Her Bodyguard

Chapter Thirty-Five

Izar could feel the tension in the room. It felt like it could cut through air, it was that sharp. Diablo had a smirk on his face and a look in his eyes that meant he wasn't about to give up without a fight. Did it matter? She'd not met anyone who'd won against her bodyguard. It was an impossible feat and she knew it. She'd been with Calida long enough to know her to be this way. It wasn't going to change because Diablo wanted it to. Calida wasn't playing his game. If anything, he was playing her game.

"You will let the girl go," Calida said in a low voice, her face and lips almost unmoving. She looked like a ghost, her face was pale and her gloved hands were still wrapped around her guns.

"Why?" Diablo asked. "What are you offering in place of the girl? Hmm?" His lips curled up in a mock smile.

"Myself. It's me you wanted, yes?" Calida asked in the same tone as before, quiet, stoic, and deadly.

Izar couldn't believe her eyes and ears, it was as if Calida had returned to factory reset. And given her situation, that voice wasn't supposed to turn her on, but it did. It almost made her forget where she was. She was in trouble, she couldn't speak to the one person who gave her sweet sensations in her belly, and she was properly tied up to a chair and hanging over a pool. Not in her wildest dreams did she think she'd end up here. Besides, with the way Diablo was excited, she wasn't sure he was one of those people who ignored their trigger happy finger. After all, he'd pressed the button twice already. She sighed as she hoped everything would turn out well. The last thing she wanted was to die at the hands of a crazed man. But most of all, she was afraid for Calida.

"I don't want you anymore. I'm thinking if I should kill you and sell the girl off. People might want to pay a handsome fine for her. Don't you think?" Diablo said, pointing at Izar with the hand holding the remote control.

Calida's left eye twitched and Izar took note of that. Her bodyguard wasn't going to let anything happen to her, she knew the extent Calida was willing to go.

Izar saw something move. It was merely a silhouette of something or someone. Before she could notify Calida who was still pissed and had her eyes on Diablo, someone hit the back of Calida's head. Izar winced as if she'd been the one receiving the blow to the head, closing her eyes shut and breathing heavily. She felt suffocated. The room was stuffy and the smell of blood permeated the air.

Calida locked her jaw, not a wince, not a single emotion, not a single recognition of the blow that she'd received.

"Sai cosa ti ucciderà? Dolore. Pain. Riconoscere il tuo dolore. Non darlo mai a vedere, altrimenti qualunque cosa ti accada finirà per ucciderti," the voice echoed in Calida's head.

She grabbed the man's weapon and swung it at him, brushing him with the iron pole. He fell down and she pulled him back up. She struggled against the man as he tried to force himself free from her hold. Calida didn't let go, she pulled him closer, pressed her gun against him before pulling the trigger of the Glock in her right hand. She fired multiple times before pushing the man off. She staggered back when someone pushed her. A man as tall as her attempted to hit her, she dodged him easily, elbowing him in the face.

"Fucking bitch!" The man grunted in his thick Italian accent, grabbing his slowly bruising face.

That seemed to clearly piss Calida off. She grabbed his head and shoved her gun in his mouth. When she pulled the trigger, Izar was certain she saw bits of the man's brain hit the ground before his body did and it made her wince. Being around Calida should have made her immune to all of the horrors she was witnessing now, but that clearly hadn't happened as expected.

Someone else grabbed both of Calida's hands and another person kicked off the gun she was holding. Calida stayed quiet as they disarmed her, suddenly giving up, and no longer fighting. She stood still, making the men seem stupid, as if they were struggling with themselves. There was no need fighting back. She needed to win this battle and staying calm was the only way to do that.

Izar looked surprised. Calida wasn't the type of person to give up without a fight. Both men would have been dead already if this was a different situation. Calida's jaws were locked again. The tall woman took a deep breath and squeezed her face in utter disgust, the only sort of facial expression she'd given off in the last fifteen minutes. 

"Only a few seconds left now," Diablo said, grinning from ear to ear, "you'll be dead soon."

Calida looked at him and smiled. It was the most sinister looking smile Izar had ever seen in all her life. If she was Diablo, she'd be scared shitless. But Diablo was either stupid and obtuse or he just couldn't see the danger he was in.

"We will see who'll be dead soon, Diablo..."

The sound of a metal pipe hitting flesh rang through the room, echoing multiple times before going silent. Izar winced visibly. The man who held the metal pipe swung it at Calida's legs again.

"That's enough," a voice called from the far left side of the room, where an older man was standing.

There was something about him. The colour of his eyes were familiar. Hazel eyes. Izar turned to look at Calida, then at the man, then at Diablo. Her eyes went wide. Something was off here. This was getting more confusing. Why did they have similar features?

"If it isn't the prodigal child," the man said to Calida quietly as he walked closer to them. "Come home finally? For what reason have you returned, child?"

Calida stayed quiet. But Izar was still confused. What was all this about? Who was this man? How did he know Calida? He walked in as if he owned the place.

"Father..." Diablo called out to the man, "what do you mean by prodigal child?"

The man chuckled softly and looked at Diablo as if they were supposed to have an understanding. What Diablo couldn't figure out, Izar had figured it out already. Diablo's father and Calida were related in a way, that, or they had a past that had been somehow intertwined and had led up to this moment.

"Shut up and listen, Diablo. You don't know the whole story. Remember your uncle? Who suddenly passed on with his wife and two children? Well...this person here isn't just anyone. You're related by blood," the man said, walking into the space between Calida and his son. He held her face and squeezed it.

Calida just glared at him like she could see through his soul, his past, and present. Izar had gasped when she'd heard him speak on Calida's family.

"This piece of shit is my cousin? It all makes sense now! Why she's been haunting us, why you've been sending everyone after her..." Diablo stated.

"Yes. She killed Joachim..."

"I heard you received his body in a cardboard box. How befitting for an ingrate and backstabber," Calida said, making sure her eyes were on the man in front of her.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh rang through the room. Calida remained unflinching and her eyes stayed locked on the man Izar now realised was Calida's uncle.

"Is that how you talk to your elders? Joachim was your second cousin! Your kindred!" The man roared as his fist connected with her cheek again.

Calida chuckled, a painful laugh that lacked mirth. "You don't have to worry, Don Pedro. I intend to reunite you and all your dear ones soon."

Don Pedro Arell was his name, and he was responsible for the death of Calida's parents. It all made sense now. But it also broke Izar to see a vulnerable part of the person she considered invulnerable. It hurt more when she could see the years of pain and anger behind Calida's eyes. Her childhood must have been a difficult one.

Don Pedro smacked Calida across the face. "I'm going to torture you and then kill you. It could be quick, like your father's death, or slow. You might get to chose it."

Calida smirked. "Then I chose to take you with me. I bet your brother would be happy to see you..."

The sound of the metal pipe swinging and coming in contact with Calida's back made Izar wince visibly. She blinked back the tears in her eyes. If her mouth hadn't been stuffed full with cloth and tied so hard that she could barely make a sound, she'd have begged for Calida's life.

Their eyes met in that second and Izar couldn't deny it anymore. She could not hide how she felt for Calida anymore.