Page 6 of Angel's Fantasy

That was out of my control, though, and there was no backing down now, no pretending that I wasn’t there to collect a debt.

“Look, Angel…” Calvin’s voice was shaking, but it was too late for pity, too late to settle for anything aside from what I’d gone there for. “Maybe we can work something out. Maybe if you just gave me a couple more weeks, or—”

“No.” I shook my head, not even letting him finish. “That’s not gonna happen, Calvin. I’ve already given you extra time, and then extra time on top of that. Your time has run out, my friend.”

I could hear movement upstairs, and I was again reminded that Bella was up there somewhere, probably with no idea of what was happening—or about to happen—between me and her father.

“Listen,” I said, lowering my voice a little, “I don’t want to make this difficult. Just give me the money, or something equivalent—watches, jewelry, whatever—and we can put this little incident behind us, okay?”

That would be the best-case scenario. Calvin could settle his debt and I could still save face. It was a win-win situation.

“I don’t have the money,” he said, finally. He still sounded nervous, but also a little… defiant? Almost like he was challenging me to claim otherwise. “I tried to get it together, Angel. I swear I did. But,” he shrugged, “I just don’t have it.”

“That’s not good, Calvin.” I took a deep breath and reminded myself to leave emotions out of it, to leave our friendship out of it. “That’s not gonna work for me.”

I took a step forward and he flinched, taking two steps back as I walked through the doorway. At that point, I wasn’t going to wait for him to invite me in, and I sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere until we’d settled this issue.

“What do you want me to do, though?” He asked, that hint of defiance creeping back into his tone. “I already told you, I don’t have the money. I don’t have anything you’d want. I promise, Angel.”

I shook my head again but didn’t speak as I took another step toward him. He backed up another step, and I followed his gaze as it flicked to the small end table at the end of the hallway.

And to the pistol sitting there.

Before he could make another move, I’d pulled my gun and pointed it at his head. Thankfully, he froze. We were in a small space at point blank range, after all. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to calculate his chances of winning that fight.

“No, Calvin. Nope. Don’t even think about it.” There was a faint metallic taste as the adrenaline coursed through my veins, but my hand was steady and so was my voice. “You and I go way back, so don’t make me do this—”

A scream from the top of the stairs cut me off and made us both jump, but I waited for Calvin to look away first before I took my eyes off him for a moment.

The look of fear and panic on Bella’s face as she stood there looking down at us was enough to make me wince in actual, physical pain as my stomach clenched.

“Kimbella,” Calvin’s voice rang out, a little too loud but more confident than he’d sounded the entire time. “Go back to your room and stay there until I come get you, okay?”

“What the hell are you doing?” She completely ignored her father, her tear-filled eyes pinning me to the floor where I stood. “Why are you here? What’s going on?”

“Bella, just do what your dad says and go back to your room.” I let my eyes flick from her back to Calvin. “This is just business. It’ll be over soon.”

“No. No,” she wasn’t crying, but her voice was full of emotion as she started running down the stairs. “I’m not gonna let you hurt him. Get out.”

I only had a few short seconds to decide what to do. I wasn’t going to hurt her—wasn’t even going to threaten her—but I had to make her stop, and I couldn’t risk taking my eyes or my gun off Calvin.

“Move,” I gestured at Calvin with the gun. “Stop her. Now.”

Thankfully, for once, he didn’t hesitate.

Calvin moved to the bottom of the stairs just as she got to the last step, intercepting Bella and tucking her behind him as he turned to face me again.

“Okay, look,” Calvin said, wide-eyed. “I don’t want any trouble. I don’t want any of this to happen. You can take what you want—anything—but I don’t have the money.”

I clenched my jaw as I considered his words. There wasn’t anything he had that I wanted. I tapped my finger against the trigger of the gun that was still pointed directly at him.

“I don’t need to walk around this condo to know that you don’t have anything I want,” I said.

Bella peeked from behind her father’s shoulder, her dark, sexy eyes so full of anger and emotion as they burned into me. Fuck, the things I would do to her. Withher.

Maybe Calvin had something I wanted after all.

“Well,” I gave a half-shrug, “I guess there is one thing I could take.”

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