Chapter 4
ANGEL
Asudden, loud knock at the door cut through my frenzied thoughts.
‘It’s Reese,’ a deep, authoritative voice rang out.
I glanced up, and my gaze clashed with Jude’s questioning one.
He arched a brow.
I huffed and nodded, for I had no choice in the matter.
Reese Béliveau Rosedale Snr was an unstoppable force.
Jude stepped to the threshold and unlocked the door.
Swinging it open, he jerked his chin in respect as a stately man walked into the room, bringing the heft of his classic Southern heritage with him.
‘Angel.’
His deep, rolling cadence reverberated in the room, a melodic drawl laced with authority.
I turned my head with agonizing slowness, a vicious migraine hammering my temples as I raked my eyes over Evangeline’s father.
His thin hands gripped his marble alpenstock cane capped with a solid-gold stallion’s head.
His grey three-piece suit was immaculate despite the humidity.
Of mid-stature, he appeared almost ascetic, with a narrow, hawkish nose and papery skin stretched tight over high, aristocratic cheekbones.
His slicked-back silver hair coated his ridged skull, and his pale blue eyes held no warmth.
Reese was an ambitious man whose cunning over the years helped him advance his power and status.
Well-versed in manipulation, he had a gift for maneuvering people to get what he wanted.
Behind Reese followed Elsa Rosedale, Evangeline’s mother, fashion-thin in a peach Chanel ensemble.
She hid her face with oversized dark sunglasses, her manicured red-tipped fingers clutching a diamond-encrusted clutch.
Her blonde hair sat in a severe bun that accentuated her pointed nose and taut, porcelain skin.
Three of Reese’s lackeys tracked in her wake, one of them a bulky security guard.
‘The hell?’ I muttered, annoyed at the invasion of my privacy.
Reese jabbed a ringed finger at me, then at the strange female beside him in a bespoke suit.
‘Di, my PR exec, just alerted me to the fact that Evangeline left the venue a few hours ago. Is this true, son?’
I jolted at his imperious demand, which only deepened my distaste for this man and his pushiness.
‘She’s in the wind,’ I proffered with a grim twist of my lips.
Elsa huffed and marched to the window, fumbling in her bag for a vape, which she sucked deep and long, her body telegraphing her vexation.
‘Where did she go?’ Reese demanded, staring down at me, both hands clutching the head of his walking stick.
I shrugged. ‘No idea.’
‘This is a disaster,’ Reese growled. ‘We’ve relatives from England, guests from Saudi and Europe, plus a slew of business associates at this wedding. Why didn’t you go after her?’
Perhaps because I was so tired of chasing after and rescuing Evangeline, even though my love for her, or was it obsessiveness, consumed me.
This time, I had no strength for it.
The door opened wider as my family filed into the cramped room.
My father, Drew Forrest, strode in, his face wreathed in concern for me.
He was tall, with his jaw clenched, reaching out to hug me with hands stained with the honest dirt of his landscaping business.
He was a dark-haired, broad-shouldered man of average height.
His weather-beaten skin was tan and lined from decades of hard labor, from his hooked nose to his square, callused fingers.
He wore a well-fitted suit I bought for him, but he seemed uncomfortable in it.
Beside him came my mother, Amelia, her face wreathed with concern.
She was prepossessing in a rose-gold pantsuit.
My younger sisters, Marnie and Claire, followed in their bridesmaids’ gowns.
They were carbon copies of each other: petite, with soft olive skin, brown hair, small button noses, grey, smoky eyes like mine, and slim silhouettes.
My family rushed to me, and I rose with relief, letting them fold me into their embrace.
They hugged me before pulling their gaze away from me with worry.
‘The entire wedding party is talking,’ Marnie whispered to me. ‘One of our fellow maids, a friend of Evangeline’s, said she saw her get into a car and disappear. She hasn’t come back. The venue is wild with rumors she’s -.’
Marnie stopped after a pointed look from my mother.
‘Let’s name it what it is,’ I growled, stepping away from them.
Flinging out my arms with a bitter smirk on my face, I called out to the room.
‘She left me, she fuckin’ jilted me.’
I bent over and began to laugh uncontrollably, losing my shit.
Jude strode to me and placed a sinewy hand on my shaking shoulders and squeezed.
‘Calm down, brother, right freakin’ now,’ he hissed in my ear, short-circuiting my panic.
I straightened with a deep breath as our gazes met and he jerked his chin and shook his head, warning me not to combust under present company.
