Hale picked her up from Stella's house in the evening. When she got inside the car, Hale gave her an indescribable look which seemed like one of disbelief and disapproval.

"Hale, what do you want to say?" asked Angela in a soft tone.

​​

"Um…Master," Hale started talking. "Patrick is waiting for you now at home. He does not seem very happy with you."

Angela snorted and looked out the window. Of course, she had forgotten about her annoying step brother when she thought of her plan.

"I'll deal with him," Angela replied lightly with a roll of her eyes. She had dealt with much worse than Patrick.

Surprisingly, her relationship with Patrick had been smooth lately. He left her alone, and she left him alone; they had no interaction apart from the few glares he gave her when they passed each other at home.

The last time she and Stella had been photographed in the car, Patrick had nearly killed her, and now, she was engaged to Stella. Angela did not know what Patrick would do now.

The more Angela thought, the more regretful she became. She felt bad for Patrick. After all, it was not his fault that he fell in love with Stella. She guessed one could not help who to fall in love with, she thought as an image of Drake came to her mind.

"We're home," Hale broke Angela out of her thoughts.

Angela came and slowly got out of the car. She smiled bitterly as she saw indeed Patrick was waiting for her at the door.

"Hi, Patrick," Angela waved to him, smiling lightly, and tried to speed past him inside the house. That plan was warped as Patrick grabbed her arm, preventing her from walking away.

"So you're engaged to my girlfriend?"

Angela tried to shrug away and put her hands up in defense. She wanted to dissipate his anger, but it probably would be in vain.

Patrick pushed her up against the wall and growled, "You're playing with fire." Angela closed her eyes, expecting a hit, but nothing happened.

"What the fuck, Drake? Why are you always protecting him?"

Hearing Patrick's words, Angela opened her eyes. Drake was standing there; he had grabbed Patrick's fist, which was aimed at Angela's face. "Don't forget discipline! Are you going to resort to hitting your younger sibling? Is this what you were taught?!" Drake growled while tightening his grip on Patrick's arm.

"Drake!" Patrick looked at Drake in disbelief. "Are you really not going to say anything about this!?"

Drake simply raised his eyebrows and looked at Patrick coldly.

Patrick then turned to Angela and growled, "Angelo, you won't be lucky all the time," and walked off but not before shoving Angela against the wall.

After Patrick left, Angela stood there awkwardly, trying to avoid looking into Drake's eyes. She wondered what he thought of this; their last conversation had ended with them saying only 'okay' to each other. For her plan to work successfully, she needed Drake on her side. She needed leverage in both the Hill and the Thorne family. Thus, she intended to ease their rigid relationship through this matter.

Drake glanced at Angelo and felt a surge of anger rush through him as he thought of the engagement. He honestly did not think Angelo had enough guts to pull something like that, but he was proved wrong. Drake did not know what had changed, but something in him had changed, and within a few months, Angelo had turned into a completely different person. Drake did now know if he hated or loved the change.

"You know, you're only going to be a puppet for the Hill's?" Drake spoke emotionlessly, looking at Angela with an aloof expression.

He then walked over to the living room and sat down on the sofa, picking up a newspaper from beside him.

Angela followed slowly, not really knowing what to respond to him.

"Um… would you like some tea Drake?" Angela asked, knowing he had coffee or tea at this time and hoping to break the awkward environment around them.

"Sure, and make one cup for yourself."

Angela nodded, surprised, and walked into the kitchen. She carefully made two cups of tea and brought them out, handing one to Drake.

Drake took a sip of his tea and remained quiet which agitated Angela. She felt like he had something to say but was refraining from talking on purpose.

Drake smirked as he saw Angelo fidgeting from the corner of his eyes. He knew he was impatient and hated silence, so Drake remained quiet on purpose. Perhaps, it was a little revenge on him for getting engaged to Stella Hill in the first place. He had a selfish reason for thinking this thought as well: he was not afraid to admit it now, but he wanted Angelo for himself. It was getting harder and harder to ignore his feelings and urges for the young guy sitting beside him, though he's agitated too, knowing he's not into any man. He's a straight guy, and thinking Angelo nowadays made him felt frustrated.

"Um…so how are you?" Angela finally spoke up, not being able to stand the silence.

"Hmm," Drake simply replied, grunting in response, not even bothering to look up.

"I should be asking you this question. How is your engagement going?" Drake asked, finally looking at Angela with an angry look in his eyes.

Angela shivered and looked away, feeling guilt wash over her. The one person she was worried about judging was Drake, and he was obviously disappointed in her.

"Drake…" Angela trailed off.

"No, Angelo!" Drake put down the newspaper and his tea and turned to Angela, "This is huge. You are part of this family – it does not matter if you are adopted or not, so any decisions you make must go through with me! You cannot just announce your engagement and expect everything to be just okay! I have a business to run, and that involves how my family is viewed in the media, and you just planted a big stake!" Drake yelled loudly.

Angela was stupefied, staring at Drake in shock and fear. This was the first time that Drake had yelled at her like this.

"Drake…just…just hear me out. I…have a plan…I actually do not have any feelings for Stella…it's all for my plan." Angela trailed off quietly, wringing her hands.