Page 29 of Angelic Vengeance

After only walking away three more steps, two shots rang in the air. For a moment I thought he was shooting at me. But when I glanced over my shoulder; the bottle targets I hadn’t gotten to earlier, were now down.

Zachary didn’t turn to face me again, and I didn’t wait any longer.

I walked away.

CHAPTER 10

Present

A SMALL SMILE COASTED MY lips as I continued covering Francesca’s apartment in red balloons and decorations for her twenty-fifth surprise birthday party. Kali was out distracting Francesca while Natalia was getting the cake from a nearby bakery and I took care of getting the apartment decorated. I was alone, as it was too early for people to show up, so I didn’t think too much when a knock sounded at the door. I simply made my way through Francesca’s high-rise.

Her older brother, Gìovanni, lived in the penthouse above, on the ninety-eighth floor. Although Francesca prided herself on her independence, the Family still believed she should be close in case of emergency. The sky-scraper was owned and named by their family –The DeMone– serving as a luxury apartment building.

I grabbed the handle and opened the door with a smile.

Dark hair. Black suit. Tattoos.

My smile dropped and I tried slamming the door in Zachary’s face, but his strong hand held it open. I inhaleddeeply in annoyance, only to inhale his musky cologne. It went straight to my brain, clouding my thoughts.

Zachary didn’t give me another chance to keep him out. He pushed past me and entered the apartment. I turned around, watching his back as he made his way to the couches.

I stood alone in the dark hallway for a moment.

It had been almost a week since I’d last seen him.Since I’d lost the bet. And I still had to carry out my end of the deal: go on a date with the man. Yet, he couldn’t seem to care less. Not only did he not say anything, he didn’t even look at me.

He was ignoring me.

Did that mean the deal was off? Had he finally had enough of my bitchiness? Had he given up on chasing me?

I thought I’d feel relief, but there was now something picking at me – something alarmingly similar to disappointment.

What was wrong with me?I should’ve been glad the chase was over.

Just like every other guy before him, Zachary had given up, but I still couldn’t hold back some dissatisfaction. A small, locked-away part of me had actually believed Zachary genuinely liked me. But now, by the way he laid on the couch, in his perfect suit, scrolling away on his phone –ignoring me– I guessed the game was really over.

I couldn’t hold back the resentment making its way up my chest. Something in me was mad at how easily he had given up, while also furious I even cared about him.

It was starting to fuck with me, so I kept my distance until the others showed up.

Music blasted from the living room where the party was happening. There must have been around a hundred people present.

Through a long hallway filled with art, I walked towards the chef ’s kitchen at the other end wing of the apartment, which unlike the main one, wasn’t open to the living area.

With a click, the door closed behind me, muffling out the music and shouting. I had to get the cake and candles ready so they would be good for midnight when Francesca would turn twenty-five.

While the rest of the house was full of floor-to-ceiling windows where you could see all of New York shine in the night, the chef ’s kitchen was all steel.

The music blasted again before going back to muffled. I looked over my shoulder.

Dark hair. Black suit. Tattoos.

My heartbeat picked up more than it should have. Two months ago I wouldn’t have cared about Zachary, but now I was surprised he was still interested in me.

There was also, of course, the possibility that he was here for any other reason than me.

I wasn’t sure I liked that possibility anymore.

Something twisted burned to life inside me when he leaned against the door, crossed his arms and simply watched me.Did that mean he wasn’t done with me?