Angel’s bliss by Dripping Creativity

46 

It had been two weeks since the ambush, and Zane was in a bad mood. They still had no solid proof of who had been behind it. Not that Zane didn’t have his suspicions, he was certain the fucker Johnson had orchestrated the whole thing. But he had been clever about it. All the men had been hired guns without affiliation to any organisation. The ones they had let live long enough to talk had said they had been hired by a Mr Smith, a man they all described differently. Everyone had been paid in cash and the money had proven almost impossible to trace. Almost, it was possible, but it would take time. That was why Zane was in a foul mood. He didn’t like the fact that someone had struck against his family and he hadn’t been able to retaliate. That also left the organisation vulnerable to more attacks. It left his angel in danger. Zane had wanted her to stay within the mansion grounds. She had happily obliged. the first week. But over the last couple of days, she had become restless. It hadn’t helped that he made sure Gabriel stopped by. It had led to their first argument. Zane had been surprised when he had denied her request to go into town, and she had raised her voice to him. 

“I can’t sit around and do nothing any longer,” she had angrily said, poking Zane in the chest. He had been too surprised to say anything. “I need to do something, something that isn’t staring at these walls.” 

“How about your knitting?” he had said. “I can send someone for more yarn,” he had offered. 

“It’s crocheting and I don’t want to send someone. I want to go out. I want to go to a store, see other people, look at yarn, look at clothes, have a coffee not made by Anna.” 

“What’s wrong with Anna’s coffee?” 

“Nothing is wrong with her coffee! It’s this place, it’s driving me nuts. I need air,” she had told him, throwing her hands in the air and started walking back and forth. 

“You have the garden. There’s plenty of air there,” he had pointed out. She was safe inside the walls. He could control what happened there. Outside, she was in danger. What if someone ambushed her? 

‘You aren’t listening to me. Can I at least go back and have a look at my house?” she asked. 

“Absolutely not!” he had boomed. There was no way he would let her anywhere near her uncle.. 

“Fine!” she had shouted and stormed off. She had been shut in her room for almost a day now. She hadn’t even let Anna in when she had come up with some tea, Zane grumbled at the thought. Ava hadn’t slept in her own room since the day her room had been trashed. Each night, Zane found an excuse to have her stay with him. His room had slowly filled with her things. Her shower cream, her makeup and brush on his bathroom counter, her books on his table. A little basket with yarn. He didn’t know what he would do if she hadn’t got over this thing before they went to bed. Zane thought about just demanding she join him, or him just simply physically putting her in his room. He doubted that would have a good outcome. He was fucking bad at this relationship thing. Zane paused and corrected himself. This was not a relationship. This was just a temporary thing, and that is why he didn’t like it. He had limited time with his angel before he needed to let her go. He didn’t want to waste some of it with her being mad at him. Zane just had no clue how to make it better. There was a knock on his office door and he grunted for them to come in. 

“Mail,” Ryder said in a curt voice. He had been in a bad mood for about a week. Zane had no idea why, and as long as it didn’t affect his work, Zane didn’t care at the moment. 

“Put it on the desk,” Zane told him in just as short of a voice. 

46 

“Zane! You fucking asshole, where are you?” The voice which echoed in the house had both Zane and Ryder jerking out of their foul moods. 

“Fuck,” Zane breathed. 

“I’ll make her leave.” Ryder said, turning to head out of the office. 

“Zane, I need to talk to you, your fucking liar!” Jasmine’s voice came from the stairs. Zane stood up and was just two steps behind Ryder as he opened the door to the office. He swore when he saw Ava open the door to her room. With a raised eyebrow, his angel watched the skimpy clad woman charge up the stairs and aim for his office. Ryder was already halfway to her and held up his hands. 

“Calm down, Jasmine. The boss is busy. Take a deep breath and we will go down and have a coffee and we will make sure you get to see him when he has time,” Ryder told the almost hysterical woman. Zane frowned. He had no idea why Jasmine was so angry, but he was worried about how Ava would react. She had already been subjected to Olivia. He didn’t want yet another female causing her harm. 

