Page 22 of Angel

‘This is my life you’re clowning with; I don’t want to be part of this toxic circus.’

‘You’ve no choice,’ Di tittered

Angel whirled around to her and leaned in, his sinewed arms bulging.

The veins on his corded neck pulsed, his hair falling over his temple as his rage turned incandescent.

‘You want me to fuckin’ fake a romance on a beach while my heart has been ripped from my chest?’ he growled.

He was letting out more expletives than I’d ever heard from him, and I felt his pain, wincing at his every word.

‘If the press detects any fakery about this wedding, your father will lose his business, trust me. Reese is a man of his word,’ Di reminded him with a cold smile.

Angel half surged upright toward Di, and I stepped between them, resting both palms flat against his rippling torso.

‘Angel, look at me,’ I whispered, forcing him to meet my eyes. ‘Don’t give Reese any ammunition. Let’s play his game today so we can protect your family tomorrow.’

He let out a ragged breath, his shoulders dropping an inch.

Our gazes locked, and he pursed his lips, searching my soul till he sighed.

The man was at his limits, and I squeezed his arm to calm him, sighing in relief as he simmered down.

He glared past me at Di, then sat with a grimace in a nearby armchair, arms crossed, jaw gritted.

‘Fine, but I won’t take this lying down,’ he finally rasped.

‘The Rosedale jet is waiting at Nashville International Airport right now,’ Di added, unfazed. ‘You’ve three hours before take-off, so please hurry.’

Angel scoffed, then nailed the pair with his disdain.

‘We’re on it, now kindly leave us the fuck alone!’

The publicist and planner retreated without another word, hastening away from the incensed man.

I sank into a chair across from him and hunched forward, staring at my hands, playing with the ring on my finger, a pink diamond, in an oval cut.

My mother handed it to me before the ceremony; it was the same one Evangeline was meant to wear, yet now it was mine.

I sensed Angel’s icy gaze on me and glanced up as he started speaking.

‘We’ll play along for now, hear? We’ll be the most romantic honeymoon couple for the cameras. Then as soon as I find a way to rid of that your bastard of a father, we’ll dissolve this mess. Got it?’

My heart plunged as my hopes sank to rock bottom.

He wanted nothing to do with me.

‘Reese won’t let you walk away,’ I murmured, my throat tightening up.

‘I’ll find a way to beat him at his own game by then,’ Angel muttered, pushing back his chair. ‘I’m out; I need some air.’

He strode off without another word as I stared at his tall, muscled frame track away from me, despair eating at me.

In under three hours, we’d be trapped inside a pressurized metal cabin at over forty thousand feet.

Hurtling toward a forced honeymoon neither Angel nor I wanted, or planned for.

The sheer horror of our upcoming proximity hit me hard, leaving me breathless.