Page 45 of Angel

“Where is, this coming from? What’s going on? What happened?” I fired each new question at her on top of the last, not waiting for responses.

Her eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t play innocent with me.”

I guffawed. “Paige, I honestly have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“You’re just keeping me around while you can. Just for entertainment. Or maybe you’re making sure I don’t bolt. Admit it. When I turn twenty-five, you’ll hand me over to Moretti.”

“Are you serious?”

She said nothing.

“Paige, just let me in and we can talk about this.”

“There’s nothing left to talk about. You’ve had your fun with me so now you can just leave.”

Anger pierced my heart. “Wow. That’s a really awful thing to say, especially after we’ve just spent three weeks together. You know me better than that.”

She blinked fast. Was she trying to push back tears? “I thought I knew you too, but it turns out I don’t. You knew that man in the photo is Moretti, didn’t you?”

“I...” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. “God,” I muttered.

“You can’t even deny it.”

“No, I can’t deny it,” I snapped, louder than I needed to.

A door creaked and I glanced over my right shoulder. A short, older woman came out of her apartment, tote bags in her hands. Her eyes darted in our direction before quickly averting. She turned and went down the hall.

I waited until the woman disappeared to speak again, this time in a lower voice.

“I didn’t want to hurt you. That’s why I didn’t tell you the man was Moretti. It was a lot of information to handle at once. You’d just woken up and remembered that day.”

“I don’t think that’s it. I think you didn’t want me to get too close to the truth.”

“What? What truth are you talking about?”

“You probably knew all along that Moretti had a hand in killing my parents.”

I stared at her, my jaw coming unhinged. Did she really think I was such a bastard? I’d spent the last three weeks opening up to Paige. I let her into my life in a way I never had before with anyone. I hadn’t even meant to. I couldn’t let her go without trying to get her to hear me out. She was just hurt. Confused.

“I only knew once you told me he was there,” I said. “If I’d known before, during a better time, I would have told you.”

She ran her palm across her eyes. “So tell me this, Angelo. When was the next good time coming? Huh? Were you planning to tell me the day of my twenty-fifth birthday, right before I met Moretti? Or were you just not going to tell me at all?”

“You’re not going to Moretti. I’m working on it.”

“It sounds like you weren’t planning to tell me at all.”

“I...”

She shook her head fiercely, her face disappearing from the crack in the doorway.

I pressed my palm against the hallway wall, working to keep my composure. Though Paige was hurt, her accusations were starting to seriously piss me off.

I was putting my neck out for her, doing everything I could to help. I didn’t deserve to be accused of atrocities.

“I was going to tell you. I don’t know when, but of course I was. Can you let me in so we can talk?”

“No. I don’t want to anywhere near me.”