Page 202 of Never Fall for an Angel

“Not leaving so soon, are you?” Levi asks, stepping forward into the room. It forces Talia to fall back until she collapses into her chair.

She looks between the two of us, fear in her eyes hidden beneath the air of superiority she’s always tried to flaunt.

“I found this in my room,” I tell her, waving the phone in her face. “Seemed odd that my wife would happen upon it the day you arrived.”

I don’t want to outright tell her I know she planted it. I want to see what information she’s willing to offer up on her own first.

Talia looks like she could vomit at my feet.

“Don’t make me ask again.”

“I just wanted to help her,” she rushes out, her gaze ping-ponging back and forth between Levi and me. “She was so lonely and sad. I felt bad for the poor girl.”

She dissolves into tears. Big, fake alligator tears that have her makeup running down her cheeks. Levi steps back, leaning against the wall and watching while I step around my desk.

“I’m sorry,” she sobs. “I didn’t know she wasn’t allowed to have a phone.”

I step behind her, and a sob wracks her shoulders, her head falling forward until my lips are close to her ear. The scent of her perfume is all wrong. It’s not vanilla and honey, but lavender.

“Very good,” I murmur, and a shiver rolls through her. “But I don’t believe you.”

Her head snaps up, tears instantly shutting off when I step back around to her front.

“Christian.” She reaches for me, and I step away, putting some distance between us. “You have to believe me. I didn’t have a choice.”

I cock a brow, staring down at her tear-streaked face, and wait for her to continue. If she thinks the tears are going to work, it’s just more proof of how little she knows me.

“You made sure Mila had this. Why?”

“You don’t understand—”

“I understand that you put her in danger,” I reply cooly. “I don’t take lightly to that.”

“Someone . . . threatened me . . .” she trails off, lowering her eyes to her hands. She twists them together in her lap. Levi’s eyes meet mine over her head.

“Who?” She doesn’t respond. “Who?” I bark, and she jumps at my voice.

“I don’t know!” She scrubs a hand over her teary face. “I never saw them. They wore a mask.”

“What kind of mask?” Levi asks, staring at the back of her head.

She sucks in a shaky breath, letting it out on a shiver.

“It was of a clown. An evil one.” Her watery blue eyes meet mine. “He came to me the week before the wedding and gave itto me. He had pictures of my family. He told me he would hurt them.”

“And yet, you didn’t come to me. You took matters into your own hands and put my wife in danger.”

She glowers back and forth between Levi and I. Levi nods at me only once.

“Get out. Don’t ever let me see you in Seattle again.” I dismiss her, stepping back behind my desk. Lighting up the screen, Mila’s still in our kitchen, washing the dishes now, and my body aches to go to her.

“This isn’t you.”

Talia shoves to her feet, rushing around the side of the desk. She reaches for me, her fingers fisting in the material of my shirt.

“Iknowyou. You still care for me; otherwise, you wouldn’t have left.”

That makes absolutely zero sense, but I don’t care what she thinks. Not anymore.

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