The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 57

Isabella and Casper made their way to the kitchen on Saturday morning with a smile. She could hear all her friends and the guys around the dining room table, talking loudly enjoying the breakfast Myriam had put together. The sound of Portia's high squeal of laughter made Isabella's smile wider. "Hey, Isabella," Cam poked his head out of his office, "can you come in here please?"

"Yes, of course," she turned and immediately went down the hall to his office and saw Gideon and Sabine were in the room already. "What's going on?" Immediately her happiness was sucked away at their serious expressions and the way Cam closed the door behind her. "Evgeni Andropov is dead." Sabine didn't mince words.

"Oh," Isabella stopped in her tracks. "Okay."

"It wasn't any of us. Artemis is denying her involvement. Our asset had gotten held up in Canada because of a snowstorm in Montreal."

"If it wasn't our team and not Cam's team, who?"

"Not sure but Mikhail is demanding we investigate. He wants to talk with you."

"Fine, I was here with you all, all night. I didn't leave and I'm sure Cat has video of us fighting in olive oil in the basement." She took a breath, "how?"

"How does he want to talk with you?"

"No, how did he die?" she made a face at Cam's question

"They're conducting an autopsy. Mikhail said yesterday the doctor declared him on the road to recovery and this morning when Mikhail got to his room, he was dead. The only people in the room were nurses and Raisa. They're wondering if one of the nurses were hired by one of us."

"I didn't hire a nurse to off Evgeni Andropov," Isabella ground out in frustration. "Why is this such a big f*****g deal? We knew this was going to be the end goal. I don't care who did it, I'm only glad the a*****e is dead. He threatened my mother, and she was scared, and I have no sadness over his death. The only one I'm worried about is a nineteen-year-old woman in the room down the hall who is likely going to take it hard. She's pretty distracted right now but I know she's going to be hurt. Two weeks ago, she was in love with him and would have done anything for him. Jesus, she wanted me dead she loved him so much."

"Isabella," Sabine cut her off, "Stop. Just stop. You're deflecting your own emotions to worry about someone else which is classic Isabella. You don't want to deal with your feelings so you go looking for next person you can take care of."

She made a face at Sabine, "seriously Sabby. I'm not sad over it. I wish I were. In fact, I'm wondering what it says about me as a human being because I only feel relief at his death. He stole my freedom, and it is something I value above everything else." She exhaled slowly, "where does Mikhail want me to meet him?"

"They are still at the hospital."

"Sabine, will you come with me?"

"I'll come too," Cam pushed off his desk towards her but stopped when she shook his head.

"No, you need to go talk to your daughter and explain Evgeni is dead. She is going to cry, and she is going to need you to be empathetic and hold her. As much as you hated the son of a b***h, she needs you to be there for her." "Why don't you wait then until -"

"Cam," she held up her hand. "Gideon can accompany us as muscle if it makes you feel more secure, but Portia is going to need you. There is nothing Mikhail can say to me to break me or make me feel I've done anything wrong. All of this mess was on Evgeni. If he died because of his brain tumor even better. If he died because he pissed someone else off, so be it. It wasn't us. It wasn't Bellona, Juggernaut or Draxton. In a strange twist of fate, our hands are clean."

She turned to the door, "I'm going to send Portia in here and Cam, you need to be her dad first and foremost. Not the CEO of Juggernaut who barks orders and expects people to obey to keep them safe. She's going to need her dad."

"Okay, okay," he held his hands up. "I get it."

Sabine laughed, "I hope you do Cam because I'm pretty sure if you make Portia more upset than she should be, your fiancé is going to take you back down into the basement and kick your a*s again."

An hour later, Isabella was walking into the hospital flanked by Gideon and Sabine. She deliberately kept her face neutral and expressionless. While she had been waiting for this very result, she did not wish the loss of a child on any parent, and she knew Mikhail and Raisa were bound to be upset.

Mikhail saw her first and immediately walked to her and pulled her into a tight embrace and hugged her. She let him hold her for what felt an interminable amount of time and she stepped back. "I'm so sorry for your loss Mikhail." She lied "Where is Raisa?" "Raisa is processing her grief differently," he said with a shake of his head. "She is the one who notified the nurses when she found him dead this morning and she said she needed to go home and get changed and said she would be back but she's not back yet." Evgeni's oldest brother, Ivan, rumored to be in line to take over for Mikhail, stepped forward and reached for Isabella. "My mother will be here soon. She is from strong stock. She is likely just pulling herself together. Are you okay Isabella?"

"I'm fine Ivan," she nodded quietly. "I really am sorry for your loss."

Ivan squeezed her hands, "I know he made your life hell over the last few weeks, and we were trying to control this. I promise if there are any ongoing issues, we will take care of it."

"Thank you, I appreciate hearing this." Isabella waited for the inevitable question.

Ivan didn't hold back, "my father thinks someone murdered Evgeni. We were going to take him away and keep him away from you. It was our plan. Do you know who could have done such a thing as to kill him?"

"No," she held his gaze without backing down. "We had this same conversation just this morning. I was at Cam Torres' house last night. We got engaged last weekend, so I've been with him most of the time. Cam and Portia were going to a Broadway play and frankly, I'd rather be chased by rabid wolves than listen to musical theater, so I had a bunch of girls in, and we had some drinks and played some games."

"Your sister?"

"Which one? Lorna, Luisa, Amelia? None of them would ever consider such a - "

"Clara," Ivan cut her off.

"Clara was with her twins last night because Elian was at Pygmalion. He and Raoul work opposite Friday nights." She made a face, "have you called her Mikhail? I'm surprised she isn't here already."

