Angel was dropped to the ground, and the sac lifted from her head.
"You son of a cock sucking bi—-" her words faded when she looked around, and found pairs of eyes, staring at her.
Her first full gaze went to Ares, who had Ava sitting on his lap.
Their eyes locked, and he felt a leap from his stomach to his heart.
It worsened, as his eyes went down to her toes, and then up to her face.
The dress, what was that dress? He questioned in his head, his throat suddenly going dry.
With great difficulty, Angel's eyes left Ares, and went to Ava.
"Oh My God, it's you! You're Ava! Luciana told me so much about you. I'm Angel," she introduced herself eagerly.
Ava gave her a cool, and straightforward stare. "Ava," she replied.
Angel was startled by her cold response. But on closer inspection, she noticed how dull her face looked.
Pity aroused in her, because she could just tell something horrible had happened to Ava.
She watched as Ares leaned into her ears, wondering what he was telling her.
"Are you sure?" Ava turned to him, when he was through with his instructions.
"I really will."
"I believe you then"
She kissed him fully in the mouth, before rising to her feet.
Feeling awkward, Angel brought her head down, and didn't lift it until Ava walked past her.
"The rest of you, leave," Ares ordered.
Angel was about to turn too, when she heard more scary words.
"You stay."
She hoped to God he wasn't talking to her, but when she felt a hand pull her back, she knew she wasn't that lucky.
Before she turned, her eye caught Ava's stare all the way from the door.
It wasn't hostile, but more scrutinizing. She didn't know how to feel about that.
"The boss wants you to stay," Ivar who had turned her around said, then threw her a wink.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes.
He laughed, as he also exited the room.
Alone with Ares, she didn't know how to act, or where to focus her gaze on.
"Xander told me you knew the men that came to me as the Arabian prince and his entourage were imposters. How did you know about that?" He asked, going straight to the point.
"Common sense," she snarled.
"Is that a brand name?" He fired back even more cleverly.
"Excuse you?" Her head shot up, as she sent a daggering look his way.
"You're the one who chose to be childish. You may not be able to tell, but I'm in a mood. It would do us both some good not to mess around. Do you understand me?"
"No I don't. If you're in a mood, shouldn't the kiss from the woman you love set you straight?"
"What?" He asked, confused, and yet, still intrigued.
"You heard me. You and Ava's kiss was like dogs in heat. I mean seriously, it's never that deep," she muttered the last part, but it was loud enough for him to hear.
Unable to suppress himself, Ares threw his head back and chuckled deeply.
Taken aback by his response, she stared wide eyed at him.
When he straightened his head, their gazes met again, and her heart skipped a beat.
"How did you know about the imposters?" He asked, growing serious.
She didn't know what it was this time around. It was as if he had compelled her.
She opened her mouth, and repeated word for word everything she had told Nadia earlier on.
"So you know this is your father's doing?" He asked right after she was done.
"You should have done your research," she replied, snapping out of whatever trance she had fallen into.
"What do you want?" He asked, catching her off guard.
She had expected him to be annoyed at her snarky response again.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What do you want?" He repeated.
"From you? Nothing. You don't have anything I need."
"I don't believe you. You must want something," he said, rising to his full height.
Her breath caught against her chest, and against her better judgement, she took a step forward.
"You can't give me what you want."
"Says who?" he asked, stepping out of his desk.
"Because you can't," she replied, taking a bolder step forward.
"You'd be surprised, " he continued towards her.
"I'm never surprised. Nothing surprises me. Not even—" her eyes caught darling, and she froze.
Ares followed her gaze, and discovered her reaction was because of darling.
He walked back to the table, and picked darling up.
"She's not harmful you know?" He said, dangling her about.
"First of all, it's an it. Secondly, you need to stop doing that."
"Tell me what you want first."
"Why? Why do you need to know what I want?" She asked in a shaky voice, as she began to take retreating steps.
"To thank you of course. You could have kept your knowledge to yourself. And if you had done that and there were more of them out there, the story would have played out a little more differently than it did. Instead, you were generous enough to share it. What do you want in return?"
"Nothing," she whispered breathlessly.
"What do you want?" He dangled darling faster.
"My freedom, okay!" She screamed. "I want my freedom!"
He stopped, and smiled. Turning around he opened one of the drawers, and carefully placed Darling in it.
When he turned to face her again, her hands were on her chest, as she tried to steady her breath.
"I can't give you that, of course. But I'll give you the next best thing."
"And what's that?" She asked through heavy breath.
"A call of your choice. It could be to your father, and I wouldn't mind. After all, I do want him to see my face and regret his stupid plan that could have been executed better than a toddler."
"I don't want to call my father. You're unfortunately not getting any opportunity to gloat. And if I were you, I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatched," she warned.
"You still haven't made a choice," he pressed, dismissing the rest of her words.
"My fiance," she replied, and the smug look wiped off Ares' face.