The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 41

Isabella entered the women's shelter Saturday morning with Casper on a leash smiling as a handful of children charged her desperate to pat the tiny dog in a bowtie. She handed the lead off to the woman who ran the Saturday morning daycare and smiled. "He's been looking forward to this for a month." His movements were so exuberant the little dog was being wagged by his own tail. She walked to the offices of the administrator and counsellors and poked her head into the room where Sabine had just finished a group counselling session.

"God damn sweet cheeks, you look like hell."

"That bad, huh?" She pushed a cup of coffee in Sabine's hand and then flopped in a metal folding chair.

"Have you slept?"

"Depends on how you define sleep. If you mean on the sofa crying myself to sleep like a baby into the throw my Abuela made me," she held up her fingers, "two times, then yes, I've slept." "He never called?"

"Nope. Portia sent me a text and said she's grounded for the rest of her life, and he told her she's never allowed to ever tell anyone about the circumstances surrounding her rescue. In fact, she's never allowed to tell anyone other than her psychologist," she looked pointedly at Sabine knowing full well who would be treating her. "If she hadn't had her second phone," she whispered suddenly.

"But she did, and you answered her call." Sabine kicked her foot out of the way as she sat opposite her. "Are you crying over her or him?"

"Both, neither. It's been a heck of a week and I'm tired. The ops on the weekend, the booze, the s**t with Evgeni, Portia, Cam. I'm just god damned tired." She grimaced, "also my mother calling me four times a day asking me if I'm going to give her a spring wedding." Sabine laughed, "give her an inch."

They sat drinking their coffees quietly, the sounds of women and children entering the center for the various classes happening during the day trailing down the hall. Weekends were always the busiest time at the center. "How's Evgeni?"

"Survived his surgery," Isabella said quietly. "I know I'm supposed to be sympathetic to the fact he had a brain tumor, but I hate him. He threatened my mother. I know it was allegedly the brain tumor causing his erratic behavior, but he threatened my mom." She stared at her coffee cup. "Mikhail told Clara he's taking him back to Russia. He'll get him additional treatment in Europe."

"I never liked the guy," Sabine said coldly. "I have no empathy for him at all. Don't feel bad for hating on him Isabella. Most of the women in this place would tell you, you don't owe him your love or kindness. He destroyed it, regardless of the reason for it." She nodded once and then sucked the last of her coffee out of the cup and then slapped her knees. "I have a self-defence class to teach."

Sabine took a breath, "I'm going to finish putting the chairs away and I'll be down if you need a partner."

"Thanks. Clara's here too with Edward."

"You have support in droves Isabella."

"I know and I'm grateful."

She made her way to the gym and started spreading out the mats on the floor as people trickled in. A couple of smaller kids charged her, and she picked them up and threw them gently on the mats playfully. Between spreading mats and throwing kids, laughing as they squealed and begging to be thrown one more time, she was getting tired before she even started.

She stood with her hands resting on her hips, "listen you little tyrants, you're wearing me out before class even begins. The next kid I throw is going out the window." She pretended to chase them as they squealed about Isabella throwing them out the window. She reached for the last mat when a hand reached out and took it from her. She looked up in surprise. "Cam."

"Isabella."

"You came."

"The risk of losing my business was too much," he commented dryly his green eyes raking over her face.

She nodded, of course he was there for his business. Clara was a scary adversary. The desire to knee him in the groin was immense as anger at his callous treatment of her rose.. She pushed the fury down and refocused her attention on the task at hand. The women who attended this class came here to learn a few things to feel more secure if they walked home alone.

She looked around the room and saw Gideon and Portia both there. Gideon gave her a broad smile and a thumbs up. She waved. There was something about Gideon she really liked. Portia waved excitedly, no obvious trauma from the events of Thursday night. She waited until people were no longer trickling in and she caught Clara grinning wickedly in her direction. She was here for the show. She clapped her hands and then put her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle capturing everyone's attention. "Good morning, everyone." She pointed to the few kids who were still in the room, "even you three you little terrors. You're going out the window if you act up." They squealed with delight at her teasing, and she laughed. She motioned for the class to take the mats and then stood in front of the class. Clara, Sabine, Edward, Gideon, and Portia were all watching from chairs on the side of the room.

