Chapter 22 – Surprise guest
1317 Words
Five hours later, Angel was at her desk when Ric poked his head in. She glanced up at him and nodded.
“What’s up?”
“You got a few minutes?”
“No, but I’ll make it. Have a seat.” Angel saved what she was working on, making a mental note to check on the clubs later on, something lingering in the back of her mind.
“I sent word out to the men and families about Tribute in two weeks, and I gave them the new location.”
“Great. Did you also tell them that if they wanted to skip I would take that personally and more than likely kill a few people?”
“Yes.”
“And their response, Ric?”
“As of right now, Boss, everyone is saying they will be there; although they don’t like doing it at your club. They would prefer to keep it where it always was.”
“I’m the boss, the one in charge. When I say to do it, they better f*****g do it, without all the bitching.” Angel let out a breath and shook her head. “Does it seem to you that all of these men are screaming like little want to be bitches? I would think I was dealing with females with the way they have their drama.”
“I can’t imagine being in your shoes, Boss.” Angel smirked as she eyed her brother.
“Don’t; you couldn’t pull off heels.” They both laughed at that, but Angel cut it short when her cell rang out and Damian’s name came up, which was odd to her. “Damian?”
“Yeah, are you busy?” he questioned from the other end.
“Not really.” She paused as she heard something in his voice. “What is it? What happened?” That sent Ric on alert and he quickly glanced at her.
“I got an email, a rather nasty email.” That had Angel sitting upright and she could feel the waves coming off of Ric.
“Okay, can you send a picture of it? And then can you open it from your laptop?”
“Yes to both.”
“Go ahead and do it. And then I would like for you to bring your laptop to my office.”
“Why?”
“There are a couple things I need to discuss with you. And that email might be a damn good starting point.” Angel heard the low growl on the other end and knew what she had to tell him would only upset him even more.
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Damian growled in annoyance and frustration as he ended the call and then threw his phone on the desk. He wasn’t sure, however, if he was upset and annoyed with the s**t that something might be happening again or that Angel knew something and kept it hidden. Neither actually settled well with him. He glanced at his phone before he picked up and took a picture, sending it to her cell phone. Once he did that, he threw the phone back down.
“What did that thing ever do to you?” Damian’s gaze snapped up and he looked the man over who was standing in his office doorway.
“Not the thing that annoyed me but the person on the other end of it.” Damian stood up and offered a hand shake out to the man. “What brings you by Michael?”
“Can’t a man stop by and see his hard working yet favorite cousin?” They shared a smile as the man took Damian’s out stretched hand.
“I’m glad you stopped by, it’s been too long since I last saw you.”
“Yeah, work has kept me busy and I’ve been out of the country for a bit because of it.”
“I would love to hear about it,” Damian told his cousin and meant it.
“How about you wrap up things early here and you and I can go grab a drink.” Damian saw his phone light up, as did Michael, who chuckled. “Oh, did my cousin find a girl while I was away?”
“Maybe. But how about a rain check on the drink? I need to take something over to her and she’s on a time limit.”
“Sure, no problem. Maybe I’ll stop by and surprise you for a lunch one afternoon.”
“I’d like that; I’d love to catch up.” Damian unplugged his laptop and Michael tilted his head in slight confusion but didn’t ask anything.
“Chi è lei (who is she)?” Damian grabbed his jacket and pulled it on, a smirk playing around his lips. Everyone worth a damn knew the Bellalini name; you really couldn’t walk around LA and not now know.
“Her name is Angelina.”
“Oh, una donna italiana; nonno vorrebbe che (oh, a Italian woman; grandpa would love that).” Yes, Damian agreed there.
“Maybe I’ll bring her by for a dinner at some point. How about you swing by tomorrow for lunch? I’ll make sure to act surprised.” Michael chuckled as he walked out with Damian down to his car. “You know Michael; nonno (grandpa) loves you and Stacy just as much, even if she’s not of Italian decent.”
“I know. Have fun, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Damian watched his cousin walk away, happy to have him back but wondering just what else he was going to sprout out.
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Angel buzzed Damian onto the floor and walked down to meet him at the doorway. He kept glancing around as he followed her, quite impressed with all that she had here, like at her other places. There was no doubt that Angel was a business woman and knew a thing or two and was not doing badly for herself.
“So, why did you need my laptop?”
“You know how I said I talked to my dad?” Damian sat down in her office, a brow lifted. He wasn’t sure that was something he would ever forget. At her nod, she went on, “what I didn’t mention was the why.”
“Okay, why?” Angel gave him a pointed look and he quickly shut up.
“When we were at the fundraiser event, I felt a really cold hard stare and I was always told to trust my gut, and I do. So, because of that, I had Ric get me a guest list of that evening and then to break it down. See, for me, I’m used to those stares and if it was just me, I wouldn’t have questioned it but given that I’m watching out for you…”
“You think it might have been for me?” She nodded at his question. “So, what did that list show?”
“One, I have my own fair share of enemies. And two, so do you. There are quite a few people who dislike you that were there. So because of the sheer size, rather than using men to cover all of those people, I was going to ask my brother, who is a computer whiz, to help monitor things. But, my dad has never wanted the two babies to be part of this world, so that nasty affair happened.”
“Thought most men wanted their sons in this life?”
“Most, but dad already had three of us, he didn’t want more.”
“I see.” Damian stood up, his anger blubbing just below the surface and he was struggling to be respectful like she deserved. “Why didn’t you tell me about the list?” he burst out, unable to hold that in.
- Writer
