Page 36 of Damned By His Angel

King’s jaw locks, I dart my gaze between the both of them, my gut is telling me that King’s sudden appearance here in Chicago didn’t go unnoticed by the fucker I have been tracking.

“I don’t do well with ultimatums,” King growls.

“You will have a choice to make, refuse my offer and you will lose them both.”

Suddenly my own bravado begins to waiver, I swallow audibly as my mind starts to conjure horrific images.

“Lose who?” I force out through clenched teeth as I take a step forward, but still instantly when he raises his hand and I see a detonator clutched in his grip. My eyes widen, the puffer jacket makes sense now—he has a fucking bomb strapped to him!

“No sudden moves!” the kid bellows. King shifts his gun ready to fire but the kid pushes on. “The moment my heart stops beating it goes off.” King waivers slightly but doesn't lower his gun, I look around the room trying to find an exit or a place to take cover but it’s futile, it’s a fucking concreate room and the only windows are behind the little fucker.

“Okay. I’m listening, what’s your terms?” King snarls, but I can hear the slight edge of worry in his voice.

“You need to choose,” the kid responds.

“Choose who?” King roars.

“The one you love most or the one who saved you from yourself.” I furrow my brow confused as fuck but King seems to understand exactly what the kid is saying.

“You touch them and I will fucking slice you open and feed you your intestines, you little cunt.” I turn to him and raise a brow in question but the stricken look on King’s face has worry churning inside me.

Fuck no!

“Amelia and Allison,” I say, barely above a whisper. King’s jaw locks but he nods subtly confirming my fear.

“One may live, you get to choose which one,” the soon to be dead little cocksucker says.

“You touch my wife or daughter?—”

“You never gave my family a chance, I wasn’t given a choice!” the kid yells. “Choose, your time is running out. Fail to make a decision and they both die.” Before the little fucker can utter another word, I pull the trigger. The bullet hits him between the eyes. We have mere seconds before his heart stops. I grab King’s arm and drag him after me as we rush for the exit. We manage to get out of the room and around the corner before the bomb goes off and everything comes crashing down.

The last thought I have is of my girls and praying that Allison can save them both.

Amelia

“Well, I have to say it’s nice to see you smiling again after so many weeks,” Mom says as she rounds the corner from the kitchen into the living room.

I drop my phone to my lap and place a hand on my bump, love for my daughter surges inside me when I feel her respond to my touch by kicking.

“I just spoke to Cronos,” I tell her.

She smiles and nods, then claims her seat on the sofa next to me. “You really care about him, don’t you?”

I have no idea why her question makes me feel shy but it’s hard to explain what he means to me, love doesn’t seem like an adequate word. “He’s not just my man, he’s my rest, my home, my heart and my safe place.”

Mom’s eyes soften, she reaches out and places her hand on top of mine, giving it a gentle pat. “All your father and I have ever wanted for you, was for you to be happy. Are you happy, baby girl?”

I mull over her words for a moment and debate how to answer. I decide to go with what I feel in my heart. “I wasn’t for a long time. I thought diving into my career and burying myself in work would fill the void of loneliness but it didn’t, it just masked it. I really thought Colson cared about me, Mom,” I say bitterly.

“Honey, the thing about manipulators is when they blame you for your reaction to their toxic behavior, but never discuss their disrespect that triggered you. He used your good nature and big heart and wove a web of lies to try and turn you against your family…” She inhales sharply as if garnering the strength to continue. “For a long while he succeeded in doing that to you, but something tells me that we have Cronos Argyros to thank for showing you that we aren’t monsters.”

I balk at her. “Mom, I never thought you were a monster!”

She smiles sadly. “I wasn’t talking about me, darling.” Shame slams into me and I drop my gaze. “Your father never meant to hurt you, he thought he was doing the right thing.”

“Why didn’t he just tell me the truth about Colson?”

“How? He tried to talk to you after he fired Colson and banished him from the city but you wouldn’t listen, Meelz. He tried for years to explain why he did what he did but you wouldn’t hear him out, your anger consumed you and drove you away from us. He thought if you kept hating him then you would stay away and be safe from this life. Max Kingsley was created to give you freedom and a chance at a life without all of this bullshit.”

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