Ste''s brow furrowed slightly. "Abby, you didn''t tell anyone about the attack, did you?"


    Abby quickly shook her head. "No, I made sure to suppress the news." She watched Ste''s face, seeming to guess what she was thinking, and added in a low voice, "I don''t think it was Joshua."


    Abby and Joshua were still in contact, though not frequently. From their asional conversations, Abby could tell that he didn''t know about the incident. Keen, Joshua''s little informant, had been sent back home by Haynes months ago. Haynes himself had discovered the boy was feeding information to Joshua and was so exasperated by his nephew''s disloyalty that he promptly sent him away.


    Ste seemed lost in thought.


    "It was probably just Byron''s enemies," Abby reasoned. "The guy was no saint. He often had hispetitors assassinated. He finally picked a fight he couldn''t win. Whoever did it was ruthless, though, not even leaving a whole body... Their methods are on par with Leonard''s. Well... I guess it takes a monster to kill a monster."


    Ste didn''t dwell on it. "If someone else took care of it for us, it saves us a lot of trouble." She had asked Abby to investigate because she had intended to get revenge herself. Her counter-attack n was already in ce, but before she could execute it, her target was dead.


    After this incident, however, Abby insisted on finding some skilled bodyguards for Ste. Unable to refuse, Ste agreed. Even if she had some ability to protect herself, having protection for Abby would be a good thing. But when Abby brought over the bodyguards she had carefully selected for Ste to interview, Ste was leftpletely speechless.


    As Ste''s thoughts drifted back over the past six months, there was a soft knock on the dressing room door. A young man who looked like a pretty boy with a fairplexion entered. He appeared to be in his early twenties, with a slender and frail-looking build.


    Behind him followed another young man, this one with a stern face and a powerful, muscr frame.


    "Abby, Ste," the pretty boy said, "Gideon and I have thoroughly checked every corner of the banquet hall. Everything is secure."


    The young man was Wilbur, one of Ste''s bodyguards, primarily responsible for her safety. The man behind him was named Gideon.


    These two were the bodyguards Abby had handpicked for Ste. To avoid another situation like Aicken who had approached Ste ulterionmotives well to be well to be precise, done


    Joshua was the one whe


    that.


    s?novels


    SWI


    Abby had specifically asked Antoney


    Watson for help in selecting


    bodyguards who were loyal, trustworthy highly skilled


    and-most importantly had a score of ny or above in the looks department.


    Antoney was speechless for a few seconds. "Abby, are you hiring bodyguards for Star or male assistants? Finding loyal and skilled men is easy enough, but a ny in looks? What are you nning?"


    "You''ve seen what Joshua looks like," Abby said,pletely justified. "He was by Star''s side for so long that she''s gotten used to seeing handsome men. Are you going to find a bunch of burly scary looking thugs to frighten her? Star was already in a bad mood after Joshua left. Seeing some eye candy will lift


    her spirits. What''s wrong with that?"


    Antoney had noeback. He also knew about Joshua but, like Neville, didn''t hold anything against him.


    "Fine," Antoney had said. "I''ll do my best to pick from the Watson family''s own training camp."


    Abby had originally selected six bodyguards, but Ste had rejected the idea.