I sucked in a breath and tried to talk myself out of being afraid. There was no way he could know my father had anything to do with this. “My father is none of your concern.”
“Wasn’t it your father who sent you?” I didn’t answer that. I wouldn’t. “If you won’t answer, maybe I should ask him myself.”
“No!” His silence shattered my armor. “My father didn’t send me.” My voice begged him to believe me. It was only half the truth. If he had a choice, I wouldn’t be here, but I gave him none.
I waited, but only silence followed. I looked to his two henchmen who listened to our exchange with curiosity and confusion etched on their perfect faces.
“I’ll see you soon.” He didn’t say more. The line disconnected, and I was left feeling as if fainting would erase everything that just happened.
Chapter Six
Devil, meet angel .
ANGEL
Nine Years Ago
“Angel.”
The commanding gruff of my godfather’s voice pulled me away from the video game. Lucas and Z were sleeping off last night’s job, so this was all I had to occupy my time. His tall, muscular frame filled my bedroom doorway. It was actually my second bedroom in my home away from home where I spent my summers away from the nauseating boredom of the countryside.
I paused the game and threw down the controller. I had been in a bad mood since my father, once again, denied my request to initiate me. “What’s up, Unc’?”
I was actually surprised he was here since my father left for one of his safe houses an hour ago. They rarely made moves without each other.
His face cracked into a wide smile. “I want you to meet my pride and joy.”
I didn’t get it, and I’m sure my face said as much because he stepped aside after a beat. Brown hair and pale skin came into view, and I realized that his pride and joy was a girl.
My first thought was that she was pretty.
And then, I noticed how soft she looked.
Fuck me, but she was t iny.
Standing next to her father, she looked completely breakable. Except she stared back at me as if it were the last thing she would ever do.
Mine.
My body jerked and it completely ruined me when she did the same. Her father was still talking, oblivious to what was happening between us.
The territorial feelings were foreign but the powerful urging to do something about them was winning me over.
“Baby girl, this is the son I’ll never have.” Theo’s boast regained my attention.
“She’s yours?” I already knew that, but I needed to hear him say it.
“She’s mine, ” he answered with pride.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her even when I felt him watching me. Theo was as sharp and as dangerous as my father was. If I didn’t turn it down, he would notice and lock his daughter away in the tallest tower in the furthest land because he was a smart man.
“What’s her name?” I sounded hostile even to my own ears, which is how I ended up stunned speechless when she answered instead of her father. It had nothing to do with the sweet, soft sound of her voice.
Nothing.
“Mian.” There was defiance in her tone. I used it with my father whenever he was around. “And you can ask me.”
I drank up the sound of her voice and reveled in it. My lips even twitched trying to fight a laugh when her shoulders squared. She was trying to prove how tough she was, but all I saw was someone pretending not to be affected. She was giving everything away just by standing there, and if she licked her lips one more time…
“She’s feisty like her mother. I’m going to have my hands full when she’s a teen.”
The wind had been knocked out me. I resisted bending over to allay the pain in my gut. I mentally swore and kicked myself.
I was lusting after a baby .
I just assumed she was small for her age with soft features but sixteen like me. I should have fucking known.
Theo was still rambling on. I only managed to catch the tail end of it. “…and so I’ll need you to look after her until your father and I return.”
I hadn’t hesitated nor did I miss a beat. I wanted time alone with her. Even if knew I couldn’t do anything about it. I needed to know if this was real or imagined. “How long?”
“Until Sunday.”
Two days.
I’d have two days alone with her.
“It’s going to cost you.”
He chuckled and crossed his arms over his thick chest. I wanted muscles like his one day. Maybe even better. “I’d be disappointed if it didn’t. How much?”
I shook my head. I had enough money. More than any sixteen-year-old I knew, but I had yet to earn it. “I want you to talk to my dad.” I glanced at Mian. She was looking around my room as if she had landed in a foreign land.
“About?”
“I want in.” I wasn’t sure how much I could reveal around her. Theo had never brought her around before. I’d always thought Theo being a father was a rumor. Similar to the rumor that she never came around because his late wife had forbidden him from exposing their precious daughter to his dangerous lifestyle.