Page 10 of Never Fall for an Angel

“Hey, beautiful . . .” one calls, but I keep my head down and my gaze pinned on the sidewalk beneath me, hoping they think I can’t hear them and leave me be.

But who am I kidding? I’m never that lucky.

“Come on,” the man says, whistling again under his breath as his footsteps sound on the pavement behind me.

He’s crossing the road.

My heartbeat hammers in my chest, my throat running dry as the burn under my skin starts.

The hands. Him. The knife . . .

“Please leave me alone,” I manage to croak, but the man just laughs, joined in a chorus by the other men across the street.

“Oh, don’t be like that, darlin’. I just want to talk. You’re so pretty.”

I know that voice.

The man Ididn’tstab in Arizona.

Fuck.

More snickers. More panicking as my mouth fills with saliva and my entire body feels like it’s been dipped in acid. My chest aches, my lungs seizing up as I hear him getting closer.

I start walking faster and he jogs to the sidewalk as a car comes down the road from the opposite direction. Part of me wants to lunge into the street and beg them for help. The other half is worried they’re just as bad as he is.

“Here . . .kitty, kitty, kitty . . .” He sniffs loudly and chuckles. “Mmm . . . you smell like the prettiest flowers.”

One . . . two . . . three . . .

Just as I’m about to run, I turn back to look over my shoulder and find him closer than I thought, and the panic that was inside me turns to full-blown terror.

“Just let me talk—” he’s cut off by the loud screech of tires on the pavement. Both of us pause just as the man’s hand lands on my shoulder, and I look back, wide-eyed and frozen in fear, as the car barrels directly toward us.

And . . . doesn’t stop.

I have only a second to react, falling to my ass on the sidewalk when the car plows right into the man, sending him flying.

Or I guess . . .throughhim, is more like it.

My assailant flies into the air, his body crumpling on the street a few feet away as the elegant black sports car comes to a stop right in front of me.

The door opens, and death stares back at me in the face of the most handsome man I’ve ever met.

Broad shoulders, sharp jawline, deep blue eyes.

It’s him.

“Get in.”

PART ONE

THEN

MILA

LA, June, 5 Years Ago

My stepfather is fucking my older sister.

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