Page 32 of The Diávolos: Part Two
Gianis points to the bed, a silent request to sit down next to her, and she nods. I stand and move a safe distance away, my arms crossed over my chest, observing the dynamic between the two.
My ears start ringing as I watch him scoot closer to Angelica, her body language open and welcoming to him. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she’d developed feelings for him over the past year.
I’ve seen them interact, watched Gianis tend to her every need when I couldn’t.
It fucking ruined me.
All I could do was keep an eye on them both and visit Angelica in the dark, where we’re both the most at ease. Where we can pretend that it’s stillus.
But there’s no denying her love for me. I can feel it when she senses me slide into bed while she’s asleep, her unconscious body nestling into mine. When she notices my masked face, her eyes hungry, her chest heaving as she stares into the depths of my soul. When I watch her read the many notes and letters I’ve written, her fingers fiddling with the necklace I gifted her, nose scrunching as she smells the peonies I leave for her.
I just have to convince Angelica that we’reright.
But that’s not the goal now. I need to make sure she’s okay.
“Gianis is going to keep up with what he’s doing, and we’re going to start infiltrating from the inside. He’ll make sure that my shipments stay uninterrupted, and we’ll attack when Peter least expects it. The plan still needs some hashing out, but ending him is the only way any of this can work.”
Angelica looks between Gianis and me and brings her fingers to her mouth. She’s reflecting, and I can almost see the thoughts as if they’re flashing above her head. I know this woman like the back of my hand.
“Just think about the many lives Peter has affected in a negative way. Your mother, the many girls taken from their families, the parents left childless, the sorrow you’ve lived with your entire life,” I remind her.
She swings her legs off the bed and sits upright, rubbing her palms against her thighs, back and forth.
“I want to help,” she says in a hushed tone. “I can’t condone you killing my father, but I need to find out the truth.”
“We won’t do anything about it yet.” I nod, deciding to deal with the matter of her father later, and prepare myself for what I’m about to say next. “There’s one more thing. I have a proposal…and it involves you.”
I look straight into Angelica’s eyes and take a few tentative steps closer. I so badly want to reach out to her, but I don’t. It might be my imagination, but she seems almost…disappointed.
I know I don’t have the right to touch her, comfort her, especially after what happened, but I can’t help the ache within me to do so.
“I’m listening,” Angelica prompts after a few moments of silence, while Gianis stills next to her, unmoving like a stone.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. When I reopen them, Angelica is still staring at me with a wary expression. My jaw ticks.
“We have to get married.”
PART III
10
ANGELICA
“Good ideas are always crazy until they’re not.”
—Elon Musk
The room goes deathly quiet. I can hear my own heartbeat in my ears.
It’s a moment frozen in time.
Oh my god.Surely, I must have misheard, or my mind is playing tricks on me. I instinctively rub my temples, hoping to dispel the fog that has settled in my thoughts.
Is Evander insane?
It makes no sense, it’s not logical.Marriage?
“Are you out of your mind?” Gianis spits at the same time as I ask, “What did you just say?”
