Poor Jenna didn't know what to think. The mean man had hurt her Alec, but he had the angel's face, the one she always dreamed about, so he had to be hers right? He had to be the one.
Her angel would never hurt her, so she wasn't afraid, as he left the room with her in his arms. It had been a long time since anyone had carried her like this.
"Angel, where are we going?" She asked in her singsong voice as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"Fuck me! You?" He looked down at the young girl in his arms in awe, as memories of another time played through his mind.
Memories of something his sister had said to him once, a long, long time ago. Had he known ten minutes earlier what he knew now, Alec Petridis would be a dead fuck.
Chapter 2
His thoughts were in turmoil. What he held in his arms, if his thinking was sound, was his most precious possession. Something he'd not actively searched for, but which had always been at the edges of his mind, since that day so long ago. He couldn't get to his car fast enough now, to get away from this place, to get her away. What he really wanted to do was go back, and tear the asshole from limb to limb. The fuck had dared to touch what was essentially his; the fact that the other man could have no knowledge of that bore no significance; it's just the way Andros looked at things.
Placing her in the back of the car, he waited for his two shadows to exit the building, which they did not long after, with his winnings in hand.
"Here boss."
They passed the half a million dollars over to him. Good, he can build the nurse's wing onto the school he had in the works for his little charges. Not that he didn't have enough money to do it outright, because he did, he just liked the idea of taking money from the fools who sat around those tables, wasting it, while so many suffered, and putting it to good use.
He heard the rumblings of course; some said he was a fool, that he was fighting a lost cause. The one and only time it had been said to his face, the other man had been the recipient of a broken jaw and a couple broken limbs, after being thrown into a wall.
To say Andros was a hothead was like calling Vesuvius a hill. The young man spoke with his fists more often than not, but it wasn't just because of his innate hot-blooded temper, no. It's because he truly couldn't abide stupidity in any form, and he saw injustices of any kind as stupid.
The car eased gently into the night's traffic, as they headed back to his home in upstate New York. A rather lengthy drive, but one he enjoyed. So deep in thought was he that he didn't realize when she'd first crawled into his lap. Looking down at her, inhaling her sweet scent, he felt his heart stir.
"What are you doing little Jenna?"
She turned wide, innocent, jet black eyes up to him, as her fingers played with the repp silk of his tie. Ah yes, it was the texture she found so fascinating he knew. Drawing her innocence closer into his chest, he squeezed her ever so softly, being careful not to spook her, though she seemed completely at ease.
Suddenly, she took his face in her hands and with what he was sure she considered a stern voice commanded him to 'speak angel'.
He almost laughed at her pseudo stern face, but not as yet knowing her psyche, he decided to forego the impulse for now.
"What would you like me to say little Jenna?"
"Song?" He wasn't sure if it was her nervousness that made her speak in short bursts to him, or if it was her usual way of speaking. Whatever, it didn't matter; whatever had been lacking in her care, he would see to it from now on.
"One minute little Jenna."
He pulled his phone from his pocket, better let gramps know there was going to be all out war, since there was no way he was giving her back. How could he? She was the fulfillment of a promise.
"Stefan Anthony, have you lost your mind? The girl is Alphonso Bonata's Goddaughter or some shit like that; that Italian prick is off his nut on a good day."
"I see you've already heard, no use in me telling you what this means then."
"Son..."
"Not now gramps I've got company."
He hung up the phone on the long string of obscenities being heaped on his head, and turned his attention to the innocent he held in his arms.
"Angel?"
"Yes little Jenna." Each time she called him that, something warm and sweet ran through him. It almost had him believing in things he'd stopped believing in a long time ago. Like goodness and light, and all the other bullshit he'd once held as truth. All the things he'd given up on that long ago day, when another innocent had been taken from him, ripped from the earth way too soon.
Could it really be, that he'd suffered that loss, only to be rewarded now all these years later? But how could she have known? He'd always believed that his sister and those like her were somehow more special, more precious than the world knew. Where others saw them as less than, he held true that the opposite was truth. That they were the Creator's way of sneaking angels in among mere mortals, he just hadn't figured out why yet.
"Nice." She petted his tie, fascinated by the color and texture, so innocent, such pleasure in something so minor it made him want to weep.
The bruise on her face, where that animal had struck her, caused anger to rise up to choke him. He knew that if she was who he thought she was, that she would be attuned to his every mood, so he kept a tight rein on his emotions, even then she still looked at him quizzically.
"Angel?" He resolved himself to getting used to hearing that word, at least a hundred times a day, because he understood that it was her way, it was the way the blessed ones interacted always.
"Yes little Jenna."
"Food?"
Fuck, had that fucker starved her on top of everything else? He was really going to enjoy kicking the shit out of Petridis the first chance he got. Schooling his features so as not to show what his inner thoughts betrayed, he pressed the button to lower the glass between him and his men, riding upfront.
"Yes boss?"
"Find the nearest restaurant."
Garrett typed something in the GPS and came back with the name of a fast food chain. The sardonic look from Andros was all that was needed to have him looking again.
"Wait." Andros ordered the other man before he could continue his search.
"What do you want to eat little Jenna?" He made sure to keep eye contact with her as he spoke.
"Chocolate?" She had a mischievous grin on her face, so he knew that this was a trick she used often, probably on her mother.
"Nice try little Jenna." She laughed high and sweet and had him smiling with her. He looked up in time to catch the disbelieving look on Garrett's face before the other man hid it.
They found a nice Italian place opened late, and went in.
"We need a table for four." Jameson told the maitre'd as they entered.
"Do you have chocolate?"
"Uh chocolate cake, yes sir." The middle aged man eyed Andros as though he was a wild animal out of his natural habitat. Huh, the look didn't faze the younger man, he was used to people cutting a wide swath around him. He guessed the thousand dollar suits couldn't hide the true nature of the beast.
"Not cake, candy bars."
"Uh no sir." The man was hurrying to seat them at a table in the corner, but Andros stopped at what he considered the best table in the place and sat his little Jenna, before taking his own seat, while his two guards followed suit.
The red-faced maitre'd turned back to them and placed their menus in front of them.
"No sir, we don't carry chocolate here."
"Find some."
"Sir?"
Garrett stepped in before blood could be shed. He knew his boss was still pissed from the scene at the casino, he also knew it was going to be a while before the other man calmed down and who knows what it was going to take to bring that about, short of Alec Petridis's blood in his teeth.
Everyone knew the story of Andros's love for his little sister. Rumor was, the once easy going young heir had gone overnight from a peace loving sort, into a force to be reckoned with. The only one he was even remotely friendly with was his grandfather, who seemed to be the only one able to rein the young man in when he went into one of his moods.
If he didn't miss his guess, this Jenna Petridis was like Andros's sister, and the other kids he was always spending so much time with down at the special home he'd had built for special needs kids. The place was built for kids whose families either couldn't, or didn't want to take responsibility for their care. Part of the facility was actually set up for parents and kids, who were down on their luck. The man was fanatical about that place and those kids.
The maître' d hurried away after whatever Garrett had whispered in his ear. Andros could care less, as long as somebody produced a chocolate bar in the next five minutes.