"So last week, I know Cat came in for an early morning class and ran you through the defensive techniques we've been working on. I also know a couple of you had some questions about what to do when you know someone is bigger than you, stronger than you and faster than you."

"Today's class is going to be some basic self-defence. For some of you, it'll be a refresher and maybe you'll pick up something you've missed before. For many of you, it's the first time going through these techniques."

She motioned to Cam standing beside her. "Since some of you questioned how to do some of these manoeuvres against someone bigger than you, I brought a real deal caveman to experiment on." At his grimace and the crowd's laugh she waved at him, "This is Cam Torres. He's a real-life bodyguard and is highly trained in self-defence. He's graciously agreed to let me use and abuse him today." She motioned for one of the kids to bring her bag to her. She ruffled the girl's hair as she passed it to her. "Thank you, Missy." She motioned to the kids. "Do you three kiddos know Casper is in the other room and Mrs. Jones has cookies?" Isabella grinned as they squealed Casper's name and took off running. Sometimes little kids got scared when you were teaching their mother how to defend themselves from things going bump in the night and she preferred they weren't in the room unless a bit older.

She opened the bag, pulled a few things, and put them on the mat in front of her. "One, pepper spray. It's legal if you're over eighteen and it's as easy to buy as a gun." She heard a couple people snicker. She motioned to Cam, "should we show them what it looks like when someone gets pepper sprayed in the face?"

He looked at her in horror, evidently not in agreement with the proposal.

She looked back to the group, "maybe another time. However, if any of you were questioning the effectiveness of pepper spray, note my six-foot four model was genuinely terrified of being sprayed."

"She's not wrong," Cam said with a shake of his head. "The stuff hurts."

The crowd chuckled.

"Next," she held her car keys in her hand. "Most of you know this one but here it is anyway." She put the key between her index and long finger the edge exposed beyond her knuckles and clutching the keys tightly in her fist. "This won't kill anyone but if someone approaches you while you're walking, a jab with a key into someone's eyeball is disabling to them. Even if you just manage to scrape their face, it's possibly enough to give you the edge to run."

She pointed to her feet, "speaking of running, note my running shoes. Ladies, stilettos are sexy. They make your legs look good," she looked at Cam. "Right?"

"Sure," he didn't argue with her.

"But unless you're Victoria Beckham who once said she runs on her treadmill in heels, you can't run in those. Tuck a pair of flats or sneakers in your bag. By the time you're going home at the end of the day, the only goal should be to get home so switch your shoes out. I don't care if it looks bad with your skirt, you're going home anyway. Put the flats on. Better, if you carry the stiletto in your hand," she pulled one from her bag, "while you're walking with your flats, anyone coming at you can be stopped with a stiletto to the face." She saw Cam's grimace of distaste and she shrugged, "when your life is on the line, everything and anything you can use as a weapon should be considered, including a spiky heel." She commented dryly, "also doubles well as a stake to a vampire's heart." Isabella pointed, "ladies, I've mentioned the face a few times now. Your life is worth far more than someone else's eyeball. You go for the sweet spots. Eyes, nose, sternum, balls, top of the foot." She pointed at the heel of the shoe in her hand. "This heel shoved into the top of an assailant's foot hurts like a b***h. Just know if you break the heel into someone's foot, you're running away on a broken shoe."

She held her hand up. "Everyone put your hands up." She walked through the proper technique for making a fist. She motioned to Portia, "Portia, can you come here a minute?" The girl looked surprised. "Don't worry. I just need your hand instead of mine. I'm not a fashionable person so I don't have long nails, but I bet at least a few of you have manicures." She held Portia's perfectly manicured hand up for example and showed the women how to make a fist without cutting their palms.

"Cool," Portia said as she practiced making the fist.

"Punching someone hurts. It's not like in the movies where you see someone punch someone else out and act like it was no big deal. If your hand is not held the right way, you could end up with a broken knuckle or wrist depending on how your hand impacts the object you're striking."

She motioned at Cam to hold up his hands in a way she could strike them, "hit like this, not like this." She repeated the motion a few times. She walked around the women and had them throw fake punches, correcting the movement. "Don't worry if it's not perfect. If you break your knuckle while breaking an assailant's nose you're still winning."

