Fallen Angel (Angel Security)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

NICO

“Nicolas Angelos Galinas, you’re free to go.”

The words echoed in my mind as I followed the corrections officer through the cell block that had been my home for the past four years. Cheers and jeers sounded around me, the other inmates responding to my early release from this hell hole. I ignored them and faced forward, never looking around or back. I wouldn’t allow them to draw me in. I knew what was waiting for me outside those walls.

My body relaxed when the door to the cell block closed behind me, cutting off the voices of my former fellow inmates. The CO with me handed me off to Harry, a CO I had a pretty good relationship with. “Hey, Nico,” he said with a smile. “Congratulations on getting out.” He picked up a duffel bag and handed it to me.

I took the bag and smiled at the older man. “Thanks, Harry. Enjoy your new grandson. Hopefully, I won’t be seeing you again.”

He shook his head. “I think you’ll be okay out there. Just keep your head down and your eyes on the prize. You’ve got someone who’s counting on you.”

“That I do.”

Harry walked me all the way to the exit. He shook my hand and said, “Good luck.”

And then I was out. The mid-October air was crisp and cool. The late-morning sun was bright enough to make me squint at first. I saw the cars driving past Trenton State Prison beyond the high fence surrounding the parking lot. My gaze swept the area and fell on two men and a small boy standing by a black Cadillac Escalade. I hoisted the bag with my meager belongings onto my shoulder and hurried in their direction.

My gaze was focused on the little boy, my four-year-old son, Cody. His dark curls were shorter than the last time I’d seen him. He wore a Batman hoodie and Batman sneakers. Although I couldn’t see them, I knew his blue eyes would be bright with excitement. Blue eyes that were a stark reminder of his mother, Allison. The woman I’d failed to protect.

Cody spotted me first. “Daddy!” he screamed and started to run toward me.

I dropped my bag and ran to meet him. I picked him up and held him close. “Cody, it’s so good to see you.”

Cody clung to me like a little monkey. “I missed you, Daddy. Uncle Zach said you’re coming home with us today.”

“That’s right, I am.”

“Can you stay with me and Uncle Zach and Miguel?” he asked.

I met Zach’s gaze over Cody’s head. He nodded slightly. “For a little while, buddy. I’ll have to get my own place eventually.”

Cody’s bottom lip quivered. “But, Daddy, I want you to stay with us.”

Zach picked up my bag and opened the rear passenger door. “Okay, little man, don’t give Daddy a hard time. We’re going home to have lunch and get some ice cream, remember?”

Cody perked up. “Yay, ice cream!”

Zach’s partner, Miguel, cleared Cody’s toys off the seat so I could sit beside my son. We got Cody into his car seat and my bag into the back of the SUV, and then we were off. It felt strange to not be in shackles while outside of the prison.

Cody chattered nonstop for the first half of the one-hour ride to Zach and Miguel’s place in Ocean Grove. He told me about his friend, Diego, his school, and Uncle Zach’s piano. It seemed like he barely took a breath. But I didn’t care. I was so happy to spend time with him without a deadline hanging over my head. When his speech slowed and he nodded off, I leaned forward and said, “Thank you both for picking me up and letting me stay with you until I can get a place of my own.”

Zach glanced at me in his rearview mirror. “It’s no problem at all. I’m just happy Cody has one parent here for him. Everything else will work itself out.”

I wished I shared his optimism, but serving time for something I hadn’t done had taken a toll on me. I wasn’t the same man I’d been four years ago. I didn’t know if I could get back to being that man. I ran my hand through my super-short hair. I used to like wearing my hair longer. In prison, long hair was a liability. I gazed down at the black ink now covering the backs of my hands and running the length of my arms under the sleeves of my hoodie. For me, my tattoos were a sort of armor, like the muscles I’d built to make myself stronger. The scars on my face, arms, and knuckles were a testament to the battles I’d fought to keep myself alive and in one piece. I would be forever grateful to Santino D’Angelo for taking my case pro bono and getting me released.

I settled back in the leather seat, feeling more comfortable than I had in years. “Nice ride, by the way,” I said. “I didn’t picture you as a Cadillac guy.”

Zach snorted and Miguel laughed out loud. “I’m not,” Zach replied. “Tino’s brother Tony loaned it to us so we’d have more room and you’d be comfortable.”

“That was nice of him,” I replied.

Zach smiled. “Yeah, the D’Angelo family are good people.”

“Is it just those two?” I asked.

“Oh no,” Miguel replied. “There are seven siblings. Although we only interact with four of them. Tino, Tony, Marco, and Michael.”

“Seriously? The parents named them like that?”

Zach laughed. “Not on purpose. Tino and Tony are easier to say than Santino and Anthony.”

I shrugged. “True.”

“We hang out with Marco the most,” Miguel said. “He and his boyfriend Liam live in Belmar. Liam’s brother Sean owns the hotel Zach and I work in.”

I was confused. “I thought you were a mechanic,” I said to Zach.

“I am,” Zach replied. “I work in a Harley shop in Neptune. I work as a bartender in the hotel part-time.”

“It’s how we met,” Miguel said with a huge smile.

We rode in silence for a while. As I started to recognize landmarks, I glanced quickly over at Cody to make sure he was still asleep before I said quietly, “I’d like to visit Allie’s grave. Do you think we’ll have time today?”

Zach glanced at Miguel, who nodded. “Yeah, we’ll have time. Cody will be happy to go again.”

“You take him to the cemetery?” I asked in surprise.

He nodded. “Every week. Sometimes more if he’s having a hard time. He talks to her. He tells her about his school and his friends. Sometimes, he leaves her flowers. Sometimes, he leaves a Batman action figure.”

I got all choked up. “Wow. That’s really something.”

Zach smiled sadly. “My sister did a good job raising him. We’re just trying to make sure he gets all the love and support he needs.”

It took me a minute to find my voice. “I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for him—and for me.”

Zach shrugged. “You’re Cody’s dad. Allie loved you. She told him all about you. I think the prison thing was just too much for her. She had to work so much, and I think she couldn’t stand seeing you in there.”

“I was the one who told her not to come,” I admitted. “I didn’t want her to see me in there. I also didn’t want my son to see me like that.” I looked over at Cody’s sleeping form and brushed my fingers through his silky curls. “I regret that now. I’m really glad you brought him to see me”—I lowered my voice—“after Allie died. I didn’t know what I was missing.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about things you can’t change,” Zach said. “You’ll just make yourself crazy. You’re here now. You have a chance to be the father Cody needs now. Don’t let guilt get in the way of that.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.” Zach was a good man. Allie had trusted him enough to make him Cody’s guardian if something happened to her. I only hoped I would be able to maintain his faith in me.