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Chapter 505 – Dark Halls (1)

"Are you sure you don\'t need to go to a hospital?" Angela worried, biting down her bottom lip as she watched Gael button his shirt close. He winced whenever he moved, but he was stubborn to stay put.

Gael sat next to her and shook his head, gently brushing hair away from her face, not wanting to put pressure on her bruises. "The doctor already checked on me. I\'m fine. What about you?" His brows drew together, looking very concerned as he swept his gaze down her frame, noting all the cuts and bruises on her. "I fucking hate seeing you like this. I\'m so sorry."

She caught his hand and grasped it with hers, squeezing it. When she first woke up two hours ago after being asleep for so long, she felt the pain all over her body but not as much as now.

Gael made her take the medicine a minute ago, so she was waiting for it to take effect. Even though she was in pain, she didn\'t want to show it to him because he would worry more and might have to cancel his plans just so he could stay next to her.

But Angela knew he needed to leave. She found out that one of Gael\'s men, Ace, died last night—along with a couple of Gio\'s and other soldiers in their family. Gael had many things to do and she didn\'t want to keep him from it.

Her right rib suddenly throbbed. She was sure she got the bruise when Lauretta pushed her and she fell back on a table. But Angela smiled, trying to reign in a small twitch on her lips from the onslaught. "I\'ll be fine. It doesn\'t even hurt that much. Reading a tragic novel with a bad ending hurts more than these superficial wounds."

Gael\'s frown deepened and she knew she wasn\'t fooling him. This man could read her even if she was the best actress in the world. She gently pushed him out of the bed. "Go on. I might go to sleep so you won\'t have anything to do here anyway."

He sighed, shoving a hand into his pocket for a brief second, pulled out a phone—one of the burner phones he had—and gave it to her. "I\'ll get you a new phone. In the meantime, you can call Charlie and Oliver using this. Or Nina, if you want. Do you need anything while I\'m out?"

She stared at the phone for a second, remembering what they agreed upon a while ago about telling people where they were last night and how she was. Although she didn\'t want him to leave her there, she understood that Gael had to be in and out fast, visiting Ace\'s mother and also Nonna\'s to check in on Val and their family. He said he couldn\'t bring her with him because the route he had to take wasn\'t convenient. They had to lay low.

"No…oh, or maybe…if Alice or Nonna is cooking something. Just come back safe."

Gael leaned down and placed a slow kiss on her lips. "I will. Call me if you need anything."

When he left, Angela spent the next thirty minutes talking to her father, brother, and best friend. All they had to know was that Angela and Gael weren\'t anywhere near the club when it caught fire. It was apparently on the news and it said there were several victims inside the club who were there for a small gathering. It was quite vague and she didn\'t know what Giovanni did to cover up the incident. The fire was too huge to ignore, so he didn\'t contain that—rather he used it to cover the gunfire that happened inside and the identities of those who died.

It was tragic no matter what the truth was because a lot of lives were lost. Angela didn\'t dwell on last night\'s matter that much, so she kept the conversations light and told Nina that she\'d have to take a few days off and Nina reassured her that she\'d take care of her book-related affairs and inform the foundation about her absence during this time.

After the phone calls, Angela found herself not having anything to do in the room. The walls were concrete and remained unpainted, so it had this bare grey hard texture on all corners. It had a full bath in the corner, a small built-in closet, a refrigerator next to a kitchenette, a small dining area, a TV, and a double bed. She had pretty much everything she needed in here…except a window. Obviously, the room being underground wouldn\'t have one of those.

For a couple of hours, Angela stayed inside the room. She took a shower—careful not to wet her open wounds, had some coffee, and skimmed on a tattered paperback she found in the nightstand drawer. Il Conte di Montecristo by Alexandre Dumas which was obviously The Count of Monte Cristo Italian edition. She had the urge to learn the language just so she could read the story again in this edition.

It was a strange feeling being down here. The air condition was just at the right temperature. And it was like a studio apartment slash prison.

Her mind jumped onto that thought. A prison. She was underground. Like… Under The Bunk.

Evan was there.

The thought of that made her blood run cold.

Angela didn\'t know when she began walking towards the door, but knowing her psycho ex-boyfriend was somewhere around here made her feel jumpy. She looked left and right before choosing right and wandered down the empty hallway, passing a few doors on the way, unsure where she was headed because it looked dim compared to the lights inside her room. When she reached an intersection, there were soldiers a few feet away from her—to the left, to the right, and the front hallways.

She didn\'t intend to look for Evan, but being down there made her curious. The underground of The Bunk looked like a huge place. If she was right, it must be under the neighbor\'s brownstones too. She just wasn\'t sure how massive it was. The guards only spared her a look before looking away as if not wanting to meet her gaze. And when she chose to go straight—the path to her front and the opposite end from her room—the guard turned in her direction but still did not meet her eyes.

He was a few inches taller than her, looking stiff, imposing, and bulky, his limbs straining against his clothes. "You\'re not supposed to be here, Ma\'am," he said in a neutral tone.

Well, Gael didn\'t tell her that. And she wasn\'t being kept a prisoner in her room, so she didn\'t think she was "not allowed" anywhere here. "What\'s in there?" she asked, peering over his shoulder to the metal door behind him.

"You should go back to your room, Ma\'am. I can walk you there if you\'re lost."

She wasn\'t lost. From her room, she only turned right and walked straight from there. She could find her room…maybe.

Angela was about to answer when he raised his stare above her head and he instantly straightened his spine.. She knew who was there before she even felt a hand on her shoulder.