Page 2 of Angel

My name was entwined in hers; that’s how much we were meant to be.

‘Stop it, don’t use that tired line,’ she hissed.

Her pupils dilated as she wrenched away from me, lancing me to my core.

I remembered her smile and tears of elation when I dropped to one knee six months ago.

‘Now we’re locked down for life,’ she murmured back then, as I slid the massive pear-shaped diamond onto her finger. ‘Promise you’ll always be mine.’

‘I swear it. Will you forever be my angel?’

‘For eternity.’

Now, I gazed at her, reeling.

Had her promise then been a bare-faced lie?

Her face was so delicate, pale, and so beautiful, accentuated by her blonde curls.

Her eyes, so clear blue and gorgeous, framed by long lashes, made her the most stunning woman I ever beheld.

My golden-haired beauty.

My queen.

Now my heart’s assassin, or so it seemed, as the most excruciating pain lanced through me.

‘I’ve got to go. Please tell everyone I can’t go through with it.’

She whirled around, her summer dress rustling on the carpeted floor as she fled out the door.

This was it; she was leaving me.

Hours before our wedding.

‘Eva, come back,’ I growled. ‘Don’t you dare pull the plug on us. Not after all we’ve been through.’

My soul jolted, my heart squeezing so hard it was torture to breathe.

For some reason, I didn’t have it in me to chase after her.

I stalked to the edge of the terrace, chest heaving.

That’s when I caught her flying out of the hotel’s massive front doors with a bag in her hand.

She climbed into a crimson Mustang idling in the carport of the prestigious lakeside venue.

She paused midway and glanced up to where I stood, reeling.

Even from afar, I caught the purse of her lips; then she twisted away and got into the ride.

I lurched, the agony burning; rage and confusion surging in me even as her ride revved up.

The sports wheels spun as it roared off down the long driveway, vanishing round the bend.

I sank into a chair, inside the venue’s luxury guest suite, staring into oblivion.

I couldn’t scrub the image of her disappearing into the Mustang out of my mind.