Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Andrew

“ A ngel? You . . . You’re not . . .” I barely got the words out. My chest was so tight. Hell, I wasn’t sure if the words had actually left my lips. “How are you sitting here?”

Her lips turned into a sad smile. “I know. The last time you saw me . . . I should not have lived through that. Though, from what I’ve heard, you shouldn’t have lived through, what was it, five shots to the chest?”

How does she know about that? “Six, but you know me. Stubborn streak runs deep.”

While I couldn’t take my eyes off her, Jensen asked, “Webber, how do you know Christine Wilkons?”

“We were dating while I was still in MMA. We met at one of the fights in Omaha. She gave me her number, and when she winked at me, I was a goner. I called her the next day, and for the most part, we were able to keep our relationship out of the news. Kind of surprised that Lindhollm didn’t know about her. Anyway, Angel went on tour with me for a year, technically as part of the staff, and I asked her to marry me two years later. Then not long after . . .”

“Detroit.” Emmett inserted for reference .

Swallowing hard, I tore my gaze from her and looked at Jensen and Emmett. I couldn’t tell this story while looking at her. “The bomb went off in Detroit. Concrete rained down over us, and a large chunk fell on her legs and another piece pinned her arm down.” I took a quick, deep breath, trying to shake the image of her from my mind—she’s been stuck there, coughing from the smoke, and I hadn’t been able to do anything about it. “Emergency services pulled me away screaming, but as you know, my kneecap was crushed. I had broken my right arm in three places and had a broken ankle. I wasn’t in the best of shape.”

“Not long after that is when I promoted you to Prime and you left the circuit. Took six months for you to get back on your feet.”

I nodded and looked back at Christine. “How did you even survive? The smoke?—”

She held up her hand, stopping me. “Technically, I was dead for a hundred and nine seconds. I spent a year learning how to walk again and how to reuse my left arm. I was sequestered away for that whole time on an island paid for by Ivanov and was told you had died in the explosion as well. Ivanov had killed Mom, put Dad on payroll, and wanted me under his complete control. It wasn’t until one of Ivanov’s guys mentioned to another guard in passing that you’d survived the attack here that I even knew you had lived through the shitshow in Detroit.”

“While this walk down memory lane is something you two obviously need to do, you have something for me you wouldn’t tell me until you saw Webber. I’ve held up my end of the deal.”

Angel looked back at Emmett and Jensen before she nodded. “I’m sorry for holding that over your head. As you know, I’ve been passing out information about Ivanov and his dealings with Jacob Macanroy.”

“Your fiance.” Emmett nodded as sadness spread through me at knowing she was no longer mine for the taking.

“Ex-fiance.” Maloy grinned. I raised my eyebrows. “ Bloodshed was needed to get her out. He happened to be one of the people between me and her.” He shrugged, but then winked at me.

What the fuck?

Angel let out a weary sigh. “After the accident in Detroit, my father signed a contract for me to marry Jacob Macanroy to fortify their business relationship. The marriage would have been complete bullshit because the man was about as straight as Lombard Street in San Francisco. He should have been allowed to marry Ryan. They have . . . had been dating secretly for years. They were good for each other. It was nice to see them happy, but Jacob’s father refused to accept his son was gay. He killed Ryan six months ago in front of Jacob. Said his son had had enough playtime and it was time to be an adult. After that, Jacob and I formed more of an alliance than anything. He knew I was passing information to Maloy, but we were all we had in that situation. I think he knew Maloy would kill him and he could rejoin Ryan.”

Maloy chuckled as Emmett and I both had our eyes widening in shock.

“Anyways, Ivanov is right pissed at San Augustine for destroying his labs a couple years ago. Ivanov can’t get a foothold to rebuild. San Augustine stops him at every turn. He has things in motion to tear up some of the smaller operations, but I can tell you about those later. The most pressing is that you need to get Don San Augustine on the phone and get his wife under lock and key.”

Emmett stood straighter. “You mean to tell me that Ivanov is going after Nadine San Augustine to get revenge?”

“That is exactly what I’m telling you. He has four different contingency plans to make it happen.”

Not sure how to feel about her sitting here, I shoved everything I wanted to do to her in a box and forced my brain to clock in for work. “How did you find this out? Why are you telling us instead of San Augustine?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve been known to engage in pillow talk to get information for Mr. Maloy. Before you get upset, it was of my own accord. Let’s just say that just because Jacob didn’t want to touch me, didn’t mean Ivanov’s guys didn’t.”

Jealousy the likes of which I hadn’t felt in a very long time reared its head, and I balled my fists at my sides.

Angel clocked it and arched an eyebrow as she glared at me. “Curb your jealousy, Shadow. I didn’t tolerate it then, and I sure as hell won’t now. As for why I’m not going to San Augustine? Well, that’s because I work for Maloy, and I wanted to see you, asshole.”

I froze, eyes wide, and swallowed. “You waited so you could see me?”

“The first chance he has at getting Mrs. San Augustine is the gala this weekend. She needs to mysteriously come down with a cold and not be able to attend, not even to just make an appearance. Ivanov is contracted for the security, not that anyone knows that, so they will have full access to her. They figure if they take Don San Augustine out too, great. Don’t care who else ends up as collateral damage.”

It was Jensen who looked at Emmett now. “So, what do we do? Christine’s got a target on her back. With Macanroy Junior dead, they are going to be looking for her.”

Emmett looked at Angel and sighed. “There’s a guest room between Lindhollm’s and Webber’s. You can stay there tonight. Maloy, please escort her there.”

He nodded and gestured to the door. “Come on, Christine. Let’s get you some food first.”

As she walked by, she looped a finger with mine and squeezed. My breath stopped hard in my chest. It had been a secret, silent way for us to say I love you in public when we were together, but couldn’t chance too much PDA. She let go slowly, our pinkies staying in contact as long as possible as she passed, and I tried to swallow, but my whole body was rebelling against me. I was trained to handle this kind of shit, and Angel had paralyzed me?

Before I could turn to follow them, Emmett called after me, “Just a moment, Webber. ”

My stomach was churning with nerves and my heart was racing as I watched her walk out with Jensen.

“You going to be okay with her staying here?”

“I don’t have a reason not to be. I just . . .” I let out a long breath and turned back to look at Emmett. “I thought she died. I mourned losing her. You know what kind of a shell I was after Detroit. If it weren’t for you giving me a new purpose here, I don’t want to think about what I might have turned into.” For the first time in a long time, I was a ball of nerves.

My Don smiled at me and tipped his head. “Go talk to her. I don’t know all of what she’s been through, but I saw the way she was looking at you.”

I ran a hand over my bald head. “Probably the same way I was looking at her. She’s the one who got away, Emmett. I thought she was gone and I would have to wait until the afterlife for her again.” Swallowing, I rubbed the back of my neck. “Just because we are under the same roof, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a Wes and Beth story.”

“I didn’t say it had to be. Go talk to her.”

I stood there, staring at him in shock. “Don’t make me give you an order.”

Shaking my head, I cleared my mind. “Okay. I’m going to shower first.” He raised his eyebrows in question. “I’m sure she would like to eat before I jump in with a thousand questions. Maybe shower, too. There’s too much blood on her, even if Doc did patch her up.”

With a nod from him, I turned and headed upstairs to clean up.

Holy shit, Angel is alive!

My angel.