Page 150 of Angelic Vengeance

“Waking up only 5 hours after being close to fatally shot. You are strong as a horse, Mr Di’Ablo. I’ve never seen anything like it…” The doctor went on about Zach’s impressive bounce-back.

Zach flashed me a smirk. He was back to himself, as if nothing had happened – while I still had mascara on my cheeks and an ache in my own chest. There hadn’t been a moment in those five hours that I wasn’t balling my eyes out.

“Big like one too…” Zach drawled, only for me to hear. I smacked his hand lightly, making him chuckle, pressinghis face into the side of my body. My hand went to the back of his neck, holding him close.

I slept in his arms for two nights in that hospital bed until he was dispatched. I didn’t leave his side once, not even to get food; Matteo brought it to us. I kept Zach company; we talked for hours like we always did.

This time, I told him the whole truth about my childhood, Cuba, how I became an agent, meeting Francesca, what happened that night in México, the time before we met in that club and the time we spent together, Ruiz showing up in my life again, and what reallythatfolder was about. When he asked me how I felt knowing Ruiz was my mother… I told him I didn’t feel anything; she might have been my biological parent, but she’d never been my family. I was glad that part of my life was over.

Zach told me about his childhood, growing up in New York while his brother ran the Cartel in South America, playing college basketball and wanting to go pro, how he didn’t want to take over the family business at first but had no choice, what happened that night in México, the time before he found me in that club and the time we spent together, how he hated himself for what happened in Queens, and how he’d take a thousand more bullets for me.

I held him tightly and thanked God; Zach was so strong he’d have a quick recovery. I cried seeing the wounds on his chest, when the doctors had to change his bandages; Zach wiped the tears away and kissed my forehead. I paid attention to everything the doctors said, because I was going to be taking care of him until he was healed. I ran my nails through his hair and massaged his head until he fell asleep.

I didn’t tell him his heart flatlined on the way to the hospital.

CHAPTER 45

ONE MONTH LATER

Present

I WAS PULLED OUT OF my sleep by a warm heavy weight settling on my waist. My eyes fluttered open to black silky sheets and the lights of New York City blurring through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I slightly moved my head, blinking again, to see a familiar dark wood nightstand. On it: my phone, watch, hoop earrings, and an electronic clock reading one in the morning. Above the bed, an abstract painting I hadn’t paid much attention to before: a girl’s face in black and white, all blurred apart from her eyes, which remained intact. Her long, dark hair, messy and wild, cascaded down her shoulders.

The familiar smell of smoke, sage and wood filled my senses as the weight on my waist intensified. I glanced down to see Zach’s strong arm around me. My mouth went dry: black ink spread across smooth tan muscle, over expensive black sheets.

His hold on me tightened, pulling me closer. A weird feeling came over me: my skin warmed and buzzed at histouch, yet a knot grew in my throat and my eyes began to sting. A distant thought crossed my mind;I don’t want to be apart from him ever again.

His palm slid down, settling on my lower tummy; his fingers slightly underneath the band on my thong. A rush of heat exploded in my chest before dropping between my legs.

My back was flush against his strong chest, and even though he wasn’t hard, his cock still pressed against my ass intimidatingly. A hot shiver ran through my veins, making my body burn with comfort.

If I looked closely, I could trail the faint outline of my body, his arm around me, and his head above mine on the pillow.

I laid there for a while, staring out at the city beneath Zach’s penthouse, thinking. I still had my apartment, but had only been there to get my clothes and things. Since I’d been taking care of Zach – apart from when a doctor came to check on him once a day – I hadn’t left his side; we’d lived together for the past month.

My favorite time was when he let me wash his hair in the shower because he wasn’t allowed to lift his arms. Wrapping his arms around me, he closed his eyes and held me close while I massaged his head.

One night, over dinner, he asked me to move in. I laughed and told him I hadn’t left his place for weeks. His face remained still, telling me he was serious. He was so nervous, I had to hide my smile by wrapping my arms around his neck and whisperingyesin his ear.

I didn’t realize Zach woke up until he kissed my neck, his mouth hot and wet on my skin. A shiver took over my body and I raised my shoulder to close his access, attempting to pull away.

The doctors clearly said ‘absolutely no exercise or anything that would accelerate the heart rate’ for at least a month. I had barely even kissed Zach, because he couldn’tjustkiss;no, he did it like everything else – with his all. Safe to say, sex and blowjobs had also been a no, though he hadn’t mentioned them at all. What he tried to get me to doevery nightwas sit on his face. The temptation had been there, but I was strictly following doctors’ orders.

I never wanted to hurt him again, and he was still healing. The risk was too big and not worth losing him.

But what both of us missed was that deeper connection – that feeling when we were so lost in each other that the world stopped for a moment and it was just us. And nothing else mattered; not his past or mine.

I only made it an inch away from him before his hand moved over my skin, his fingers gripping my hip and pulling me back.

“Zach...” My words came out a breathless whisper, as I moved my hand down, grabbing his wrist.

“It’s been a month,” He murmured back, laying kiss after kiss on my shoulder and arm. I didn’t reply but my response was clear when his teeth lightly bit my shoulder and my back arched back into him as a soft groan escaped my lips.

My grip on his wrist loosened and I pulled my hand back up, resting it next to my face on the pillow. My body relaxed into him, allowing Zach to continue kissing around my neck and back. Soft pants brushed past my lips. The hand he was holding my waist with loosened, gliding over my ass; fingers brushed over my skin, before going back and grabbing me roughly. I turned my face into the pillow, muffling a small moan.

He laid a kiss on the top of my head before going back to my shoulder. He released the grip on my ass, before sliding his fingers between my thighs and over the damp material of my panties.

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