Chapter One
Angelica stood and looked out her mother’s office window in the house she’d grown up in.
It amazed her how much her mother had gotten done since her father had disappeared a few weeks before. Her mother wanted part of the house redecorated because she wanted everything that reminded her of him out and away.
The first two rooms she wanted to change had been her bedroom and the office. She would have thought her mother would pick a new bedroom altogether because of what her father had done to her, but then she’d found out about the secret passage in her bathroom. It had been a savior for her for so many years because she was able to see Trent and Mateo, the two men Angelica considered her fathers and who had devoted their lives to her mother.
They’d taken her mother’s bedroom and the one next to it and turned it into a suite the three could live in comfortably. They’d also taken the first three rooms off the foyer and made them into three different offices, but each had a double door between all three that connected them, so when they opened them, it was like one big office.
Angelica was thrilled to see her mother finally happy after over twenty years of abuse from her father. God, she hoped the bastard was being tortured. He deserved every bit of pain he got.
She turned to face her mother, who sat in her office chair and patiently waited for her to speak.
“Is it my destiny to marry a Maclean mobster?” Angelica asked.
Aria sighed. “No, dear. You can marry anyone you want, but I know you. I know you have been sheltered your whole life, but I can plainly see the attraction both have for each other. If you want to fight it, so be it. This is your life, and I just want you to be happy.”
“He’s just so damn arrogant.”
“Baby, all the good men are. Look at my men,” Aria said.
“I heard that,” Mateo said from the next office, making both women laugh.
“I’m supposed to go over for dinner tonight.”
Aria nodded. “Your sister Hope told me we’re all invited, but my guys and I won’t be able to make it this time.”
“So, I’d go by myself?” God, she sounded pathetic and like a baby.
“Yes. But you’re a big girl, and you’ll have a guard and a driver, so you won’t be unprotected.”
Angelica rolled her eyes. “I’m never unprotected.”
“I have to know my girls are safe, and the world we live in makes that nearly impossible,” Aria said. “So, I’m going to do everything in my power to protect you. Let me take care of my baby girls, please.”
Angelica bent down and hugged her mother. “I know, Mama.”
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too, Mama. Hope told me I should spend the night because it would be late when the dinner is finished. Theirdinners and after drinks last for hours.”
“I think that’s a great idea. I won’t worry so much,” Aria said.
“Fine. I’m going to go up to my room and get ready and pack a bag.”
“Don’t forget to come to see me before you leave,” Aria said.
“Of course.”
Angelica made it up to her room, closed and locked the door, and leaned back against it. The feeling of being watched was getting stronger. She was afraid to say anything to her mother because she had enough on her plate disassembling the human trafficking organization her father started.
If it got worse, she’d say something to Mateo or Trent. She had a guess who was doing it. Kenneth. He was a new guard that her mother and her men had hired a few weeks ago, and she sometimes caught the way he stared at her when he didn’t think she saw.
It was the look in his eyes that scared her. It was a possessive, slightly unstable expression that he was very good at hiding.
She had no idea what she had done to gain his unwanted attention, but it scared the shit out of her, and she didn’t know what to do about it. It had only been the looks she caught so far, but she had a feeling he would start to become bolder, and there was something off about him.
I’ll give it time.