Page 125 of No Holds Barred

Where the fuck is he?

“Eva… what are you doing here?” Angelica asked, still darting her gaze around for Rex or Hope or anyone who could deal with this. She wasn’t a parent. She didn’t understand how to do this. Her heart raced wildly.

Eva’s face tightened, and she shook her head.

“Eva…” Angelica trailed off, really not sure where to go from here.

Bending down as low to the ground as she could manage with her boot still on and her body still stiff, Angelica put her hands in front of her and looked directly at Eva.

“Eva, talk to me,” she said in her gentlest tone possible.

Eva stepped in closer, looking over Angelica’s shoulder before focusing her gaze back on Angelica’s face. “You were yelling,” she whispered.

Angelica nodded and put her hands in her lap. If she stayed in this squatting position much longer, she might fall over and not be able to get up. “I was.”

“You were scary,” Eva whispered even quieter.

“Yeah, I was,” Angelica agreed. This had to be the right thing to do, wasn’t it? She had no clue.

“Why were you yelling?”

“I lost my temper.” Angelica bit her lip and then moved to hold her hand out to Eva, hoping that she’d see the olive branch for only that. “It happens sometimes when I can’t control my reactions.”

“Yeah, me too.” Eva’s lips quirked up slightly to the side, the first sign that Angelica was actually making a dent. “Mom and Dad, too.”

“Your mom’s got quite the temper.” Angelica smiled at her, eyes crinkling in the corners. “I’ve been on the wrong end of it several times. To be fair, she’s been on the wrong end of mine as well.”

“You yelled at Mom?”

“Yeah, I have. Though not recently.” Angelica’s heart thundered. That was probably the wrong thing to tell Eva, but she’d wanted to be as honest as she could. Perhaps this was just too much information for Eva’s little brain to comprehend.

“Why would you yell at her?”

“I was frustrated and lost my temper.” The details at this point weren’t important. Angelica moved to squeeze Eva’s shoulder. “I need to stand up, Eva. Squatting is really hard on my leg.”

“Are you hurting?” Eva’s eyebrows rose in concern.

Angelica shook her head. “No, but I will be if I don’t get moving.”

Standing up, she stayed close and looked over her shoulder to Mark and Alexis who were staring at her like she hadten heads. Of course they would. They probably hadn’t seen someone have a compassionate bone in decades at this point.

“Where’s your dad?” Angelica asked.

Eva shook her head. “I was looking for him.”

“Nanny?”

“She’s sick. That’s why I had to find Dad.”

“Right.” Angelica put her hand on Eva’s shoulder and started to walk toward the cameras. She flicked her gaze directly at the camera, and then down to the floor as she walked. Behind the camera was no one except Sy.

Frowning, Angelica kept walking with Eva right next to her. As much as she needed to get back to filming, Eva had to be her priority right now. Because this girl didn’t need to witness anything beyond what she’d already seen. She needed to be cared for.

“Where’s Rex?” Angelica asked Sy.

“I think he’s in with Logan.”

Angelica’s heart sank. That meant that Logan really was interviewing every single member of the crew, and for some stupid reason, he’d chosen this particular moment to interview Rex, which was the worst possible time.