Her Bodyguard

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Hold on a second. Did I hear you right? Italy?" Izar asked, freaking out already. "But why?"

"Because that's where we should go. We'll be in the States for a while, but if we don't end this very soon, Diablo will come for you. Alyssa and Han are safe, but you and I are out in the open. Do you want to keep running forever?" Calida asked her, driving into a neighborhood that Izar had never been to before.

Izar groaned, "most of the time, I don't understand you. What do you even mean? There's more you aren't telling me."

Calida stopped the car, a bit too aggressively, slamming into the brakes. They were parked in front of a building now. Izar didn't even know when they'd gotten there. She turned to Calida sharply.

"There's more you don't know and I don't intend to tell you yet. You're being stubborn and I can't deal with that now. Protecting you is my number one duty. The second is to bring this whole thing to a stop. Do you understand? Now get out of the car and go inside the house. Pick a room. It's a safe house. Diablo would be too busy gathering his losses to come for us." Calida explained. She didn't look at Izar because she knew the drama queen would act out again.

She got out of the car and unloaded it. She didn't talk to Izar and neither did Izar want to speak to her. Grumbling about disrespectful and controlling bodyguards, Izar matched into the house. It looked simple and so did the neighborhood. She wanted to leave, to go back home. She wanted to see her friends and laugh at their silly jokes, but that couldn't happen anymore.

"If Alyssa didn't go looking for trouble, none of this would have happened," Izar grumbled as she plopped on a couch.

"Izar, pick a room or I'll leave your stuff here, in the lobby." Calida called out.

"Do something like that and I'll feed you to the birds," Izar replied, her eyes daring Calida.

"Feisty all of a sudden. But if you don't get your ass out of that couch and go upstairs to pick a room, I'll either leave your stuff here or leave it in a random room of my choice. We'll be here until I get our tickets booked. Plus I need to speak to your dad!"

That was enough to get Izar off the couch. Calida walked behind her, up the stairs until she found a room with windows that she liked. It was spacious and had an en suite. Calida didn't mind that, she'd never cared much for things like that. She just wanted to fix this.

Calida dumped her bags on the floor. "I see you've made your choice. I'll let you be now."

She turned and left the room. Izar watched her leave. Why was she mad again? It wasn't like Calida had done this on purpose. Calida didn't get her into this mess, Alyssa did. Except that Alyssa was lying in a coma, protected by law officials and Han was safe in China. She was the only one who actually had no where to hide and Calida was only trying to fix the problem.

Calida made herself a glass of juice in the kitchen. She'd taken off her suit and undid her tie. Sometimes, she hated being a bodyguard, but the voices reminded her why she was doing this. A phone pinged in her suit pocket. She pulled it out. It was one of the burner cell phones she used. There was a text message.

Quando arriverai a casa? Stiamo aspettando il tuo arrivo. C.

Calida stared at the text. She wasn't sure when she would be arriving at Italy. She had been uncertain about the whole thing in the first place. She didn't want to remember. But they were waiting for her.

Sai che ho intenzione di farlo sul mio. È la mia battaglia e tu non puoi combatterla per me. Devo farlo da solo. A.