“–wait for her to get up.” Mia completed and Angel looked back up, and she seemed to take a step back. He didn’t know what his face held for her to have such a reaction. Didn’t really care.
“Get me out of here.” He said gravelly, unable to hear his own words. Unable to understand them. Because Angel wouldn’t lose hope. Not now.
Not ever. Because what right did he have?
Who was she to him?
“And find out where Akash is.” He rasped and saw Mia nod briskly at his words, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Her hospital gown swayed with the brush of wind, but Angel glanced away from her. Away from the rest of them and chose to stare out the window. At the dawning sky that was just beginning to rise. He blinked, just once and barely noticed Mia walk away. He didn’t really want to deal with questions he himself didn’t have answers to, didn’t want to think about things that might be true. So, he turned to Jack,
“Where’s Noah’s body?” he asked, and Jack sat up straighter on the corner of his bed, “Does his family know?”
Jack didn’t miss a beat but was unable to hide that note of grief and pain in his voice as he replied, “Kyle must’ve been counting on–” a pause and Angel lolled his head to look at him. Showed him he didn’t care, and Jack seemed to straighten at that, “They don’t know yet. News hasn’t broken.”
Angel’s brows shot up.How much money had they spent to stop this from spreading?Well, he’d have to do the same regardless. He turned to Christina, who looked at him with a mix of attention and concern in her eyes,
"I’m fine,” he started and saw the concern dim, “Focus on keeping it within borders for now. No news of Ray, of Noah gets out.” He ignored the flash in Christina’s eyes at the mention of her name, “People must’ve turned on Akash, but that doesn’t mean they’re on our sides now. If they get to know one of the two key players of this alliance are dead, then this would all have been for nothing.”
He wouldn’t acknowledge it. She would make it. He would fucking make her.
Christina must’ve seen that fierceness in his expression because she took a step back, her shoulders straightening to a painful degree,
“We’ll be fine.” She stated it like a fact. Angel sighed at that conviction, somewhat relieved his teammates weren’t as close to crumbling as he was. As if on cue, those honey eyes flashed past his mind, making his vision blurry for justonesecond. Angel jerked forward, his hand going to his head as he masked the throbbing with a subtle sigh,
“How much harm did the explosion do?” he asked. Kyle hadn’t told him all the details, but Sorin’s words, hisactionsstill kept ringing in his ears.Sorin took a bullet for Dad,Kyle had said and had continued before leaving Angel in the hospital room,
“He’s admitted now. Dad knows about it but mom’s injured because of the bomb–” a pause, a catch of breath, “So it doesn’t matter right now.”
“Maya’s in dire condition.” Luke began in a quiet voice as Christina shut the door behind him. She came and sat beside Jack, who put his arm around her shoulder and tucked her closer without saying a word, “Akash, Myra, and Irene areM.I.A,and Neera is injured as well. Cameron’s here with her.”
Angel grit his teeth and averted his gaze, his hands fisting as he thought of the ground underneath shaking to the point ofshattering.To the thunderous sounds that the explosion emitted before it threw him and Ray off,
“The event’s a massacre. The airports should have been sealed, but they’ve been kept open for specific people. Alessandro should be flying out today with Maya to check her into a better hospital.” Luke continued and Angel turned to him, his brows furrowing, his head pounding,
“What happened to her?”
Luke shook his head, but Angel didn’t miss the way his laced hands tightened, “She was too close to the bomb site. Glass shards, the overall impact threw her hard enough to sustain heavy brain and lung damage.”
“Shit,” Angel swore, and ran a hand through his hair abruptly,
“Shit indeed,” Echoed Jack as Luke slumped further and continued,
“Noah’s body has disappeared. Good chance Akash took it with him to parade it across the world and use it to frame us.”
“He can’t–”
“He can.” Christina interrupted, “If he buys off enough of the world, he can get the power the Larsens hold. He wouldn’t have caused such a big mess if he wasn’t ready to deal with the consequences.”
Angel's head was beginning to hurt with all this information. With the thought of Ray, of his world, of what this meant forhim,everything. He didn’t know what todo–
Because somewhere along the line, he’d started believing in something he’d long lost hope in. Believing insomeonehe’d long hoped to meet. And now he didn’t even know where she was.
“If Akash is smart, he would leave.”
Angel said, voicing his thoughts out loud, “He would leave this wretched island and twist a story about something that would leaveusvulnerable.”
“He already has enough allies to support this.” Christina agreed and sat straighter against Jack, “If we don’t say anything, by tomorrow he’ll have the world believing a story that never happened.”
“It doesn’t matter–” Luke started when a largebanghad all of them up on their seat.
