Page 80 of The Diávolos: Part One
The last thing I should be doing right now is following her after what she found out, but I can’t let her wander in the streets alone in the rain.
Leon wasn’t at his post when she left, so I couldn’t find out which way she went. I circle the area and finally find her standing in the street with another man. I stop the car far enough for them not to notice me and turn off the engine and headlights. It’s getting dark, so I can’t clearly see the identity of the person next to her, but I recognize the car.Fucking Gianis.
Angelica is in his arms, crying, and the intimate scene sends pangs of jealousy through my chest. The vicious kind of jealousy.Fuck him.
He's holding her and caressing her hair ever so gently, in the way that only a man in love would touch a woman. I want to chop off every single one of his fingers for laying them on her. He missed his chance with Angelica. She’sminenow.
My irritation crackles, and I let out a strong guttural sound, punching my steering wheel hard. The fact that she called him when she needed comfort lights up something inside of me. I’m the person she should be calling when her world is falling apart, when she needs someone to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, nothim. Not anyone else for that matter. This is on me. It’s my fault. I should’ve known this would ruin her. Ruin us. I had no doubt she wouldn’t react lightly to this news, but I hoped it wouldn’t be this bad somehow, and that I could avoid it as long as possible.
My strong, yet soft, Angelica. A rose, beautiful and delicate, but she also has thorns. And like every beautiful thing in life, she comes with an arsenal of troubles that I am prepared to fight. There are many obstacles I have to face to be with her, but I would do anything to have her. Our families would never accept our union, but I couldn’t give two fucks about them. If there’s one thing theDiávolosisn’t scared to do, it’s eliminate all threats.
I only had one goal in mind before I met her, but everything changed when I got to know her, feel her, taste her, andlove her. I knew everything would eventually come crashing down when she found out the truth. I just didn’t expect it to come from her father.
Dion tried to warn me, but it was too late. I don’t know how to fix this. I already wanted to kill Peter for what he did to my uncle. Now, I want to make him pay for putting his hands on Angelica and calling her a little whore. I don’t give a shit if he is her father, he can rot in the lowest depths of Hell. I was immobilized by fury when I saw Angelica’s injuries and heard the vicious words that he’d said to her. He didn’t even bother telling her the truth about her childhood, only choosing to divulge the truth of my identity to get her to feel guilty and obey him.
Even after all the words she spat at me, ‘I love you’is all I can hear. It’s been rooted in my mind ever since. Being loved by Angelica is exactly what I wanted. I should be happy. I have her right where I wanted her, but not for the same reasons I started out with. Now, I want her to love me because I love her. And I’ll be damned if anything or anyone gets in the way of that.
I couldn’t find the strength to say anything back to Angelica at that moment. I wanted to scream that I loved her back at the top of my lungs, but I couldn’t. I don’t deserve to be loved by her, especially now. But I will never accept a life without her. My angel. She came into my life and brought something I didn’t know I was lacking. Happiness. Peace. She is not only the sun but the moon, and she came into my life to shine on me even in my darkest hours.
The pain in her voice when she asked me to tell her the truth will haunt me forever. I didn’t even get the chance to explain the full story, because she saw everything in my eyes before I could even utter a word.
I couldn’t hide the disgust I felt toward myself. The regret of stringing her along without being honest. The fear of her slipping away from me, without being able to stop her. Dion had come to me with a warning to be careful, as he knew we’d been seen. I had tasked him with making sure that no obstacles came in the way of the plan. Little did either of us know, I was the one obstructing its path.
Dion got word that one of Peter’s men saw someone leaving Angelica’s house.That someone being me.It didn’t take long for them to dig further and realize I was Ignatius’s nephew and the rightful Vasilakis heir. I can only imagine how livid her father was once he figured out that his daughter was involved with his rival. In different circumstances, I would say that my plan is working.
I’ve been living on borrowed time, and now it’s all over.
The look of repulsion on Angelica’s face was enough for me to want to fucking curl into myself. As much as I want to give her space, I can’t bear to be apart from her any longer without telling her the whole truth. Knowing I’m the reason for her pain doesn’t sit well with me. I can’t let her go to sleep in that state. She deserves to know this wasn’t her fault.
Dion saw the anguish on my face after I’d trashed my entire office and urged me to go after her, even if she refused to speak to me. It’s not like I’m going to give her the option to ignore me, anyway.
I don’t know where Gianis is taking her, but I know that Angelica would want to go home. I discreetly follow them all the way to her house and watch her get out of his car alone. Relief washes over me. If Gianis had gotten out of the car, too, he would have ended up with a bullet in his head, courtesy of me. Angelica would never forgive me for that, but I don’t think I would’ve been able to control my impulses.
Gianis stays in her driveway for a few long moments, and I know he is debating whether to go after her. The longer he stays there, the more my frustration rises, and I have to hold myself back from walking over to his car and physically dragging him away myself. He’s lucky that I’m sparing him right now.
I can’t help but wonder if he feels anguish, too. The feeling of wanting what you can’t have is something I’m experiencing all too well right now. I can sense Angelica slipping away from my grip more and more, every passing moment. I have to get to her.Now.
Gianis finally pulls out of her driveway, but I stay in the car for a couple more minutes to gather my thoughts. It’s still raining and the sound of the drops on the car roof is soothing. I brace myself and head to Angelica’s door and ring the doorbell. There’s no response, so I start banging until I hear faint rustling from inside.
“Angelica, let me in. We have to talk,” I yell over the loud noise of the downpour. Nothing. “Angel, I know you’re in there. Open the door and let me explain.” I hear a loud sigh through the door, but it remains closed. “I’m trying to be nice and allow you to let me in, but if you don’t open this door now, Angelica, I will break it down.” This isn’t going to be easy, but Angelica is a feisty, little angel only I can tame.
She fiddles with the lock, and I hear the slight creaking sound of the door opening. “I’m not your angel anymore,” she replies, blandly, as she swings the door open. “If you weren’t actually going to give me the choice to let you in or not, why didn’t you just graciously unlock it, as you always do, instead of threatening me like a big, bad wolf?” she continues as she walks away.
She walks to the kitchen, while drying her hair with a towel. The quick glance I got of her face before she turned around showed puffy and bloodshot eyes, her face pink and blotchy from crying. She still looks so painstakingly beautiful. My heart twists inside my chest. I want to grab her, claim her lips, and tell her that I love her.
I slip my wet shoes off and follow her. The lights are dim, as if she doesn’t want me, or anyone, to fully see her saddened face. We reach the island, and she grabs a bottle of whiskey from the cupboard and slides it across the counter to me with a glass.
I love her. Her perfect, pouty lips. The crease that appears between her brows when she’s upset. The way my fingers tangle in her curly hair. I love her feisty spirit, her wild heart, and her little quirks. I love the rich color of her dark brown eyes, reminders of mountain terrain and nature; subtle, yet beautiful in every form.
Those words have been looming in my mind for what feels like an eternity. It takes me a minute to realize we’ve just been staring at each other. Her face isn’t giving me many answers to what she’s thinking, just a blank expression.
“Angelica, let me explain.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Evander. You betrayed me. Turns out, hiding your identity is what you do best. What more is there to it?” she asks.
The careless front she’s putting up is hard for me to accept. The walls I succeeded in bringing down are back up.
“Stop calling me Evander,” is all that I manage to say. “That is not who I am to you.”
