The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 18

Isabella and her father screamed with excitement and pounded the glass in front of them as two hockey players got into a skirmish right in front of their seats. The Rangers were winning, and the other team was being chippy and taking cheap shots. A defenseman on the team had enough and the gloves were on the ice.

The referees let the fight go on about a minute before pulling them apart and sending them to their separate dressing rooms. With only a couple of minutes left in the game sending them to the penalty box was not necessary. As the clock wound down and her team won with a score of five to two, she had her father yelled and jumped up and down embracing tightly.

"Not bad for a home opener," she grinned at her father as they pounded the plexiglass while preparing to leave the stadium.

"Great game," her father nodded his agreement and led her down the aisle behind the other fans exiting their row.

As they reached the top of the stairs from their section her father motioned to her. "I'm going to the bathroom. Meet you by our door."

"Sounds good," she nodded and made her way to the exit they always used when they came to the games. She was riding high, thrilled with the outcome of the game and she waved to a couple of other season ticket holders they had become friends with over the years. They gave her big thumbs up signs, and she returned the gesture grinning broadly.

She stood at the wall by the doors and leaned against it, propping one foot up on the wall waiting for her dad. The man was older and his need to visit every damn place they went to so he could pee for ten minutes was becoming a family joke they would never share with him.

"Isabella."

She groaned and turned to look at Evgeni standing inches from her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see the game."

"You hate hockey. You know I have season tickets and you are a lying sack of s**t. Leave me alone." She wanted to just walk away but her father wouldn't know where to replace her. This was their meeting place. He did not carry a cell phone. She dropped her foot from the wall and stood upright, her feet placed shoulder feet apart in a defensive stance, her fists clenched. "No, we need to talk, and you are avoiding me."

"I am not avoiding you!" She wanted to scream at him but too many people were around, and she was not going to cause a scene. "I told you, leave me alone or I'm going to get a restraining order."

"You will not get a restraining order," he waved his hand at her as if she were making a joke. "You are mine and I am yours and we are meant to be together. I apologized for what happened three years ago and I know you miss me."

"I don't," she denied and shook her head, her mouth curved downwards in a frown. "I don't know why you think I am lying, or I'm confused or mistaken but I don't love you, I don't even like you right now. I am certainly and absolutely not yours and if you knew me at all, you would know just saying such a thing to me would make me furious."

"Your eyes glitter when you're angry and your cheeks flush and you are beautiful," he lifted a finger to touch her cheek.

"Evi," she slapped his hand away, "I am not telling you again. You are stalking me, and I don't like it. Leave me alone."

"Isabella?" Her father approached cautiously taking in the man who had his daughter almost cornered against the wall. "Are you okay?"

"Hugo," Evgeni opened his eyes and stepped as if to hug the man, but Hugo stepped backwards avoiding him. "Isabella and I were just discussing getting back together."

"No," Hugo shook his head, "Isabella is dating someone else, and she made it clear on the ride here tonight she is never getting back with you. You need to leave my daughter alone."

"The man she is dating is a murderer," Evgeni shrugged his shoulders coldly. "He has killed people."

"He was special ops and a Navy Seal." She looked at her father and explained, "Evgeni is being an a*****e. Papa, let's go."

Evgeni grabbed her arm. "Not until you agree to talk with me."

"No," she shook her head furiously yanking her arm out of his grasp. "You do not get to touch me. Leave me alone." "Is there a problem?"

Isabella groaned as the sound of Cam Torres' voice carried over their heads. "Why me?" She threw her hands up to the sky. "What are you doing here Torres?" She looked past Evgeni to the man standing directly behind him.

"Season ticket holder," he shrugged, "I was in my box and making my way out. Stopped at the head." He jerked his thumb in the direction her father had just come from, "Saw you here looking incredibly uncomfortable with Evgeni Andropov. Thought I'd say hi." As far as explanations went, his was far better than Evgeni's. She motioned to her father, "Papa, this is Camden Torres, the guy I've been dating. Cam, this is my dad, Hugo Ruiz. The huge guy behind him is Gideon." She waved to Gideon who simply stood glowering at Evgeni like he wanted to punch his lights out. She wanted him to. "Evgeni was just telling me I shouldn't date you because you murder people. I told my dad you were a Navy Seal."

"Unfortunately," he looked to Hugo as he shook his hand, "there are things which happen in battle you never wish for." He looked to Evgeni, "can you tell me why you're harassing Isabella when your girlfriend was home crying because you've ghosted her two days in a row after declaring undying love to her Saturday night? I have to say, I don't like anyone making my little girl sad." His eyes were cold and sharp, clearly displaying his displeasure.

"Oh, Papa," Isabella grinned as Evgeni shifted uncomfortably, "I forgot to tell you, Evgeni's been in a relationship for about six months with Cam's daughter."

"Is this why you're dating him?" Evgeni accused her with a hiss.

"No, we're dating because we met in a deli near our work." She grinned at her father, "the place Amelia and I were talking about. He was there for the pastrami, and I was there for the gun show." Her father laughed at her words. "What gun show?" Evgeni didn't understand the analogy.

She rolled her eyes, "not a real gun. They have a new butcher with huge biceps. Half of the female population of Manhattan has been going to watch the guy use the meat slicer."

Cam shook his head at her, "I was wondering why my favorite deli had gotten so damn packed up."

"He's gorgeous."

"You're taken," Cam pointed at her with a huge smile. "Look but don't touch."

Hugo laughed at the man's words. "I like him, Isabella."