She moved back to the front of the room. "Okay," she motioned at Cam again and asked him to stand behind her. "This is the part you were all asking about with Cat last week and you argued a big guy is always going to win. I disagree."

She took a breath, "I've been training for years. I'm not going to lie. I could stand here and say all day size doesn't matter but it does. I'm five foot nine. My height is an advantage over someone Clara's size."

"That's what you think!" Clara quipped with a wink.

Isabella rolled her eyes, "Napoleon syndrome over there." The group of women laughed at the banter, "However, there are things you can do regardless of your size to get away from someone."

She motioned for Cam, "you are going to come at me from behind."

"This is a family show, Isabella," one of the women taking the class called out and she shook her head at her with a smirk.

She waved at him to approach. She faced the group and knew he was debating whether he wanted to come at her. He wrapped his arm around her neck and his other arm around her waist. She jabbed her elbow into his solar plexus and stomped hard on his foot before throwing him sideways to the ground. She grinned as he hit the ground with a hard thud. Gideon clapped and Portia squealed.

"Can you show us again?" Clara called from her seat. "I didn't quite see where you put your elbow."

Cam rolled onto all fours and got himself into a standing position, grunting He pointed at Isabella, "you're playing rough."

She shrugged, "you're still breathing."

He rubbed his chest, "barely."

"He's big and tough so he can take it, right ladies?" She motioned for Portia, "Come here Portia."

The girl kicked her heels off and raced over, willing to participate now. "Cam, you'll put your arms around Portia the way you just did me."

He stood behind his daughter and Isabella grinned, "you ready to take your dad down?"

"Hell ya," Portia's glee made the whole group laugh.

She took Portia's arm, "When he comes behind you, you take your elbow and with all the might you have, you jab it backwards. You're aiming for what I said earlier was a sweet spot. You're shorter than I am. When I draw my arm backwards, I'm automatically aiming for the spot behind my elbow which is about here," she pointed to the area on her body where her ribcage met. "For Portia, she's shorter than I am. You can bring your elbow upwards on an angle," she slowly demonstrated moving Portia's arm in a way the group could see towards the midsection, "or you can bunch your fist and drop it backwards as hard as you can at the groin." She smirked, "go for option two if you feel strongly about being an only child." The crowd was roaring at Isabella's commentary and Cam was trying hard not to panic and Isabella could see it in his eyes. She patted his shoulder, "you're an ex-Navy seal, you got this. Stop being a baby."

He grunted at her in response and the sound of Gideon's raspy laugh was contagious to a lot of the class.

She pointed to Portia's foot, "she's barefoot right now. Even barefoot, her weight on his foot would hurt. With all your weight you jam down and you're aiming for this part of the foot," she demonstrated on her own foot.

She looked back at the group. "You're not going to be able to throw him Portia, but you'll be able to force his hands to drop in his own automatic need for self-defence thereby allowing you to step away."

She motioned to Cam, "go."

Cam reached for his daughter as Isabella stepped away so the group could see how someone untrained could implement the movements with ease.

Isabella couldn't stop the laugh bubbling from her chest when Portia threw herself into the exercise with force, jamming her elbow upwards, then dropping her fist just below her father's belt before stomping as hard as she could on his instep. As he dropped to the floor holding his balls, Portia turned around and pushed him backwards and then ran and hid behind Isabella.

Isabella looked over to see Gideon bent over laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. She pointed at him. "Gideon, some of the girls need to practice this. You up for helping out?" He instantly stopped laughing. She walked over and pulled him whispering, "they can't all be as quick a study as Portia."

Edward immediately jumped up not to be outdone by the younger men. "I'll help. I should have worn a cup but I'm happy to help. Where do you need me?"

Cam groaned as he stood up and pointed at his daughter, "you're now grounded two lifetimes." He hooked his arm around Isabella's neck and whispered in her ear. "You and I are having words later."

"I'm not afraid of talking to you Torres, it's when you go radio silent, I get upset." Before he could respond to her comment, she flipped him to the mat, landing with her knee pressed into his back. As the class clapped, she rose from her position and clapped her hands. "That move took me years to learn ladies, but not going to lie, it felt really good."

Sabine and Clara clapped with pride as she walked away from the man and resumed teaching her class.