Her Bodyguard

Chapter Thirty-Four

The sound of a man's voice caused her to stop. The familiar hallway stirred and shifted until it had turned into something from her past. A man stood across the hall in a grey suit, his hat in his hand, his arms wild open.

"Come to me, Bambino," the man said.

Calida turned around to find who the man was talking to. A child with a much darker skin than the man and a head full of curly brown locks laughed loudly as she ran down the hall as fast as her small legs could carry her to the man waiting for her with open arms.

"Papa! The nanny said you wouldn't arrive today. But you're here!" The little girl squealed excitedly.

Calida paused as her chest grew tight. She knew that man and the child. She knew the walls of this house and it knew her, it felt her presence. It was digging up memories she no longer wanted. But it was because after this, the only thing she could think of was the sounds of screaming, the pain of betrayal, of death.

"I could never miss your birthday, Il mio bambino. Do you know why?" The man asked the little girl.

The child giggled. "Because papa loves Calida to the moon and back!"

"That's my girl! My day never starts until I've seen you! I'm restless when you're not here. Someday you're going to have to do it on your own, but until then, you've got your Papa's love!"

The child hugged her father and giggled as she got tickled. Calida watched for a second and then shut her eyes as tight as she could manage.

The sound of something moving towards her caused her to tear her eyes open. Calida dodged a fist coming from her left. A second fist moved in time. Calida blocked one blow with her arm and shoved her gun against the man in front of her. She pulled the trigger and fired three times.

She turned around just as a much bigger man than the man she just put down grunted heavily, running towards her. Calida pulled the trigger, but the magazine was empty. The man lunged at her. She dodged his first blow, throwing the gun at him. It hit his head before she shoved her hands in her jacket and grabbed two guns. She fired the gun, watching as one bullet hit the spot between the man's eyes and the other one went through his Adam's apple.

She took a step back to avoid any bloodstain. The man was dead. Calida locked her jaw as she turned into a different part of the house. The second wing of the mansion had darkened corridors. This part led to her father's office and the library. How she'd lived here for the first few years of her life had shaped her and how she handled everything. Now, she was back as an assassin, a cold killer.

She stopped before the library doors, the sound of a man yelling and cursing at her filled her mind. Joachim. Young and stupid, he'd been eager to prove himself. She'd stabbed him with the sharp edges of a broken champagne bottle and she finished the job years later.

The sound of heavy footfalls and irregular breathing caught her ears. A man at the end of the hallway, holding an assault rifle pointed at her grinned. Calida's hands moved and she pulled the trigger before he could react. The sound of his body hitting the floor shook the house.

She continued down the hallway, walking over the dead man. With every step, a man fell at her feet. She'd lost count of how many men she'd shot. She'd had to put two bullets in a big guy. His face had the expression of shock as he died. She reached the third living room with three men guarding the place. That meant Diablo was near and there was no way she could get to him without putting the men down. She took out the first two men, a bullet each to the back of their head. The third man opened his mouth to tell, but Calida threw her dagger at him. The sound of sharp metal piercing flesh was what Calida heard before the man fell. She walked over to him and pulled out her dagger, before wiping it clean on his body.

Years ago, the library would have been a safe haven, the place she could hid away from the chaos. She could see him kneeling before her.

"If anything happens, bambino, take him and run to Rocco. Don't forget, Rocco. Do you hear me?"

The voice echoed in her ears as she came face to face with the great hall. She shuddered, suddenly thrown back into a past she'd run away from. This was the same hall. He'd been dancing with her across the room. Calida locked her jaw again, before pushing the doors open. She tightened her grip on her guns. They were almost empty now.

Calida smacked the spot on the wall where she knew there would be a light switch. The room turned bright too suddenly. The first thing she saw was a large glass pool filled with water. She looked up immediately and caught sight of Izar hanging above the pool, suspended by ropes. Her mouth had been tapped up.

"Izar?" Calida called quietly, hoping to see, just to know that Izar was still alive.

"Hmmmmph! Mmmmmpf!" Izar grumbled, trying to break herself free, struggling against the ropes.

"Stop, Izar. I'll free you, I promise..."

"Promise?" A voice called out suddenly. "Did you say promise? Why, you do love to make false promises then, Assassin."

Calida turned to the direction of the voice and frowned. Of course, he was here. She watched as Diablo walked into the hall. There was one thing Diablo never ignored. He paid attention to detail. They were alike in that regard. But she despised him and he despised her as well. Her thumb twitched as she gripped the gun.

"Just stay calm, Izar. Please..." Calida continued to talk, ignoring Diablo.

Diablo raised his hands and pressed a button on a remote in his palm. Immediately, the ropes began to drop and Izar became agitated. Diablo took his thumb off the button. Calida heard the footsteps moving in behind her. She turned and fired shots in both directions multiple times until both men were dead and on the floor. Diablo's eyes were wide open as he stared at her.

"You want me, yes? Let the girl go," Calida said, her voice quiet.

Diablo shook his head. "Oh, goodness. You thought you called the shots because you killed a handful of men? Tsk tsk. You don't."

One more man moved in from the side. Izar looked at Calida with eyes wide open, trying to notify her of the man's presence. Without turning in the man's direction, Calida raised her hand and pulled the trigger, hitting the man's left eye. She flung the gun at him as there were no more bullets in it.

"Will you let the girl go, Diablo?" She asked him.

He frowned, tightening his hand around the remote control in his hands.

"I like seeing you look this miserable," he said, walking closer to the glass tank. "I don't think I've ever been this happy, just seeing you so bothered brings me joy, Calida."

"It's good that you know who and what I am. Still you think you can bargain with me, Marcus?" Calida asked him.

Diablo ground his teeth. "You little..."

"I'll advise you not to complete the sentence, it'll be disastrous if you do. I'm not certain I can be very nice after that," Calida said.

"How dare you? Do you think you can bargain with me or tell me what to do?" Diablo roared.

Calida rolled her eyes at him. The only reason why a bullet wasn't between his eyes yet was because she'd promised she wouldn't harm him, she'd hand him over to Interpol alive. If she'd not made the promise, he'd be dead like the rest of his men.

"I don't like when a situation is dragged out for too long. We've been dragging this out for too long, don't you think Diablo?" She paused and scratched her brow, ignoring the look of exasperation on his face. "I'm tired, so let's bring it to an end."

"An end? An end would be when I put an end to your existence." Diablo said.

Calida scoffed, letting out a chuckle deviod of humour. Her face went blank almost immediately, deviod of emotion or thought. Izar stared at Calida, she knew what the lack of emotion on Calida's face was, what that emptiness signified. She'd seen it the first day she met Calida and then she'd seen the walls around the tall woman break slowly. Now they were back up.

Calida could feel Izar's eyes on her. She'd started this alone until Izar's friends had gotten her tangled up in their mess. If she was going to save her, she had to forget her.