In the afternoon, Angela thought that her parents were no longer fighting. They had breakfast and lunch like they usually did, even though the dining table didn't have its usual chatter. If not for her brother Oliver's funny stories from school, she wouldn't have laughed.

She thought everything would go back to normal. But that day, her whole world changed and the once perfect family she thought she had broke.

She could see her life slowly slipping out of her hands as she relentlessly chased her mother under the storm. It didn't matter that her mother broke the rules, she wanted to go with her.

Angela begged for her mother not to leave, crying her heart out as the car sped away and taking her mother with it.

"Mommy!!! Come back!"

"Mommy, wait!"

"Please…"

She reached her hand out as if extending it would allow her to catch up with the car faster while her small feet furiously slapped the wet road. Her mother looked back once and their eyes met. And for a second, Angela thought she would stop and go back to her.

But she didn't.

Cynthia cried, turned away, and the car increased its speed. Angela tripped over her own feet and she fell, blood gushing out of her knees. But she pushed herself up and didn't stop running after the car.

"Take me with you! Mommy!!!"

"I'll be good I promise…"

"Don't leave me…"

"Mommy!!!"

****************************

PRESENT

****************************

9th January — Wednesday

Angela was exhausted after what happened last night. She barely ate and told Gael that she had a headache and wanted to sleep early. He made sure she was comfortable in bed, and when her breathing evened out, he slipped out and stayed in his office to work the whole night.

It was almost midnight when he turned in, and she was still fast asleep. He couldn't imagine what she was going through with her past catching up to her.

Last night was possibly the most that she had been open to him. Angela lowered her walls while she tried to understand her past. She recalled some that happened before her mother left, but most of them were unclear; after all, it had been so long ago.

At six in the morning, he was woken up by the sound of Angela's low moaning. She was in a fetal position, curled up into a ball and hugging herself next to him.

"Mmmm…" Her brows were drawn tight, and her forehead was covered in sweat. The balls under her eyelids moved fast, and he guessed that she was dreaming.

"Mom…" Angela muttered in a whisper, her lips trembling just as her hands were shaking.

Gael placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her to wake her up. "Angel…"

Her face scrunched up, and a tear escaped her eyelids, landing on his bicep where she laid her head.

"Baby, wake up…" He brushed his knuckles under her eyes, and she gasped as she woke up in a start.

Her gaze roamed around as she tried to register her surroundings before it settled on his face. His brows knitted in concern as he watched her wipe her face quickly and sat up in bed. "You were dreaming," he said while sitting up with her.

"I'm okay." Angela curved the corners of her lips into a smile. Then the most unexpected sound greeted them. Her stomach growled.

Gael's lips twitched into a smirk as she covered her abdomen with her hands and her cheeks flushed red. "Your stomach doesn't think so."

Trapping her chin with his fingers, he tilted her face up and pressed a chaste kiss on her lips. "Go wash up. I'll make us breakfast."

While Angela was in the bathroom, Gael whipped up a quick meal of coffee, toasts, and eggs. He didn't have plans on going back to Brooklyn yet, and they had adopted an easy routine in his apartment, so they stocked up the pantry over the weekend.

His phone rang from the counter. Rick. And he answered the call right away.

"Rick."

"Boss. I got confirmation. Yesterday's guards from the library were Russians."

"Who were they guarding? I didn't see any higher-ups inside."

"I'm still waiting for information on that. Do you want me to check with our contact from the compound?"

The Russian compound in Brooklyn. Gael contemplated for a bit as he weighed his options. They had been doing business with the Russians for many years, and their partnership had been mostly smooth. It didn't mean that they were always buddies, though. In their world, one couldn't be too careful. Therefore, they needed someone inside their compound—in case betrayal was in the works.

"Let him ask around, but keep it casual. Find out who they were guarding in the library. They must be someone important to them if they had that many guards around."

"Understood. What about your meeting with the Russians, Boss?" Rick asked.

"No changes. We'll have dinner on Friday. Scout the area. Add more men around the entry points. We don't want any surprises from the Morellis."

"You think they're attacking?"

"No. I don't think they're that stupid. But who knows what Marino will do now. He's been unpredictable lately. So we can't risk letting the Russians know about our war between them. The least we want is for them to doubt us." The meeting on Friday will be their first for this year. And many crime families were superstitious. Everything had to go smoothly.

Before ending the phone call, Gael was tempted to ask Rick to investigate Angela's mother. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to violate her privacy—more than he already did in the past—he would have already done it. But this wasn't only about Angela's safety. It involved her mother—which was a sensitive topic. If he went on snooping around without Angela's permission, it would cause a rift between them.

He'd have to ask her if she wanted to know before he would do something. So, for now, he ended his phone call with Rick and decided to revisit the idea later.

Angela came out of the bedroom, wearing short shorts that barely covered her ass and the shirt that he wore yesterday. His shirt was too big for her, but she sure looked sexy in it. She looked like sin.

Contrary to the heavy emotions she felt last night, her face was now bright, and she was smiling as she strolled towards him—as if she had already forgotten yesterday.

"I just remembered… You said you got me something while we were in the library. What was it?" she wondered.

Well, shit. Gael bought her the thing, thinking that it would make her smile. Now, he wasn't so sure anymore. "It's nothing. I'll get you something else."

Angela stood before him with her brows drawn. "Come on, I wanna see it. I was so out of it yesterday…" She held her hands out as though she was begging for alms and asked with a pout, "Please can I have my gift?"

How the hell was he supposed to say no to her? She looked so fucking adorable—too adorable, it caused his chest to tighten. He sighed before wordlessly walking towards his office to retrieve a gift bag and handed it to her.

Her eyes sparkled in excitement as she reached inside. Fine leather made contact with her fingertips, and she took it out of the bag, her mouth parting as she ran her hand over the bound. A letter "A" was monogrammed in gold on the bottom right of the brown leather notebook with a leather tie wrapped around it. "A diary?" she probed, despite the obvious.

"After you told me about how writing helped you… I thought you could go back to doing it again. I read that it's a way to deal with overwhelming emotions and manage your mental health. I know there are some things you still can't tell me, but maybe you can share that with this thing." He nodded towards the leather journal.

Angela trapped her bottom lip between her teeth as she unwrapped the leather tie and flipped the notebook open. Her fingers stopped at the first page where Gael wrote something, her cheeks flushing at every word.

[ Dear Angel,

You are the writer of your own story. ;)

I had the privilege to live through the beautiful characters you have written. So let me be selfish and say, I want to keep having that privilege.

Your mind is so sexy, Angel.

Don't stop writing.

~

You're mine.

Gael ]

The letter was so like him. Angela threw her head back and laughed before closing the gap between her and Gael and circled her arms around his neck, kissing him on the lips. "I love it. Thank you."