Page 80 of Angelic Vengeance

I leaned closer to the screen, skimming for more details. I needed a specific date.

Sixteen-year-old girl. Five years ago.

I was starting to lose my patience. I needed to know who she really was and what the fuck she was doing in New York.Was she here for me?

I was still staring at the laptop’s screen when Trevor shut it closed. In one swift move, he picked it up and began making his way out. I threw my hands up in frustration before following him.

“She’s faking it. I know it.”

She had to remember me. How could she not?

Trevor entered the private elevator of my penthouse. “I don’t think she wants anything to do with you, brother.”

I remained in the entryway and crossed my arms. “Oh trust me, shedoes.” My words lingered with insinuation. If she really couldn’t remember me, then I simply just had to jog her memory. Using any methods necessary.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have more important things to do than discuss your next conquest,” He drawled, pressing the button for the lobby.

“What if she tries to kill me again?”

He shrugged, as the elevator doors closed in. “Then you better not let her.”

I had walked into Renato with a clear plan in my head: corner Maria. All of that went out the window when my eyes found her.

She was working at the bar, keeping busy behind the counter. Her back was facing the room, and I told myself I was simply analyzing my opponent when my eyes scanned over her body. She wore the same black uniform as every other employee, though the clothes seemed to fit her better, hugging her in just the right places. Her hair was up, the pin-straight ponytail almost grazing her lower back, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many times I could wrap it around my fist.

I had walked into Renato with a plan. Fifteen minutes later, I had some guy in the trunk of one of the Cartel’s SUVs.

He’d been bothering her at the bar – making her clean the drink he’d intentionally spilled on the floor – and I’d reached them just in time to catch a chair he had kicked, from hitting Maria. Her arm had also come up to stop the chair, but instead latched onto my forearm. I could still feel her fingers digging into me through the material of my suit like a black jaguar’s fangs. Electricity had spread in my veins, causing my heart to miss a beat, and when she looked up at me… It stopped altogether.

I had appeared falsely disinterested. My gaze was so deep and intense, it had burned to black soot, masking the fire within.

The wrath in her eyes bled dark red, fusing with the brown edge of her forest-green irises.

A familiar, dangerous urge had seeped through my veinsright there. No matter what I would have said or done, my mind was set; the decision was made and the man’s fate was sealed.

Before I knew what I was doing, I put my hand out, only for her to ignore me. My eyes dipped, following the sway of her hips, before disappearing behind the bar again. I could still see her walking on repeat in my mind.

Warmth spread through me before the reminder of what happened next resurfaced.

‘Go serve some tables.’

I felt the energy change before I heard the frustration in her voice.‘I’m not–’

‘Now.’

The look she gave me before she left for the back, stabbed me in the chest like a rusted dagger. I knew she wasn’t taking orders from me; she just didn’t care about what happened next.

My hand tightened around the steering wheel.Good to know she didn’t give a fuck I was about to murder someone because of her.

Why did I want to kill him so bad, again? I didn’t care if he disrespected her.

I was going to disrespect her way worse… When I killed her, of course.

If anyone was fucking hurting her, it was me. I had stared down her muzzle two years ago; now it was time to switch roles. In this life, she was mine in pain, suffering and death.

Tension lined my shoulders. I’d come to Renato to kill Maria, but I was leaving with somebody else in the fucking trunk. Though, my muscles relaxed when I blinked and envisioned the man’s body floating in the Hudson.

I drove one of the Cartel’s SUVs through Renato’s underground parking, heading towards the abandoned riverside downtown to dump the body. I had enough time to get back and catch Maria before she ended her shift.