"Me too, Papa, when he's not being a pain in my a*s," she pushed past Evgeni and stood to kiss Cam's cheek, "Call me later. My dad and I are heading to our favorite spot." She met his eyes seriously, and half-whispered in his ear, "Can you escort Evgeni away from me please? I don't usually ask for help but I'm afraid I've embarrassed my father enough this evening and getting into fisticuffs with a big Russian guy will get me banned from the stadium."

He tilted her chin and placed a quick soft kiss to her lips, uncaring who was watching and knowing it would piss her off ex-boyfriend spectacularly. "I'll call you." He nodded to Hugo and clapped his shoulder, "it was nice to meet you. Evgeni," he shook his head, "we should have a chat and maybe call your father. I'm certain he won't be pleased you're accosting women at hockey games."

Gideon put his hand on Evgeni's shoulder stopping him from following Isabella and her father out of the stadium.

Isabella hooked her arm through her father's and pulled him outside. Her father's neck turned, and he was sporting a huge grin as he watched the two men furiously zero in on the man who had been harassing his daughter as of late.

"Papa, stop looking back. You're making it weirder than it is."

"I hope they beat the s**t out of him," her father admitted with a shrug. "I never understood why you stayed so long with him, but he's been an i***t since you broke up. I once told Clara she should have Ben talk to him."

Isabella was stunned at her father's words, her father ever the pacifist who rarely said anything bad about anyone was admitting he wanted to cause Evgeni bodily harm. "Papa, this is not how you normally behave and I'm going to pretend I didn't hear what you just said."

"Your mother says prayers on her rosary for him. She thinks he needs God. I think it's too late and the devil has him. He needs an exorcism."

"Papa!" she chastised and fought the smirk on her face. "Let's go get a beer and celebrate the game and forget this nonsense." "Sounds good to me."

When they were seated at the bar sipping beer and watching the huge television behind the bar her father spoke up again. "Your new boyfriend is huge."

"He's not my boyfriend Papa, we're dating. It's not a relationship. We went to dinner twice."

"He's still huge," he put his beer to his lips as he kept his eyes on the hockey game taking place on the other side of the country. It had just started with the time difference. Watching two games in one night was never a bad idea.

"He is," she admitted as she blew some of the foam of the beer and watched it fly into the air. "I'm not going to lie, I'm glad he saw us. I was about to kick Evgeni Andropov in the balls and blacken his eyes. I don't want to get banned from the rink. Torres has enough money he could buy his way back in."

Her father chuckled, "I wondered why you hadn't dropped him like a sack of flour. You've been doing enough of that Karate stuff with Clara you should be able to take care of a jerk like him."

"Clara's had a lawyer take a deposition from me this morning and a judge will review a request for a restraining order against Evgeni. Hopefully, this makes him see some sense. She is friends with his father, and I don't want to cause bad blood but he's out of control."

"It's been so bad?" her father asked quietly.

"I didn't want to worry you and Mama, but it's been a week and a half of constant text messages, photographs, showing up at my work or like tonight at the game. He hasn't called me in months and then Clara and Elian had dinner at his family's restaurant, and he went apeshit. Clara told me Mikhail, had asked how I was doing, and she told them I'd been promoted at work. She said I was doing well and had even gotten to meet the President during a recent visit to the Whitehouse with her. She said Elian was talking about how proud the entire family was of how successful I've become. Mikhail had said he would always consider me a part of his family and Evgeni's girlfriend was fuming. They fought. He apparently decided I was a better fit to his life than she is, and he's become obsessed."

"And his girlfriend is your new not-boyfriend's daughter? He doesn't look old enough," Hugo said seriously.

"He was eighteen when she was conceived, and he only learned about her five years ago because the mother never told him. Apparently, she hadn't told him she and Evgeni were dating. He's not happy his nineteen-year-old is dating a thirty-year-old." "And did you really meet him in the deli or are you truly just trying to piss off his daughter and your ex?"

She laughed at her father's astute assessment. She didn't look away from the screen and sipped her beer, "if I'm being honest a bit of both, but less pissing off Evgeni. I don't give a damn about him at all. Her, well, after some of the things Cam has said about her, I worry about her being around someone like Evgeni. She sounds like a clingy doormat and someone like him and his strong domineering personality could play havoc with her. It makes more sense for her to take him off my hands, so I don't have to deal with him but at the end of the day, it feels like I'm dumping my problem onto an unsuspecting child." Posted by Narugi.com; visit us for more free novels.

Her father was quiet as he sipped his beer and watched the game. After several minutes of weighing his thoughts, he spoke gently. "She's not your responsibility Isabella. I know Clara does a lot of work with women at the shelter and you've been helping her with it but at the end of the day, it's not your job to rescue damsels in distress. Let her father diffuse the situation with Evgeni. He seems capable of it. If you like the guy and want to date him, date him but don't do it because you feel compelled to help this teenage girl." If her father only knew rescuing damsels in distress was exactly her job and she was incredibly gifted at it. She knew she had a soft spot for women who got themselves into situations they had no control over or were in need of help with. As she sat and contemplated his words she sighed. She realized Portia Torres was exactly why she had been cutting Evgeni so much slack. The girl was trouble and in trouble and her situation was exactly one she was trained to help with.

"Thanks Papa," she said quietly. She leaned sideways and kissed his cheek. "You're pretty wise for an old guy." She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled as he kissed the top of her head. Sometimes a few minutes with family was all she needed for a bit of perspective.