“Have you heard anything?” Adalyn’s eyes practically begged Lake to know something, anything. Her soul told her that he might be in trouble, which frightened her, and after asking around and going to his hotel room, she came up empty.

It had been three days since she had last seen Angel. Three days since that kiss of a lifetime. And even though she was probably better off without ever seeing him again, she couldn’t help wondering what exactly was happening between them. Finding their “little game” enticed her more than anything ever before, she didn’t want it to end so soon.

All Lake could do was shake her head solemnly.

“Something bad happened to him.” She felt herself breaking down. “I can feel it.”

“I think something did,” Lake finally admitted as she moved closer to her friend, keeping her voice down. “Every time I asked Vincent about him, he didn’t really answer.”

Adalyn swallowed down the vomit that was rising. Whenever someone goes missing in the mafia, it means only one thing.

“What if he’s—”

“You don’t know that yet,” Lake tried to console her.

No, Adalyn didn’t know that. She didn’t know anything; that was the problem. She at least needed to know what happened to him. It was always better to know than not to know.

No matter the cost.

* * *

“What are you doing?” Sal asked when Adalyn kept walking.

She didn’t open her mouth or turn back, determined to see him.

Sal kept following her. “You can’t do that. He’s with someone.”

“Try me,” she barked back at him.

When she raised her hand to pound on the door, Sal tried to stop her, but she kicked him in the nuts.

“What the fuck!”

“Where is he?” She banged on the door as Sal toppled to the ground.

“You little b—”

“I know you’re in there, Lucca!” she yelled, continuing to beat the door down.

When the door to his office finally and quickly opened, she almost hit Lucca’s chest.

A very unhappy and furious demon stared her down.

“I’m sorry, but she kicked me in the … balls.” Sal’s voice was very high-pitched.

“Where is he?” she asked with a determined expression. She didn’t care how scary or how incredibly hot Lucca looked when he was mad; she wasn’t leaving until she had answers.

“Leave,” was all he said before he began to shut the door, but it stopped when a small body with long, black hair came out from behind him.

A scarred eyebrow rose. “Who?”

Adalyn was shocked that Chloe had appeared from behind him. Has she been hiding behind him? What are they doing in there? Stay on track, Adalyn!

“Angel,” Adalyn finally answered.

As a slight tinge of hurt appeared in Chloe’s eyes at the mention of his name, all Adalyn’s furiousness left her. She understood Angel was Lucifer’s son, but that wasn’t who he was to her.

She felt herself beginning to plead with her. “He’s been missing, and no one will tell me where he went.”

Chloe stared at her for a moment, then tilted her head up to Lucca. “Where is he?”

Lucca slowly, visibly began to break down. Then he turned his head back to Adalyn, silently killing her with his eyes before he gave in.

“Sal, get up.”

Sal managed to stand with his hands protecting his possessions.

“Let her see him,” was all he said before the door slammed back in her face.

“Thanks, Chloe!” Adalyn yelled, smiling at the door.

As she turned around to see a very pissed off Sal, it was the first time she had ever seen him mad, which was strange.

Giving him a helpless smile, she tried to laugh. “Sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”

Silence was all she got.

“Are they … okay?” she asked, recalling how she might have kicked them a little too hard.

“No. No, they aren’t.” He slightly adjusted himself before walking away.

Oops.

Adalyn followed Sal, not knowing where he was taking her until they got off the elevator on the ninth floor, then went up to a random hotel room. She watched as Sal pulled out a key card from his pocket, then slid it in, unlocking the door.

“Here?” she asked quietly, suddenly nervous, not knowing what to expect on the other side of the door.

Nodding, Sal opened the door for her to go in.

Stepping into the room that looked much like the one Angel had been in before, she practically jumped when the door was closed behind her. Then she tiptoed in farther, not seeing him until the bed came into view. She gasped at the sight, almost unable to believe it.

Walking closer to him, tears beginning to brim her eyes, she saw that he was black and blue all over, severely beaten. Placing a hand on the sleeping Angel’s arm, she quickly pulled it back when he jumped awake with a force that didn’t look like he should have been capable of in his condition. It seemed as if he had awakened from a nightmare and was ready to fight.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he snapped, slowly trying to sit up and get comfortable. The way he had jarred himself awake hadn’t helped his injuries.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just …” Trying to calm her nerves from the fright, she took a breath, wondering if she should admit the truth. Then she did. “I was worried about you.”

