Gangster's Girl (Complete)

Chapter 19 - Part 1

Maria had already left for the day when I wondered downstairs to find her. It meant I would have to wait for the next day to speak to her. I hated having to wait but I had no choice, I doubted anyone else would give me the information I wanted.

I didn't have much of an appetite that night and when Angel never showed up I felt so alone. Had I been naive to believe that being married to him would change things? I hated to admit that I had hoped and I was left disappointed that nothing seemed to have changed.

Or was he avoiding me because of my interest in his dead brother?

That night as I lay in bed I waited for Angel to come to bed but sometime later on that evening I drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning I saw that Angel hadn't even come to bed. Where had he slept?

Why would he treat me this way for just asking about his deceased brother? Surely this was overreacting.

I pulled on a robe, determined to have words with him as I left our bedroom. It had only been our second night together has a married couple and we were not off to a good start.

My anger rose as I descended the stairs and headed for the closed door of his study.

I didn't bother knocking. I walked straight in to find him sitting at his desk working as usual.

"Morning," he said without even looking up the document he was reading.

"Morning? Is that all I get?" I put my hands on my hips. I couldn't believe he was acting like he hadn't just avoided all night.

He looked up. "Is there something else you need?" He was being distant and it was driving me nuts.

"Yes, I want to know what happened to your brother and why you won't tell me." My chest rose and fell with each angry breath.

He leaned back in his chair and studied me. "He died. There is nothing else to say about it Kira."

I frowned. "How did he die?"

His features remained cold. "He died in a car accident." His voice held no emotion, it felt so strange. When I spoke of my mother's death I couldn't keep myself emotionless.

That was all? Why had it been so difficult for him to share the details?

"How old was he?"

"Eighteen."

Just a few years younger than me. The anger that had brought me into his study dissipated.

"How old were you when he died?" I found myself asking.

"I was nine."

My heart broke for him in that moment. He was probably too young to really understand the loss of a loved one.

In part it also explained why I didn't really have any memories of it. I knew Angel at the time but I would have been seven, far too young to understand what it would have meant.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling in that moment the loss of a person I had never met.

"It is what it is." He shrugged.

"That's why you understood...when my mom died." It explained a lot.

He nodded but remained silent.

"What was his name?" I asked, feeling it was necessary to put a name to the brother I had never met.

"Julian," he whispered.

I saw a flicker of pain in his eyes and wanted to hold him until it passed but I wasn't sure if my need to comfort him would be welcome so I remained where I stood across from him with his desk between us.