Page 142 of Angelic Vengeance

“Couldn’t have been the sex.”

The cake went the wrong way, making me cough.

“Mom!”

“I must say I never thought of Zachary as someone lacking in that category.”

“Well… It’s notwhywe broke up.” I answered truthfully.

“Oh, my God…” Francesca covered her face with her hands, making us laugh.

Silvia nonchalantly took a sip from her fancy cup. “There’s still this glow about you.”

I exhaled another laugh. “If by ‘glow’ you mean pissed off, then sure.”

“In all these years I haven’t even heard of you looking at a man twice. Even Francesca confirmed there was something special between you and Zachary.”

I gasped, turning to Francesca who was applying red lipstick. “That’s not–”

“I only speak the truth,” She clarified, flipping her platinum-blonde hair – inherited from her mother, just like their shared beauty.

“Say whatever you want, but something’s changed since the last time I saw you.” Silvia shook her head, like she understood my situation perfectly, despite not knowing any of the details. “And I have a strong feeling it has something to do withhim.”

I sighed, too tired to think of an answer that didn’t reveal the semantics of my ex-relationship – if you could even call it that.

“You should be careful with this one,cara. He might just be the one to finally sweep you off your feet.”

He already has.

Despite my disapproval, I couldn’t help but admire Silvia’s knowing motherly smile. I wished she’d been right about Zach and me. For a moment, I let myself live in the fantasy –what would our future have even looked like?

Falling in love was supposed to be beautiful.

But of course, like with everything else in my life, I crashed and burned.

Locking the front door behind me, I stepped into the dark apartment. Tea at the DeMone’s was always fancy and tonight had been no exception.

Since I was still staying at Natalia’s, she let me borrow a small, black dress along with a pair of red bottoms. We happened to be the same size in everything, so sharing had always been a no-brainer.

As I stepped into the open living room space and flipped the light switch of a lamp on, a shadow came into my peripheral view.

Natalia was busy tonight and wouldn’t come home, so my mind immediately went to Ruiz.

I turned around with lightning speed, only for my heart to skyrocket in my chest when I saw who it actually was.

“Oh, my God…” I rushed over and lowered in front of the couch. Zach was lying down, eyes closed and clothes covered in blood. “What the hell happened?!”

He groaned, opening his eyes slowly and scowling at the dim lightning. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he pushed up slightly to look around – like he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten here.

So much for staying away from each other.

When he saw me, he froze. His midnight eyes melted into mine and it was just like before. Liquid fire flooded through my bloodstream, burning deep inside me.

I forced myself to look away. Grabbing the hem of his blood-stained white T-shirt, I pulled it up to inspect the wound below. A gauze pad was stuck to the side of his body.

Finally, I exhaled in relief. He’d only been grazed by a bullet – nothing fatal.

My finger brushed over the medical fabric, unintentionally sending goosebumps over Zach’s golden skin. My gaze slid to his six-pack. Blood splattered over inked, tan muscle. My mouth went dry and I became embarrassingly aware of our skin-to-skin contact. I resisted the nostalgic urge to dig my sharp nails into his muscles.