ANGEL'S WRATH by SK (SIN CITY HEAT) (17 page)

Chapter 16

 
 
 
 
How had she misjudged him so?
Nikki sniffed and angrily wiped the stubborn tears that just
 
refused to be kept at bay. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him come around the bed. When he just stood there watching her, she raised disillusioned, furious eyes.
 

 
 
 
 
"What are you waiting on? Just leave."

 
 
 
 
"It's my condo. I don't have to go anywhere.”

 
 
 
 
Gasping at his callousness, Nikki forgot the hurt and focused on what a selfish son of a bitch he was. She threw the covers back and hopped out of bed. "Fine! I'll go! You are such an ass!"

 
 
 
 
Angel's arm curled around her waist when she tried to go around him. Nikki shoved him hard in the chest, livid when that didn't move him. "Let me go! I'll raise this baby myself! I…"

 
 
 
 
"Marry me."

 
 
 
 
His words had the effect of ice cold water being thrown on her feverish emotions. She blinked up at him with wide eyes before her mouth twisted in a mutinous frown and her brows slashed downwards. "No. I don't need you to marry me out of a sense of responsibility, Angelo LaCroix. So you can just take your half-assed proposal and shove it up your arrogant…"

 
 
 
 
"Nicole..." Angel held up a black, square velvet box and opened it. "Marry me."

 
 
 
 
Nikki's eyes stretched wide as she stared at the ring. The huge, rectangular cut canary yellow diamond was flawless and winked at her mischievously as if the joke was on her. It was surrounded by a bed of sparkling baguette diamonds, giving it an overall exquisite, fiery effect that left Nikki speechless. She brought her hands up and covered her mouth, finally looking up at Angel, shaking her head in disbelief.

 
 
 
 
Angel took the ring out and tossed the box on the bed behind her before taking her left hand in his. "Marry me," he repeated.

 
 
 
 
Dropping the hand still covering her mouth, Nikki nodded and replied in an awe filled whisper, "Yes."

 
 
 
 
A flash of relief appeared in Angel's face for the briefest of moments, telling Nikki he wasn’t as cool and confident about her answer as he projected. She smiled when he slipped the ring on her finger then framed her face in his hands.

 
 
 
 
"I'd planned on asking you to marry me anyway, Nik." Angel placed his hand over her flat stomach which would soon be swollen with his seed. "You having my son makes it even more perfect."

 
 
 
 
Nikki's hand covered his. "What makes you think it's a boy?"

 
 
 
 
Angel laughed. "I just know. Trust me."

 
 
 
 
"Are you sure you're okay with it? You're not mad? I thought…"

 
 
 
 
"I know what you thought, baby, and I'm sorry I upset you. It's just that my first thought was to get this damn ring on your finger." Angel kneeled down in front of her and placed his hands at her waist as he gently kissed her stomach and rested his face against it. "Am I mad about you being pregnant with my child? You've just given me something I thought I'd never have. Why would I be mad at that?"

 
 
 
 
Stroking his hair, tears sprang to Nikki's eyes. In a moment of clarity, she realized exactly what this meant to Angel. She knew how much he missed and loved the family he'd had when he was younger. When they became estranged, he had no one, not even Dominick until recently. She was his family now and their baby was his blood. They belonged to him. He told her he was working to legitimize his businesses, and she had to trust and believe that would happen, especially now. She didn't want to live in fear of losing him to the streets or the legal system, no matter how much he reassured her everything would be okay. She wouldn’t be able to bear either circumstance if that ever happened.

 
 
 
 
"I love you so much Angelo," she whispered still running her hand over his soft hair.

 
 
 
 
Angel stood up and kissed her softly. They climbed back in the bed, talking and making plans for their wedding and their baby. Nikki eagerly agreed when he suggested they get married in the Caribbean. He'd purchased a small island there years ago, close to where his mother was born and raised before she migrated to the states.

 
 
 
 
 
Neither of them wanted to wait. Nikki planned on calling her family within the next couple of days and telling them she and Angel were getting married, something she wasn’t looking forward to. Her parents had been good friends with the Spains and remembered Angel well. They knew about the life he'd chosen to lead and how Dominick had innocently gotten caught up in Angel's illegal activities and spent the better part of his youth behind bars because he refused to testify against his brother. They also blamed Angel for getting their son involved in the streets. Jacoby had chosen his own path, but they chose to deal with his loss by blaming someone else, and that someone was Angel.

 
 
 
 
 
When Nikki asked Angel if he was going to invite Dominick, she noticed his hesitation and knew exactly what he was thinking. Deep down inside, he still had a fear of Dom being exposed to enemies who would use him to get to Angel. However, Dominick had told him many times, they would stand together as brothers against anything that threatened them as a family, no matter who or what it was.

 
 
 
 
"Angel, it's time to lower some of your walls. I'd like our wedding to be the start of that. Please?"

