Gangster's Girl (Complete)

Chapter 8 - Part 2

"What's the point?" I asked, with my hand on my hip.

We had been going around in circles and we were no near agreeing on anything.

"This is a real marriage and we will have a real wedding," Angel declared.

I sighed. "Why do you only consider it a real wedding if it's a big wedding? It's still going to be an official wedding whether we have a handful of guests or not."

"If we don't do this correctly it will give the impression that it's not a real marriage. We have to make sure our union sends the right message."

"I don't want to do the whole circus. It's bad enough that we have no love between us, I don't want to stand in front of hundreds of people and make vows that are lies."

"We will be together in sickness and in health."

"It's the love part, that's the lie." I rubbed my forehead. I'd hoped he could see things from my point of view but so far he wouldn't budge and it was frustrating.

Was this how things would work in our marriage? He would continue to argue until he got his way.

All my fairytales from my childhood, from the white dress, to the happy ever after were dying slowly arguing with Angel over the details of our wedding.

"I'm tired and I don't want to argue about this anymore," I said, sinking down in the chair across from him.

He frowned. "You seem to be tired a lot lately?"

How had he even noticed that, I barely saw him during the day. He was always busy in his study with James or he was out.

"It's nothing, it's just been a long day."

The fact the four am sessions with James were wrecking havoc on me and I always seemed to be so tired. I had no idea if Angel knew about them or not but I wasn't going to tell him for fear he might put a stop to them because I was just starting to get the hang of what James was teaching me.

The first time I had hit the target paper I had squealed in delight much to James' dismay. I had been so proud of myself nothing was going to dampen it. I wasn't a great aim but I was working on it and hoping with more practice I would get better.

James had taken me through all the security measures on the property. He had shown me where the guns were kept in the house. They were all hidden quite cleverly, all in different places stored in small safes that looked like something else entirely opened with a keypad. No matter where I was I would always have access to a weapon so matter which floor I was on.

He had also started to go over what security measures they had in place for when we were away from the property. From the bullet proof cars to the number of bodyguards who would accompany me out. It was a small army. It was also difficult not to feel a little nervous and I hoped it was just overkill.

"And I still need to go shopping this afternoon to get some new clothes." Usually I loved to shop but right now I would rather have been doing anything else.

"Reschedule it," he said. "Rest if you're tired."

"Can we at least come to some sort of compromise on this issue so I can go upstairs to rest?" I negotiated with him.

"A hundred guests?" he offered.

It wasn't exactly a small wedding but it was than two hundred.

"Deal." I lifted myself out of the chair.

"Your ring arrived today." He rosed and opened the drawer at his desk and took a ring box out. He opened the box and took out the ring.

Then he reached for my hand and slowly slid it onto my finger. It was beautiful. It was an emerald cut pink diamond surrounded by small white diamonds.

"It's a pink diamond."

Most guys stuck to traditional white diamonds, I was curious as to why he chosen the pink.

"It's beautiful," I breathed. "What made you go for a pink one"

"You once told me when you were ten that you wouldn't get married unless you're husband gave you a pink ring."

I remembered that conversation. He had been eleven at the time and told me with a scowl that no boy would buy a pink ring ever, like it was something to be embarrassed about. He had made me so angry I had stalked off after calling him a stupid boy.

"Why did you do that?" Just when I was convinced he didn't care at all, he did this type of thing.

"I know this is not the marriage you envisioned and I at least wanted to give you a ring that would make that little girl, who believed in fairytales, happy." He released my hand and pocketed the ring box. "If it's not to your liking I can change it."

"No, it's fine."

I didn't know what to think. The ring felt heavy on my hand, and reminder of my decision to marry him. I straightened my fingers to look at the ring again as it sparkled in the light, liking that it held more significance than just an arrangement between us.

When I looked at it I would see the man who remembered the fairytale dreams of my younger self. It meant something to me.

I had chosen a plain titanium band for his wedding ring. To me there was nothing conventional about him and wouldn't suite anything in a traditional gold.

He looked up from a document on his desk. "Is there something else?"

That was his way of dismissing me.

"No. I'll see you later," I said, leaving his study.

I headed to go clothes shopping with Jack, the guy from the night of the shooting who had looked after me in the study. He had been assigned as my bodyguard. I had refused any additional security other than a driver. I was going to be out in public and didn't want a whole army following me. It was overkill.

All the stores Jack took me to held an account for Angel and everything I chose was charged to it. I didn't pay for a thing. I still made sure to only buy what I really needed. Jack had a hard time carrying everything but he managed.

By the time I finished in the last store I was tired and ready to head back to the house. I stood outside the store with Jack who had just called the driver to tell him we wanted to head back.

There was a hotel next to us and while Jack spoke to the driver something caught my attention. It was James, I would have recognized that stiff posture anywhere. Then I watched as he opened the door to a sleek car and Angel got out.

What was he doing going to a hotel in the middle of the day? It was a little suspicious. I looked over my shoulder at Jack but he was still looking in the opposite direction to spot our car.

My curiosity was peaked and I knew I had to see what Angel was doing.

When Jack ended the call I touched his arm to get his attention, he pocket his phone and picked up my shopping bags.

"I just need to use the ladies. I'll be back in a few minutes," I said. I turned and left before he could utter a word. He also held too many bags to follow me to the hotel and through the turn door.

Once inside the hotel I scanned the immediate reception as quickly as I could knowing I would only have a few minutes before Jack would come looking for me but I couldn't see Angel or James. Where were they? Had they gone up to a room? The thought didn't sit right with me. Who met up with someone in the middle of the day at a hotel? It screamed of something I didn't want to consider but I refused to believe it.

The only other place I could look was the restaurant. There was a part of me that hoped he was in there because the only alternative was not something I wanted to be faced with.

I stood out of sight to the side of the entrance of the restaurant and scanned the tables to find my fiancé. I held my breath as I went from one table to the next feeling more and more anxious when I couldn't find him until I finally caught sight of him.But my short relief that he wasn't upstairs in a hotel room was short lived when I took in the fact that he was not alone and James was no where to be seen.

Beside him, sitting very close to him was a beautiful blonde women, who looked like she had stepped off the cover of a high fashion magazine. The sight of them hit me in the chest like a sledgehammer and I was winded as I leaned against the door frame.