Page 42 of Angelic Vengeance

CHAPTER 15

Present

SHE WAS AVOIDING ME.

The morning after the party, I called her phone, although she had never given me her number – the details of how I got it, irrelevant. I told myself it was to finally set our date, but deep down I knew I just wanted to hear her voice.

When she didn’t answer, I didn’t think much of it; maybe she was still sleeping, or in the shower, or working out. I didn’t even twitch when she didn’t answer again that evening. But a week, seven missed calls and two flower bouquets later, I had a much different attitude toward the situation.

My cheek still burned from where she’d kissed me good night and my dick still got hard at the memory. I seriously considered never washing that side of my face again.

I could’ve asked her friends where she was. I could’ve drove to her place… Or had Trevor find her on security cameras around the city.

The itch to do just that grew stronger by the minute, but I pushed it down. I wanted to see her, but I had to let her come to me. Now, she knew the lengths I’d go to for her: I would kill for her. Unlike the guys from her past – who’d sworn to kill anyone that touched her but probably had never even thrown a punch – I wasn’t bluffing; I was making a promise.

The woman thought Ilikedher.

I liked race cars and getting my dick sucked.But her?

I wanted her mind, body and soul to ache for me just as much as I ached for her. To willingly and gladly get on her knees for me. To beg like she never would with anyone else.To want to be mine.

I wouldn’t deny her.

She would quickly come to realize I was the only one who could give her what she really wanted.Needed.The knowledge settled me. Whether she admitted it or not, there was fire between us; the more she tried to outrun me, the crazier the burn made us.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled on my tie, loosening it. This meeting was taking too fucking long and it was starting to get boring. The last thing on my mind right now was how many kilos of cocaine were getting imported into Miami tonight.

Just then, loud bangs came from the store. The men I was in the meeting with stopped talking and listened, probably to see if the guy at the front just dropped something. The meeting was in one of the back rooms, behind a bulletproof door. The building posed as a local bodega on a corner in the Bronx, when in reality it was a cover for access to tunnels that ran all across the city undergrounds. This was how multiple drug chains managedto distribute their collateral without the disturbance of the cops.

Not that it would’ve mattered either way – I had the NYPD on my payroll – but sometimes clueless bottom-feeder cops who wanted to make the world a better place and fill it with fucking rainbows and unicorns, got involved and went looking where they shouldn’t. Then I had to be the bad guy and shoot them dead, or – if they had one – send a rack to their families to apologize for their screw-up sons.

I’d once made the mistake of giving someone the benefit of the doubt and almost ended up dead. It was a mistake I was never going to repeat.

Women never tried to get on my bad side. They valued their life and family instead of trying to fight an insignificant battle with the people who controlled the world.The smart choice.

The Mexican Cartel was the largest narcotics organization, but I needed others to do the dirty workfor me, hence the Colombian and Brazilian Distros sitting across from me.

More banging came through the walls and the men pushed back their chairs and stood. Yawning, I glanced at my watch before standing and walking out first. I couldn’t help but allow my irritation towards the situation to seep through as I loaded my Glock. Some clueless kids were probably trying to rob the store.

I didn’t like shooting teenagers. But sometimes, instead of doing their math homework at the kitchen table, stupid teenagers tried shooting the head of the Mexican Cartel and ended up with a bullet between their eyes.

I rolled my shoulders to release tension before opening the door. Just because I had to do certain things, didn’t mean I fucking liked doing them.

The door slammed against the wall and I raised my gun towards the person hovering over Juan, the watcher.

My gaze landed on a familiar pair of emerald eyes. They automatically hypnotized me, capturing me in a trance. Time slowed, my heart stopped beating and my breath caught in my chest.

But then she sighed and looked back at Juan, when realization kicked in that it was me. Irritation scraped my insides at the fact that her shattering eyes weren’t on me anymore.

I lowered my gun and signaled for the men to return to the meeting without me. I watched her with pure confusion, yet not even slightly surprised. Of course she would show up like this.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Maria ground her teeth but didn’t let go of Juan. “This doesn’t concern you.”

I scoffed, looking around the store sarcastically. “You’re in New York. Onmyterritory. Inmybusiness.”

She didn’t move for a moment, and I thought I’d have to drag her off. But then she groaned and without warning smashed Juan’s face on the already bloody counter one more time before letting him fall to the floor in pain.

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