Ivan interrupted again, "it's why I asked about Clara. We can't reach her and she's avoiding my father's calls."

"I'm right here," Clara's voice called out as she came into view walking with Raisa on her arm. Raisa's eyes were red-rimmed, and she moved to stand next to Isabella. "You okay, kiddo?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She nodded. "Raisa, I'm so sorry for your loss."

Raisa swallowed hard. When Mikhail and Ivan both reached for Raisa, she backed up.

"Raisa, what is wrong?" Mikhail asked incredulously. "Do you think we had anything to do with this?"

Clara motioned to a room beyond them, "we should go somewhere a bit more private." She looked to Sabine and Gideon. "Go back to Cam's. I've got Ben with me outside and I'll get Isabella back." She whispered, "s**t's about to get really ugly. The less witnesses, the better." "f**k," Gideon said as he took in Raisa's expression. "Let's go Sabine. I'll buy you a strong coffee on the way home. You look like you need it." He rubbed his side when she elbowed him with a grin.

They filed into a room meant for grieving families and Mikhail reached for Raisa again, but she gripped Clara's arm tightly.

"My darling Raisa. You know I would never hurt our son."

"I did it." She whispered, her voice shaking. "I killed him. I took my baby boy's last breath."

"s**t," Isabella whispered and moved to stand closer to Raisa as if to protect her from the two men in the small room.

"Why?" Ivan attempted to control his incredulity with difficulty. His face flushed and his fists clenched.

Mikhail put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Tell me what happened Raisa."

Isabella noted he kept his distance, his voice suddenly cold and hard.

"It was almost six in the morning. The nurse came in to check his vitals," she sobbed as Clara rubbed her back gently. Isabella tucked a tendril of her grey hair over her ear, pursing her lips. "When the nurse walked out, he looked at me with the evillest expression. Mikhail, he wasn't our son anymore. He spoke so coldly and so cruelly. He said when he got out of the hospital, he was going to replace Isabella and he was going to," she reached for Isabella's hands, "he said he was going to force you to be his. He said he was going to put you on a plane to the Motherland and he was going to make you pregnant and tie you with him forever. I asked him if he were saying he was going to r**e you and he shrugged and said he would keep you drugged at first so you wouldn't know it was r**e and eventually you would fall back in love with him and then you would willingly have s*x with him."

Mikhail was white as snow as he sat down in a chair, his hands trembling.

"It made me realize Mikhail, he knew Isabella didn't love him. He said he would make her fall back in love with him which means he understood she didn't love him. I asked him, why would he do such a thing. Mikhail, he told me he did it before and it worked, and it would work with Isabella."

Isabella pulled her head back, "what?"

"All the sweet, kind, loving boy we thought we had was a game. He told me so himself." She pulled her phone out with trembling hands and opened a voice recording she had made while talking to her son.

Evgeni's voice was cold and calculating as he spoke, unaware he was being recorded. "You think I'm some sweet innocent boy? I am the child of Bratva and a KGB sleeper agent. You think I never knew you were KGB mother? God. I've been learning to be secretive and fake since the day I was born. I learned from the best. Remember Irina? She hated me at first when I met her in school, but I made her love me. The only reason we aren't together is because she kept having miscarriage after miscarriage. I had her killed and disposed of because she was of no use. But Isabella, she's a strong woman and she will have my children and she will love me if it takes me ten years to make her love me, then so be it."

Isabella felt her legs shaking as she moved to sit in a chair. "How did I not notice any of this?"

"I am his mother and a trained spy!" Raisa voice was raised as she stared at her with misery. "I did not know. Nobody knew except his insane circle of friends. He had a gang of them. A gang of crazies who knew how dangerous he was, and they supported him. Mikhail, he said he was going to kill you and Ivan and take over. He was out of control." She wiped angry tears off her face, "and then he said he was going to kill Cam and Portia Torres. He said if it weren't for the little brat interfering and getting her father involved, he would have already had Isabella in Russia. He was supposed to have taken you the same week you started seeing Cam."

Ivan moved to his mother and took her by the hands, "Mother, what exactly did you do to Evgeni?"

"He demanded I increase his pain medication dose. He knew I used to help with my mother's medication, so he insisted I do it and not wait for the nurse. He yelled at me to hurry up because he had a headache. I took my insulin for my diabetes. I still don't have the auto injectors," she sniffed at her son, "You've been after me so long to get the newest updates, but I've been doing it the same way for thirty years, so I keep my needles. I injected the multiple syringes of insulin into his medication pump." "Oh my god," Mikhail rubbed his face as he stared at the floor.

"I knew it would make him unconscious and then when he passed out, I used a pillow and I suffocated him until his pulse stopped. Then I went and got a nurse. I didn't know what to do after, so I went to Clara's house. She's always been so good to us. I knew she would help me." She took a long breath and then nodded at her husband as she wiped her tears off her face and she stood proudly in front of him with her chin held up, "I know you will have to do what you must since I murdered your son, but he was evil. I could not let someone like him continue to rape and murder like he confessed to me. I couldn't do it. It is one thing to run drugs and money but to plan to rape someone, especially our Isabella?"

Mikhail rose slowly from his seat, his face sad as he shook his head at Raisa, "my love. I would never punish you or hurt you. He was not just my son. He was also your son. If you had to take matters into your own hands to protect the rest of our family, of which Isabella, Clara, Cam and even Portia too, are part of, then you did the right thing. I love you. I love you always, forever, and nothing, not even this, could ever make me not love you."

Raisa broke down at Mikhail's words and fell to the floor, but he and Ivan picked her up and held her tightly as she wailed through her grief.

Clara nodded at Mikhail sadly and took Isabella by the hand. "It's time we go Isabella."