Page 46 of Offside Angel

I scan the faces around me, but I don’t recognize anyone. They also don’t seem to be paying any attention to me. What am I compared to overpriced vases and golden snail bookends?

But I glance over my shoulder, anyway.

And immediately face forward again.

My heart is pounding and I don’t even know what I saw. Not really. It was just a flash of someone behind me. A figure that ducked behind a shelf of coffee mugs before I could see any identifying features.

If it was Dante, I’d know…

Unless he’s working with someone else. Unless he, God forbid, has a girlfriend. Maybe he’s told her lies about me and she wants to help him.

I just need to get to the back corner of the store. Evan will meet me there and I can tell him what’s going on.

But I can’t stop myself from looking back again.

As soon as I turn around, the same person in a dark jacket squats down behind a rack of floral bath towels.

“Shit,” I hiss.

An older woman scowls at me and turns in the opposite direction, a squirrel-shaped vase clutched to her chest. I ignore her. It’s easy because all I can hear is my blood thrumming through my veins and the distant Psycho-style music screeching ominously in the back of my head.

Dante is here.

He found me.

I look around, but I can’t see Evan, so I have no idea if he can see me.

Will Dante make this fast and stab me in the middle of this crowd? Or will he manage to drag me away from my friends and my bodyguard so he can take his time with this revenge? Will I disappear without a trace?

I start shoving people out of the way, ignoring their protests and grumblings. I can see the “Fitting Room” sign hanging from the ceiling, but a wall of women sifting through bed linens are in the way. I divert through a room full of drawer knobs and puzzles. What is this place?

Just as I duck around the knobs and cut back over towards the fitting rooms, a dark-clad figure blocks the doorway in front of me.

This is the end.

A scream lodges in my throat and I stumble back into a small pyramid of puzzles just as I realize my stalker isn’t Dante.

The puzzles crash to the floor, but the store is so loud that almost no one notices. I barely even notice.

I’m too busy staring at the woman in front of me.

“Hanna?” I breathe.

I used to dread every time she made an appearance. This time, I’m almost relieved.

“Mira,” she sneers. “I thought that was you. It wasn’t hard to pick you out. I just looked for the person barreling through the crowd like she thought she was better than everyone else.”

My brain is having a hard time keeping up with the situation. Are we in danger or not?

It’s hard to tell, but the deep scowl lines around Zane’s ex-assistant’s mouth can’t be a good sign.

“Listen, I don’t know what this is about, but I don’t want?—”

“Don’t act like you’re innocent,” she fumes, stalking towards me. “You know exactly what you did. I worked with Zane for years before you showed up.”

“Would you like a medal?” I drawl.

Her eyes blaze. “No, I want my job!”

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