Staring at her for a moment, he relaxed, losing his harsh expression. “You were worried about me?”

“Yes. I thought something might have happened to you, and it looks like I was right.” When she took a step toward him, her eyes got a little cloudy at seeing him like this. There were bruises covering his face and other parts she could see that weren’t covered by his T-shirt yet were hard to see from all his dark tattoos.

Noticing her distress, he seemed to take on a different temperament. “I just got beat up a little, is all.”

Is he being … sweet?

She gave a little chuckle as she tried to dry her eyes. “A little?”

He tried to laugh himself but wasn’t really capable. “Okay, I might have gotten the shit beat out of me, but to be fair, there were three of them.”

“Three? Who were they?” She was lucky to be looking at a man and not mashed potatoes.

“It doesn’t matt—”

“Yes, it does.” She stared at him, realizing it had to be Carusos. “Joey was one of them, wasn’t he? What if he does it again?”

That sweet temperament vanished in an instant. “That’s my problem, sweetness, not yours. I’ll deal with it.”

Seeing the look of retribution in his eyes, Adalyn slowly nodded.

“How did you find me? Who even let you in?”

Biting her lip, she debated on telling him the truth. “I may have kicked Sal in the balls trying to talk to Lucca to get him to tell me where you were. Sal let me in.” She smiled at the last part.

Amused, Angel curved his lips up, smiling. “Did you really?”

“I did,” Adalyn admitted with a laugh. “No one was telling me where you were or where you went, and I couldn’t get in touch with you. I thought you might have died.”

“Give me your phone,” he demanded.

Doing as he asked, she submissively handed it over to him.

Touching the screen, he managed to type with the arm that hadn’t gotten hurt too badly. “I’m giving you my number, but know that my phone’s being watched, so only contact me if you need me.”

“Okay.” She felt better now knowing she could find him if he went missing again.

When he handed her phone back, she reached out to grab it, then found herself grabbed and dragged down to the bed to sit beside him. Shocked at first, the second he placed his hand on her jaw, she melted into it.

“Adalyn, there’s something else I need from you.” His tone turned as dark as his eyes that now bore into her. “I put an address in your phone under my contact.”

Her heart was pumping out of her chest not sure if she was liking where this was going.

“If anything happens to me, I need you to make sure that my friend and my friend only gets the ring.”

Shaking her head, she didn’t like what he was saying. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

He slowly grazed his knuckles against her cheek. “I don’t belong here, sweetness; you know that.”

He had told her so simply, and she knew he was right, as sad as that fact was. She remembered what she had told him herself when she first met him. You’re in enemy territory. For as long as he was there, he would never be safe.

Nodding, she agreed to do it for him.

“Promise me.” He didn’t ask but ordered to hear it from her.

Whispering her promise, she gave him what he wanted. “I promise, Angel.”

“Thank you.” He smiled and continued his motion only for a second longer before he let her go. “You better go before Sal or Lucca come back to check on you.”

“Am I going to see you again?” Adalyn bit her lip, not wanting to leave his side. She didn’t know what this meant for Angel, if or when he could go back to watching her at school, or even if Lucca would allow it, considering the Carusos hated him so badly.

“I don’t know when I can see you again, but I’ll find you, sweetness,” he made his own promise this time. “I still need the ring you stole from me, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.” She smiled, but you’re definitely not getting it back anytime soon.

Taking a breath, assured she would see him again, she started to leave, but then she remembered she at least needed a name for who to return the ring to.

“What’s your friend’s name?”

Getting up from his bed, hurt and stung by the name he had given her, she walked away from him.

Hearing that name had burned her soul. It was in the way he had said it, the way he had formed that beautiful name, the way it had sounded as it had passed his lips, and the look in his eyes as it did. It was something only a woman would understand when the man she was falling for said another woman’s name.

It was a name she wouldn’t ever forget, no matter how desperately she wanted to.

Bella.