Page 70 of The Merciless

“It’s easy to get hired when there are fewer people here in the first place.” She said quietly and looked up at him, her eyes wide in defiance and alertness. One thatjarredhim enough to smile at the words hidden in her gaze.

You have a chance.

“Is she okay?” he asked after a moment. The woman in front of him let out a silent breath,

“She’s taken by your father.” She spat the last word. An odd sense of silence settled in his chest then, calming his hind until he could hear nothing but the soft pounding of his heart. But the smile remained on his face.It was all going well,he told himself,all according to plan.

“Do you know where she is?”

“You know where she is.” She responded and Angel’s brows arched.

The woman shrugged and removed the cotton,

“That’s what she asked me to say.”

Angel sighed.

Well, shit.

“Gracias.”

He said finally and pushed himself to stand up. The woman up ahead hummed and got up as well, her hands on her waist as she waited for him to hoist himself up.

Angel grunted with his own weight but managed to scramble up the wall, some strength returning in him.

“Here.” She said and shoved a chocolate against his chest, “Eat.”

He blinked down at the wrapper but grabbed it out of her hands, “Thank you.” He said again and opened the wrapper,

“How do I get you out of here?”

The woman scoffed, “I don’t need your help.” She said as Angel bit into the bar, savoring the sweet taste, “I’ll get out the same way I got in.”

He nodded and grinned down at her. The woman only shook her head and took a few steps back, “You owe me a favor now, Angel De Santos.” She said and turned on her heels to walk out the doors,

“Cecilia.” She said, her eye glimmered as she looked over her shoulder and smirked, “Cecilia Rodriguez.”

Angel froze.No way.

But she only grinned wider, “Remember that name when I come to collect.”

He gasped, but the woman only strode out the unlocked doors and disappeared into the shadows. Just like his very own guardian angel. And he wasaboutto go after her when he felt it. The uncomfortable lurch of his stomach and the–

Oh shit.

Angel snapped his head to one side as nausea clenched around his stomach and rose up his throat. His body dipped in reaction and all the bodily contents of his stomach came heaving down his throat.

He’d forgotten, it seemed, how repulsive vomiting was. It had been a while since he’d been poisoned after all.

Right now, he remained crouched until his body stopped heaving. Until it stopped getting rid of the poison he’d been injected with before.

“Oh right.” The same voice,Cecilia’svoice said from where she’d disappeared, “That’ll happen too.”

He couldswearshe was grinning when she said those words.

Angel didn’t have enough energy to lift his head and watch her walk away again, not until he was done. And when he was, he remained rooted in the spot, his eyes shut against the way his mind spun as he tried to calm his wildly beating heart. He counted. One.Two. Three.

And lifted his chin.

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