"What now?" Nadia tensed up and unconsciously started to bite her fingernails. She wondered if someone had seen her and Angel the night before and had ratted them out. She gasped and stepped back when her uncle looked up. Her heartbeat accelerated. She swallowed and her eyes darted in their sockets as she pondered on what to do. She always made sure to stay clear of her uncle whenever he was in one of his shitty moods but she had no idea why he would ask for Angel as soon as he stepped out of the car, looking that livid. She figured staying in her room would not get her the information she needed, she decided then to go and welcome her uncle. Internally cringing at the idea.
Nadia quickly brushed her teeth, had a scented bath and picked an open-back jumpsuit that clung to her shapely body. When she stood in front of the vanity mirror in her bathroom, she swallowed at the picture she posed. Without a bra, her breast stood full and perky and her nipples strained through the strap of fabric covering them. Her hair fell over her shoulders and down her back in exotic wavy curls, framing her face and making her look even more desirable. She picked up a pair of sunglasses and a shawl to wrap around her neck then left her room, walking down the long wide corridor in heels and her inside in knots.
When the elevator came to halt and the doors slid open she heard her uncle say, "If you fuck this up for me, I swear I will forget you are my son! I want Angel…" His voice trailed off when Nadia stepped out of the elevator. Every eye settled on her. But the one she cared most about was Angel's. She could feel his eyes on her. The magnetic pull between them was palpable. She skipped her gazes about seemingly perturbed. Daniel and Matthew were standing a few feet away from their father. They were both standing side by side so Nadia could not say who her uncle was addressing, Mathew was a head taller than Daniel. They both looked like their father except Mathew was a tad less sadistic than Daniel. When she caught Daniel leering haze on her she couldn't help pulling her shawl over her chest. The man gave her the creeps. She flashed them both a quick smile. And involuntarily her eyes settled on Angel. His gaze wasn't on her now but on Daniel and his eyes were dark and his jaw set.
He stood aside with his hands behind his back and three guards flanked him on both sides. He was wearing a T-shirt over his usual cargo pants. She figured that must be the only kind of trousers they could get for someone of his size. He stood tall and quite huge. She quickly took her eyes away from him and met her uncle's gaze. Forcing a subtle smile, she stepped forward to give him a kiss on his jaw, and immediately stepped back, "Welcome uncle," said Nadia
"Hmm… " the older man grunted, giving her a searching gaze before nodding. Nadia knew he must be wondering what had prompted such a warm welcome from her. He then gestured for the men to follow him.
Nadia stood aside as her uncle walked towards a flight of short stairs against the sidewall and everyone followed him.
"Looking … pretty edible, Cousin," Daniel whispered as he walked past her and winked. She plastered a frozen smile on her face. He chuckled. Mathew gave her a curt nod and walked past her too. He looked peeved as always and Nadia assumed he must have been the one her uncle was talking to earlier.
The guards flanking Angel didn't move from the spot, their eyes fixed on her. When she caught one ogling her chest she arched an eyebrow at him and he quickly looked away and straightened his shoulders. She didn't want to risk looking at Angel again but then her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own. She found herself lifting her gaze to meet his and found him glowering at her. She quickly looked away, held her face forward and Sasha away. Although she didn't quite know what was happening.
She was relieved her uncle's anger wasn't directed at Angel. But she still wondered why he had summoned him. When she looked back she saw his wrists were in cuffs, and the clicking of iron made her lower her eyes to his feet and she saw his ankles were in chains as well. Her heart constricted and tears smarted her eyes. Angel glanced back and their eyes caught but this time the anger had left his eyes. It was now replaced by emotion she could not quite describe. But she thought he seemed befuddled.
‘I am so sorry…’ thought Nadia, before averting her eyes and walking away.
Angel watched her leave, then directed his eyes up the stairs. He realized the reason why he had the chance to look back without any of the guards prodding him with a taser gun was that they were all doing the same thing. Angel felt his anger bubble.
“Shouldn’t we be following the boss?” he said in a deep gravelly tone, catching the other men unawares. One glared at him and shoved him forward. Angel didn’t mind at all. At least now, they weren’t all ogling his woman. He clenched his teeth. Why the hell she had chosen to dress like that was beyond him. Didn’t she know she would be attracting all kinds of wrong attention? Or was that exactly what she had intended? He recalled how even Daniel had gawked at her. He swore he could smell his lust! What the hell?! She was his freaking family – his blood. What Kurt said the night before replayed in his head. But then he thought If indeed she was afraid or felt any fear at all around her family, she would have had the good sense to not attract their attention negatively. Daniel was a sexual predator and Mathew just has better control even their father was no better, and she had chosen to exhibit her body around the perverts. Daniel’s leering gaze reappeared in his head and he clenched his jaw. He silently prayed he was wrong. The recollection of her teary eyes watching him in obvious anguish made his thick eyebrows furrow in a frown. ‘What was that about?’ he thought. For some reason, her request to spend the night with him resounded in his head and he recalled her reaction when she had seen him in cuffs as well. He slowly lowered his eyes to the chains around his ankles and he wondered if seeing him like that had gotten to her which didn’t make sense to him. Perhaps when she said she had literally been living here like an ostrich with her head in the sand she had been telling the truth? ‘Now that would be stupid,’ he thought. And stupid was not a term he would use for the sweet Nadia. He recalled how Antonio Rufus had seemed surprised at her warm welcome; it made him somewhat suspicious that he wasn’t used to her greeting him like that. He perceived the action had made him stop berating his first son, that and the fucking way she dressed. Had she done that on purpose? And for what?