Page 383 of Romeo

I almost laughed, although nothing about the situation was funny. “Was there a plan?”

“No.”

That startled a small sound out of me. His mouth moved again. Not quite a smile. Apparently, I had inherited something besides his eyes. Or maybe I was imagining that too.

“I told King he could tell you I knew,” I said.

Angel nodded. “He did.”

“And that I wasn’t ready.”

“He told me that too.”

I waited. He didn’t offer an excuse for being here, which left one question I couldn’t make sense of. “Then how did you know I was Fiona? King promised he wouldn’t tell you.”

“He didn’t.”

I frowned. “Then how did you know?”

Angel hesitated just long enough that I knew I wasn’t going to like the answer before he gave it. “Grace.”

“Grace?”

“King had me on speaker. He wouldn’t give me your name.” Something that might have been reluctant amusement crossed his face. “Grace did.”

I stared at him for a second. “She told you I was Fiona Mitchell-Steiner?”

His mouth shifted slightly. “No. Fiona DuBois.”

“She told you I married Jasper.”

“Yeah,” he answered. “I’ve known Romeo a long time. Knew there was only person he would trust to protect his wife.”

That explained how he had connected the rest. I looked toward the porch where Jasper had disappeared before turning back to Angel. “So you went to Gator.”

That almost-smile returned. “Yeah.”

“He told you where we were?”

“No. Told me you weren’t ready and he wasn’t tellin’ me shit.”

That sounded enough like Gator that I almost smiled. “Then Jasper called.”

Angel’s gaze shifted briefly toward Mac’s body. “Yeah.”

The answer was so simple that it took some of the fight out of the question I hadn’t meant to make sound accusing. He hadn’t come because he decided he was entitled to ignore what I wanted. He had been with Gator when Jasper called because someone had found us.

“You were mad at King.”

Angel looked at me for a long moment. “Yeah.”

At least he didn’t lie.

“But he kept his word to you.”

Something in his voice made me think that mattered to him even while he hated it.

I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, mostly because I needed something to do with my hands. “You can sit down.”