Page 200 of Never Fall for an Angel

Internally, I scold myself for being afraid of the man in front of me. He’s clearly dying, and I’m sure the last thing he wants is to be locked in this room by himself all day and night.

“My name is Mila. Would you like a glass of water?” I reach for his cup on the nightstand, but at the last second, his hand darts out at an incredible speed for someone in his condition, wrapping around my wrist.

It startles me so much, I drop the cup, spilling water everywhere.

Time stands still while he stares at me with those dark, nearly black eyes.

—And then he laughs. A long, cackling, creepy laugh that sends chills through me.

“My son’s going to kill you,” he grins, his teeth garish and yellow.

I attempt to stumble back a step when his laugh rings out in the air, nearly falling to my ass when I run into the chest of someone standing behind me.

I let out a squeak, and Levi cocks a brow at me, shooting the dying man in the bed behind me a look that tells me everything I need to know.

He hates him as much as Christian does.

“Fuck off, you old ass,” he barks at him, and his father has the good nature to at least stop laughing and release me, though his grin stays in place. “Come on, Mila.”

Levi takes my wrist, leading me from the room. All the while, I get this sinking feeling that I need to keep my eyes on the man in the bed for fear that he might grab me and drag me down to whatever pit of hell he crawled out of.

“Stay out of there,” Levi commands once we’re out in the hallway.

“That’s your father, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t answer.

“What’s wrong with him?” I ask, shivering as the sound of his hacking cough comes from the room at the end of the hall.

“He’s dying,” Levi says, his stare hard when he finally meets my eyes. “Stay away from him.”

A twinge of embarrassment washes through me, and I feel the need to explain myself.

“I wasn’t going to hurt him. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t go around shooting people every day.”

“I never saidyouwere going to hurthim.”

I don’t like the underlying danger in that statement.

“He’s confined to a bed, and he was yelling for help. Was I supposed to ignore him?”

“Yes,” he says, stalking off. Like the pest I am, I follow him.

“But what if he’s hurt?”

“Good,” Levi says without breaking stride.

“That’s your father—”

He whirls on me, anger flashing in his gaze.

“He stopped being my father the moment he—”

A door behind us opens, and his gaze shoots over my head. I turn to find Ava standing there like a deer in headlights, staring straight at Levi like she’s come face-to-face with an Anaconda.

“Stay out of there. Don’t give Christian a reason to end his suffering sooner.” He starts to walk off, his gaze still on Ava. “Fucker deserves what he’s getting.”

“What was that about?” Ava asks, stepping up beside me, her cheeks flushed a deep pink. I look down the stairs where Levi had gone, to Ava, then back.

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