Page 42 of Demon's Angel

“Then we can get it changed. Add my name. There’s no problem if we both say the same thing. I’ve checked it out. Won’t take much to change it.” Again, he pinches his nose. “Vi, listen carefully. Whatever Angel threw up about your supposed background in court, it was evident he didn’t believe you’d jumped from his bed to mine. It was also clear I’d have to do something, say something, to convince him.”

Okay.I nod. Sitting forward, I wonder what he’s going to say next, interested to hear his idea.

“I told him we’d be getting married. We’ll do that this week. You can change the birth certificate to name me as the father at the same time. It will be harder for him to contest…”

My brain picks out one word on which to focus and I don’t hear anything else.Married. Married to Demon? Married to Dave, my brother’s best friend, who sees me as nothing more than a sibling? Married to Demon, the president of an MC?

My horrified answer comes fast. “No.”

“Vi, think about this.”

Now I’m the one throwing myself off the bed and frantically pacing the room. On my second pass, I halt and look directly at him. “I don’t need to think about it, Dave. You’re out of your freaking mind. Angelino isn’t going to fall for a sham of a marriage. We’d have to make it look real. We can’t pretend, it would have to be official. I don’t know how quickly we’d be able to divorce, either. You don’t even like me that way.”

“I don’t have to like you ‘that way’.” He uses air quotes. “It’s just pretence, Vi. We’ll live here in the compound, only my brothers will know we don’t share a bed. And there’ll be no divorce, not until I’m certain Angel’s no longer coming after the kid. If that’s until Theo is eighteen, well, that’s what I’ll be signing up for. I’ll be giving him protection until he no longer needs it. It’s what Nathan would have wanted. Me to make sure you were looked after.”

Moving a step closer, my finger prods him in his chest, punctuating every word. “Problem is, Dave, I’m not Nathan’s little sister any longer. I’m a grown woman. As a woman I have needs. You expect me to stay here, living in the compound, watching you go off with whores while I what? Lie in bed with a vibrator?”

“Vi!”

His jaw drops and his face grows red, but I’m not letting him get a word in. Not now. This is my turn to have the floor. “There’s better solutions, one which doesn’t tie me to you, or you to me. I’ll need your help to do it properly, but I’ve told you, I’ll change my name and leave.” It would break me. But to stay here in a sham of a marriage with a man I want who doesn’t want me? That’s an even worse alternative.

He grabs hold of my hands, strong fingers around mine, stilling them. “Marrying me means you can come out of hiding. Visit your mom. You really want to leave and never see her again?”

It seems he’s going to bring out every weapon in his armoury.

“No, of course I don’t. But as she doesn’t even remember she has a daughter, it’s not as bad as you’re making out, Dave. Look, I’m grateful to you for giving me breathing space to get my priorities straight. But I’m not going to marry you and that’s final. And don’t bring up this stupid supposed debt you owe to Nathan. I don’t need you stepping into the big brother role, I’ve done okay by myself up to now.”

He’s standing, towering over me, fury raging from those eyes which seem to be glowing, providing an insight as to how he got his handle. I wrench my hands out of his grasp and take a step back, and then another. He stalks me. When my back hits the door, there’s nowhere left for me to go.

“You’ve done alright? First you put yourself in the position of being raped, Vi.” I gasp, but he relentlessly continues, “If I’d been there for you, it wouldn’t have gone down the way it had. If you’d spoken to me, and I’d checked who you were proposing to work for, I’d have told you the lay of the land before you put yourself in danger.”

“Stop right there!” I cry out. “No woman, ever, puts herself in the position of being raped. Nothing she does excuses a man. Is that what you’re doing, D? Absolving Angelino and putting it on me?”

“Fuck, Vi, I didn’t mean it like that.” His eyes roll. “I’m not blamin’ you, I’m blamin’ myself. Angelino should never have been able to get near you. I should have been there for you. If I’d known you were in financial difficulties, if you’d come to me, we could have sorted that shit out. But you lost your home, Vi, ended up homeless, with no money and a kid to support. Because I wasn’t there for you, your only option was to give him away to strangers. Should have fuckin’ been there. If Nathan had been alive, he’d have helped you out. So don’t try and tell me there’s no debt to repay.”

I make the mistake of looking at him. He’s leaning over me, one hand balanced on the door to the left of my head. I smell his breath, a mingling of mint and coffee. Feel it as he exhales, a warm huff against my cheek. I’m scared of the beast I’ve taunted and enraged, while I know he’d never hurt me. Even if such violence was within him, the respect he holds for my brother would hold him back. What frightens me is how much he’s made me aroused. My breathing is coming in pants, his chest is rising and falling as fast as my own. Momentarily we stare into each other’s eyes. Me, willing him to lower his lips and…

I come to my senses.

He’s never going to do something so intimate, and all because of the long past relationship between him and my brother. I may be hot for him, but he’s never going to have the same feelings. How could I exist in a loveless relationship, knowing he’s fucking other women when I’d rather he was fucking me? Never in a million years could I do that.

“No,” I tell him again.

He ignores me. “We both need to go to the Marriage License office to get the license. You’ll just need your birth certificate; if you haven’t brought with you, I’ll go get it from your house. Then we’ll get married immediately. We’ll go down today. No point in wasting time.”

“You’re not listening to me,” I growl.

“No.” Once again his hand makes that slashing through the air gesture. “You’re the one not listening. We’re getting married, Vi. I’m giving you my name, my protection. That makes Theo safe. I’m doing everything I can to stop Angel getting his hands on the kid.”

I erupt. My hands push him roughly. If he hadn’t let me, I wouldn’t have had the chance of pushing him away, but he steps back.

“I am not marrying you!”

His voice is icily cold as he asks, “You really want to risk Angel getting custody of Theo? Cause that’s what he’s going after, Vi. He won’t be satisfied with visitation or joint parenting. He wants everything. He wants to break you, Vi. He wants Theo with no strings attached. You’ll be cut right out of the picture. Do you want to risk that? Even if Angel died, don’t you think his family would move Heaven and Earth to get hold of his son? Don Lucio is quite clearly backing him. And you—if you died, there would be no one in his way.”

Deep down I think I’d known it, but it’s not something you want to admit. A brief recollection of my conversation outside with Thunder. A bullet, my death, and, if Angelino insists on a paternity test, there’ll be nothing to stop him taking my son. Even if I’m alive, he’ll probably get his way. With his access to the hospital records, he’ll twist the truth and make out I’m unfit to look after my son. That’s why I took the drastic actions I had. My few days in this oasis are over; it’s time to face reality again and remember I’ll do anything,anything, to protect my son.

I turn around, resting my forehead against the door. Demon and his bikers would protect me. If I left, I’d be alone. Could I really hide? Where could I run? What reach do the Silvestri have? How does one go about getting a new identity? It would certainly cost money, something I don’t possess. I couldn’t even start without Demon’s help. If I did manage to get somewhere safe, every day for the next eighteen years I’d be looking over my shoulder, viewing each stranger with suspicion, panicking each time I heard an Italian accent.

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