“Go fuck yourself, Ryder. I want to talk to him. I need him to explain why the money to me has stopped and I don’t care if the fucker has to cancel a meeting with the president. He will talk to me,” Jasmin shouted: Zane was happy her focus was fully on Ryder. She hadn’t seen either Ava or him. That changed a second later as she saw Ava standing in her doorway. Jasmine’s eyes scanned her and the fury in them kicked up a notch. Both Ryder and Zane saw it and Ryder put his hand on Jasmin’s shoulder as Zane started moving to get to Ava. “Who the fuck are you? Are you his next whore? Is that why he has stopped paying me?” Jasmin shouted, putting her weight on Ryder’s hold. Ava looked surprised and took a step back. Zane reached her the next second and put himself between the two women. 

“Get her the fuck out,” he told Ryder. When Ryder had no luck in trying to get Jasmin to turn around and go downstairs, he simply grabbed her around the waist and hauled her over his shoulder. 

“You think he cares for you? Forget it, babe, he is just using you until he tires of you, then he will throw you away and forget about your existence. Don’t let him ruin you as he did me,” Jasmin shouted as she was being carried away. Zane turned around and looked down at Ava. She was biting her lower lip and had a wrinkle between her eyebrows. 

anger that bubbled in 

“I’m sorry you had to see that, angel,” he said in what he tried to make a soft voice despite the anger him. 

“Who is she?” his angel asked. 

“No one,” he said. She raised an eyebrow, and he sighed. He should have known that wouldn’t work. “I hired her at one point. I offered her a new position in the organisation a while back.” 

“She was your pet.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yes.” Zane had told Ava there had been others before her. But he hated she might think she and Jasmine were the same. They weren’t. Jasmin had been a convenient solution, Ava was everything. 

“Why did she say you stopped paying her?” Ava wanted to know. 

“According to our contract, I paid her a small amount of money each month for six months after our time had ended. Last months marked the end of those six months,” he told her.. 

46 

“Oh.” Zane tried to see if Ava was upset or angry, but she didn’t look like she was. She just looked distracted. Which 

worried him as well. 

“Why don’t you join me in my office?” he tried. 

“No, thank you. I have things to do.” 

“You can’t go outside the wall,” he told her in a stern voice. 

“I know. You have made that perfectly clear. I have other things to do,” she said and walked back into her room. Zane sighed and felt his mood become worse. 

An hour later, he knocked on her door. No one came to answer, he looked inside. It was empty. He felt his chest clench. She couldn’t have left on her own, could she? He hurried downstairs and as he went to find Ryder; he heard his angel talking to Anna in the kitchen. Zane relaxed and walked in to see her pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven. He smiled and stretched out a hand to take one. Ava slapped his hand with the spatula. 

“They are not meant for you,” she told him as she placed them on a plate. Zane looked at her. This was the first thing she had cooked since being in the house, and she was denying him a taste? On top of things, Anna looked amused. Before Zane could plan a reply that wouldn’t send Ava off to another lockdown in her room, Ryder walked into the kitchen. “Ryder, I have made cookies,” Ava told him. 

“Cookies?” Ryder asked, perking up. 

“Yes, let’s grab a plate and some milk and enjoy them in the library,” Ava said. Before Zane knew what was happening, Ava had dragged Ryder away. Zane fought hard against the impulse to kill his fucking secretary slash bodyguard. Why was Ava paying him all her attention and not giving Zane any? 

‘She asked me to give this to you,” Anna said with a grin. She put a plate down in front of Zane. It had a pile of cookies on it and, on top of them, a note. Zane picked up the note. 

‘Sorry that I have been in a bad mood lately. Thank you for protecting me. I hope you enjoy the cookies. They were my 

mother’s and my favourite. Love Ava.” 

She had drawn small angel wings on each side of her name. It made Zane’s–lips curl upwards. 

“Should I pour you a glass of milk?” Anna asked. 

“Yes please,” Zane said and then he took his milk and cookies and headed for his office before Jax or someone else showed up and tried to steal what was his. 

Angel’s bliss