Elsa shot me a quick, strained glance with a quick flick up of her sunglasses; Reese grunted, his face peeved; my parents sighed, and everyone else gaped at me.
Just then, a lissome figure slipped into the room.
Roxy, Evangeline’s sister.
She glanced at me with wariness as she eased in, her rose gold bridesmaid dress trailing on the carpet.
Slight and olive-skinned, she was beautiful in her quiet way, with an oval face, a dark-haired pixie cut, and expressive, long-lashed hazel eyes.
They now flicked from Reese to me, tinged with worry.
Her father turned on her as soon as she took a second step.
‘Where is she, Roxy? Where the fuck is Evangeline?’
She gave him an arched brow and a tiny shrug, a touch of disdain that I respected.
‘As if I would know.’
‘Damn it all to hell.’
Reese’s curse reverberated through the room as he halted in the center of the suite, leaning on his gold cane.
He raised a finger to me once more.
‘Son, this is an unfortunate turn of events. However, we must consider what might have driven a young woman to such an extreme flight response. What did you say to her?’
The accusation hit me hard.
I leaned in, arms crossed over my chest to stop myself from hooking his jaw, as my timbre broke into a harsh snarl, not caring if our shit got aired in public.
‘Don’t you dare. I’ve done nothing to send her away and everything to support her.
When she was losing her mind, when she was partying in toxic clubs and running off to drug dens, I was the one who dragged her back.
I nursed her through a series of overdoses while you hid in your corporate boardroom.
I loved her through her storms. Not you. ’
Reese flinched, his aristocratic composure cracking for a fraction of a second before his eyes hardened and narrowed.
He adjusted his grip on the marble cane.
‘Clear the room,’ the silver-haired man commanded. ‘Only Angel and his parents can stay, along with my team.’
Jude remained unmoving until I gave him a tight, furious chin raise.
Everyone except those named filed out into the hallway.
My Six Sinners brothers gave me side hugs and nods as they prowled away, herding everyone before them.
But not without giving Reese and his entourage glowering expressions, lurking with unspoken promises of violence if things went sideways.
The door closed, and Reese’s demeanor transformed, his face shifting from a concerned father to a calculating tycoon.
‘There will be a wedding today, Angel,’ Reese stated, devoid of any warmth.
‘If you don’t marry a Rosedale before sunset, I could lose a prospective deal with a Saudi Prince.
He’s one of our guests and is looking to buy my horse-training division and relocate it to Dubai.
Any scandal from this wedding might make him skittish, to coin a phrase.
I also have a series of upcoming investor deals that are contingent on our family’s clean image.
I will not allow our goodwill to be sullied, least of all by you, Angel. ’
‘What are you getting at?’ I growled.
My father stepped in, placing a cautionary hand on my arm.
‘I’ll deal with this son,’ he rasped.
Swiveling to Reese, my father raised his chin, his expression turning to stone.
‘Rosedale, you’re out of your damn mind. There’s zero chance Angel marries Evangeline after this circus.’
Reese bypassed my dad, speaking right past him as if he were invisible.
‘If we don’t have a wedding, I will systematically annihilate Angel and tear the Forrest family down to the dirt.’
He delivered the threat in a frigid tone, stripped of all empathy.
As the words hit me with a jolt, I was reminded of Reese’s ruthlessness.
He had a reputation for hostile corporate takeovers and crushing local competitors in Nashville.
His papa foreclosed on hundreds of farms during the Depression.
His grandfather, too, was a cutthroat railroad baron who broke unions for fun.
Their Southern legacy was one steeped in old money and cruelty.
The Rosedales had never gained and held onto their vast holdings by amiability, and now Reese was showing us all his true colors.
Hell, he’d only tolerated the idea of me marrying Evangeline because of my relative infamy as a Six Sinners band member.
My father surged forward, his chest colliding with Reese’s broad-shouldered bodyguard, who stepped in to stop his roll.
‘You have the guts to threaten us, Rosedale? I’ll tear you apart before you touch my family.’
The guard shoved my father back, stepping between the two older men.
‘Be reasonable, Drew,’ Reese sighed, smoothing his silk tie.
‘I’ve massive corporate acquisitions hanging in the balance, and my good standing underwrites much of these deals.
In our world, reputation is the ultimate currency of the ultra-wealthy.
My team is dedicated to protecting our family name and, on my orders, has destroyed anyone who’s stood in my path.
Think of what I’ll do to you and your boy here if you thwart me. ’
He paced toward the window, looking out at the white opulent tent on the lawn.