Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2) Read Free Page B

They fidgeted in the squeaky metal chairs, examining the stains on their boots and the cleanliness of their hands. They even avoided eye contact among themselves. A young dark angel wiped his brow and licked his lips. But they all kept their heads bowed.
    Peter wondered if the fight in them was extinguished or just temporarily hidden. He’d had his fun yesterday and wasn’t in the mood to kill again today. But he also knew some of these men had developed affection for the former director and were probably uncomfortable with the fact, as well as the manner of his death.
    “I want this dark angel found and brought here by tomorrow evening.” Peter stood up suddenly and heard the collective squeak of metal chairs in response. “I have a steady supply of bodies and absolutely no need for anyone who cannot follow orders.” He leaned over the desk, demanding their attention. “Are we clear on that?”
    There were mumbled “Yes, sirs” and an overall nodding of heads. The staffers seemed relieved they had been given a command they had a prayer of executing. One of them even managed a smirk Peter chose to ignore. There was a collective sigh of relief when they were dismissed.
    Peter sat back down in his new black leather chair, watching his ragtag crew silently shuffle single file from his office. He was excited his newfound position would finally allow him to bring the Underworld to its former glory. First, he had some housekeeping things to attend to. He looked over the disarray of books and papers on the other wall, the pile of magazines thrown in the corner. By tomorrow it all would be clean, without a page bent or out of place.
    Disgraceful. Utterly disgraceful.
    “Cleanliness is next to…” He smiled and didn’t finish the sentence. His gaze landed on the faded red folder again. He needed to be careful with Joshua Brandon, the legendary dark angel everyone looked up to. That particular piece of housekeeping had to be handled with great care.
    Like a gourmet meal, this was something he wanted to savor for a while. It was exciting to finally get to this point.  No need to rush. It had been years since he’d played a real high stakes game of cat and mouse.
    He was looking forward to it.

Chapter 3
     
    Melanie opened the gated courtyard entrance to Ray of Sunshine , her flower shop. She stepped through the patio to the glass French doors of the shop. The little bell tinkled as she opened the green womb of her space. Propped wide by a barrel cactus in a red pot, the door displayed the green hand lettering she had done herself. She brushed her fingers over the backwards letters, proud of her newfound talent.  The first fresh scent of flowers hitting her nostrils was the best part of her day. She stood at the doorway’s edge and inhaled, letting it wash over her soul, grateful for this at least. Every morning the scent took away some of the dark sadness inside her and she came alive.
    She set her backpack down behind the counter and reset the alarm, her thoughts drifting to Felix and the fact that he was gone. Gone forever. Her lower lip quivered as a single teardrop watered a bouquet of mums. She felt responsible. Guilty.
    Could I have done something? It was a question she asked herself every day.
    Whenever she started to cry, and she had been doing it a lot during the past few days, she would run into the refrigerator and hang out with the bouquets and boughs of flowers in tall white metal cones. The chill of the air made it impossible for the tears to come. She would stand in the cold and think of Felix’s body: frigid, immobile and in the ground. She’d been the only one who’d grieved, really grieved for him on the day of his funeral.
    They had been buddies ever since he defended her from the bullies in their kindergarten class. He made her life tolerable for all those years her parents were so caught up in the society circuit, ignoring their talented and sensitive daughter’s maturation. She endured a string