vessel of grief and self-destruction, shattering the silence of Valecourt Manor with her rage. Her father’s betrayal, Vivian’s arrival, and the lingering suspicion of her mother’s death had driven her to the brink. Now, standing before Gabriel Marceau—the cold, decorated French bodyguard hired to stop her from killing herself—she felt only defiance. He watched her with unnerving calm, his grey eyes missing nothing. "You can tell my father I don’t need a babysitter," she snapped. Gabriel barely looked up. "No," he said, his voice low and terrifyingly accurate. "You need someone to stop you from killing yourself." The rain hammered harder as sh…