 
 
 
 
The soft denial for that one request was on the tip of his tongue; old instincts died hard, but Angel found himself agreeing with her. As Nikki snuggled contentedly in his arms, he wondered how she'd entered his world such a short while ago and succeeded in changing his life. He smiled and shook his head. Was this how their marriage was going to be? All Nikki had to do was bat her beautiful eyes at him and he found himself going along with whatever she wanted. Talk about new experiences.

 
 
 
 
Angel didn't doze off until a hint of dawn began to show outside his window. He'd lain there thinking about his parents...his mother especially. Before things became unbearably strained between them, she'd made him promise to turn his life around and be the man she knew he could be.

 
 
 
 
Closing his eyes, he exhaled softly. Nikki reminded him of his mother in so many ways. Funny how the love of a good woman could make even the worst of men want to do right.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
"Damn. Now this is fuckin' livin'." Marcus Bennett looked at Dominick and grinned. "Your brother is that dude, huh man? First class all the way."

 
 
 
 
"That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, Marcus." Darrell Monroe's gray eyes twinkled as he glanced around their luxurious surroundings. "Private jet to get us here. This fly ass yacht to transport us to a private island he
owns?
Shiiit. I wanna be like him when I grow up."

 
 
 
 
Dominick laughed at his two friends. He looked out at the crystal clear blue water lapping gently behind the yacht that glided along smoothly taking them to their destination. "Yeah, my brother definitely plays as hard as he works, but he's had to sacrifice a lot, you feel me? The price he pays for this kind of lifestyle is too high for my blood."

 
 
 
 
"I hear ya, man," Marcus added somberly. "I don't know much more than what you've told us about him, but I'd have to pass too. It's bad enough having to watch out for people fuckin' with you for no reason. I can't imagine having to live like this all the time." Marcus' eyes wandered to the two men standing on the top level of the luxury yacht. They were imposing figures who'd introduced themselves as part of Mr. LaCroix's security team. Both were dressed identically in conservative black suits and dark glasses that shaded their eyes.

 
 
 
 
"Yeah." Darrell followed Marcus' gaze. "I remember the number of men Angel had guarding his home that time we had to go there to ask for his help. Had enough security to rival the secret service."

 
 
 
 
They were quiet for a moment as they remembered that night from a year ago. Marcus and Darrell didn't find out until after they left the huge mansion that the man lounging by the indoor pool was Dom's brother. It had taken Angel less than twenty-four hours to find the woman blackmailing Dom and Keisha. He'd cleared her house of anything connecting her to Keisha, and as far as the woman's family was concerned, she'd taken a sudden trip and no one had heard from her since. The men sincerely hoped they weren't still waiting...Angel had taken care of Rochelle permanently.

 
 
 
 
Dom leaned back against the rails and looked at Darrell. "How's Jerra? She okay about coming here?"

 
 
 
 
Darrell winced as he glanced towards the front end of the yacht where their wives were sitting. "To be honest, Dom, she says she's alright, but I'm not sure."

 
 
 
 
"Coming to the Caribbean has to bring up unpleasant memories for her, D. No way around that. But she knows how much you love her and your family." Marcus gave Darrell a reassuring slap on the shoulder.

 
 
 
 
"Yeah, but she also has to be thinking about how much I hurt her." Darrell stared at his wife, distracted and thoughtful.

 
 
 
 
Several months earlier, he and Jerra had gone through a bad period. They'd literally came to a crossroads in their marriage, and Darrell took the path that could've ruined their lives beyond repair. While Marcus and his wife Aleesha were in Aruba celebrating their wedding anniversary, Marcus spotted a woman from Darrell's past who both men thought was dead. The woman, Roni, had been very special to Darrell at one time, someone he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. Six years prior, she'd been the target of unspeakable violence and taken bullets meant for him. Later that night, she'd flatlined and died, or so Darrell thought.

 
 
 
In actuality, she'd been whisked out of the country by her cousin, who Darrell considered a close friend at one time. Doctors had been flown in to do what physicians in the states deemed impossible, and that was what saved Roni's life. Bryan, Roni's cousin admitted a friend of theirs more or less took care of everything, but Bryan refused to reveal anything about him.

 
 
 
Marcus called Darrell to tell him that he'd spotted Roni alive and well on the island of Aruba. Even knowing how much it would hurt Jerra, Darrell left immediately to confront Roni about why she'd let him continue to believe she was dead all these years. It took a minute for he and Jerra to find their way back to each other after that, but since then, things had been better than ever.

 
 
 
 
"What about you, Darrell?" Dom asked. "I know you haven’t talked to Roni, but it has to be a crazy feeling knowing you're only a boat ride from where she lives. You a'ight with that?"

 
 
 
 
"Hell yeah. Like I told y'all, Roni is my past. I'll always care about her, but Jerra is my baby. She's my wife, the mother of my child...my everything. No other woman will ever come close to that."